Carmen Thorley--Final Research Paper

Posted on Google Drive!
Thank goodness this is done, right? Right? Ha.

Comparison of Milton's Portrayals of Eve and Dalila and so forth...

xoxo--carmen

Waving The Banner of Freedom For Personal Gain

Whew. Finally back into the swing of things. I've been really sick this week and am finally recovering so this is my attempt to begin catching up on my research work for my final paper.

In considering what to write my final paper on, I am drawn to a few ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while. I want to explore deeper the concepts from my last paper about freedom and submission (personified incorrectly by Satan and discovered by Eve). 

We live in a country founded on ideas drawn from Milton's of freedom and liberty from tyranny and many of the early founding fathers drew on these principles for their own writing and ideals. I feel that many have continued to hold on to the words of liberty but have lost the real meaning behind them or only used them as a face to help them find personal gain. Kind of like what Stanley Fish explains in his essay, "There Is No Such Thing As Free Speech"  In thinking about current situations and ideas, the words freedom and equality get thrown around recklessly and many seem to have a "down with the government I should get to do what I want cause I'm free" mentality. What are the consequences of seeking freedom through such means? I want to argue that this idea is what ruined Satan, and his actions and fate outline how this attitude actually destroys freedom. I don't want to focus so much on government, but the roles of citizens within the frame of government.

Is Freedom something achieved through government or is true freedom, freedom from government?

Basically there are two kinds of "freedom" one is negative and destructive and one provides progress and actual freedom for the individual. I found an awesome dissertation by following one of Professor Burton's ideas on his post that helped me discover the terms I was looked for to articulate the distinction.

Working thesis: Milton's On Tenure of Kings and Magistrates alongside his representation of Satan and Eve show the bounds in which freedom must be exercised to produce desired liberty. True freedom cannot be found without submission.

Still working to discover specifically what my conclusion is, but this is the frame work for my argument.

Surprised by Fish

The Titans in Hell, by Gustave Doré
Public Domain

A while back, I wrote a quick post addressing some of Stanley Fish's broader claims in Surprised by Sin, quite possibly the most influential secondary resource for Milton's Paradise Lost. I've had a little bit of time to actually get into the text of late, so I have new discoveries and new contentions with some of the claims therein.

Overall, Fish makes some really intriguing points and corrects (perhaps too giddily) a number of flaws in theories then prevailing among Miltonic scholars. As a whole, though, I still wonder if Fish misinterprets the Satan character, despite his clear focus on his necessity in helping the reader to understand his own condition. I've been working to prove basically that same point but from the perspective that Milton's Satan figure should be interpreted not as the Biblical adversary but as one of many varying degrees of human depravity or fallenness. Fish certainly makes a number of claims that support this, but I feel like despite his insistence that Milton's objective is to "educate the reader to an awareness of his own condition," he is still fails to comprehend the Arch-fiend's existence as a degenerate condition of humanity.

Paradise Lost Quotes and Ideas

I've been thinking about my final research topic, and part of that has been putting together a good number of quotes on different topics. I'm going to be sticking with my initial topic: the reader should see Milton's Satan figure not as the Biblical adversary but as a representation of one of the degrees of fallen-ness in mankind. Truly understanding the work requires that we disassociate Satan from Satan and look at him as a literary character or even as a human. I'll also be touching on Adam/God vs. Eve/Satan and what kinds of implications those associations might suggest in Milton's view of gender, etc. (though that's more of an ancillary point).

Anyway, I figured some of you might have topics that touched on some of the same ideas, so I wanted to post my quote blocks with the hope that others will find some use in them (and maybe throw some ideas back my way). This is something that I would have never done a year or two ago, but Dr. Burton is getting to me in terms of the whole collaboration mentality. There are a lot of quotes here in general, so they'll be posted under the jump break, but in any case, the topics are:

AMBITION, VANITY, REVENGE (Milton = Satan = Eve)
CAPACITY FOR PAIN, DOUBT, SORROW, FEAR
PARADISE INSIDE
COLLECTIVE FALL
MISCELLANEOUS
DESTINY / ANGER AT GOD
SATAN AND EVE
EVIL BY NATURE / REASON AS VICE
VIRTUE UNASSAYED
HUMANITY OF SATAN / STRUGGLES WITH SELF
SHAME / LIGHT

Two Falls, One Redemption: The Fates of Satan and Eve

Here is it! The paper! So much to explore, so few pages to explore it all in. I finish it late last night and decided to sleep on it and read it again in the morning to make sure it make some kind of sense. Here's hoping! It was extremely interested to consider the similarities and differences in the characterizations of Satan and Eve in Paradise Lost. I feel like I only had the opportunity to scratch the surface of the discussion and hope to delve further into some aspect of it for my final paper. Enjoy!

Pre-writing, Strength in Submission

I want to look at the perspective of Eve's nature through contrasting her decisions and fate with Satan's to show that Eve's weaknesses end up becoming her strengths, and without them, though the fall may not have happened, redemption would have not been possible without application of those same weaknesses.

Thesis:

While Eve's portrayal in Paradise Lost seems to set women as the weaker gender, the great irony of Milton's epic poem is that it ennobles weakness and degrades strength; Eve finds redemption in her “weakness”, while Satan remains fallen because of his “strength”.

  

Quotes:

“All is not lost; the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield: And what is else not to be overcome?”

Book 2 Lines 106-109

“O then at last relent: is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame Among the spirits beneath, whom I seduced With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit, boasting I could subdue Th’ Omnipotent.”

Book 4: 78-88

“But what if God have seen, And death ensue? Then I shall be no more, And Adam wedded to another Eve, Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct; A death to think. Confirmed then I resolve; Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe: So dear I love him, that with him all deaths I could endure, without him live no life.”

Book 9: 826-833 (dependance on Adam)

Adam “And me with thee hath ruined, for with thee Certain my resolution is to die; How can I live without thee, how forgo Thy sweet converse and love so dearly joined, To live again in these wild woods forlorn?”

Book 9: 906-910

Basic outline:

1. Introduction
2. Characterizations
   A. Weakness of Eve
   B. Strength of Satan
3. Two falls
   A. Eve's decisions
   B. Satan's decisions
4. One Redemption
   A. Eve's dependence
   B. Satan's refusal to submit
5. Conclusion

The Catalyst of Creation: Surprised by Saintliness

Stanley Fish would argue that as we read Paradise Lost, we feel for the character of Satan and that surprises us. To over-simplify his argument, we, as inherently good creatures, are surprised by what is deemed "other."

In Book VIII and IX of Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve have a similar experience as the reader. There is one specific time in which Adam's curiosity is aroused by the mysteries of God's creations and upon seeking explanation from Raphael is charged to

"Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
Leave them to God above; him serve, and fear.
. . . Heaven is for thee too high
To know what passes there; be lowly wise:
Think only what concerns thee, and thy being;"

Adam is charged, not with sin, but with what could become sin. Eve, too, upon having the dream of eating the fruit has not sinned, but the seed of sin has been planted. Both husband and wife are surprised at this troubling event leading us to infer that they are, in fact, pure. Sin and the idea that it is within their capabilities is surprising and therefore "other."

The mysteries of God's creations also illicit surprise from quite another source. Here is Satan's reaction to God's crowning achievement, Eve:

Beauty and Hatred: Satan's Relationship with Eve and Nature

I have to say I'm fascinated with the character of Satan. And now, he's gotten even more intriguing in his interactions with Eve. I'm particularly interested in how Satan views himself in regards to God, nature, and even Eve. At this point, Satan seems to be in this state of instability in that he has this mixture of both hatred and awe for Eve and her blinding beauty. Satan seems to operate in this paradox of being fallen and yet being stirred up in realization of his fallen nature. He's constantly realizing that perhaps he was wrong in his convictions and yet he refuses to redeem himself, thinking he is beyond help, regardless of whether he is or not.

I saw this instability several times in this book, especially when he says that he can not enjoy the simple pleasures of nature, saying, "all good to me becomes / Bane; and in Heav'n much worse would be my state." Satan seems to constantly have these moments when he sees the grand beauty and goodness of the earth and nature and instead of it pleasing him, he almost despises it. He acknowledges the goodness of the beautiful nature and is in awe of it, but he hates it. It's this interesting dynamic going on that has him in this paradoxical state.

The same thing happens on a more powerful level when he comes across Eve. When Satan first sees her, he is astonished at her beauty and grace to the point that his convictions are shaken for a moment. It says, "her graceful innocence, her every air / of gesture or least action overawed / his malice." But then he recalls with bitterness that this pleasure is not his and "fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts / of mischief, gratulating, thus excites." Satan's pride and hatred comes back, stabilizing his conviction to destroy mankind, including Eve. What's interesting is how it's Eve's beauty that shakes Satan up so much into a moment of uncertainty. This tension of the hatred of Satan and the terrifying beauty of Eve is something I'll have to look at more.

"And what is faith, love, virtue unassayed..."

I have to say, considering that Adam and Eve were "as little children" in the Garden of Eden, they both have a grasp on the English language far above anything that I can aspire to.  Book IX of PL is a prime example of the use of rhetoric and it illustrates the dangers of it's misuse as Satan crafts a solid-seeming argument for eating the fruit that induces Eve to eat.  But this begs the question:  how much of this did Eve already have in mind?  I'm not suggesting that Eve set out that day with the intent to eat the fruit and openly defy God, but I do wonder how much she had progression in mind.  Even in Milton's version of the paradisiacal Garden of Eden, the Garden seems to be a place of stasis—pleasant stasis, granted, but stasis nonetheless.  The existence is apparently one of gentle garden work in lopping, pruning, propping, and binding the plants of the Garden each day.  To what effect, though?  The fruit grows freely and plentifully in the Garden and there is always plenty to eat, and Eve says that any work that they do is essentially undone in one or two nights (see ll. 209-212).  So what is the point of their labor in the Garden?  Perhaps God was giving them "busy work" until the Fall happened.

Milton gives us a sense that Eve is seeking to prove herself out of some misplaced pride, but I think there is an argument to be made for her seeking progression from her current state.  After all, one of the most appealing arguments that the serpent makes to her is that by eating she will ascend to a higher plane of existence.  He says, "...in the day / Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear, / Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then / Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as gods, / Knowing both good and evil as they know" (ll. 705-709).  Eve wants more than the simplicity that she and Adam experience in the Garden.  She wants to achieve higher things and reach higher levels.  Adam appears fairly content in this simple existence, but Eve wants more.

Latter-day Saints have a different view on the Fall of Adam and Eve, of course, and as a Mormon I'm obviously going to bring some of that to what I read.  Probably Milton didn't give Eve as much credit as we do when it comes to her decision to eat the fruit, but I don't think she is meant to be seen as an idiot.  After all, he basically has Eve quote himself in making her arguments.  Milton said in the Areopagitica, "As therefore the state of man now is, what wisdom can there be to choose, what continence to forbear without the knowledge of evil?" (location 32231).  Eve reflects this sentiment in Book IX when she says "And what is faith, love, virtue unassayed / Alone, without exterior help sustained?" (ll. 335-336).  No progression is possible without knowledge.

Accidental or Purposeful Action: Sacrifices for the Greater Good

I feel so clever that I came up with that meme all on my own;] First one ever! Not that that is necessarily something to be proud of...but I feel in context of Milton it is the "one job to do" of all "one job to do"'s.

This particular conundrum is actually one of the main reasons I decided to take the Milton course. I think this little seeming paradox is fascinating. God told them to be fruitful and multiply but told them not to eat the fruit...which in our LDS faith we generally believe is what gives them the knowledge of how to do that ("plenishing" the earth I mean). Milton's account obviously depicts differently.In fact, it is pretty evident from the text that Adam and Eve fully expect other people to join them.

Eve, continued...

I've been fascinated by Milton's portrayal of Eve and have been looking for article pertaining to Eve's impact on the identity of women. Thus far, I have had little success. However, tonight I searched for "Milton and Eve," and I was astounded by the amplitude of material I found! In one article, it basically said Eve is the most important character in Paradise Lost, aside from Satan. I've compiled some quotes of why people incriminate Eve, and eventually I hope to post why it is inaccurate or for what purpose Milton wrote Eve as he did.

From a Feminist point of view (click me!)

"To start with, Milton was a man of his time, the Early Modern Period. His purpose is to ‘justify the ways of God to men;’ women don’t enter into it" (Wayment).

I find this thought curious, as I didn't even think of that when rereading and memorizing the beginning lines of Paradise Lost. "Justify the ways of God to men"-I doubt that Milton wrote that line to purposely exclude men, but it is an interesting idea. 

"In Milton’s complex theology, both men and women bear guilt for the Fall—but woman’s guilt is greater, not only because she sinned first, but because she uses her female wiles to get man to sin as well. Man’s sin is less than woman’s because she ate the apple for power and greed, while he ate for love of her" (Wayment).

This seems particularly vindictive of Eve, yet I can see how readers would compare the "level" of sin and the motives behind the sinning. I do think Milton portrays Eve as questioning, submissive and discontent in the beginning...far more than Adam, to be sure. 

From a Historical perspective (Pick me!)

"Eve represents everything about a woman a man should guard against. In both form and symbol, Eve is woman, and because of her, the prevalent belief in the West has been that all women are by nature disobedient, guileless, weak-willed, prone to temptation and evil, disloyal, untrustworthy, deceitful, seductive, and motivated in their thoughts and behaviour purely by self-interest" (Witcombe).

Witcombe uses many historical references to show that people have used Eve as a universal example for women and sinners.

"In the West, the story of Eve has served over the centuries as the principal document in support of measures and laws to curtail and limit the actions, rights, and status of women" (Witcombe).

How shocking is this? The misinterpretation of the Biblical story has constituted as evidence to prevent women from gaining certain rights. I could see how Milton's portrayal would support these actions, but using Genesis in rather different. 

"The argument that the order of creation, in which Adam was created first and Eve second, indicates hierarchy and therefore Adam's superiority ignores the fact that animals were created before Adam. As Adam is superior to the animals, then the hierarchy of creation should be reversed, and Eve seen as God's ultimate creation" (Witcombe).

I think this idea is rather touching, but contrary to the claims of those accusing Eve of sin and submission. 

As we get farther into Milton's work, we will find more evidence to support the misguided identity of women due to the portrayal of Eve. Are these claims justified? How do we see them in society? Do all of women's injustices go back to Eve?

Eve: The Problem Child

Did it bother anyone else that Eve is content to be an object in Paradise Lost? It got my feminist tendencies going a little bit. I have "ugh" written in the margins of the section where she says:

“My author and disposer, what thou

 bidd’st 

Unargued I obey; so God ordains, 

God is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more

Is woman’s happiest knowledge and her praise."

Milton, John (2009-10-28). The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton (Modern Library) (Kindle Locations 14820-14823). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.