In what is considered one of the most ambitious works in literary history, John Milton uses the retelling of the Christian creation story as an allegory for what it means to be truly human. Focalized in this endeavor is man’s movement from inception, through the pursuit of knowledge, to the fulfillment and execution of free will. While Christian ideology (in other words, popular ideology) bases itself in the belief of Adam and Eve’s fall acting as man’s first sin and initial disobedience to God, Milton contorts this famous myth to justify God’s allowance of the fall despite his omnipotence and “eye [which] views all things at one view” regardless of place, time, or subject (Paradise Lost 2.189-190). Conveniently, Milton’s exploration of knowledge and free will in the form of allegory in Paradise Lost closely parallels and is
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In essence, Milton reveals the epic’s climax, thus detaching literary elements like suspense, plot, and really any surface uncertainty from the poem (1.1-3). For Milton and his reader, the events that are to unfold are now known (if they were not already), which urges one to look within Milton’s treatment to decode some deeper meaning beyond the fall of man (or, we could be satisfied with lines 1.1-1.26). For instance, by dissecting the factors that contribute and justify Adam and Eve’s decision, Milton turns a mythical rendition into a suitable 12-book epic. As a reader, one must begin as Adam did, as a pupil inquisitively seeking his origin. The beginning of Adam’s pursuit of knowledge comes from his “divine instructor” Archangel Rafael (5.546). It is through the intersection between these lessons with Rafael and Milton’s prose work that Milton reveals the distinctive elements of Adam’s nature and education that can help to justify both his and God’s
In essence, Milton reveals the epic’s climax, thus detaching literary elements like suspense, plot, and really any surface uncertainty from the poem (1.1-3). For Milton and his reader, the events that are to unfold are now known (if they were not already), which urges one to look within Milton’s treatment to decode some deeper meaning beyond the fall of man (or, we could be satisfied with lines 1.1-1.26). For instance, by dissecting the factors that contribute and justify Adam and Eve’s decision, Milton turns a mythical rendition into a suitable 12-book epic. As a reader, one must begin as Adam did, as a pupil inquisitively seeking his origin. The beginning of Adam’s pursuit of knowledge comes from his “divine instructor” Archangel Rafael (5.546). It is through the intersection between these lessons with Rafael and Milton’s prose work that Milton reveals the distinctive elements of Adam’s nature and education that can help to justify both his and God’s