Unit Five: The Other Restoration

~Lesson Seven~

1. Finishing Paradise Lost

2. The Philosophers

Surprised by Sin

Stanley Fish’s Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost, Berkeley: U California P, 1971 very much controlled how the poem has been read for the past 30 years.

"I. Not so much a Teaching as an Intangling: 1. The Defects of Our Hearers.

I would like to suggest something about Paradise Lost that is not new except for the literalness with which the point will be made:

(1) the poem's centre of reference is its reader who is also its subject;

(2) Milton's purpose is to educate the reader to an awareness of his position and responsibilities as a fallen man, and to a sense of the distance which separates him from the innocence once his;

(3) Milton's method is to re-create in the mind of the reader (which is, finally, the poem's scene) the drama of the Fall, to make him fall again exactly as Adam did and with Adam's troubled clarity, that is to say, 'not deceived'" (1).

Book Nine

Start at line 193First thing we should do in the morning is

pray.

Role of Work

As we go the following section, notice the role of work in paradise.

Milton has made Adam and Eve very aware of the Puritan ideal of work.

Even though they are in paradise, they still have work to do. Not my idea of paradise!

Eve’s Suggestion

In ll 214ff, Eve suggests they split up and work separately for the morning.

This is a bad idea, and of course, it’s Eve’s.

I often wonder how such a flawed creature as Eve came to Paradise. But it seems that Milton is saying that Eve is lower than Adam, hence men.

Adam’s Reply

Lines 235ff, Adam explains work in Paradise

Then from 251ff, we see him fearing Satan

We learn that Adam knows that Satan is jealous

Image of Marriage

We see the roles of man and woman:Lines 267-69:

The wife, where danger or dishonour lurks, Safest and seemliest by her husband stays, Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.

Eve’s Pride

In lines 273ff, we again see an example of Eve’s pride, which is a sin.

She thinks that she can withstand Satan, even though she’s been warned he’s their mortal enemy.

Adam’s Wisdom

Adam points out that Satan has been able to seduce the angels. What chance do humans have? (ll307-8)

He tells Eve that together they are stronger than alone.

He admits that he rises to the occasion if she’s there. Chivalric picture of manhood.

Eve’s Faulty Logic

In lines 327-41, Eve gives the argument that if she and Adam must be afraid of Satan while in Eden, then it can’t be paradise.

She calls their happiness “frail”. How right she is. Soon their happiness is over.

Free Will

Adam has some very important lines about free will, ll 351-2: But God left free the will; for what obeys Reason is free; and reason he made right,

Admitting Eve’s Free Will

In the section where Adam says, “yes, you have free will, too, so go,” is very interesting.

Note the odd sentence structure. If you listen to it, it sounds broken and

jumpy. You can “hear” Adam’s unhappiness.

Lines 372-75

Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more. Go in thy native innocence; rely On what thou hast of virtue; summon all; For God towards thee has done his part; do thine.

Narrator’s Commentary

Lines 403-06, we see the narrator interrupting the story to interject his own thoughts. Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve

Example of Imagery

The poem is full of lovely images and parallels.

One example: ll 430-34Eve props up the weaker blossoms that

need support, while ignoring the fact that she is like them--weaker and in need of Adam’s support.

Satan Sees Eve

In lines 455ff, Satan first sees Eve, and he’s disarmed by her beauty. That space the evil one abstracted stood From his own evil, and for the time remained Stupidly good, of enmity disarmed Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge,

Eve Can’t Understand Satan

In her arguments to Adam, Eve posits that Satan wouldn’t be so lacking in pride that he would attack the weaker of the two (her)

In lines 484-85, Satan tells us that of course he’s going to go after the weaker one first.

Satan as Phallic Symbol

In lines 495ff, Satan as serpent is described in phallic terms: circular base of rising folds cresting aloft

We’re told his shape is pleasingThen we are told of mythological figures

who used the shape of a snake to seduce women

Satan Addresses Eve

In lines 532ff, Satan addresses Eve in what is basically a love sonnet.

He uses characteristics of the Petrarchan sonnet.

This is also a comment on what Milton thought of Petrarchan conceits.

Eve’s Fall

Starts at line 779Full of sexual imageryShe enjoys her sin on an almost sexual

level.

Eve Learns Deceit

In lines 817-18, we see Eve learning to be sly: But to Adam in what sort Shall I appear?

Women = Danger

In lines 831-32 we learn that after the Fall, the love of a woman is dangerous for a man: So dear I love him, that with him all deaths I could endure, without him live no life

So she’s going to bring Adam down with her.

Adam’s Love for Eve

In lines 910ff, Adam tells us that because he loves Eve so much, he can’t bear to see her destroyed.

He decides to eat the apple and be damned with her

He’d rather die with her than live without her. Noble sentiments, but boy, what a mistake!

Sex Turns Foul

Once both have eaten the forbidden fruit, lust springs up and sex turns foul.

But it is sex that seals them in damnation.Remember, sex isn’t inherently bad. It’s a

gift. But Lust and carnal desires, products of the Fall, are bad.

Negative Emotions

Lines 1123ff we see the negative emotions brought on by the fall: high passions anger hate mistrust suspicion discord

Adam Blames Eve

In lines 1133ff, Adam blames Eve for the fall, and now regrets his choice.

But he seems to have forgotten that it was truly his choice.

Book 10--Back to Hell

In Book 10, Satan triumphantly returns to Hell

He announces victory to the fallen angels: Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers!

Interesting how he addresses them,

Victory Turns to Curse

In a lovely section starting line 503, all the devils turn into hissing snakes

The rest of the passage we read is a great scene of all the devils writhing around the floor of Hell.

God can reach them even there. He is omnipotent.

Did I Forget the Rest of 10?

Looking at my notes, I’m wondering if I covered the second half of book 10 in the lecture.

If I forgot, pick out 2-3 key passages. What do you think is the importance of this section?

Book 12--They Leave Eden

Lines 562ff contain a very important moral: Henceforth I learn that to obey is best, And love with fear the only God, to walk As in his presence, ever to observe His providence, and on him sole depend, Merciful over all his works, with good Still overcoming evil, and by small Accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak Subverting worldly-strong and worldly-wise By simply meek;

Eve Affirms Traditional View

In line 622, Eve accepts the blame: though all by me is lost

John Locke (1632-1704)

"The Philosopher of Freedom."

"Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided."

BackgroundBy training a medical doctor, and sometimes

practised. In 1666 treated the first Earl of Shaftesbury

(Achitophel). Immediate effect on Locke's career.

became a member of Shaftesbury's household saved Shaftesbury’s life through surgery arranged a suitable marriage for his heir delivered the grandchild born of the match directed the nursing and education the child

-- later the third Earl of Shaftesbury--great influence

Royal Academy Member

Admitted 1668He knows the scientists he mentions in

the essay.

He’s read them and learned from them.

He may have been a medical doctor by training, but certainly not by inclination.

He had a very broad-based knowledge.

Empiricism

To an empiricist, all validity in knowledge must be a result of experience. An empiricist is one who subscribes to the notion that knowledge comes to us through experience. There is no such thing as innate ideas; there is no such thing as moral precepts; we are born with an empty mind, a soft tablet ready to be writ upon by experimental impressions.

Con’t...

Thus, empiricism opposes the rationalist belief in the existence of innate ideas. This is a doctrine basic to the scientific method. Certain philosophers would call themselves empiricists though claiming that there are certain a priori truths (e.g., principles of mathematics and logic); but, it is better thought (see John Stuart Mill ) that even the most sacred "a priori truths" are generalizations deduced from experience.

Rationalism

The rationalists were of the view that mind is superior to the matter which makes up the human body. "Rene Descartes, the rationalist, employing the deductive method, reduces all to that for which the mind can vouch, irrespective of experience." (Henry Alphern, An Outline History of Philosophy (Forum House, 1969) p. 124) A rationalist is to be distinguished from an empiricist, who approaches a subject by induction.

“What is the nature and ultimate significance of the universe?”

Basic question asked by philosophers is: "what is the nature and ultimate significance of the universe?"

As things developed in philosophy, three camps emerged: Idealists, who hold reality subsists only in thought;

Materialists, who hold reality to subsist in only matter

Dualists who hold that reality subsists both in thought and in matter.

Locke is Dualist. Barely

Ultimately, in his acceptance of the existence of God, Locke was a dualist -- though only barely so.

He did not consider man to be a divine creature fixed with ideas on coming into this world.

Locke was an empiricist, all knowledge comes to us through experience. "No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience."

Locke’s Thoughts:

There is no such thing as innate ideas; there is no such thing as moral precepts (What is moral is what advances our sense of well being. Our guide posts are the signals of pain on the one side, and pleasure on the other. We experience pain and we learn about that which is evil; we experience pleasure and we learn about that which is good.); we are born with an empty mind, with a soft tablet (tabula rasa) ready to be writ upon by experimental impressions.

Tabula Rasa

Beginning blank, the human mind acquires knowledge through the use of the five senses and a process of reflection.

Not only has Locke's empiricism been a dominant tradition in British philosophy, but it has been a doctrine which with its method, experimental science, has brought on scientific discoveries ever since.

The Essay

Locke's interest centers on traditional philosophical topics: the nature of the self the world God

and the grounds of our knowledge of them. We reach these questions only in the fourth and last

book of the Essay. The first three books are preliminary, though they

have an importance of their own.

Mary Astell

Very realistic view of marriage during her time period

Reasons Men Marry

Money - bad reason“Love” - also a bad reason, as she sees it

as equal to “love of beauty”. Wit is also desparaged

Women Can’t Choose

Can only choose to say yes or noThis lets them off the hook a bit

Women Need Better Education

Women need to learn what men really want from them In Astell’s view, this is nothing good

Women need to go into marriage with their eyes open.