Scan barcode
A review by archytas
Paradise Lost by John Milton
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"Man falls deceived
By the other first: man therefore shall find grace;
The other none: in mercy and justice both, Through Heav’n and earth, so shall my glory excel,
But mercy first and last shall brightest shine."
"For though the Lord of all be infinite,
Is his wrauth also?"
The first time I read Paradise Lost, I was looking for Milton's subversion, Paradise Lost as a political allegory. And it is impossible still not to see the radical who has survived a failed revolution here, Satan as both inspirational and duplicitous - ultimately a failed leader and false saviour - God as both benevolent and tyrannical, glorious and sinister, and both as at least occasionally hypocritical. The quote I started this review with, with its fabulously resonant ending, is shadowed by the denial of grace to Satan. It seems ridiculous to argue that Milton wanted us to see this as a flaw, and yet, if you re-read that quote the unsettling dissonace remains - a dissonance that creeps up regularly in the poem. This is a poem without easy answers (although several characters offer them), but with a celebration of the power of redemption and forward movement, there is grief for paradise lost, but also excitement for new worlds gained, and an unmistakable need for the opportunity of redemption and new worlds.
There is also a world that feels political. Adam and Eve, so tightly bonded before the fall, squabble like sectarians in bitter recriminations afterwards. (Mind you, in this tussle between grand right and wrong, it is Eve who gets most short shrift here, the sexism being so much worse than I remembered. Satan and God get humanised, but Eve does not. She is both idiotic and annoying (and minorly, the dismissal of childbirth pains as a minor punishment is infuriating, and honestly the sexual references are just ... odd, especially to Angel Sex (which must be queer I think)).
I also loved the passion with which Milton depicts the struggle for knowledge. "But knowledge is as food, and needs no less". Here too, the ambiguity reigns. Milton gives us the full weight of despair that knowledge brings, but he also describes the essential humanity of the thirst for it, and hints at the discomfort of a God who loves only the ignorant.
What was as good as I remembered was the sheer pleasure of Milton's lush prose - especially in the lengthy descriptions (even Hell here, is glorious in its depravity).
And I was gripped more this time by both Milton's passion for asserting free will ("God made thee perfect, not immutable"), and the ambiguity with which he surrounds the fall - Eden may be perfect, but it is boring compared with the wonders that open up with the world). And most of all, the sense of moving forward, of the need to go on, and bring more good from evil. This is ultimately such a hopeful poem, one about the worst being behind us and the best ahead.
By the other first: man therefore shall find grace;
The other none: in mercy and justice both, Through Heav’n and earth, so shall my glory excel,
But mercy first and last shall brightest shine."
"For though the Lord of all be infinite,
Is his wrauth also?"
The first time I read Paradise Lost, I was looking for Milton's subversion, Paradise Lost as a political allegory. And it is impossible still not to see the radical who has survived a failed revolution here, Satan as both inspirational and duplicitous - ultimately a failed leader and false saviour - God as both benevolent and tyrannical, glorious and sinister, and both as at least occasionally hypocritical. The quote I started this review with, with its fabulously resonant ending, is shadowed by the denial of grace to Satan. It seems ridiculous to argue that Milton wanted us to see this as a flaw, and yet, if you re-read that quote the unsettling dissonace remains - a dissonance that creeps up regularly in the poem. This is a poem without easy answers (although several characters offer them), but with a celebration of the power of redemption and forward movement, there is grief for paradise lost, but also excitement for new worlds gained, and an unmistakable need for the opportunity of redemption and new worlds.
There is also a world that feels political. Adam and Eve, so tightly bonded before the fall, squabble like sectarians in bitter recriminations afterwards. (Mind you, in this tussle between grand right and wrong, it is Eve who gets most short shrift here, the sexism being so much worse than I remembered. Satan and God get humanised, but Eve does not. She is both idiotic and annoying (and minorly, the dismissal of childbirth pains as a minor punishment is infuriating, and honestly the sexual references are just ... odd, especially to Angel Sex (which must be queer I think)).
I also loved the passion with which Milton depicts the struggle for knowledge. "But knowledge is as food, and needs no less". Here too, the ambiguity reigns. Milton gives us the full weight of despair that knowledge brings, but he also describes the essential humanity of the thirst for it, and hints at the discomfort of a God who loves only the ignorant.
What was as good as I remembered was the sheer pleasure of Milton's lush prose - especially in the lengthy descriptions (even Hell here, is glorious in its depravity).
And I was gripped more this time by both Milton's passion for asserting free will ("God made thee perfect, not immutable"), and the ambiguity with which he surrounds the fall - Eden may be perfect, but it is boring compared with the wonders that open up with the world). And most of all, the sense of moving forward, of the need to go on, and bring more good from evil. This is ultimately such a hopeful poem, one about the worst being behind us and the best ahead.