经典分析弥尔顿--失乐园分析

At the center of the conflict between human love and spiritual duty lies Milton’s fundamental concern with freedom and choice; the freedom to submit to God's prohibition on eating the apple and the choice of disobedience made for love. Eve, seduced by Satan’s rhetoric and her own confused ambition falls into sin through innocent credulity. Adam falls by consciously choosing human love rather than obeying God. This is the error wherein his greatness lies. In the fall of man Adam discovered his full humanity. But man's fall is the sequel to another and more stupendous tragedy, the fall of the angels. By lifting his argument to that plane, Milton raises the problem of evil in a more intractable form. Milton held that God created all things out of Himself, including evil. There was evil in Heaven before Satan rebelled: Pride, Lust, Wrath, and Avarice were there.
• The first character to move is Satan, who begins by speaking to Beelzebub;
• Starts to sort of rally his troops.
3). Themes: a revolt against God’s authority
John Milton(1608—1674 )
He remained outside both Donne’s and Jonson’s influence
Paradise Lost takes its place in western literature
along with Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aneid《伊尼伊德》, and Dante’s Divine Comedy and in English literature with Beowulf and Spenser’s
3). Milton’s works of old age
a. Paradise Lost b. Paradise Regained c. Samson Agonistes
5. Paradise Lost (1667)
1). Overview of Paradise Lost
__ Milton’s masterpiece. __ A long epic in 12 books. __ taken from the Old Testament. __ Major characters: Satan, God, Archangel, Adam, Eve… __ It is about Satan’s rebellion against God and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
b. L’Allegro《快乐的人》 twin lyrical poems Penseroso《幽思的人》 Rhyme: abbacdeec
c. Comus 《科玛斯》a mask假面剧, in blank verse d. Lycidas 《利西达斯》, expressing the
pathos(哀颂)of his friend Edward King’s premature death
2). Works of his adult years:
a. pamphlets on us reform Of Reformation in England《论英国改革》
b. pamphlets on marriage and divorce: Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
3). Censor and editor of the Commonwealth
paper, Mercurius Politicu in 1651. Latin Defense of the People of England.
4). Totally blind in 1652 and imprisoned for a short time after the restoration and then retired to private life.
– 1649-1653: Commonwealth – 1653-1658: Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell – 1660: Restoration (of King Charles II)
ton’s Religion
1). Milton believed that each individual Christian should be his own church, without any establishment to encumber him.
Fairie Queene.
1. John Milton's Times
• 1642-1649: English Civil War – King/Anglican Clergy vs. Parliament (dominated by Puritans)
• Protestant Revolution (Death of King Charles I) • 1649-1660: No British King
4. Milton’s literary career
• 1625-1640: short poems: L’Allegro and Il Penseroso (1632), Comus (1634, 宴会欢乐之 神), and Lycidas (1638)
• 1640-1660: pamphlets and tracts:
《离婚的戒律与学说》
c. Areopagitica 《论出版自由 》 a prose work for the freedom of the press
d. Defence of the English People 《为英国人民声辩》 — A pamphlet against the divine right of the king. — People made the king, so the king should do everything for the people.
2). In his later years, Milton came to view all organized Christian churches, whether Anglican, Catholic or Presbyterian, as an obstacle to true faith.
e. The Second Defence of the English People 《再为英国人民声辩》
— An answer to the productions against the Commonwealth. — Fight for the liberty of the nations in the world and recover their lost liberty.
Paradise Lost – Leading Up to the Beginning
• At the beginning of poem, war in Heaven has been over for two weeks;
• For nine days, Satan and those who fought God alongside him have been lying in Hell, stunned at the outcome;
At the exaltation of the Son these forces erupted and were cast forth. But God suffered them to escape from Hell and infect the Earth. And then the tragedy was reenacted, but with a difference — “Man shall find grace”. But he must lay hold of it by an act of free-will. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton's creed. His poem attempts to convince us that the unquestionable truth of Biblical revelation means that an all-knowing God was just in allowing Adam and Eve to be tempted and, of their free will, to choose sin and its inevitable punishment. And, thereby, it opens the way for the voluntary sacrifice of Christ, which showed the mercy of God in bringing good out evil.
2). The Story of Paradise Lost
• The creation • The rebellion of Satan and his fellow angels • Their defeat and expulsion from Heaven • Creation of the earth and of Adam and Eve • Satan in hell plotting against God • Satan’s temptation of Eve • Departure of Adam and Eve from Eden
Areopagitica (1644《论出版自由》); The Defense of the English People (1650); The 2nd Defense of the English People (1650). • 1660-1674: Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and Samson Agonistes
(1671).
1). Milton’s Works of His Early Days
Poems written in Cambridge and at Horton:
a. On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity 《基督诞
生晨颂》, first important work
doctrinedivorce离婚的戒律与学说areopagitica论出版自由proseworkenglishpeople为英国人民声辩pamphletagainstdivinerightpeoplemadekingsokingshoulddoeverythingseconddefenceenglishpeopleproductionsagainstlostlibertymiltonsworksoldageparadiselostparadiseregainedsamsonagonistesparadiselost1667paradiselostmiltonsmasterpiecelongepic12bookstakenfromoldtestamentmajorcharacters
3. His revolutionary career
1). Pamphleteering in the cause of religious and civil liberty in 1641-60.
2). Appointed Latin Secretary to Cromwell’s Council of State in 1649.