Humanities 3 VI. The Last Epic

Transcription

1 Humanities 3 VI. The Last Epic

2 Lecture 27 Justifying the Ways of God to Man

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4 PARADISE LOST: THE MOVIE Produced by Vincent Newman Directed by Scott Derrickson Screenplay by Phil DiBlasi, Stuart Hazeldine, Byron Willinger Distributor: Warner Bros. Budget: upwards of $100,000,000 Cast: Heath Ledger or Daniel Craig as Satan Current Status: in production; Release Date:

5 Outline Big Ideas: A Christian Epic? Justifying the Ways of God to Man Central Themes of Books III-IV

6 Milton s Blindness Hail holy light, offspring of Heav'n first-born, Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beam May I express thee unblam'd?. But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the Book of knowledge fair Presented with a Universal blank Of Nature s works to mee expung'd and raz'd, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. So much the rather thou Celestial light Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight. (3.1-55)

7 Form of Epic Elevated language; directed at aristocratic audience Subject is war, single combat Divine and semi-divine characters Action opens with the defeat of the rebellious angels, led by Satan The meet in council to decide their next move

8 An Epic of the Universe The subject of an epic poem is naturally an event of great importance. That of Milton is not the destruction of a city, the conduct of a colony, or the foundation of an empire. His subject is the fate of worlds; the revolution of heaven and of earth; rebellion against the Supreme King, raised by the highest order of created beings; the overthrow of their host, and the punishment of their crime; the creation of a new race of reasonable creatures; their original happiness and innocence, their forfeiture of immortality, and their restoration to hope and peace. Samuel Johnson, The Lives of the Poets (1779)

9 A Christian Epic? Can Christianity be comprehended through the conventions of the epic? What does this imply about Christianity as a religion? Is it true? Milton is a Christian but an idiosyncratic one: the Son is never referred to as Jesus Christ (Arianism) Every epic needs a hero: who is Milton s? Satan? ( ; ) The Son? Adam? Political significance: PL is the English epic: it lays out the proper relation between politics and religion, the human and the divine (the confusion of these is the source of the English civil war)

10 Who s the Hero? Nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence of the character of Satan as expressed in Paradise Lost. It is a mistake to suppose that he could ever have been intended for the popular personification of evil. Milton's Devil as a moral being is as far superior to his God. - Shelley The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it. - Blake

11 Justifying the Ways of God to Man What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the heighth of this great Argument I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. ( )

12 Good and Evil Underlying PL is the opposition of good and evil. The ancient theology of Manicheanism represents this as a battle between opposing cosmic powers. Some of this persists in the battle between God and Satan (compare PL ) But the most important innovation of Christianity is the internalization of good and evil as psychic forces: the corruption (original sin) of Adam and Eve is expressed in sinful feelings and desires. Recall Luther s identification of hell as the condition of despair (compare PL ).

13 Divine Providence Literally, God s foreknowledge (praevidere), but there also is the implication that God cares for our well-being Traditionally, this has given rise to two theological problems:! The problem of evil: How could a benevolent God permit the existence of natural evil (famine, drought, sickness) and moral evil (sin)?! The problem of free will: If God is all-knowing, what room is there for the exercise of free will?

14 Why the Problem of Evil is Bad News Either God does not know how bad things are (in which case God is not omniscient) Or God knows and can do nothing about it (in which case God is not omnipotent) Or God knows and can do something about it but chooses not to (in which case God is not all-good) In any case, God is not supremely perfect

15 Meeting the Challenge: Justifying the Ways of God Theodicy: God acts justly in creating the best of all possible worlds (Leibniz). No created world could be without evil; God creates the world that contains the least evil overall and the greatest potential for human happiness (the badness of some parts is redeemed by the goodness of the whole). God Works in Mysterious Ways: God s power does not submit to human comprehension (Job) or human standards of right (Luther). Our place is to obey and worship God.

16 Milton Straddles These Poles He does not believe that God is answerable for the creation of the world and whatever evil it contains: his conception of God is Luther s inscrutable lawgiver. But he does set out to explain to human beings what it means to be children of Adam, what their relation to God should be, and the meaning of the Son of God. In doing so, Milton upholds the central truths of the Bible s account of humanity s creation, fall and redemption, but he also gives them his own specific gloss, which relates them to the politics of contemporary England.

17 Central Themes in Books III-IV Satan s Rebellion Free to Fall A Second Root Adam and Eve: Obedience and Knowledge

18 Satan s Rebellion Satan knows he cannot best God in battle; so guile is necessary. Satan proposes to get back at God by corrupting the new created world ( ) But God knows everything he is planning to do ( , ). Does Satan recognize this? There is something tragic in Satan s struggle: even his attempt to destroy creation plays into God s master plan ( , ; )

19 Satan Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; 75 And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep Still threatening to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven. O, then, at last relent: Is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? 80 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 85 The Omnipotent. Ay me! they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain, Under what torments inwardly I groan, While they adore me on the throne of Hell. With diadem and scepter high advanced, 90 The lower still I fall, only supreme In misery: Such joy ambition finds. But say I could repent, and could obtain, By act of grace, my former state; how soon Would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay 95 What feigned submission swore? Ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. For never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep: Which would but lead me to a worse relapse 100 And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear Short intermission bought with double smart. This knows my Punisher; therefore as far From granting he, as I from begging, peace; All hope excluded thus, behold, in stead 105 Of us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight, Mankind created, and for him this world. So farewell, hope; and with hope farewell, fear; Farewell, remorse! all good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my good; by thee at least Divided empire with Heaven's King I hold, 110 By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign; As Man ere long, and this new world, shall know."

20 The Fortunate Fall Milton wants us to think that everything that happens is for the best: the sin of Adam is redeemed by the sacrifice of the Son. ( ) Is Milton committed to the claim that God foreknows and preordains everything that happens? Is so how can there be room for the free choice exercised by Satan, Eve, and Adam?

21 God: Free to Fall ( ) Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds Prescrib'd, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head. And now, Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light, Directly towards the new created world, And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; For man will hearken to his glozing lies, And easily transgress the sole command, Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault? Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me All he could have; I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the ethereal Powers And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd; Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith or love, Where only what they needs must do appear'd, Not what they would? what praise could they receive? What pleasure I from such obedience paid, When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd, Made passive both, had serv'd necessity, Not me? they therefore, as to right belong'd, So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, As if predestination over-rul'd Their will dispos'd by absolute decree Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew, Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less proved certain unforeknown. So without least impulse or shadow of fate, Or aught by me immutably foreseen, They trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so I form'd them free: and free they must remain, Till they enthrall themselves; I else must change Their nature, and revoke the high decree Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd Their freedom: they themselves ordain'd their fall.

22 God s Eternal Purpose (3.172) Because of their sin of disobedience, Adam and Eve deserve to fall But their guilt is mitigated by Satan s deception, so God shows mercy in the form of grace ( , ) Still, the penalty for sin (death) must be paid ( ). Only the Son is willing to offer himself as a victim, to redeem mankind ( ) The Son s sacrifice makes possible eternal life for those who accept God s grace ( )

23 William Blake, 1808

24 God: A Second Root ( ) "And be thyself Man among men on Earth, Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed, By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam's room 285 The head of all mankind, though Adam's son. As in him perish all men, so in thee, As from a second root, shall be restored As many as are restored, without thee none. His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit, 290 Imputed, shall absolve them who renounce Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, And live in thee transplanted, and from thee Receive new life. So Man, as is most just, Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die, 295 And dying rise, and rising with him raise His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life. So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, Giving to death, and dying to redeem, So dearly to redeem what hellish hate 300 So easily destroyed, and still destroys In those who, when they may, accept not grace."

25 Adam and Eve ( ) Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad In naked majesty seemed lords of all: 290 And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure, (Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,) Whence true authority in men; though both 295 Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed; For contemplation he and valour formed; For softness she and sweet attractive grace; He for God only, she for God in him: His fair large front and eye sublime declared 300 Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad: She, as a veil, down to the slender waist Her unadorned golden tresses wore 305 Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied Subjection, but required with gentle sway, And by her yielded, by him best received, Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, 310 And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay. Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed; Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shame Of nature's works, honour dishonourable, Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind 315 With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure, And banished from man's life his happiest life, Simplicity and spotless innocence!

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27 Adam: Tree of Knowledge ( ) "Sole partner, and sole part, of all these joys, Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power That made us, and for us this ample world, Be infinitely good, and of his good As liberal and free as infinite; 415 That raised us from the dust, and placed us here In all this happiness, who at his hand Have nothing merited, nor can perform Aught whereof he hath need; he who requires From us no other service than to keep 420 This one, this easy charge, of all the trees In Paradise that bear delicious fruit So various, not to taste that only tree Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life; So near grows death to life, whate'er death is, 425 Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou knowest God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree, The only sign of our obedience left, Among so many signs of power and rule Conferred upon us, and dominion given 430 Over all other creatures that possess Earth, air, and sea. Then let us not think hard One easy prohibition, who enjoy Free leave so large to all things else, and choice Unlimited of manifold delights:.."

28 Eve s Submission ( ) My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst Unargued I obey: So God ordains; God is thy law, thou mine: To know no more Is woman's happiest knowledge, and her praise.

29 Satan s Plan ( ) "To you, whom I could pity thus forlorn, 375 Though I unpitied: League with you I seek, And mutual amity, so strait, so close, That I with you must dwell, or you with me Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please, Like this fair Paradise, your sense; yet such Accept your Maker's work; he gave it me, 380 Which I as freely give: Hell shall unfold, To entertain you two, her widest gates, And send forth all her kings; there will be room, Not like these narrow limits, to receive Your numerous offspring; if no better place, 385 Thank him who puts me loth to this revenge On you who wrong me not for him who wronged. And should I at your harmless innocence Melt, as I do, yet publick reason just, Honour and empire with revenge enlarged, 390 By conquering this new world, compels me now To do what else, though damned, I should abhor."

30 Satan: Why Not Knowledge? ( ) "Yet let me not forget what I have gained From their own mouths: All is not theirs, it seems; One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called, Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden 515 Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know? Can it be death? And do they only stand By ignorance? Is that their happy state, The proof of their obedience and their faith? 520 O fair foundation laid whereon to build Their ruin! hence I will excite their minds With more desire to know, and to reject Envious commands, invented with design To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt 525 Equal with Gods: aspiring to be such, They taste and die: What likelier can ensue?"