Course
: M.A. English (Sem-1)
Paper no.:
1- The Renaissance Literature
Topic :
Thematic Study: “Of Man’s First Disobedience”
(Unit-3, Paradise Lost Book-IX:
John Milton)
Roll
no.: 27
Year :
2015-2017
Enrollment
no.: PG15101027
Submitted
to: Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of English
M.K. Bhavnagar
University
vIntroduction of John Milton: (1608-1674)
“Thou soul was like a star and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea-
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free;
So didst thou travel on life’s common way
In cheerful godliness: and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on
her did lay”.
(From
Wordsworth’s “Sonnet on
Milton)
Milton
is the figure that tower conspicuously above the goodly fellowship of man who
has made our literature famous.
Milton
is the poet of steadfast will and purpose, who moves like a god between the
fears and hopes and changing impulses of the world, regarding them as miserable
and momentary things that can never wonder a great soul from its course.
Milton
is like an ideal in the soul, like a lofty mountain on the horizon. We never
attain the ideal; we never climb the mountain. Undoubtedly the noblest of
Milton’s works, written when he was blind and suffering, are “Paradise Lost”, “Paradise Regained”, and
“Samson Agonists”. The first is the
greatest, indeed the only generally acknowledge epic in our literature. Of
these sixty were taken from the Bible, thirty-three from English and five from
Scotch history.
vAbout Paradise Lost:
Paradise
Lost is an epic poem in blank verse in 17th century by English poet-
John Milton.
Paradise
Lost is about Adam and Eve- how they came to be created and how they came to
lose their place in the Garden of Eden, also called Paradise. It is the same
story you find in the first pages of Genesis, expanded by Milton into a very
long, detailed, narrative poem. It also includes the story of the origin of
Satan. Originally, he was called Lucifer, an angel in heaven who led his
followers in a war against God, and was ultimately sent with them to hell.
Thirst for revenge led him to cause man’s downfall by turning into a serpent
and tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
The
Paradise lost is about the man and woman, who breaks the low which made by God
and therefore we can see the fall of man in the Paradise Lost. In this epic
poem, man’s disobedience is the central theme of the poem.
The
pacific beauty of paradise, the sun and planets hang between divine light and
all darkness, are posturized with an imagination that is almost superhuman. The
poem is in this huge picture and in the lofty thought and the marvelous melody
with which they are impressed on our mind.
Paradise
Lost as the dream of a puritan fallen asleep over his Bible, and this
suggestive description leads us to the curious fact that it is the dream, not
the theology or the description of bible scenes.
Thus, Milton describes the separation of earth and water, and
there is little or nothing added to the simplicity and strength of Genesis.
vThematic study: “Of Man’s First Disobedience”:
The
thematic study : “Of Man’s first Disobedience” is a major theme in the Paradise
Lost. “Of Man’s First Disobedience” is start from the book-1. Milton opens
Paradise Lost by poem’s subject of humankind’s first act of disobedience toward
God.
The
first words of Paradise Lost state that the poem’s main theme will be “Man’s
First disobedience”. Milton narrates the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience
and explains how and why it happens.
Here we see some lines in Paradise Lost that start with man’s
disobedience:
“Of Man’s First Disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater man…..”
With these lines, the epic poem “Paradise lost”
begins. Here, Milton presenting his purpose, subject, views, aspirations and
need for guidance of heaven. Milton states that his subject will be the
disobedience of Adam and Eve, whose sin allows death and pain into the world.
Milton’s subject in the Paradise lost was the failure of humankind to live
according to divine order and its slow providential deliverance from the
consequence of the fall.
The
central character Adam and Eve has no heroic destiny. Though his and Eve’s
corruption all humankind is corrupted, and as both are finally oblige to
understand, the spiritual struggle to regain Paradise Lost equity and equality
extend through each generation their descendants. The will of God is imprinted
in the harmony of nature, and disaster of the fall is as ecological as it is
moral. The fall of Adam as a species of gallantry towards his wife, Paradise
Lost insistently attempts to assert to a reader.
In
Milton’s Paradise Lost, God is powerful, they live in heaven, and he creates
man from his own image. They were in Eden Garden and Satan live in hell. They
revolt against the god, he challenges the authority of god so the sent in the
hell. Adam is lesser than Angels; Eve is created as Adam’s partner.
They
were sent on the Paradise in Eden Garden and said that please don’t go near to
this tree of knowledge and forbidden to eat the fruit of knowledge. But they
committed the sin to eat that forbidden fruit. It is in common human nature,
that if someone said that it is forbidden thing than we attract to do that
thing.
Eve
was tempted by Satan because Satan wants to take revenge with god and he knows
very well that if he wants to take revenge with god, he have to harm his
creation. Satan’s temptation Eve ate that apple and for love of Eve, Adam ate
that apple willingly and in conscious manner.
Knowledge makes man more unnatural, when
both eat that apple, they comes know about the good and evil, sexuality and
other things. In Paradise Lost, Milton has used many themes to write further
about the epic, but main theme of Paradise Lost is disobedience of Adam and
Eve. So, we can say that Adam and Eve are the first human to disobey God and
Satan is the first of all God’s creation to disobey.
The crucial moment in the poem is that
disobedience and a breakdown of hierarchy. Eve argues with Adam about whether
they should work together or apart, and Adam gives in to her. The problem here
lies with both humans. Eve should not argue with her superior, Adam. When Eve
eats the fruit, one of her first thoughts is that the fruit “may render me more
equal” to which she quickly adds, “for inferior who is free?”
Her
reasoning, from Milton’s point of view, is incorrect, Freedom comes precisely
from recognizing ones place in the grand scheme and obeying dictates of that
position. By disobeying God, Eve has gained neither equality nor freedom. She
has instead lost paradise and brought sin and death into the world. Likewise,
when Adam also eats the fruit, he disobeys God. Further, he disobeys by
knowingly putting eve ahead of god. Disobedience and disruption of the correct
order result in sin and death.
Finally,
Milton shows example after example of people who ignore he responsibility they
have and try to either raise themselves above god or disobey god’s commands.
The result always the same destruction. So, Milton’s speaker announces that he
wants to be inspired with its scared knowledge because he wants to show his
fellow man the fall of humankind into sin and death was part of god’s greater
plan, and that god’s plan is justified.
vConclusion:
So
we can say that, the thematic study: “Of Man’s First Disobedience”, is describe
very appropriately in the epic poem “Paradise Lost”. It shows us that if we
disobey the God’s low or his command, then we have ready for the punishment .
……Thank You……
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