So, this account of Eve’s first exercise of free will, the one that I’ve just given you – her yielding to Adam when he seizes her hand – that’s at least, I think, the official one that the poem urges us to accept, according to what I’m thinking of as the poem’s official philosophy, because it seems to be a guarantee, in some way, subtended by the narrator and authoritative forces in the poem. ![]() It’s a positive, deliberate action, and she has the right of consent because she possesses for Milton an inalienable capacity for free will and free choice. She yields, which is for Milton not actually a resignation. In the Miltonic commonwealth of Eden – and we think of it as a commonwealth – no one can be forced to act. Human interaction in this poem is founded on the principle of consent. It’s distinct from the simple exercise of brute force that, I think, we often associate with life in a hierarchically organized society. Through this dance Milton, I think, was trying to establish a model of human interaction really distinct from simple coercion, or completely distinct from simple coercion. You have his assertion of power and her gracious resignation, although it’s a gentle use of power, on the one hand, and it’s an independent and consensual resignation, on the other. ![]() Eve had said, “thy gentle hand / seiz’d mine, I yielded.” Theirs is a continual dance of seizing and yielding. Think back to what Eve had told Adam after she had been compelled by him, and also by the warning voice, after she had been compelled to channel all of her erotic energies away from the beautiful, sympathetic, responsive watery image toward Adam. Now, I want to review a couple of moments in Book Four. It’s an extraordinarily problematic but crucial element of Paradise Lost. I would also add that it’s something that this poem continues to worry about. This coexistence of freedom, on the one hand, and social hierarchy, on the other, is something that this poem continues to assert. Milton’s concern in Book Four was to establish something like the viability of a freedom that was able, in some way, to coexist with what we discussed as the hierarchical set of power relations. Eve’s first memory, or her reflection on her reflection in the pool, had established the importance of freedom and also the importance of independence for not only her relation with Adam but essentially all of human relations. Professor John Rogers: In Book Four of Paradise Lost, Milton had sketched the origins of human freedom. Women: The Coexistence of Freedom and Social Hierarchy in Paradise Lost Book IV ![]() Milton ENGL 220 - Lecture 15 - Paradise Lost, Books V-VIĬhapter 1.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |