The Use of Figurative Language in John Milton's Paradise Lost (Research Paper Sample)

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The Use of Figurative Language in John Milton’s Paradise Lost
Introduction
The background of John Milton’s upbringing, particularly his education, the political and religious climate in 17th century England, played a key role in influencing the themes he advances in Paradise Lost (Kean 6). During his youth, Milton traveled to Rome, where he gained his philosophical perspective on religion, politics, and life in general. This influence is visible throughout Paradise Lost, where he raises philosophical questions about the justification of God’s actions to man, or Satan’s rebellion against what he perceived as God’s tyranny. Similarly, the English civil war of 1939 that saw the overthrow and execution of King Charles I may have provided the context for his view on divine and political authority. The rebellion against monarchial authority on the ground that the king was inept and undeserving to rule extends to Satan’s rebellion against God. On his part, Satan argued that angels begot of themselves (through self-procreation) and, therefore, God had no right to demand allegiance from them. It is possible, therefore, that the civil war in England and knowledge in philosophy was the contextual backdrop against which Milton wrote Paradise Lost. The narrative reveals Milton’s opposition to institutional authority, which he argued corrupted those in powers and their subjects in equal measure (Kean 9). This provides a basis for an alternative interpretation of Paradise Lost. The first interpretation is the viewing of man’s disobedience to God as a tragic event that removes man from God’s grace. As a result, he loses the privilege of the happy life he had in the Garden of Eden; man surrenders the right to paradise and all its glory. The alternative interpretation arising from Milton’s anti-institutional stance is the idea that the fall was a necessary step towards a larger good. Adam’s disobedience allowed mankind to exercise free will and seek salvation through conscious repentance, which strengthened his relationship with God than before. Adam expresses this view at the end of the poem, where he says that his disobedience was a felix culpa, “a happy fault” that resulted in a greater good for mankind (XI. 88-89). In his pre-fall state, man was innocent, and his obedience to man could not be said to be resulting from willful subservience. Milton suggests that institutional authorities, like that established in heaven by God and on earth by monarchs, suppresses people’s free will. It is desirable, therefore, that institutional authorities should be defied to allow the individual contemplate about their relationship with their masters. Only then will they be able to forge a meaningful relationship based on free will.
In addition, his divorce my have informed Milton’s conception of mutual relationships like marriage. Whereas the institutional establishments of the time like the church condemned divorce, Milton believed that it was necessary where the parties involved were not compatible to each other, both physically and intellectually. In this light, Milton treats man’s disobedience and fall from God’s grace as a necessary divorce that allowed mankind to contemplate his doomed fate. The result of this contemplation is that man was able to connect with God at a conscious level (free will), which Milton considers a better relationship than the one centered on innocence and ignorance in his pre-fall state (Bizik 19).
Another visible influence on Milton’s writing of Paradise Lost is the patriarchal culture of his time. His social commentary on women’s proper role in marriage reflects the patriarchal values dominant in 17th century England. He makes biblical allusions suggesting that women and men are not equals. In Book IV, Milton portrays Eve’s naivety and dependence on Adam to emphasize the idea that God meant for women to be men’s subordinates in marriage. The condition of women in patriarchal societies, such as lack of educational opportunities reflected the notion that women did not need knowledge in the same level as men. The only knowledge they needed was what society deemed sufficient to enable them perform their domestic duties. However, Milton defies the conventional wisdom of his time that women were utterly inferior and essentially evil creatures. His portrayal of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden shows that man and woman should complement each other, although the man retains his position as the figurehead of the union.
In advancing these thematic concerns, Milton employs the creative use of language to convey ideas. In particular, the use of figures of speech, also known as figurative language, is prominent throughout the poem. Figurative language is the literacy technique of presenting ideas and meaning in layered language. This means using language to convey bigger ideas and a deeper meaning than the literal reference of the words used. This involves the use of smiles, irony, metaphors, symbols and images to represent and give emphasis to ideas. Accordingly, an understanding of Paradise Lost is, to a large extent, tied to the ability to identify and interpret figures of speech appropriately. This paper analyses Milton’s use of figurative language to convey thematic concerns in Paradise Lost.
Discussion
The first evidence of Milton’s use of figurative language is the choice of the epic’s title. The phrase “paradise lost” refers to Adam and Eve’s loss of Paradise and the right to eat of its fruits. It signifies the fall from God’s grace as a consequence of their eating the Forbidden Fruit, against God’s command. Through this disobedience, Adam and Eve had lost the privilege of living in the Garden of Eden and enjoying its fruits. In a larger sense, “paradise lost” may refer to the severing of the relationship between man and God. Man’s relationship to God was the one aspect that made him unique from all other creatures. In his schemes to orchestrate the fall of man, Satan is angered that God had created Man, who he treasured above al other creatures. This relationship, whereby man was favored by God more than the rest of His creation, symbolizes the paradise that Satan envies and embarks to destroy.
Another image associated with paradise lost is the concept of falling. The “Fall of Man” suggests not only his fall from God’s grace, but also from the purity of his innocence at creation (Bloom and Hobby 116). The idea of falling occurs throughout the poem, suggesting the importance of the major theme that Milton advances in Paradise Lost; the consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. However, the fall is not only literal, as evidenced by Satan and his rebellious angels’ plunging hell, but also moral degeneration as a result of evil. Satan, the author of evil, has fallen morally from God’s grace, as a result of which the punishment he receives (being banished from heaven) is justified. To fall, therefore, is to sin or go against God’s will. Satan recognizes his fallen state and mobilizes his legion of angelic rebels by crying out: “Awake, arise, or be forever fallen” (I. 330). In this regard, Milton advances the idea that Satan and mankind have lost the moral high ground as a result of their disobedience to God. For Satan and his legion, they will remain fallen- away from the heavenly glory, unless they mount a counter attack. For mankind, however, it would take God’s grace and man’s sincere repentance to regain his lost paradise and relationship with God.
The reference to “free fall” suggests the role of free will in alienating mankind from God. In this reference, Milton seeks to argue that mankind is solely responsible for his fallen state; he loses his right to Paradise by his own volition, having exercised his free will to disobey God (Bizik 19). This position departs from the dominant 17th century religious views regarding salvation. The Anglican and Catholic faiths, against which Milton rebelled, held that man’s destiny was preordained. The implication of this position was that it is not within man’s power to resist temptation or determine his salvation. On the contrary, God allowed man to sin by subjecting him to temptation. Similarly, God compensated for his negligence through His grace, without which man cannot find salvation. However, Milton advances the idea that the fall of mankind was a self-afflicted misfortune. He quotes in Book III where He says of man’s disobedience that He had created Adam “Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall" (3.95-96). In the case of Satan’s fallen state, Milton says that "headlong themselves they threw/ Down from the verge of Heav'n" (6.864-865). In this regard, Milton seeks to emphasize the role of free will in the fall and redemption of mankind. When Milton says in the introduction to Book I that he intends to justify God’s ways to mankind, he wants to show that man disobeys God willingly, thus justifying God’s punishment. In this way, he likens man’s fall to that of the rebellious angels. Moreover, free will keeps Satan from repenting and seeking God’s forgiveness, when he reasons with himself that even if he were to be forgiven, he could not bear to submit himself to God’s authority. Instead, he consoles himself that he will make his own heaven in hell, saying that “The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a heaven of Hell, a hell of Heaven” (I. 254-255). By alluding to the mind’s power to make a heaven out of hell, or a hell out of heaven, Satan suggests that he is responsible for his actions and their consequences. At another le...