The Concept Of Free Will In Paradise Lost And Oroonoko

Free will is defined as the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion. Two texts that I feel deal heavily with free will are Paradise Lost and Oroonoko. In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve experience the struggle for free will with God, as they go through trials and eventually end up being removed from the Garden of Eden. In Oroonoko, is about an African man who is taken from his home along with his wife, and is forced into slavery. He then tries to escape from his newfound servitude, which ends in his death. Both texts explore the main characters longing to truly be free for the first time, or to return to their previous state of freedom. Paradise Lost and Oroonoko discuss the concept of free will by showcasing their characters desire to escape from their current situation and acquire the free will that is being held from them. A main component of free will is being able to make your own decisions. In Paradise Lost, God …show more content…
In Paradise Lost, God is very willing to give Adam and Eve their free will, as he did not want to create them and them force them to worship him. He wanted to give them the opportunity to choose for himself and make their own decisions. This is the exact opposite attitude of the people who possess the ability to grant Oroonoko his free will. The first of the two is the king who holds power over Oroonoko in his time in Africa. He was not willing at all to give Oroonoko any freedom, as he was interested in his own self-interests first and foremost. The second would be the slave-owners that owned Oroonoko in the new world. They too would have done everything in their power to keep him in the position he was, as they benefitted greatly from having free labor