The Importance Of Free Will In John Milton's Paradise Lost

Improved Essays
Free will is an extremely important concept in John Milton’s Paradise Lost that greatly impacts the fateful decision made by Adam and Eve. Many questions are raised in the face of a notion such as free will, which prompt the reader and Milton to understand God’s logic and Adam and Eve’s reasoning for turning their backs on it. God makes his new creations “just and right / sufficient to have stood, though free to fall,” and, therefore, obtain the explicitly stated ability to turn against God. The first instance of free will the reader sees is Satan’s decision to rebel against God and attempt to defeat Him and all of the angels that joined him in his efforts. Although God experiences this defiance and is forced to punish Satan for his …show more content…
When He watches Satan fly towards Earth to corrupt Eve, He allows him to pass without interruption because his “desperate revenge…shall redound / upon his own rebellious head,” but simply blames Adam and Eve for having “decreed / their own revolt, not I.” It’s implied that Satan’s inevitable punishment takes precedence over the fall of humanity. Jesus even questions God on his decision to not intervene in the inevitable fall of mankind and claims that “Man / thy creature late so loved, Thy youngest son / fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joined / with his own folly” is “far be from Thee, Father.” Even God’s own son questions the moral standing of free will and how it can lead to sin if it continues with no intervention. Jesus also becomes the centerpiece in the debate of if free will is truly free if God has foreknowledge of everything. An example of this is when Jesus volunteers himself to become mortal in order to “redeem / Man’s mortal crime.” Milton’s portrayal of Jesus volunteering himself combats with the Bible’s version of God offering up his only son for sacrifice. Was God always aware that Jesus would sacrifice himself? If so, why would he ask for volunteers? This brings up the implication that free will is not truly free will because God knows everything that will happen. Although he refuses to intervene, it may not be genuinely considered as free

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The consistency that exists between the divine foreknowledge possessed by God and an individual’s ability to freely choose what they desire is an issue discussed by Augustine in his work Free choice of will bk. 3. Inherently, the ideals of divine foreknowledge and free choice of will are contradictory to one another as is it is impossible for an individual to possess free choice of will if the outcome that awaits the individual is known to God. Divine foreknowledge, which allows God the capacity to foresee the outcomes of an individual's choices prior to their actions, makes it impossible for an individual to act otherwise as God would also possess foreknowledge of their intent to do so. Therefore, an individual cannot be free.…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Exposition of the Problem of Evil In my paper, I will present the argument Weirob gives on the Problem of Evil, and explain Miller’s response to the Problem of Evil. I will explain why the character of Weirob argues it is impossible for an omniscient, omnipotent, and totally good God to exist simultaneously with evil in the world and go into detail about how Weirob believes that if God has these traits, He should be able to eliminate all evils in the world before they occur. Then I will give Miller’s defense to this argument which includes how God and evil can both exist in the world.…

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    1. Describe a time when you experienced a significant period of suffering. How did you deal with that experience? How did you find comfort in the midst of suffering?…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Freewill Argument

    • 2367 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Introduction In this paper, I will break apart J. L. Mackie’s stern defense of the logical problem of evil, which he uses to suggest the God does not exist. I will attempt to defend the notion that both God and evil, in the form of human creation, can exist in the world by way of suggesting that freewill is the answer. Furthermore, I will strengthen the argument for freewill against Mackie’s defense, which suggests that the argument of freewill also compromises the Omni-three nature of God. In part, I will back freewill by using Mackie’s own logic against him.…

    • 2367 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Sample Worldview Essay

    • 1314 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Overview of my Worldview I do not believe my worldview has changed very much from the beginning of the semester except maybe for the fact that I would say that a basic knowledge of philosophy is necessary to every Christian who wants to be an effective witness in today’s postmodern society. At any rate I am going to go through each of the main beliefs that make up a worldview namely my philosophy of theology, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, anthropology, and evil. There are many facets to each of these six beliefs; however I will only deal with each one in relation to the questions that were discussed in class and in Life’s Ultimate Questions by Ronald Nash. My Philosophy of Theology…

    • 1314 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 1530 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Paradise Lost is obviously spiritual, but Beowulf, despite its lack of explicit Christian references, also deals symbolically with matters of Christian theology; the monsters represent the evil in human nature, unleashed in each case by a well-intentioned but insufficiently thought out human act, and in each case Beowulf, whose skill seems to arise from his virtue, defeats them, even though, finally, at the cost of his life. Milton’s interpretation of Adam as the epic hero differs significantly from the ideal of a hero presented in Beowulf. Traditional heroic qualities related with warfare are not emphasized in Paradise Lost, particularly for Adam who never engages in actual battle. Unlike Beowulf, Adam is not presented as a brave warrior or strong. Differences in Paradise Lost, the Christian virtue of humility is more widely praised.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Marisa Paris Humanities 220 Professor Cope 11/17/14 One of the benefits of comparing multiple different pieces of work is the ability it gives us to form our own opinions. Although the pieces of work may be from varying time periods, or unchanged time periods, each of them still include certain aspects that are virtually the same. For example, The Gospel of Luke, Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and Augustine’s Confessions, all present alike views on the idea of free will. A loose definition of free will could serve as follows: the capability to perform activities and make choices in which neither God nor fate controls either of them. This immaterial definition of free will is given life and unveiled in The Gospel of Luke, Paul’s letter to the Romans, and Augustine’s Confessions.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Milton Free Will Analysis

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In Book 3 (lines 95-111), the question of “free will” is brought up. Milton’s discussion of free will raises the question of whether free will is something that an individual can choose or reject, or if in fact there is no choice of free will at all. It is possible that God is simply tangling the idea that free will even exists to men as a way for them to believe they have a choice over their own faiths, when it is possible that in actuality they do not. The question is why would God create people that He knows will commit sin knowing that these creations will create an evil side to the world. This passage argues that God purposely gives His creations the right to choose between Satan and Him and in doing so, allows the fall from grace to…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lepatibilism Analysis

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages

    James Ross sees the issue of free will and determinism as one that is both complex and utterly simple. He compares the relationship between God’s creative action and humanity’s free actions to that of a singer and the song they are singing. When the singer sings, or creates, a song, he does not intentionally choose for every minor aspect of the song to be as it is. He simply creates the song such that those aspects are the way they are, but in a sense the aspects are still independent of the singer, although they are still ultimately caused by the singer. In the same way, man is caused to exist by God, but a man’s every action is not directly forced by God to happen.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For the definition of free will to reign true, human beings must make actions at their own discretion even if it is the wrong choice, which I have previously mentioned is an arbitrary measure. Once humans are created to always choose the good thing, the element of freedom is…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They may argue free will is a term used very loosely in terms of the word “free” or “freedom”. We cannot experience absolute freedom, they would say, because absolute freedom does not exist. In certain situations, for example if we go on a hunger strike to raise awareness for a cause, we have our freedom because starving ourselves is our choice and it is in our control. However, if our circumstances do not permit us to have access to food - said circumstances can vary from poverty to being in a physical location where food is scarce or simply unavailable - then our freedom is taken away because we are not choosing to not eat. This is, of course, a general example of the concept of the term “free” being used loosely and can satisfy a number of given situations; but this is what will be used in this paper to make a…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this paper I will consider the atheistic point of view on the argument from evil, while addressing free will. This is one of the main arguments against the existence of an all-good and all-knowing God, which was discussed in class. Atheistic Argument From Evil If God exists, then He is omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Islam is a monotheistic faith centered around belief in the one God (Allah). In this regard, it shares some beliefs with Judaism and Christianity by tracing its history back to the patriarch Abraham, and ultimately to the first prophet, Adam. All the prophets preached the same universal message of belief in one God and kindness to humanity. The last in the series of prophets, according to Muslims, was Muhammad. Muhammad was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia around 570 CE.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his epic Paradise Lost, John Milton details through excellent storytelling some of the debates and anxieties of 17th century England. Milton’s writing was heavily influenced by his own views, both political and religious. The resulting story is a series of arguments put forward by the characters, and in reality, Milton’s own views and questions. One of the themes heavily referenced is the ability for human beings to think for themselves and act on those thoughts. Throughout Paradise Lost the characters all have decisions they need to consider and act upon, all while wondering whether or not they really have any agency.…

    • 1064 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays