Not sure if I'm going to be in class today, but I'll be honest...I did not really enjoy Paradise Regained. I don't even really know why because it was just as beautifully written and all... I don't know.
Anyways, here's what I found amusing was for almost the whole four books, Satan and Christ are arguing back and forth, and this is how their replies are described:
Satan: uttered / answered malcontent / accosts / murmuring thus replied / inly racked replied / impudent replied / with fear abashed replied / with stern brow replied / swoll'n with rage replied
Christ: with unaltered brow / temperately replied / patiently replied / calmly thus replied / fervently replied / answered thus unmoved / sagely thus replied / answered with disdain (finally when Satan starts getting really really annoying and talks bad about God.)
Christ is just so patient through it all because he knows he's got nothing to worry about--he's not in the wrong, not like Satan is, who is obviously getting flustered about failing to sway Christ.
My favorite part is when Satan says this about God:
"...he seeks glory,
and for his glory all things made, all things
Orders and governs, nor content in Heav'n
By all his angels glorified, requires
Glory from men, from all men good or bad,
Wise or unwise, no difference, not exemption."
And when Jesus chews him out for it, he feels like this:
"...stood struck
With guilt of his own sin, for he himself
Insatiable of glory had lost all."
Satan realizes he may have just been describing himself more than he was describing God.
That's embarrassing...
I felt the same way about Paradise Regained, truth be told. And this is the one thing that really caught my eye. You beat me to the punch on the dialogue attributions. I was also thinking that this could be a good example of Renaissance rhetoric: that it is nigh impossible to make a good argument when you are malcontent/accosting/impudent/fearful.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the same thing about their responses!! How funny we all did;]
ReplyDeleteI talked about that a little bit in my post. I feel like the adverbs and adverbial phrases describing how Christ responded to the temptations are kind of like a roadmap of Christlike virtues that are needed to stand strong against temptation. I think in psychology they call it "projecting" what Satan did in describing himself when he was trying to describe God. Essentially, he projected his own faults and shortcomings (and probably the things that he despises about himself since it was that seeking for glory that got him kicked out of Heaven) onto God.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting thing to note that Christ never once is tempted by Satan, and perhaps Milton did that to contrast this debate with the debate between Satan and Eve. Here, Satan is never in control once, which shows the power of the Son of God. I don't know, I just thought of that.
ReplyDelete