Theme of Rebellion in John Milton’s
“Paradise Lost”
Prepared by: Minkal Italiya
M.A English semester: 1
Batch: 2018-20
Enrollment No: 2069108420190020
Roll no: 26
Submitted to: Smt. S. B Gardi,
Department of English, MKBU
Paper no-1: The Renaissance
Literature
Topic: Theme of Rebellion in
“Paradise Lost”
Theme of Rebellion in Paradise Lost
Introduction:-
Paradise Lost is
an epic poem written by John Milton. The entire poem was written into a blank
verse and also published in two version. The first version was published in
1667 which was formed in ten books. After that the second edition was published
in 1674 which was formed in twelve books. The book contains the story of the
fall of man primarily how Adam and Eve fell to the temptation of the Satan and
how God expelled them from the Garden of Eden(paradise) and their lamentation
over all they lost.
Three rebellions in Paradise Lost
In ‘Paradise Lost’ the theme of “Man’s first Disobedience” is
narrated by Eve and Adam’s disobedience and how that happen. Rebellion forms
the central aspect in the Paradise Lost.
The entire story take places within the larger
context of Satan’s rebellion and Jesus’ resurrection. The ideas of rebellion
and authority are very widely discussed by John Milton.In the Paradise Lost the
theme is mainly revolves around three rebellions and Milton uses three
creatures Satan, Adam and Eve. All of them use their free will to disobey god.
11) Satan’s motivation to take revenge and his soliloquy
33) Adam’s soft rebellion
1) Satan’s
motivation to take revenge and his soliloquy
Here the important point to note down is
that book XI of paradise lost is begins with Satan’s actions, rather than God’s
or Adam and Eve’s. Satan is furious with god for creating a mankind and
providing them with the earth.
In the Paradise Lost Rebellion is
inevitable from the moment God overheads man, a weak and frail creature, as the
centre of the universe, endows him with reasons, and places the Garden of Eden
and all the creatures within it under his dominion.Satan’s rebellion because of
jealousy is the great act if disobedience and commences all that happens in the
epic. Satan’s thoughts upon the first seeing of the beauty of the Paradise is
presented in the form of soliloquy. When Satan enters into the garden of Eden
he is overwhelmed by the beauty of God’s creation, hling it in these words,
“O earth, how like to Heaven, if not preferred
More justly, seat worthier of Gods, as built
With second thoughts, reforming what was old!”
(Paradise Lost, Book IX. Lines 99-101)
Satan was God’s beloved angel as a Lucifer
than even he vows war against him and be ready to destroy god. He rebels
against god.
Satan travels from pandemonium to Eden,
covering an incredible distance. As a Satan decides to become a serpent and he
also finds a body of serpent to hide himself. Satan comes with evil intention
and arrives to the Eve and he also plots to corrupt the humanity. It can also
be said that Satan’s envy is provoked because Adam, a ‘man of clay’ becomes
god’s new favourite. Satan’s eye fall on Eve and he is struck by her beauty.
Satan praises her and tries to lead her towards the forbidden tree. After so
many efforts finally he gets success to lead her towards the “Tree of
prohibition” and this movement are describes by using an epic simile, comparing
it to the movement of a ship steered skilfully in a stormy sea. Eve is tricked
by Satan, his words have “too easy entrance won” into her heart. It is lunch
time and she is hungry that’s why she eats the fruit.
2) Eve’s
rebel against Adam and then against God
In the Paradise
Lost,Eve is character in whom the inevitability of rebellion seems most
obevious. Eve being alone is the result of her unfortunate decision, for the
sake of working more efficiently,she temporarily separates from Adam. Adam
agrees to separate but he warns her about the Satan who is in garden of Eden
seeking their deconstruction. Satan knows Eve’s weakness and plays on them.
When Eve journeys through the
garden, Satan comes and begins his fatal seduction by praising her ‘Celestial
Beauty’. Eve is wondered that how can be Serpent pronounced a
language of man.Finally after that Satan begins his temptation speech. Satan
claims that he has been given reason and speech by eating from the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil. From here Eve’s rebellious search for an
independence has begun.Satan leads her towards the tree of knowledge. Firstly
Eve refuses to eat the fruit of forbidden,but at the end Satan has won the game.
... her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck’d, she eat;
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost. (Book 9, ll. 780–84)
Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck’d, she eat;
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost. (Book 9, ll. 780–84)
In these lines Eve
determines to change the world and disobeys to the god by
eating the fruit of
knowledge. In fact she eats the ‘fruit of death’. Her desire to be independence
and knowledgeable leads her to rebel against the god. Eve had the chance to
choose to obey their God rather than the anxiety of gaining the knowledge.Eve
also makes the Adam to eat fruit by saying that it is the fruit which may open
his eyes and makes him equal to God. Eve thinks that if she would die and after
that if Adam is replaced by another Eve then and then. That’s why out of her
jealousy after her consumption of forbidden knowledge she decides it would be
better for her and Adam to die together. Eve also encourages him to eat the
fruit by saying that “Adam,freely taste”. She offers him a healthy protein
fruit and he eats it. By disobeying God in thus way Eve has gained neither
equality nor freedom. In fact she has lost paradise and brought sin and death
into the world.
3) Adam’s soft rebellion
Adam had a great chance
of refusing to fall as he realizes that Eve has fallen. It was not Satan who
leads him to rebel against God but his strong desire towards Eve leads him
towards the rebellion. Adam at the cross road to choose between God and Eve.
Adam decides to rebel rather than to lose Eve. Adam’s fall is a stronger
humanist paradigm of the conscious use of free will in choosing romantic love
over divine love.
Eve runs up to him with a
fruit and tells him that the tree is not like what they have been told by God
but it is the tree of knowledge which opened her eyes. Adam is shocked by Eve’s
act and he speaks to himself.
“How art thou, how on a sudden lost.”
Adam realizes that Eve
had done a bold thing but than even out of his passion for Eve he is ready to
eat the fruit. When Adam takes the fruit from Eve,
“Earth trembled from her entrails, as
again
In
pangs, and nature gave a second groan;
Sky
loured, and muttering thunder, some sad drops
Wept
at completing of the mortal sin
Original…”
(Paradise
Lost Book IX Lines 1000-1004)
When Adam falls he
realizes his actions are wrong, but he exercises his free will to remain with
Eve. Adam is ready to die with her rather than live alone. After eating the
fruit feelings of distrust and hate develop in them in the place of innocence
and love. The way Adam looks at Eve changes, he starts tolook at her in lustful
manner. At the end Adam also starts blaming himself for having worshipped Eve
too much rather than supposed to be master over her. Here Milton laments the
fall as the loss of innocence. As soon as Eve and Adam ignores the God’s
warning and allows the Satan to lie them the sin enters into the world.
Disobedience and disruption of the correct order result in sin and death.
Conclusion:-
If
we look at the theme of Paradise Lost with political point of view as Milton
wrote in his political writing than through Paradise Lost Milton justify his
position towards God and Charles. As some have argued that Milton put himself
in contradictory position in Paradise Lost because he supported the overthrow
of Charles I. Through the Paradise Lost Milton makes clear that obeying an
inferior is equally as bad as disobeying God.
In the Paradise
Lost rebellion has its consequences as witnessed immediately after rebelling
against God. It is the inclination that brings everyone to temptation. Without
inclination there would be no temptation.Disobedience manifests in the
character of Satan, Adam and Eve. Eve’s anxiety of knowledge and
Adam’s desires for Eve are leaded them to the temptation. Disobedience
manifests in the character of Satan, Adam and Eve. Satan rebel against God by
reaching out to the God’s wonderful creation human beings.
Very well written Minkal.
ReplyDeleteYou covered the whole theme.
It is very useful for preparation of our exam.
Thank you Krishna
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