Edited Original Post: Historical Information

This is a revision of my original post which lacked connections to the text and can be found at: http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/08/individual-post-historical-information.html

As we have established in class, John Milton's life was encompassed by a world filled with politics and religion. Milton lived through four different rulers, a civil war, and the death of some close relatives(supported by Marjorie D.). It is unthinkable to assume that such events play only a minor role in his career as a writer. While reading Paradise Lost, it is important to remember these influences, but also to grasp a better understanding of them.

Living through multiple rulers ad a civil war, John Milton was given ample opportunity to form an opinion on authority. During the rule of King Charles, Charles aimed to unite England Scotland and Ireland into one kingdom. When Parliament advised against such actions, Charles dissolved parliament. This is a clear case of authoritative rule and as a class we have seen multiple examples of Milton resisting such governments. From the beginning the reader sees support for overthrowing a superior power as they listen to Satan’s speeches. (Books 1&2) Milton shows further support for abolishing absolute rule with the set up of a democratic meeting in Book 2.

As political issues began to work themselves out in England, religious views introduced more contempt, and gave way to the Civil War. This war was fought between King Charles (with his Royalist supporters) and Parliament (the Roundheads). Milton’s Paradise Lost obviously stems off of religious background; and I feel that he tries to portray the Civil War in bits of his book. Milton parallels Satan’s role as leader of the revolting angels to that of Oliver Cromwell in opposition to King Charles. Oliver Cromwell started off with a powerful role in Parliament, just as Satan started off with a high status in Heaven. (5.811-12) Once King Charles was defeated and beheaded in 1649 Cromwell became the Lord Protector. Much Like Cromwell, Satan immediately took advantage of a position of power after the fall. (2.451-6)

Milton however was not trying to express rebellion of the church, for he was a very devout Protestant. Milton however sets up the hierarchy of his Heaven with that of England. And Milton, while showing support of revolution for a cause, does not fully reject God’s authoritative power. Milton keeps God as the all-powerful leader; one of the few differences between his real life and the poem.

These are just a few examples of how Milton pulls his real life experiences into his epic poem. And even though freedom of press wasn’t as widely practiced (in fact Milton had to go into hiding around 1659) Milton still published the first version of Paradise Lost in 1667.

** background information taken from class and can also be found at: http://history.boisestate.edu/WESTCIV/english/

Rebecca R.

An In-Between Exists...

Rebecca mentions an interesting statement from Crowley in her blog post:
“For angels, there are no in-between, you were either in Heaven or in Hell.” - Crowley
http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/11/good-omens-character-crowley-similar-to.html

Why can’t there be an in-between? I don’t think Crowley was right in saying that for angels, there is no such thing. Better yet, I think Crowley has yet to realize that there is an in-between, and that he, Aziraphale, and like-minded angels and demons and humans, make up this in-between. This in-between is context-dependent where I feel it is a state of mind, where one cannot be classified as entirely good or entirely evil, but is rather in a state in between the two.

Crowley and Aziraphale have lived long enough on Earth, that they have become like humans, in some way - not entirely good and not entirely evil either -. For example, Crowley still has his devilish fun when he turns the men’s paintball guns into actual real guns with lead bullets while they were at the Manor. But he grants them miraculous escapes. Not everyone can amazingly and miraculously dodge lead bullets and expect to be unharmed. A kind of intervention has to take place, and this is where Crowley comes in to make sure that no one is fatally harmed in the process. (107). “Underneath it all, Crowley was an optimist.” (304) He believed that he will come out on top, even with Hell chasing after him and Heaven looking down upon him. Crowley, a devil, is in the in-between. He is neither good nor evil. Even further, Aziraphale acknowledges that Crowley, despite being a demon, still has some measure of the innate goodness from which he once was.
He [Aziraphale] smiled at Crowley.
“I’d just like to say,” he said, “if we don’t get out of this, that... I’ll have known, deep down inside, that there was a spark of goodness in you.” (370)

Aziraphale knows that there is some spark of goodness in Crowley, and that the choices he chooses to make, stem from both areas of good and evil. It cannot be simplified or categorized to a person being either good or evil.
The same goes, vice versa. For Aziraphale, Crowley confirms how he isn’t all good either, despite being an angel.
“Just remember I’ll have known that, deep down inside, you [Aziraphale] were just enough of a bastard to be worth liking.” (371)

Obviously, Crowley is able to bond with Aziraphale, perhaps on the basis of him being the only other being around for millions of years, but also, maybe because he sees a definite not-so-good-quality about Aziraphale, where is able to find a connection with.

This all comes down to that no one, no matter what side they are from, each innately possesses a sure and certain amount of evil and good.

I think the same goes in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Satan, despite choosing evil, still questions his purpose in choosing evil. In Book IV, as he sees Paradise and witnesses Eve and Adam’s happiness, he doubts whether the path he’s chosen was the right thing to do. He has to constantly remind himself that he’s chosen evil and that there is no turning back. This means that he still possessed an innate goodness in him, that he dispels and refuses to acknowledge.
In a strong sense of fideism as Kenneth Gross uses the term, everyone, humans, devils, and angels, possess the free will to choose a path, good or evil, for themselves, regardless if others consider them to be on Heaven’s side (good) or Hell’s side, which is evil.

This leads me to believe that Crowley and Aziraphale are neither good nor evil. Humans can’t also be classified as either one. Therefore, they and others who think like them, are the in-betweens.

Feel free to comment!

- Marjorie D.

Pratchett, Terry and Neil Gaiman. Good Omens. New York: Harper Torch, 1990

A Different Take on Paradise Lost

While browsing through you-tube, i came across a little skit based on Paradise Lost. I can't seem to get the video to embed, but you can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jE2FgIkGlE&feature=related.

Initially, as I watched this video, I took it as little more than a general representation of the basics of Paradise Lost. But as I watched for a second time, I started to like it more. Besides the fact that the little clay people are just plain cute, I liked the simplicity of the video. Milton uses complex language to get his ideas across, and the symbols that he has strewn throughout the poem sometimes take several readings to even notice. Although the video only tackles a small part of the poem, mainly the creation and fall of man, I thought that the creator of the video did an excellent job breaking down the basic emotions provoked within Paradise Lost, and representing them in a way that is easy for nearly anyone to understand. Overall, I'm sure this video was made only for entertainment purposes, but as a reader of Paradise Lost, it was nice for someone to make Milton simple for once.

-Sheryl W

Expansion of "Good Omen's Quote Confusion"

As I continued to read through Good Omens, I stumbled across a couple quotes that I felt strengthened  the posts of Kellie and I. For anyone wanting to revisit these posts here are the links:

Kellie's original post:

http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/11/good-omens-quote-confusion.html

My response post:

http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/11/in-response-to-kellys-post-good-omens.html

After Aziraphale finds Agnes Nutter's book, he sits down and reads it to discover he knows the location of the Antichrist. Aziraphale struggles between  who he should tell, Crowley or Heaven.

He ought to tell Crowley.

No, he didn't. He wanted to tell Crowley. He ought to tell Heaven.

He was an angel, after all. You had to do the right thing. It was built in. (p.240)

As we discussed in class, Aziraphale and Crowley have a sort of friendship growing because they both have been around for so long. And this connection that they have gets in the way of what they should do and what they want to do. For Aziraphale, telling Crowley seems natural(especialy since they were both working to find the Antichrist); but telling Heaven is what he knows is right. This idea of what is right is what pulls at Aziraphale, and he gives in to this "built in" part of himself. He almost has no control over it, telling Heaven seems so automatic that Aziraphale doesnt even have enough time to warn Crowley of Heaven's plans.

It is here where Aziraphale rely's n the natural way of things. That is, the common belief that Heaven is good and Hell is Bad. He says:

because everyone knew Heaven would win in the end, and Crowley would be able to understand. (p.240)

This once again sets the ground of what should and will be done. The fact that everyone "knew"

heaven would win shows the automatic nature of the results of such a  battle. It doesn't even require thinking, because who would doubt such a result? Its all a matter of what is "built in."

Rebecca R.

"Remembering" the Future

““Its memory, you see.” Said Anathema. “It works backward as well as forwards. Racial memory, I mean.”

            Newt gave her a polite but blank look.

        “What I’m trying to say,” she said patiently, “is that Agnes didn’t see the future. That’s just a metaphor. She remembered it.”” (Good Omens, p.225)

This quote got me thinking about God in Paradise Lost. More specifically, I started thinking about how He reacts to the fall. We know that God knows what’s going to happen in both the future, and what has already happened in the past. In book 3, we see that God is well aware that Satan is heading towards Earth I order to try to deceive man and ruin God’s plan. However, God does nothing, and allows Satan to continue with his plan. I wonder if this is because God could be “remembering” a memory, and that is why he knows what is going to happen. It makes me wonder if God knows everything in the future because he is “remembering” all of these memories, and for him to intervene would have too much of a drastic change on the world.

Where would we be without the fall? Still living in a happy paradise? Would we still be oblivious to harmful things? And what would test our loyalty to Him? We have discussed over and over again that Milton used Paradise Lost to “explain the works of God to man.” But I think there is no explaining. How can one fathom an explanation of God’s actions. Why God didn’t intervene when he had the chance is just as much of a mystery as how our lives would be had Satan not tempted Eve. I think this could be because he is simply looking back on time while the rest of us are going forward.

            I am not elevating Agnes Nutter to the status of God, I just feel that her way of prophesizing is similar to Gods, that is if she is remembering an event. For her, she seems to have written down events, and while they aren’t in a concrete order, they are very accurate. For her to be “remembering” memories seems quite odd, but then again she seemed odd for her time anyway. Is this because maybe she didn’t fit in with that time period? The idea of her remembering events seems to mean that she was more suited for a later time period, one where people already knew what happened.

            I guess it’s just a little strange for me to think of memory working forwards. I always knew that when you have a memory your recalling information, but to have a memory predicting events seems odd, and definitely uncommon. But I also would like to add that this helps me put together a reason for God knowing about the fall. I believe that He could have been “remembering” the future in a way that the rest of the world couldn’t.

 

Rebecca R.

Adam and Newt: both overwhelmed by a woman's beauty

  When Newt gets into an accident in Good Omens, he is brought to Jasmine cottage where he wakes up to Anathema watching over him. As the two of them interact, Newt refers to her beauty and the fact that she’s a woman multiple times. He tells the reader of her physical features and scent of perfume (p.210;217) As Newt listens to Anathema about the prophecies, he begins to wonder if any of this is real, and how Agnes Nutter could have predicted these events. The only thing he seemed sure of was that he “was in a room with a very attractive woman” and “I short, whatever Newt was now thinking with, it wasn’t his brain.” (p.228)

This idea that he wasn’t thinking with his brain reminded me of Adam in Paradise Lost. Over and Over again, the reader sees Adam in awe of Eve’s beauty, and much like Newt, not thinking with his brain. One instance occurs as Raphael visits. Adam proclaims to Raphael:

Her loveliness so absolute she seems

And In herself complete so well to know

Her own that what she wills to do or say

Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, est.

All higher knowledge in her presence falls

Degraded. Wisdom in discurse with her

Loses discount’nanced and like folly show

Authority and Reason on her wait. (8. 547-54)

Both Newt and Adam seem to disregard their orders, as they become overwhelmed by the beauty of these women. For Newt, he was supposed to be a witchhunter. Fr him to wake up in a witch’s house, and sit down with her, only to be mesmerized by the physical appearance of Anathema. For Adam, he becomes so overwhelmed by Eve’s appearance that it actually brings upon his fall. Adam is so obsessed with Eve that he is willing to eat the fruit because “all higher knowledge in her presence falls”(8.551)Adam disobeys God’s rules, because he loses all ability to reason when Eve is around him.

  I know how Adam ends up, Eve’s beauty still an overwhelming force after the fall. Adam, after being upset, still praises Eve’s beauty. I’m not sure how Newt ends up, but I think it will be interesting to see if he disobeys because of Anathema’s beauty.

 

Rebecca R.

A Response to Perfection

This post is in response to Marjorie’s post that summarized and commented on Kenneth Gross’ "From Satan and the Romantic Satan: A Notebook" (http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/11/kenneth-gross-from-satan-and-romantic.html).

In Marjorie's post, she makes the claim that "perfection is boring!!!" This may indeed be a very true statement, but I am not sure that I agree with the context that it is being used in. Marjorie is making the claim that Satan is an exciting and relatable character because of his shortcomings, and that God is not as exciting because he is perfect. Now I could be wrong in my assessment, but I don't think that God is less exciting due to the fact that he knows everything. In fact, I sometimes find that I am more intrigued by God's knowledge of the future, and the way that he generally seems to make things look as though they are just happening, when the reader is aware that God is actually responsible for everything that happens in the universe. Perhaps it's just me, but I always feel that there is a lot more involved in God's decision making than is let on, and it's the readers job to not just take the text as literal, but instead make our own inferences.

I will leave it up to you to decide if God is simply a one-dimensional character who can go without little analysis, or if he is actually just as complex as Satan.

-Sheryl W