As I Lay Dying was the fifth novel by William Faulkner that was published in 1930. Like ‘The Sound and The Fury’, it is also a story of a South American family on the verge of decay. Faulkner employed the stream of consciousness technique to tell the story of the Bundren family of Yoknapatawpha County (fictional) of Jefferson, Mississippi. The story is depicted through 15 characters in 59 chapters of varying length.
Most of the chapters are narrated by the family members though some chapters are narrated by other characters like neighbors, a doctor, local farmers, and a minister. The novel has a very intimate tone while Faulkner presented the story from 15 different points of view narrated by 15 different characters. Darl Bundren is the central character. While many Bundren family members offer interior monologues in the novel, Darl’s monologues are most distinct, clear, and intellectually superior. This novel is considered one of the best of the 20th century.
Characters of As I Lay Dying
Addie Bundren is the matriarch head of the Bundren family who is terminally ill and about to die. She is the wife of Anse Bundren and mother of Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman.
Anse is a poor selfish farmer afflicted with a hunchback. He is the father of all kids of Addie except Jewel’s. Cash Bundren is a skilled carpenter, eldest son of Addie. He is in his late twenties. He shows a strong attachment to his carpenter tools. Darl Bundren is the second son of Addie. He appears to be the most articulate character with high emotional intelligence. He alone narrates 19 chapters out of a total 59.
Jewel Bundren is the third son of Addie, a grown-up youth probably 19 years old. He is the favorite son of Addie, an illegitimate child of Addie, and Reverend Whitfield, a local minister. However, it is a well-kept secret and it appears that only Addie and Whitfield know about this. Dewey Dell Bundren is the fourth child and only daughter of Addie and Anse. She is seventeen years old. A local farmer Lafe impregnates her and gives her $10 to abort the child. Vardaman Bundren is the youngest child of Addie, around 8 years old. He is not mentally sound.
Vernon Tull is a local farmer, a good person with less religious inclination than his wife Cora Tull. Eula Tull and Kate Tull are the two daughters of Vernon and Cora. Peabody is a local doctor. Samson is a farmer of Jefferson, Mississippi who lets the Bundren family stay at his house. Rachel is Samson’s wife. All 15 characters offer their point of view of the incidences depicted in the novel.
Summary of As I Lay Dying
In the beginning, Addie is alive but she is terminally ill and knows that she won’t live for long. Addie is a frustrated person. Despite being the matriarch head of the Bundren family, she always felt as if she was unloved and unwanted by her family and she resents this. She wants to make herself count anyhow and thus she gets involved in an extramarital affair and gives birth to Jewel an illegitimate child. Though nobody is aware of her affair, her frustration keeps building up. She has a nihilistic thought that life is nothing but an extended preparation for death and that is what she prepares for. She holds no love for her husband or any of her children except Jewel. She asks her family to fulfill her death wish which is to be buried at Jefferson after her death. Her only motive for this wish is to somehow trouble her husband and thus, take revenge on Anse for tricking him with words. Addie plans all this while saying Anse "would never know I was taking revenge."
Cash is the calmest son of Addie and despite her negligence, he loves her mother. He is a skilled carpenter and decides to create an impressive coffin for her. He works on the coffin outside the window of the room where she lies dying. Anse sends Darl and Jewel on a lumber shipping job so that they may earn some money that will help the family for the funeral. Darl doesn’t want to go as he knows that it will mean that he and his brother wont be at their mother’s side when she dies. However, he decides to go as the family needs money. During their trip, they meet an accident and are forced to turn back home. But Addie dies before they return.
Cash completes the coffin and the family arranges for the funeral. After the funeral, Darl and Jewel go back to the job to earn some money to fulfill the last wish of their mother. The family sets off to Jefferson with the coffin after they return. Addie’s last wish was to be buried at Jefferson where she took birth. Anse's motivating reason to go to Jefferson, however, is to get fitted for new teeth and, if possible, find a new wife. Two other sons, Darl and Jewel, struggle both with their mother's death and their own mental health. Darl is perceptive and insightful but taunts others mercilessly, while Jewel knows how to express love and affection only through violence because his mother sought violence when she conceived him during an affair with a preacher. Dewey Dell accompanies them. She is a simple young woman who is incapable of forming deep, logically sequenced thoughts, is pregnant and in a hurry to get to Jefferson for an abortion. She is just 17 years old and was tricked by a local farmer Lafe who gave her $10 to abort the child. The youngest son Vardaman is mentally retarded. He is around 8 years old and he confuses his mother with the fish he catches on the day she dies.
It is a hot wet season and suddenly a storm hits out at Jefferson while the Bundren family is on the journey with the coffin. It has been a few days when Addie died and her body start deteriorating, creating a foul smell. The family travels in a wagon and faces many difficulties due to bad heavy rain weather. Anse continues to stubbornly reject help offered by others while claiming he wishes to "be beholden to no man," thus manipulating the would-be lender into giving him charity as a gift not to be repaid. The family is often forced to remain hungry and sleeps in barns as Anse continues to reject any assistance including meals or lodging.
Jewel had a horse that Anse sold against his wishes to get new mules for the wagon. He thinks of leaving the family but decides not to leave them in such a time of tribulation during the journey. As the family wagon crosses the bridge to Jefferson, the mighty river washes off a part of the bridge and the coffin starts going down the river. Cash heroically tries to save the coffin as his most prized carpenter tools were attached to a side of it. While Cash fails to catch the coffin, his tools fall back in the river and he breaks one of his legs while trying to save them. Two of the new mules are also lost during the ordeal. Meanwhile, Jewel saves the coffin in time. As the body further deteriorates, it creates a horrific stench and the sheriff of Mattson objects to it. Anse argues against him while Cash pretends he is not suffering despite being in pain because of his broken leg. The family buys some cement to put a makeshift cast of concrete on his leg.
The wagon reaches Gillepsie Farm of Samson, a farmer who offers the Bundren family a night stay. Samson’s wife Rachel is not very happy about it and she complains of the extremely foul and unhealthy smell coming out of the coffin. Darl gets too upset with the situation as he could no longer stand what is happening to his mother’s body. He decides to put fire to burn the dead body Addie. The fire spreads and the whole barn gets burned. Meanwhile, Jewel succeeds in saving the coffin again and the foul stench keeps polluting the surrounding. Meanwhile, Cash’s leg gets further deteriorated as he is seriously injured and the makeshift concrete cast has only made matter worse. Samson and Rachel discover the origin of the fire and blame Darl for it. Anse decides to declare Darl mentally insane and agrees to send him to a mental asylum as he doesn’t want to reimburse Samson for the barn that was burnt to ashes.
The family reaches Jefferson on the ninth day. The townspeople notice the stench and complain against it. Anse borrows two shovels from a local lady. Anse and Jewel dig up the grave and at last, they bury the coffin. Each member has their own motives to settle in Jefferson. Cash meets Doctor Peabody who tries to cure his leg. Vardaman continues to confuse his dead mother with the fish that he caught and killed the same day Addie died. Dewey Dell visits a pharmacy for an abortion but fails to ask while the pharmacist tricks her into having sex with him. Later on, Anse threatens Dewey Dell and forces her to hand over the $10 that Lafe gave her for an abortion. Anse decides to get ‘new teeth’ and soon he proposes and marries a local woman of Jefferson from whom he borrowed the shovels. He introduces his new wife and Mrs. Brunden to his family.
So this is it about As I Lay Dying. We will continue to discuss Modern American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Book 8 of Paradise Lost is significant for various reasons. 1st is the conflict between the scientific progress of that era and the Biblical representation of the world. Milton had a sense of science. He was aware of the advancements achieved by Copernicus and Galileo. He was an ardent fan of Galileo and he met him too during his time in Italy. Instead of siding with the scientific heliocentric view or Biblical geocentric view, Milton offers both views through the discussion of Raphael and Adam and suggests that God doesn’t intend human beings to comprehend everything about his creation. In a way, Milton concedes that the Bible cannot offer all the knowledge, and some information is beyond its scope.
The other important point of Book 8 is again the hierarchy and the lower position of Eve as a submissive of Adam. Milton describes how Adam longed for a companion and how God created Eve to please Adam. Adam is spiritually and intellectually connected with Eve but he can also feel his carnal desires for her and he is sexually enamored by her. This carnal love of Adam for Eve ultimately leads him to his downfall.
Summary of Book 8
In Book 7, Raphael explained to Adam how and why Adam was created and why God created Earth, the new world. In Book 8, Adam continues his inquiries and asks Raphael about the motion of stars, the sun, and other planets. Eve again leaves Raphael and Adam alone to continue their intense discussion while she may enjoy the beauty of the Garden. She doesn’t appear bored of the discussion nor she is unable to grasp the subject of the matter. However, she prefers to hear about the conversation afterward from Adam and learn the truth from him as he caresses her.
Adam shares his observation with Raphael and says that the other planets, sun, moon, and stars are orbiting around the earth, God’s most beautiful creation. Raphael says that it is possible but offers a counterpoint. He tells Adam that maybe it appears as if everything is revolving around the earth because the earth is also revolving around its axis. Raphael says that it doesn’t matter whether the other heavenly bodies move around the earth or the earth moves around those heavenly bodies, it is of lesser importance. He tells Adam that such broader and detailed queries cannot have any possible answer because God doesn’t intend human beings to know everything about the Universe and its creation. Then he says that Adam should understand the limits of knowledge that God has set for him. He warns Adam to remain satisfied with the knowledge God lets him have and resist the urge to know the unknowable.
Adam listens to Raphael calmly and then says that he knows about his own creation. He then tells his experience of consciousness after his awakening. He wondered who was he, where he was, and why was he created? Soon he realized that, unlike trees, he could walk, and run, and jump, unlike other animals, he could speak. Then God came to him and explained how and why He created Adam. God offered him dominion over all the other creatures of Earth. In return, God ordered him never to eat any fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Later on, Adam decided to learn more about his surroundings, his dominion. He observed that all other creatures were in pairs. He realized that he knew the names of all of those creatures beforehand as God already provided him all the knowledge he must have. Soon he started longing for his own companion, like other animals who are in pairs. He realized that he needs some companion with whom he may express and share his feelings, thoughts, and joys. When God reappeared, Adam begged Him to offer him a companion. God asked why he needs a companion and Adam argued that all other creatures are in pairs and they can share their feelings and thoughts but he is alone. God said that He is alone and doesn’t need anyone to complete him, so must Adam remain alone. Adam argued that, unlike God, he is not perfect nor complete and hence he desires a companion. God was happy that Adam could use his rational faculty to reasonably argue with Him. He sent Adam in deep sleep and then took a rib out of Adam. From that rib, He created Eve. Adam was asleep, yet he knew all of this happening as God allowed his mind to remain aware of happenings even though he was asleep. When Adam saw Eve, he instantly fell in love with her.
Raphael notices Adam’s weakness towards Eve and warns him to refrain from the carnal attraction that he has for Eve. Raphael talks more about love and says that love should arise through spiritual and intellectual senses. Adam accepts that he is attracted towards Eve for her beauty and he is sexually enamored by her. Raphael says that although Eve appears more beautiful than Adam from the outside, Adam is more beautiful from the inside. Raphael says that Eve is a little less pure, and far from God. He says that Eve is intellectually and physically weaker than Adam and his love for Eve must transcend from sexual attraction to spiritual and intellectual relation. Adam is worried that he is sexually attracted towards Eve but says that his love for Eve arises from his spiritual and intellectual essence. Raphael again notices the hints of weakness in the situation and reiterates that Adam must be disciplined and must understand the hierarchy. He says that Adam must lead Eve spiritually and intellectually and both of them must avoid temptation as Satan will try to tempt them to disobey God. With this warning, Raphael takes leave and flies away to Heaven while Adam goes to sleep.
Analyses of Book 8
Milton dodged the debate of the heliocentric versus the geocentric view of the universe by suggesting that some things are beyond human intellect.
He further elucidated the difference between males and females. In Book IV, we learnt about Eve’s creation. God didn’t appear to meet her. She became aware of her beauty while seeing her reflection in calm water and fell in love with herself. She was weak against vanity. When she saw Adam, she found him less attractive than herself and turned away. Adam remembers how Eve turned away from her but he thinks that it was designed by God so that she may appear more attractive to Adam and he may pursue her. It shows that while Eve is concentrated and confident about herself, Adam was susceptible to self-deception as it is clear that God didn’t make Eve turn away from Adam, it was her own decision. Eve was created in the shadows of the night while Adam was created in bright daylight.
Raphael warns Adam to avoid carnal love. Adam accepts that he feels sexually attracted towards Eve but his love is spiritual and intellectual. However, he is worried about his carnal temptations towards Eve as while he knows that Eve is intellectually and physically weaker than him, she is less pure and a little far from God than him, he sometimes feels that because of her beauty, she is the "wisest, virtuousest, discreetist, best."
The Fall is the main theme of Paradise Lost. Satan falls because of his pride. It is becoming clear in Book 8 that Adam will suffer fall because of his sexual attraction towards Eve and Eve is destined to fall because of her vanity.
So this is it about Book 8. We will continue to discuss other parts of Paradise Lost. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
John Milton invoked Holy Spirit at the beginning of Book 1 as his Muse for this epic. He again invoked Holy Light as his Muse in Book 3 as he needed the guidance of Holy Light to describe God’s creation, Paradise. Milton begins Book 7 again by invoking a Muse and this time he prefers the Greek Goddess Urania, the Muse of Astronomy. Like Dante and Spenser, Milton was too much influenced by Classical Greek and Roman literature. However, he Christianized Urania, that is, he amalgamated the ancient religious ideas of Greek and Romans with Christian values. He likens Urania with Holy Spirit while placing a corrective Christian spin on an ancient mythological figure. Milton suggests that indeed the Classical Greek and Roman civilizations were great but their philosophy and religion were misleading. Thus, he paves way for himself to build upon the great works of classical authors while replacing their religious beliefs with Christian ideas.
In his invocation to Muse Urania, he prays that the Goddess will ensure his safe transition from his description of the War of Heaven to the earthly world of Adam and Eve. Milton preferred Urania, the goddess of Astronomy as his Muse for this part because he planned to describe the creation of the New World. Milton asks Urania to inspire him to accurately describe the rest of the speech of Raphael to Adam.
Summary of Book 7
Now when Adam knows how Fallen Angels disobeyed God and were punished, he could not control his curiosity as he wishes to know about the creation of Paradise and Garden of Eden. He wonders why God created him and Eve. Yet, he is cautious and wonders if he is eligible to ask about secrets of creation. Raphael realizes his curiosity and agrees to enlighten him. He says that the story of creation is not a secret to be kept away from humans.
Raphael says that after the defeat and fall of Satan and his cohorts, the population of Angels diminished in Heaven. To fulfill the void God decided to create some new species so that no space in the universe may appear unpopulated in absence of the Fallen Angels. The other reason was that God wishes to erase the memories of rebellion by Satan. Raphael suggests that by creating these new species and a whole new world, God renders Satan unable to claim even this satisfaction that he was able to diminish the glory of God’s creation. Raphael says that by creating the Garden of Eden, God showed the Fallen Angels that His kingdom can be expanded indefinitely. While creating the Earth and new species out of chaos, God had the idea that Earth and Heaven will eventually be joined together as one Kingdom through Man’s obedience and God’s divine will.
Milton then explains the Biblical concept of creation based on the Book of Genesis.
Raphael says that God sent His Son down to Chaos to create Earth. After creating Earth, the Son offered Earth, light and darkness, day and night, in equal proportion. After that, the Son separated the land from water and created different species of animals populating both land and sea. In the end, the Son created Adam and then Eve. The Son of God created Adam in His own image and declared him the superior of all species on Earth. God then instructed Adam never to eat fruits of the Tree of Knowledge that offers knowledge of good and evil. Yet, it was in Man’s hand to decide to adhere to the command and remain loyal to God or to disobey him as Man was provided with free will.
Raphael says that it took Six long days for the Son of God to create this new world and all the species including humankind. The Son of God returned to heaven and God decided to offer him a day of rest on the seventh day which is known as Sabbath, it is the day of rest declared by God.
Analysis of Book 7
Book 7 is important as it offers an insight into the increasing curiosity of Adam that will continue to grow aggressively and lead him to the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The conversation between Adam and Raphael in Book 7 is a little different. Adam is more aggressive in asking questions and gaining knowledge from Raphael, and his curiosity is described by metaphors of hunger, eating, and digestion. While describing the story of creation, Milton used some biblical language directly from the pages of popular English translations of the Bible. This offered Raphael’s description of creation more authority and trustworthiness. He added some invented details to the story while maintaining credibility. Milton departed from the Biblical idea as he suggests that the Son of God created the new world and the species on earth along with Adam and Eve. However, The Book of Genesis doesn’t mention the Son of God during creation. Milton offers a more significant role to the Son in Book 7 while establishing that the Son is the instrument through which God acts. Christian belief suggests that God and the Son of God are manifestations of the same entity. Milton began while explaining the three-part God and then he explained the relationship between God and the Son of God. He also depicts the Son defeating Satan and creating new species to affirm that God and the Son can act separately, yet still achieve the goals of a single God. Milton believes that the Son represents the living, active, almost human-like manifestation of God and that is why the Son created Adam in His own image.
Milton continues to adhere to the theme of hierarchy in book 7. First, Raphael explains how the Son of God came down to create Earth out of Chaos, above Chaos, and chained it with the Heaven, below it. He then explains how the Son created different species and Adam was made at the end. The Son declares Adam as the superior or king of all the species on earth. He then creates Eve, the pleasure companion of Adam, to serve him. Throughout these discussions and enlightenment, Eve remains away from Raphael and Adam, as she is dependent on Adam to offer her all the knowledge and insight that she deserves.
This is it about Book 7. We will continue to discuss the other parts of Paradise Lost. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
William Faulkner was an American short story and novel writer who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1949 for "his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel". William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, and died on July 6, 1962. He was 52 years old when he won the Nobel prize for literature in 1949. He belonged to an upper-middle-class family of the South though his father did not belong to the old feudal cotton industry. William Falkner became the most celebrated writer of American literature and one of the best writers of Southern literature. Initially, Faulkner tried poetry and didn’t write any short story or novel till 1925. In these early days, he followed the Victorian American literary style. In 1925, he moved to New Orleans where he came in touch with bohemian writers and artists.
First Novel: Soldier’s Pay
During his days in New Orleans, he turned his attention to prose writing, and gradually, he mastered the modernist approach of writing. He was influenced by another modernist author Sherwood Anderson who helped him in the publication of Faulkner’s first novel Soldier’s Pay on 25th February 1926. Soldier’s Pay tells the story of an aviator (air force pilot) who returns after the conclusion of the First World War. The story is a love triangle. The aviator returns injured from the war and his injury causes blindness to him. He is escorted by a veteran of the war and is cared for by a widow whose husband was killed in the war. The widow starts growing close to him while he faces the conflict as he was already engaged to another girl before he went to the war. His fiancee on the other hand wasn’t that loyal to him and had some affairs during his absence. The widow attains a strong desire to break his engagement so that she may marry the aviator herself. Soldier’s Pay was not a commercial success and it appeared as if it was written in a similar writing style as that of his contemporary authors like Ernest Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Sartoris: Yoknapatawpha County
Sartoris was the third novel of William Faulkner that was published in 1929. It was the first novel in which Faulkner mentioned the fictional Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi state. His mentor Sherwood Anderson advised him to write about Mississippi, his native place. Faulkner invented a fictional county Yoknapatawpha in Mississippi and filled it with fictional people, his characters, some were drawn from real life while some others were based on mythopoeic characterization. Faulkner continued to base all his future stories and novels in the same fictional Yoknapataapha county of Mississippi. One may say that Yoknapatawpha was to William Faulkner what Malgudi was for R.K Narayan, the Indian author. The story is about an aristocratic southern family on the verge of its decay after the end of the First World War. The Sartoris Family of Jefferson, Mississippi is going through an abnormally lean patch after the death of the patriarch Colonel John who fought for Confederate cavalry during the civil war. His sister Virginia Du Pre (Aunt Jenny) takes care of her son Bayard Sartoris (Old Bayward) and her grandson Bayard Sartoris (Young Bayward) along with his twin brother John Sartoris. Young Bayard and John go to the First World War as fighter pilots. After the war Young Bayward returns while John dies during war. Young Bayard feels that he is responsible for his brother’s death and he is haunted by it. His nervousness pushes him into self-destructive behavior and he often drives recklessly. During such reckless driving, he meets an accident. He gets seriously injured and the accidents lead him to meet Narcissa Benbow, a young girl whom he marries. Despite his promises to behave responsibly, he continues to follow self-destructive behavior, and soon he meets another accident while driving with Old Bayard. Old Bayard dies of a heart attack during the accident. Young Bayard again blames himself for the death and vanishes from Jefferson while leaving his pregnant wife with Aunt Jenny. Narcissa gives birth to his son and on the same day, Young Bayard dies while test-flying a new experimental airplane.
Faulkner wrote this novel by the title Flags in the Dust in 1926 but he failed to get any publisher for it. Later on, one of the publishers agreed to publish the novel albeit it had to be heavily edited by someone other than Faulkner himself. At last, his agent Ben Wasson was chosen to edit the novel and the edited version was published as Sartoris in the year 1929.
The Sound and The Fury
William Faulkner began writing his fourth novel The Sound and The Fury in 1928 and it was published in 1929 after Sartoris. However, Faulkner denied agreeing to any editing work for this novel. Initially, The Sound and The Fury proved to be a commercial failure. But in 1933, after the publication of his sixth novel titled Sanctuary, which proved to be his first commercial success, The Sound and The Fury also gained momentum and soon came on the list of most successful American novels. In 1998, The Sound and The Fury gained a sixth place on the list of 100 Best English Language Novels of the 20th-century.
The story is again about a southern aristocratic family on the verge of decay in the aftermath of the Civil War and the First World War.
The novel is divided into four sections and each section offers a different narrative from the perspective of different characters. The first narrative offers events of April 7, 1928, along with consequent thoughts and memories of Benjy, the youngest Compson sibling. The second section offers insight into Quentin Compson, Benjy’s elder brother. The narrative begins on June 2, 1910, and leads to the events resulting in the suicide committed by Quentin. The third section offers the point of view of Jason Compson, Quentine’s younger cynical brother. It begins a day before the events of the first section, that is, on April 6, 1928.
The last section is a Third-Person Omniscient narrative primarily offered by Dilsey, one of the black servants of the Compson family. She primarily talks about her relationship with Jason and Miss Quentin Compson, daughter of Caddy, elder sister of Quentin. Dilsey contemplates the thoughts and deeds of all Compson siblings. Throughout all the four sections, Caddy or Candice Compson, the second child of the Compson family, younger sister of Quentin appears to be the central character without a voice. The whole story seems to be revolving around her while she is only described by the other characters, never appearing inactive narrative.
Characters: Jason Compson III is the father of the Compson siblings. He is a pessimistic alcoholic. His cynical views torment his son Quentin. Caroline Bascomb Compson is his wife. She is a self-absorbed lady who doesn’t have time even for her kids. She suffers neurotic insecurity over her Boscomb family name that has been undermined by her brother Maury’s adulterous behavior. She treats her mentally disabled son Benzy cruelly and selfishly. While she has no idea of the needs of any of her kids, she foolishly showers all her affection and favors to Jason just because he takes on her family's side. Quentin Compson III is the oldest child of the Compson family. He is a passionate person who is too attached to his sister Caddy. His father’s pessimistic behavior and his inability to cope with his sister’s sexual promiscuity force him to the verge of neurotic depression and ultimately he commits suicide.
Candice Compson, also known as Caddy is the second child of Jason and Caroline. She is a headstrong girl full of love and care for her brothers. She is the only one who loves Benjy, her retarded youngest brother. She is the central character of the novel as all her three brothers are obsessively attached to her. Caddy feels some guilt over her promiscuous nature as it upsets Benjy whom she loves. However, she doesn’t approve of Quentine’s objection to her promiscuous behavior as she doesn’t adhere to the Southern moral code of virginity. Unlike Quentin, she gets rid of the tragic captured world of the Compson family. Caddy is the mother figure for both Quentin and Benjy. Benjamin Compson, nicknamed Benzy was named Maury at his birth. By the time of his fifth birthday, it was clear that he is mentally disabled. Nobody except Caddy truly cared for him. His mother despised him. He is considered an ‘idiot’ with no sense of time and morality.
Dilsey Gibson is the matriarch of the servant family serving Compsons. She has three kids, Versh, Frony, and T.P. Luster is her grandchild, Frony’s son. They serve as Benjy’s caretaker throughout his life. Luster occasionally shows concern for Benjy out of obligation.
Miss Quentin Compson is the daughter of Caddy living with the Compson family as Herbert divorces Caddy after knowing that she was already pregnant before her marriage. Compson family disowns Caddy while taking responsibility for Miss Quentin. Like her mother, she turns out to be headstrong, wild, and promiscuous.
Summary of The Sound and The Fury
The novel has no ordered chronology as it has been written in a stream of consciousness narrative style.
First Section - April 7th, 1928 - The novel begins as Benjy, the mentally disabled member of the Compson family accompanies Luster who is trying to search for a quarter to go and watch the circus that night. Meanwhile, Benjamin starts remembering the fond memories of his past most of which were in presence of Caddy, his elder sister. He remembers how headstrong and adventurous she was who often attempted to defy orders. He specifically remembers a day when his grandmother (Damuddy) died. He was just 3 years old then. As the funeral was going on in the house, all children were sent outside to avoid them seeing the sad situation. However, Caddy decided to have a peak anyhow. She climbed over a tree to look into the parlor windows. As she climbed up, her three brothers looked up at her. Benjamin noticed her panties were soiled with mud. Those muddy panties suggest the promiscuous behavior that Caddy will later develop. Gradually, as the children grew up, Caddy adopted more wild behavior. Benjamin was very close to her and he often found her smell very sweet like that of trees. However, one day he noticed a sudden change in her smell. As she lost her virginity, she lost that smell of fresh trees after rain. Benjamin, despite being mentally disabled, realized that she is no longer a virgin as if he had a sixth sense. Benjamin loves order and despises changes. He howls when the order of his day is changed.
Second Section – 1910 – The second section describes the events of the day when Quentin decided to end his life. His father sold a major piece of land to pay the tuition fees for his admission to Harvard. He was very attached to his sister Caddy. He remembers how he came to know about her promiscuous behavior and tried to stop her. But she never listened. He remembers her affair with Dalton Ames to whom she lost her virginity and became pregnant with his child. He remembers how pensively he informed his father. But to his surprise, his father pessimistically suggested that it is one of the weaknesses of women and he should not worry too much about it. But he couldn’t give up his Southern ideals. To save Caddy from social ignominy and punishment, he claimed that he had an incestuous relationship with Caddy. He believed that having a promiscuous relationship with strange boys is worse than being in an incestuous relationship. However, nobody believed him and Caddy denied it. His father was indifferent to Caddy’s promiscuity and suggested that Quentin should go to Harvard as soon as possible. Quentin was too ashamed of his sister’s adventures and his father’s indifference to what she did. He remembers how Caddy was adamant to marry as soon as possible to anyone before she becomes a mother. She married Herbert Head but when she gave birth to her child, Herbert realized that he is not the father and divorced Caddy. Quentin is neurotically obsessed with heritage, family honor, and sin.
Presently, Quentin meticulously prepares for his suicide. He puts clean clothes after packing all his belongings and heads out of the town. He bought two flat irons to weigh him down the water as he goes towards the riverside. Meanwhile, he sees a girl and helps her out. The girl starts following him to the riverside until her brother comes to find her and accuses Quentin of kidnapping her. Later on, Quentin decides to meet his friends who are in town for a picnic. He engages in an argument with one of his friends as he confuses his rantings about girls with those of Dalton Ames. He is beaten up by his friends and as his clothes get soiled, he goes back to Cambridge to clean his clothes. He returns back to the same town and heads off to the river to drown himself.
Section 3 – April 6, 1928 – The third section belongs to Jason Compson, the third child of the Compson family. Since his childhood, he is a straightforward character with a strong desire for material wealth. He was happy when Caddy decided to marry Herbert Head as it offered him a chance to get a highly paid job under Herbert. However, when Miss Quentin Compson took birth, Herbert realized that she is an illegitimate child and divorced Caddy. Jason despises Miss Quentin as he believes he lost a good opportunity because of her. Jason appears to be a sadist. His section begins with the sentence “Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.” Unlike Quentin, he doesn’t worry too much about lost heritage and the honor of the family. He lives in present and in a way manages the house to sustain. His sections offer minimum flashbacks and are chronologically most ordered. Jason’s character is significant for his cruelty, complaints, and conspiracies. He is a racist and miss treats Dilsey, her children, and her grandchild.
In the third section, we learn about Miss Quentin and how she is following the footsteps of her mother towards sexual freedom. Jason is as preoccupied with Miss Quentine’s emerging sexuality as Quentin used to be with Caddy’s. He tries to control her and keep a strong vigil on her. We learn about Quentin's suicide and we also learn that Benjy was brutally castrated to prevent him from fathering any impaired child. After being divorced, Caddy was banished from Compson's house for her promiscuity. She started living in a neighboring county. She felt responsible for her daughter and started sending money for her upkeep. However, her mother had forbidden her name to be mentioned in Compson's house and so did she forbade her money. Jason didn’t agree with his mother as he wanted to have the money Caddy used to send. So he devised a plan. He used to encash the cheque sent by Caddy while offering a forged cheque to his mother. Mrs. Caroline Comson used to burn that forged cheque believing that she avoided any connection with Caddy. Jason, on the other hand, continued to collect and use the money sent by Caddy for himself.
The third section begins on April 6, 1928, as Jason goes to drop Miss Quentin at her school. She is used to skipping school and sleep around with random guys. Jason tries to stop her misadventures. Later on, he comes to know that Miss Quentin again skipped school and was seen running off with a musician working for the circus.
Section 4 – April 8th, 1928 – This section offers a third-person omniscient narrative. It continues to follow Jason while offering the insights of Dilsey, one of the black servants of the Compson family. She is devoted to taking care of Benjy. She claims that she knows everything from beginning to end. Meanwhile, Jason comes to know that Miss Quentin has stolen all the money he collected through Caddy’s cheques. Furthermore, Miss Quentin took some of his own money too. Jason is peeved as he recently lost a big amount in the stock market too. He goes to the police but couldn’t complain about the money he embezzled from Caddy. But he informs about the theft of his own money. The police are indifferent and unwilling to help Jason. At last, he decides to go search for Miss Quentin himself. He reaches the circus where the workers confront him. The owner of the circus informs him that Miss Quentin and the musician have left the town. Jason continues to search for them. He finds Miss Quentin and the musician together but before he could catch them, they run away while puncturing the tires of his vehicles so that he may not follow. He returns to the town.
Meanwhile, Dilsey heads to church, where a very unimpressive pastor manages to deliver an absolutely astounding sermon. Dilsey starts to cry. She recognizes Quentin’s disappearance for what it is – the end of the Compson family.
At the end of the section, Luster is taking Benjy to the graveyard. When Luster takes a wrong turn and deviates from the course through which T.P used to take Benjy to the graveyard. Benjy starts to howl. Jason reaches the spot at the same time. He best knows how to placate Benjy who is hysterically sobbing with a violent outburst. Jason slaps Luster and turns the carriage to the right path and hits Beny while trying to silence him. He tells Luster never to turn off the route Benjy is used to taking, The slap breaks Benjy’s flower stalk and Jason shouts Shut Up! Benjy suddenly becomes silent. Luster turns around to look at Benjy. Luster observes that as the carriage comes on the decided path, Benjy observes the same ordered trees, facades, doors, windows, and street signs and becomes comfortably silent. Benjy loves order.
Thus the novel ends as everything reaches order. The title of the novel was inspired by a soliloquy of William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Macbeth. In Macbeth, Act V, Scene V, Macbeth learns about the suicide of his wife and says -
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle. Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
The novel also begins with the narrative of Benjamin the idiot and ends with Benjamin being silenced as he observes the familiar order.
This is it for today. We will continue to discuss Modern American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
Book 6 begins as Raphael continues to tell the story of the conflict between Satan and Almighty in heaven that resulted in Satan’s fall. Abdiel returns to God’s palace from Satan’s temple in the North. The other angels welcome Abdiel and praise him for his courage to oppose Satan. He is taken to God who praises him for his loyalty, obedience, and adherence to goodness even when no one else stood with him. God then assigns Archangels Michael and Gabriel as the leader of heavenly forces to fight against Satan and other rebel angels on his side. However, God limits the number of angel soldiers in Heavenly force equal to the number of angels ready to fight on side of Satan.
The next day, the two armies stand against each other, and Satan and Abdiel meet on the middle ground. They exchange angry words, insults, and then Satan attacks Abdiel. War begins as Abdiel returns the blow to Satan.
Both sides were equally strong and God ascertained that each side have an equal number of warriors. These warriors are angels and they cannot die or kill each other. As they fought fiercely, it appeared that the war will never come to end. Then Michael decided to take on Satan, the leader of the opposing army. Satan was the strongest and best warrior of both sides, he was next to none but God, but now he didn’t have blessings of God while Michael was representing the might of God. Soon it became clear that Michael will outpower Satan. Michael used an unusually large and intimidating sword and gave a strong blow to Satan that sliced through Satan’s entire right side. Satan couldn’t die, yet he was incapacitated by that blow. Soon his supporters came to his rescue and took him off the battleground and thus the war of the first day came to a halt.
It was a victorious day for the good angels but Satan manipulated his supporters and made them feel as if their side was winning. He turned defeat into victory by saying that if God was infallible and his army was insurmountable, why did he let the rebellions survive? He asks why God let them retreat instead of squashing and ending the whole army of rebellious angels? Satan says that if they could fight against God for a whole day without any major loss, why cannot they fight against the Almighty forever? He suggested that his supporters must create new weapons to surprise God’s army and then they will be able to defeat them. Satan says that they must use heaven’s natural resources to create much stronger and devastating weaponry.
All the rebellious angels collectively engage in creating a menacing weapon, a firing cannon that they can use to attack good angels with gun powder, which is a natural resource of heaven found in the rocks of the heavenly hills. The next day, Satan’s forces surprise God’s army with the fire cannons. A huge number of good angels are knocked down by gun powder cannons, but they cannot die. God’s army soon explores a way to retaliate. All the good angels run away to the hills of heaven and as they realize that the rocks of hills are the main resource of gun powder that the devils are using, they start throwing big rocks and hills back at Satan’s army. This creates a lot of confusion, and hazardous pollution. The peaceful heaven soon starts appearing like a heap of debris. The second day of war ends with no clear winner and everyone goes back to their respective camps at night.
God realizes that the war will bring no result in the manner it is going on. God persuades His Son to go to the battlefield and defeat Satan’s army comprehensively. On day three, the Son of God addresses God’s army and tells them to care for their wounds and relax while he will go to the battlefield and will defeat the army of rebels. He rides forward in his charismatic chariot to face the army of Satan alone. As he rides towards the battlefield, the hills and rocks that were uprooted the previous day start settling back to their original position and heaven start attaining its normal self in peaceful glory. As the Son of God faces Satan’s army, Satan gets confused as he has no inkling of the powers and abilities of the Son of God. The Son soon starts charging them with a thunderous lightning bolt which is much more powerful than the gun powder cannons that were used the previous day. All the soldiers of Satan’s army get frightened. They see an opening occurring on the wall of heaven. Soon the Son of God surrounds these rebels and pushes them towards the opening in heaven’s wall. All the evil angels including their leader, Satan fall through that opening and they cascade down to that fiery lake in hell.
Raphael concludes this war story while ascertaining that Satan is powerless against the might of the Almighty. He then warns Adam that now Satan wants to corrupt mankind by tempting man to commit disobedience. Raphael says that Man should use his rational faculty properly and not allow himself to fall. As Satan is already a Fallen Angel, away from the mercy of God, he wants other creatures and especially, Man, the most loved creation of God to get corrupt. He warns him not to yield to temptations.
Analysis of Book 6
Milton classically described the war of Heaven. It shows the influence of classical epics such as Aeneid and Iliad. He graphically presents war scenes and wounds while stressing individual battles between characters and offers massive scenes of chaotic violence. Raphael tells the story of the war of heaven in such a manner that offers many moral lessons to Adam. The first lesson is that disobedience leads one to blindness where he fails to see the obvious. On the first day of battle, Michael easily overpowers Satan and slices him up in two parts. It is clearly a devastating failure and defeat of Satan. Yet, Satan fails to accept it. Rather, he convinces his supporters that it was actually a victory for his side. He simply fails to see the sign while his pride is being hurt. Before Satan decided to disobey God, he was the most powerful, best warrior angel of God who could be defeated by none. While Lucifer took pride in it, he failed to accept that his success and abilities are gifts of God and he holds all that power because God is on his side. Once, Satan disobeys God, while he continues to have that pride of being invincible, he loses that strength of God that used to make him invincible. As a result, a much less strong angel Michael easily defeats him as now Michael represents God’s might.
Milton presents the war of heaven in a hilarious cartoonish manner. Since no angel could die, they continue to attack and harm each other while they cannot die. Satan devotes all the powers and resources of his army to the war while only a portion of God’s angels fight against his war while others are just spectators. Everybody realizes that Satan is fighting for a losing cause and he can never win yet, Satan is adamant to continue the war.
Milton expresses gunpowder as a resource of heaven that was used by the Devil for evil purposes. He represents canon as a weapon of Satan. Guns were recently developed in Milton’s time and they were actually considered a disgusting weapon inspired by the devil. One could use a gun to cowardly attack a person without facing him and this made war more impersonal. Guns increased the efficiency of wars as many soldiers could be easily killed on both sides. Generally, guns were considered evil and harmful just like nuclear weapons are now considered weapons of complete destruction of everything good.
Furthermore, Milton offers a relation between the war of heaven and the real story of Christ. The war of heaven continued for three days. Christ was resurrected on earth on the third day. Christ rose from death while defeating Death, Son of Satan. In heaven, the Son of God defeats Satan on the third day. The Son of God goes to fight against the army of Satan alone without any help from other angels of God. Christ also faced the brutal powers on earth alone and nobody stood by him. As the Son of God rides his chariot towards the battlefield, the torn hills and rocks resettle themselves in order and the chaos ceases to exist as heaven regains normalcy. Similarly, it is suggested that Christ brought rationality, peace, calmness, and order back to mankind. The Son of God then creates an opening in the wall of heaven through which all the evil angels fall out of heaven to hell. The story alludes to the story from the Gospel of Mark which suggests Jesus casting the devil into a Gaverene swine that is pushed towards a cliff from where it falls.
Raphael tries to warn Adam while informing him about Satan.
So this is it about Book 6 of Paradise Lost. We will continue to discuss the remaining parts of this epic by John Milton. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
In Book 5, Milton stressed more on Free Will of Man as if he is trying to explain that the fall of Adam was not fate but his own conscious decision. On the other hand, in Book 4, Milton expressed that Lucifer was made by God in such a manner that Lucifer had no choice but to fall because of his Pride, that was his nature. In the previous part, we learned how Satan targeted Eve for his plan of corrupting humankind.
Summary of Book 5
As Adam and Eve wake up the next morning, Adam finds that Eve is a little perturbed. He realizes that Eve had a restless night. He asks her and Eve tells him about the strange dream she saw in her sleep. She says that she heard a commanding voice in her dream that told her to come near the Tree of Knowledge. When she reached there, she saw a strange creature that appeared like an Angel. That creature in her dream took a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and tasted it. The creature appreciated the fine taste of that fruit and extolled the benefits of eating the fruit of Tree of Knowledge. The creature told to Eve that she may also taste the fruit of that tree and that will turn her divine as the other Angels are. Eve was impressed by that creature but before she could taste that fruit, the creature disappeared and after that, she had a restless night.
Adam gets worried after hearing the dream of Eve. He knows that the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge are forbidden and he wonders why an angel will appear in Eve’s dream and try to convince her to taste the forbidden fruit? Adam assures Eve that her dream doesn't need to ever come true because anyways, she has to use her rational faculty and reason suggests that the fruit of Tree of Knowledge is forbidden. He says that Eve is too pure to do any such evil. Eve accepts Adam’s argument and both get engaged in their daily routine happily. As they begin their duties, they sing praises of God.
Meanwhile, God meets Raphael and talks about Satan and his evil plan. God says that he pities Man because he knows that Adam and Eve will yield to temptation. God doesn’t want Adam and Eve to claim that the devil took them by surprise and hence, he tells Raphael to go and visit Adam so that he may be warned. God tells Raphael to inform Adam about the plan of Satan and tell him that he has his free will. Adam may use reason to avoid temptation or he may succumb to it.
Raphael agrees and decides to visit Paradise. When Adam sees Raphael, he and Eve welcome him. Adam tells Eve to prepare some food for their guest. The three eat together and Raphael praises the food prepared by Eve. After supper, Eve leaves Adam and Raphael to let them have a conversation on serious matter while she goes to enjoy the nature of the Garden.
Raphael begins the conversation by explaining the hierarchy on Earth. He says that God offered different attributes to all creatures of Earth. He offered spirit and free will to humankind. Thus, Adam can think and understand the reason and take his own decision. Below humans are animals with live flesh but they do not possess spirit and hence lack rational faculty. Animals are followed by plants and then comes other inanimate things. Raphael says that being a spiritual entity and having the God-given power to reason, human is the highest being on Earth. Raphael warns him always follow God and remain obedient to him.
Adam informs Raphael about the dream of Eve. Raphael hints at him about Satan, the leader of Fallen Angels, and how desperate he is to corrupt the creation of God. Raphael says that eventually, he and Eve can be purer, like angels but they must never disobey God. Adam wonders if he can ever be disobedient to God? Raphael reminds him that though he and Eve are creations of God, God offered Man the power of free will. Thus, Adam’s obedience to God is up to him and he can decide to disobey God anytime if he wishes to. Adam is confident that he will never go against God. However, he is curious about certain things. Adam asks Raphael to tell him more about the rebellious angels who decided to disobey God.
Raphael tells him the story of the great war of Heaven. He tells him that Satan (then known as Lucifer) was the principal Archangel, closest to God. He was glorious, miraculous, powerful and sympathetic. He was loved by God and he was next to no one but to God. But the, the Son of God appeared, and that left Satan a little discouraged. When God declared His Son as the King of Heaven, His successor, second only to Him and demanded all other angels to submit and bow to the Son of God, Satan didn’t like it at all. He didn’t raise his voice against God at that time but he went away rather than accepting the order of God. Later on, Satan gathered many angels and discussed his reservations about Son of God to them. Almost all companions of Satan were determined that they will not bow to the Son of God. One of them was Abdiel.
Satan and his commander then led all those Angels to the North and raised a temple just like that of God. At night, Satan addressed all his supporters and said that he will never bow to the Son of God, and to reclaim his position as second to none, he is willing to test the power of God and to fight against Him. Satan asked if anyone has to say anything, but all remained silent in his support. Then Abdiel raised his voice and opposed Satan. Abdiel was a supporter and admirer of Satan but he was obedient to God. He strongly opposed Satan and said that he will never go to war against God. He tried to convince Satan and his followers to listen to God as God is just and he will never do any injustice against them. Satan tried to persuade Abdiel to support him against God but Abdiel said that Satan’s pride will cause his downfall. When Satan understood that Abdiel will not accompany him, he told him to gracefully leave his temple and go back to God. He told Abdiel to inform God that he and his supporters are now independent, they will rule themselves and they are ready to test the power of God.
Abdiel left Satan’s temple not because Satan ordered him, but because he was faithful to God. He was the only admirer of Satan who decided to leave him and remained loyal to God.
Analysis of Book 5
When Eve tells Adam about her dream, Adam says that it can never be true as they will never disobey God. However, God is omniscient, he knows that Adam and Eve will betray His order in the future. The readers of Paradise Lost also know what will happen in future course of Paradise Lost. Thus, Milton puts the readers in the same position as God. Both God and readers know what will happen next and both of them can not stop it from happening. Yet, while readers cannot warn Adam, God can and he does so through Raphael.
Milton further stresses on heirarchy and explains God’s hierarchy on earth that keeps humankind at the highest order on Earth. Furthermore, Milton shows that even in humankind, Man is closed to God than his counterpart. Raphael enjoys the food prepared by Eve and the three enjoy their food together. However, Raphael doesn’t discuss his reason to visit earth and other serious matters in front of Eve. When Adam asks Eve to let him have some time with Raphael, then only Raphael warns him about Satan. This again confirms that in Miltonian Universe, Adam is superior and close to God.
While describing the events that took place in heaven before man came into existence, Raphael informs Adam how the pride of Lucifer turned him to Satan. Here again, Milton actually offers a side of Satan that puts him as a tragic hero. He was the principal archangel most loved by God and respected by all. Satan bowed to no one else except God, he unfailingly completed all orders of God and helped God in all activities of creation. But because of his pride, he was unable to accept the Son of God as superior to him.
Here, Milton describes God’s kingdom as a monarchy and God as a tyrant. No one is allowed to oppose God in His kingdom and thus, Satan decides to leave with his supporters. However, when Milton describes Satan’s temple and his meeting with supporters, he describes it as a democracy where though Satan is the leader, everyone is free to offer their opinions. Satan asks everyone to offer their inputs and when Abdiel raises his voice in opposition, Satan and others listen to him peacefully. They argue and try to convince each other but when Satan realizes that Abdiel will never agree, he asks Abdiel to gracefully leave them and go back to God. He doesn’t try to force Abdiel in any manner. However, soon it will be revealed that though Satan’s rebellion appears democratic against monarchial rule of God, the democracy suggested by Satan is marred with lies, deception, whims, irrationality, corruption, and feelings of hatred and revenge. While all other angels are deceived by the lies of Satan, Abdiel decides to oppose him. Thus, the real hero of Book 5 is Abdiel.
What Milton is suggesting here is that even the right actions (democracy, free will), led irrationally (disobedience to God) doesn’t count as right. That is, means are not as important as the intentions. Satan’s intentions were wrong, though his means appear right. To achieve his desired intentions, he will then use corruption, lies, deceptions, and conspiracies to maintain the democratic support of other fallen angels. Milton places Earth as the centerstage where archangels, angels, and devils continue to visit to intervene or interrupt the matters of earth and creation. Earth and mankind hold a special position to God and Satan.
So this is it about Book 5. We will continue to discuss other parts of Paradise Lost. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost ultimately became a highly influential inspiration for many other artists and their work. Joseph Haydon’s oratorio The Creation (1798), and John Keats’s long poem Endymion (1818) was highly inspired by Paradise Lost. John Milton himself wrote Paradise Regained after the success of Paradise Lost in 1671. Moreover, John Keats tried to experiment with Miltonian verse or Blank Verse in his incomplete epic project titled Hyperion, though he found it pretty difficult to complete it in blank verse and let it remained unfinished.
Summary and Analysis of Book 4
Book 4 of Paradise Lost is pretty important because not only John Milton introduces the remaining two protagonists of the poem in this part, but he also shows how the antagonist Satan goes through his continual degradation. Milton introduced Satan as a great figure, taller than the tallest thing, stronger than the strongest opponents, next only to Almighty. Yet, as Lucifer continued his tryst with distrust and evil, he continued to suffer, degradation and diminution, and that is what is shown in Book 4. Furthermore, Milton also strengthens his plot of Hierarchy in God’s Universe in Book 4.
After knowing how to enter the new world from Uriel, Satan flies off and lands atop Mount Niphates from where he gazes at the green lush Earth and the Paradise, the garden of Eden. As the sun shines over the Garden of Eden, it reminds him of the grace and honor he used to enjoy in heaven. He stands still and thinks. He wonders whether he would have fallen or not if God had created him with a little less pride. He accepts that God created him in a way that led him to his fall. He understands God’s plan but this knowledge further fills his heart with a sense of revenge and hate against God. He concludes that his only recourse is evil, and from now on, all his efforts will be too, if not destroy, at least divide God's kingdom. He has seen the might of God and he fears it. But he concludes that he has no other choice. Satan says, "Farewell hope, And with hope farewell fear." Then he moves forward towards earth to corrupt mankind.
Meanwhile, Uriel was observing Satan who was in disguise as a Cherub. While Satan was going through his internal debate, Uriel observed the changes appearing on his face. Uriel was an experienced Archangel and he realized that he has been tricked. An innocent cherub cannot go through such a storm of emotions that can be visible on his face. He realizes that some Fallen Angel, enemy of God has tricked him and is now going to corrupt nor harm the new world.
As Satan approaches Eden, he sees that Paradise is surrounded by strong high walls, protecting it. Like a low-life wolf or a thief, Satan jumps and clings to the wall to go on the other side. He sees a beautiful world on the other side of the wall. He sees the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge, and a variety of animals, birds, and beautiful creatures. He disguises himself as a hunting bird cormorant and perches on the Tree of Life.
As he sits atop the Tree of Life, he sees Adam and Eve in the Garden. He gets mesmerized by the beauty and grace of this new species, a new race that God created after he and his cohorts rebelled and fell from Heaven. He realizes that these new creatures are worthy enough to be loved and cared for and this intensifies his internal pain. He likes the man and wishes good of him but he aims to corrupt him and tempt the man to his fall. Then he listens to the conversation between Adam and Eve. Adam says to Eve that they should not complain about their work and should perform their duties happily. Eve then tells him how she came into existence. She tells him that after gaining consciousness, she was wondering who was she and why she was alive. Her path led her to a pure lake with still water, as she gazed over the water, she saw herself and found herself very attractive. Soon a voice informed her that she was created out of Adam to serve him and be his companion. The voice told that with Adam, she will be the mother of the human race. As Satan listens, he finds a clue. He thinks that if there is a Godly order to be followed by Adam and Eve, his aim is to tempt them to disobey that order. He then leaves Adam and Eve alone for a while to know more about the new world.
Meanwhile, Uriel visits the Gate of Paradise and meets Archangel Gabriel, the guard of Eden. He informs him how some fallen angel tricked him and enquired about the path to earth. Gabriel says that nobody visited the gate till now and if someone has breached the Garden of Eden by climbing up the wall, then he will find the intruder by the morning. As the night falls, Adam and Eve finish their work and reach their leafy bower while praising God and each other for their wonderful life. Soon they embrace each other while making love.
Satan observes Adam and Eve as they fall asleep. He turns into a toad and goes near to Eve to whisper false knowledge and corrupt words in her ears. At the same time, Gabriel sends his soldiers to search for the intruder in the Garden of Eden. Soon, two soldiers catch Satan whispering in the ears of Eve They pull him up and bring him in front of Gabriel. Gabriel recognizes him as Satan the mighty fallen angel and asks him what he is doing in the Garden of Eden? Satan tries to avoid direct conflict and feigns innocence and says that he was curious about the new race of Man and came to watch them with no intentions of harm. Gabriel, a wise angel realizes the lies of Satan and warns him to go away or he will throw him back to hell. Instigated by this threat, Satan comes in his real being as a strong tall fierce fallen angel, though he is now not as tall and strong as he was when he found consciousness on the fiery lake. Gabriel also prepares himself to fight but before they could engage in war, a pair of golden scales appear on the sky with a roar. It was a sign from God to stop fighting. Satan realizes that Almighty will soon intervene and he is no match against his power. Thus, Satan decides to fly away and disappears.
Analysis of Book 4
In hell, Satan was suffering physical pain and punishment when he was chained to the fiery lake. Now his physical pain has diminished as he is free, yet, he is not free of hell as the physical pain has been converted to emotional, psychological pain. Satan has such an aim that he will do everything possible to achieve, yet, even after achieving his aim of tempting man to his fall, Lucifer realizes that he won’t be happy as he loves man and wishes good of him. His determination to accept his damnation is shown through the degradation that he goes through. At the beginning of Book 1, Satan was depicted as a glorious, tall, strong, impressive, yet fallen angel. But as he continued to side with evil, he was forced to disguise himself as a Cherub. A Cherub is pretty low in the hierarchy in comparison to an angel, especially Lucifer, who once used to be the closest and favorite of God. His degradation didn’t stop there. Milton depicts him like a low animal wolf, or a thief when he tried to climb on the wall of Eden to pursue his evil aim of corrupting mankind. He further declines and degrades himself appearing as a cormorant to get close to Adam with evil intentions. Later on, Satan, who once was the strongest and most glorious archangel, decides to become a toad so that he may reach near to sleeping Eve and whisper falsehood in her dreams to corrupt her.
Why did Satan Chose Eve as his Target to Corrupt Mankind?
The major theme of Book 4 of Paradise Lost is the Hierarchy of God’s universe. Man lies at the center of this hierarchy. Man is a creation of God that He made in His own image and offered him free will to decide and act. Man is close to God. When Man complained that he feels lonely and needs some companion to be with, God took out a rib of Adam and created Eve out of it. While explaining the nature of this new creation, the female Man Eve, God told Raphael that Eve is a little away from God because she was created to serve man and God. Thus, in the hierarchy of God, Eve is in a lower position than Adam. The lower side is that of Satan. Thus, Eve is a bit more on side of Satan than Adam and hence Satan thinks that he can easily influence Eve. In Satan’s hell, the hierarchy is just an opposite mirror image of God’s Universe. The lower position of hierarchy is further explained in Book 4 as Eve says, "God is thy law, thou mine." What Eve says is that for Adam God is supreme, but for Eve, Adam is supreme, as Adam is subservient to God, she is subservient to Adam, or in other words, Adam is the lord or God of Eve. Eve further says, "to know no more Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise." In later episodes of Paradise Lost, we see that Archangels Raphael, Michael, and others continue to visit Paradise to consult and offer knowledge and sermons to Adam but they offer this knowledge to him only when Eve is away, busy in some other works. And Eve is happy about it. She takes the knowledge that Adam decides to offer her, and to know no more, is her happiest knowledge.
Satan decides to turn it down and prompts Eve to exercise her individuality and act as an independent individual and stop being a loyal subservient to God through his tricks of temptations. In the Miltonian world, Adam is superior to Eve and she must always follow him. The fall of Man is all about Adam acting equal or subservient to Eve, listening to her, accepting her whims, and doing her bids. This happens because Adam feels too much enamored by the beauty of Eve and he stresses more on his emotions than reason and thus falls.
In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve are engaged in love-making much before Satan corrupts them. However, their sexual acts are to follow the command of God that suggested that Eve will be subservient to Adam and will give birth to his offspring, humankind. Their love-making has a sense of duty and absence of lust. Though it is also clear that they do enjoy the act and that’s how Adam gets trapped in Satan’s plan.
So this is it about Book 4. We will continue to discuss the remaining parts of Paradise Lost. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
