English III AP
28 January 1997
At a young age, John Milton was convinced
that he was
destined for
greatness. He thought that he
"might perhaps leave
something so
written to aftertimes as they should not willingly
let it
die"(Text 414). For this reason he
thought that his life
was very
important to himself and to others. He
often wrote
directly about
himself, and he used his life experiences as roots
for his
literature. In Paradise Lost and in a
sonnet entitled
"On His
Blindness," Milton speaks indirectly and directly of his
loss of
vision. Also in Paradise Lost, he uses
the political
situation of his
time as a base for the plot, and he incorporates
elements of his
own character into the character of Satan.
In
"On Having
Arrived at the Age of Twenty-Three", he speaks plainly
about the course
of his life.
In the latter part of his life, Milton
lost his vision.
This loss was
very traumatic for him because he had not yet
completed his
mission of writing a memorable work of literature.
Soon after, he
continued his work with the help of his daughters.
He dictated to
them a sonnet he called "On His Blindness" in
which he asks how
God expects him to do his work blind. Milton's
ambitious side
says that his writing talent is "lodged with [him]
useless"(Text
417). His religious side soon realizes
that he is
"complaining"
to God and he takes it back. He
discovers that God
will not look
down on him if he does not write a masterpiece.
He
granted Milton a
great talent, and he expects Milton to be happy.
He has to learn
to do his work in a dark world. This
poem was
not the last time
Milton referred to his condition in his
writing. In book one of Paradise Lost, while invoking
the Muse,
Milton says
"what in me is dark illumine"(Hndout 22). He asks to
be granted the
power to work through his blindness. He
obviously
thinks of his
blindness as a major weakness. Later in
the text,
he describes Hell
as having "no light, but rather darkness
visible"(Hndout
270). It is Milton's way of almost
subliminally
implying that his
condition is comparable to being damned to the
underworld. His blindness was something that he
constantly had
to deal with and
he managed to include it in most of his works.
At the prime of Milton's life, the
political situation in
England was very
unsteady. Charles I was overthrown, and
the
Puritan dictator
Oliver Cromwell installed himself as the "Lord
Protector." Being a Puritan himself, Milton supported
this new
government, and
he even held a job within it. But,
England
became tired of
the strict Puritan rule, and Cromwell's son was
defeated, and
hastily replaced by Charles II. Everyone
who
supported
Cromwell and the civil war was sentenced to death.
Because of his
standing in the community, Milton was allowed to
retire in
peace. As punishment he lost everything
he had
including his
reputation. He would use the events of
his life to
help him form the
story for book one of Paradise Lost. In
his
greatest work,
Milton begins with a civil war in Heaven during
which Lucifer and
Beelzebub are defeated and banished to Hell.
This event
parallels the civil war within England with the
Puritans as
Lucifer, and the rest of England as God.
The
Puritans tried to
take over England, but they were defeated after
a number of
years. Most of the Puritan's were
killed, Milton was
banished from
society. Lucifer was banished to Hell,
and he
would forever
lose his reputation as an archangel.
These
similarities lead
scholars to believe that Satan is Milton.
Lucifer says that
they should make a "Heaven of Hell"(Hndout
280). This line shows that Satan had the will to
work through
the bad times and
make the best of it. Milton acted the
same way
with his
blindness. Milton seems to be a part of
Satan's
character.
In book nine of Paradise Lost, Milton
tells the story of the
temptation of
Eve. Satan's argument with Eve reflects
beliefs of
Milton. In deciding whether to convince Adam or Eve
to eat from
the tree of
knowledge, he does not choose Adam because he has a
"higher
intellectual" capacity. At the time
Milton lived, women
were considered
inferior to men. Milton obviously
supported this
belief. By modern standards he would have been
considered
sexist, by
seventeenth century standards he was not.
Also in book nine, concerning the
forbidden tree, Milton
emphasizes the
great knowledge that can be gained from eating its
fruit. Throughout his life, he thought that
continually learning
was very
important. He spent part of his life
living at home
reading. Satan tells Eve that God does not want them
to become
as knowledgable
as he is. If she eats the fruit, he
tells her
that she will
know "both good and evil"(Text 293).
Milton's
emphasis on the
acquisition of knowledge implies that if he was
put into Eve's
position, he would also betray God.
Milton
formulated an
argument that would have convinced himself.
In the earlier part of his life, Milton was
often worried
that he would not
do the work that he was destined to do.
To
express this
feeling, he wrote a sonnet called "On Having Arrived
at the Age of
Twenty-Three." In it, he explains
how he is
getting older and
he still does not have any work done. He
was
concerned because
he did not have an idea for what to write.
This work
reflects his character because he could not think of
anything else but
his life-long goal. He was very
focused. It
also shows how he
was egotistical. In his time, he was not
well
liked. Due to his Puritan background and his
egocentric
personality, he
was not respected by more than a select few.
Throughout his life, John Milton believed
that he would be
remembered as
great. He was so self-absorbed that he
was a major
part of a lot of
his work. Also, he used his life and
character
to formulate
Satan and Paradise Lost. He thought he
would be
remembered and he
was correct.
--------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment