Book 10 begins in Heaven. God, being omniscient, is aware of the fall of Man. He instantly came to know when Eve and then Adam took the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Meanwhile, Gabriel and other guards of Paradise return to Heaven to inform what happened. Gabriel says that they tried everything possible to stop Satan from entering the Garden of Eden and they are sorry for their failure. God calls a meeting of all angels and informs them about the fall of Man. He says that he knew that Eve and Adam will fall to temptation by Satan but it was their own decision and He in no way influenced it to occur. He addresses Gabriel and other guards of Eden and says that there was nothing they could do about stopping Satan and mankind from making their decision. In a sense, he says, this was destined to happen. It was Adam and Eve’s own free will and now their action must be judged. However, God says that justice can be tempered with mercy. God sends the Son down to Earth to judge Adam and Eve.
The Son reaches earth and calls Adam and Eve who were hiding in bushes. Adam and Eve appear in front of him but there is a stark change in them. Earlier when any Angel used to visit Paradise, Adam and Eve used to greet him cheerfully while singing the prayers of God. However, they are not praising God now nor do they greet the Son. They are ashamed of their nakedness and they cringe into their guilt of disobeying God.
The Son asks them to confess. Adam admits to disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit but he blames Eve and says that she gave the fruit to him to eat. Eve also admits taking the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge but she blames the serpent who tricked her and took her to the Tree of Knowledge. The Son contemplates the situation and then he condemns the serpent whose body was used by Satan to tempt Eve. The serpent and Eve suddenly feel an enmity against each other that will never end. The Son decrees that all snakes now must crawl on their bellies, never to carry themselves upright again. The Son ordains that Adam and Eve’s children will bruise the serpent’s head, while serpents will forever bite humans by the heel.
Then the Son judges Eve and decrees that Eve and all women following her will be given the pain of childbirth as well as subjugation to their husbands. The Son then confronts Adam and ordains that Adam and all men after him will have to labor to hunt and harvest food in the cursed ground. The Son further adds that Adam and Eve and all their offspring will be subject to death, literally returning to the dust from which they were created. The Son realizes the guilt and shame that he sees in Adam and Eve and he then shows the mercy of God and offers cloth made of animal skin for Adam and Eve to cover themselves. The Son then quickly returns to Heaven.
Meanwhile, Sin and Death were busy creating the ladder from Hell to Earth. They get the information of Satan’s success and Fall of Man and they decide to speed up the formation of the Bridge from Hell to Paradise and begin to proceed towards Earth to meet him. Sin and Death reach the boundary of Paradise where they see Satan. They congratulate him for his success and promise to infect the entire Earth. Death says that he will inflict and corrupt all living things and will become the ruler of Earth. Sin says that she will concentrate more on inflicting humankind. Sin says that earlier they were not able to proceed towards Earth but after his success, they easily reached the edge of Paradise. Sin says that it suggests that now Satan has control over Earth and Human Kind. Satan again feels a false pride and starts believing that he actually acquired the powers suggested by Sin and Death. He thanks them for their good wishes and urges them to conquer and corrupt the earth as soon as possible. None of them were aware of the sentence of the Son against Adam and Eve. They didn’t realize that God allowed Sin and Death to reach Earth so that the Son may vanquish them when he appears on earth as a human.
Satan leaves them and goes to Hell while Sin and Death complete the bridge between Hell and Earth so that Sin, Death, and Satan can more easily invade the earth and Man can be easily brought to Hell.
Satan returns to Hell and addresses all his fellow fallen angels from the altar of the temple of Hell. His companions eagerly listen about his success on Earth however they do not cheer Satan as he expected. Rather he listens to strong hissing sounds. Soon he realizes that he too has been changed into a giant snake and he starts hissing along with other fallen angels.
All the fallen angels then turn into snakes, scorpions, and other monsters. They gather around a tree of the fruit of Hell which exactly resembles the Tree of Knowledge of Paradise. When they taste the fruit of that tree, it tastes like ashes.
Meanwhile, Sin and Death invade earth. Death starts taking control of plants, moving up to animals. Sin, on the other hand, concentrates on humans. God changes the nature of Earth as now Man is destined to struggle to produce his own food. He tilts the axis of the earth in such a way that now the earth will have seasons. Light and order will not always remain on Earth and there will be phases of darkness, disorder, and cold.
Adam and Eve observe these changes. Adam becomes sad and repels Eve. He laments how their children will suffer the consequences of their wrong deeds. To avoid that, Eve suggests that she should commit suicide or should never become a mother. Adam says that it will again mean disobedience against God’s justice. He embraces Eve and soothes her and says that they will bear the consequences with patience and will try to seek forgiveness from God. He says that it is not so bad because they are still together and alive. Eve agrees and both begin praising God again.
Analysis of Book 10
The major theme of Book 10 is Fall of Man and it shows the contrast of the fall of man with that of the fall of angels. After the fall, the fallen angels, under the leadership of Satan, vowed to corrupt God’s creation and established an unending enmity. On the other hand, Man realized his mistake after the fall. Eve swayed again and suggested ways to avoid the decree of punishment but Adam convinced her to accept the punishment and follow the correct path of asking forgiveness while praising God. This difference shows why God will continue to show mercy for Man while paving a way for Man’s redemption. Satan, on the other hand, is forever shunned from the light of heaven. Satan doesn’t allow himself to repent as his disobedience comes from within. On the other hand, Eve and Adam were not internally disobedient to God, they were tricked and as they realized their mistake, they repented. Adam and Eve produced true sorrow and regret that Satan couldn’t.
The other theme of Paradise Lost is the hierarchy. Adam is superior to Eve. It was obvious in previous sections too but in Book 10, Eve is punished to suffer pain while giving birth to children and always remain submissive to Adam. When Adam repels Eve, she considers committing suicide or never procreating so that their offspring may not suffer the consequences of their blunder. However, Adam reminds her about Jesus, the promised birth of the Son as a human for their salvation. This hope prevents the couple from committing suicide.
Satan and the Son are presented in contrast. In the first scene of Book 10, God sends the Son to judge Adam and Eve, His children. In the second scene, the Son meets the children and judges them. In the third scene, Satan, the father meets his children Sin, and Death, and offers them instructions and advice for the future course.
Milton also made a political jab against the Catholic church by mentioning hell as “wonderous art pontifical.” Catholics consider the Pope as the bridge between God and Man. Milton on the other hand describes it as a bridge to hell and the Roman Catholic Church as the way to get there.
So this is it about Book 10 of Paradise Lost. We will soon conclude the remaining two parts of Milton’s epic. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Milton began Book 9 of Paradise Lost with another prayer to his Muse. He invocates and begs Urania, the ‘Christian’ muse to guide him to perform this task when he is going to depict the actual act of disobedience by Adam and Eve. He suggests that he is too old and much less creative than what is required to describe the fall of Humans which is more ‘Heroic’ than Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s Iliad. He prays the ‘Christian Patroness’ to help him complete his work and show the true heroism that lies in the Christian idea of sacrifice.
Satan was sent away from Paradise by Gabriel. After 8 days, he returns to the Garden of Eden and while avoiding the eyes of Gabriel and his guards, he studies all the animals of Eden. He learns the strength and weak points of all the creatures and ultimately, he decides to take the shape of a serpent to approach Eve and tempt her. Satan believes that the serpent is the "subtlest beast of all the Field.”
Summary of Book 9
Twilight falls on Eden and as the darkness engulfs the beautiful world, Adam and Eve go to sleep while Satan comes down to the garden in form of mist and then enters the serpent. As he waits for his chance he laments his loss of heaven when he sees how beautiful a creation paradise is. "Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils."
The next morning, Adam and Eve prepare for their daily routine of tending the Garden. Eve has noticed the increasing growth of Garden and she realizes that no matter how hard they work, some portion of Garden will remain untended. Thus, she devises a plan and suggests that this day, Adam and Eve should work separately at different portions of the Garden so that they may concentrate more on the work at hand.
Adam argues against Eve’s idea as he is aware of the danger that Raphael informed about. He tells Eve that she will be more vulnerable in his absence but Eve doesn’t relent, she is willing to test her strength. They continue to argue as Eve continues to propose they work separately while Adam insists that they should remain together. At last, Adam gives up and agrees to work separately. However, he commands Eve not to wander here and there and return to their bower as soon as she finishes the work. Eve agrees, but Milton mentions that Eve will never return to the bower in the way she is leaving.
So, Eve chooses the direction in which Satan was hiding in the body of a serpent. Satan watches Eve, arguably the most beautiful creature God ever made, and gets mesmerized. For a moment, he forgets all the evil ideas he had in his head and just watches Eve, admiring her. He feels that in her presence, he is becoming ‘stupidly good.’ Soon he comes to his senses and realizes that his only purpose is to destroy God’s creation, to corrupt Eve, and Adam.
Satan approaches Eve and flatters her, telling her how beautiful she is, how graceful and godly she appears. Eve, prone to vanity, is amazed seeing a serpent speaking like her and Adam. She asks how could the serpent can talk like a human? Satan answers that it is the effect of a fruit that he ate from a tree in the Garden. He says that by eating the fruit of that tree, he got the power to speak and reason. Through his newly acquired rational faculty, the serpent says he reasoned that Eve is worshipable as she is the most beautiful creation of God and he wishes to worship her.
Eve feels like a goddess, full of vanity, and asks the serpent about the tree. Satan, in the body of that serpent, takes Eve to the Tree of Knowledge. Eve is surprised to know that the serpent ate the fruit of that tree. She says that God has forbidden Man from eating fruits of that tree and she is obedient to God. The serpent plays his cards. He says that God forbade Man to eat the fruits of that tree because the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge will make Man omniscient, equivalent to God. Since God doesn’t like competition, He forbade Man to take those fruits. Satan says that God tricked her and Adam. He says that he ate the fruit of that tree himself and got the power to speak and reason like humans, his acumen increased, and there is no side effect, he is not dead. He argues that Man, who already is the master of reason if he eats the fruit from that tree, his abilities will be second to none.
Eve is tempted to try a fruit. She convinces herself to eat the fruit of Tree of Knowledge as the serpent is the proof that those fruits are harmless. Eve takes fruit and devours it.
Suddenly, the whole nature becomes gloomy, sad, and weeping as Eve falls. She is mesmerized by the taste of that fruit and starts worshipping the Tree of Knowledge as a god. Eve notices the gloomy atmosphere and fears if it is a bad omen and will she die? She couldn’t fathom that she will die while Adam will remain. She is fearful that if she dies, Adam will be given another wife. So she decides that Adam must also take that fruit.
As Eve approaches Adam, he sees the change in her, and aghast, he drops the wreath of flowers he was making for her. Eve tells him about the wondrous fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and how she ate it. She insists that if Adam loves her, he must also take the fruit. Adam lets his passion and emotion towards Eve rule his decision and agrees to take the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. He knows that it is forbidden, but for Eve, he is willing to disobey God.
As soon as Adam eats the fruit, he feels a sudden surge of lust for Eve. Earlier too they made love but that was so gentle and pure. It was Eve that always took the hand of Adam as they mated. However, now things have changed. Adam has an animalistic urge to take Eve. He grabs her hand and forcefully takes her to the bank of the river where they first met. They engage in carnal amorous play. They mate like beasts. After their impure love, they get so tired and immediately fall asleep.
As Adam and Eve arise, they find themselves deprived of all the virtues and godliness. Rather they are filled with shame and remorse. For the first time, they are now aware of their nakedness and they feel shame. Adam soon sews some fig leaves together to cover their genitals.
Now Eve realizes what wrong they have done and she starts blaming Adam for letting her go alone in the Garden while he knew that she is vulnerable. Both continue to blame each other as the love between them gradually evaporates.
Analysis of Book 9
Milton doesn’t mention Urania directly as his Muse in the fourth invocation. He strictly prefers to make it more Christian. He further mentions that this story is much greater and grander than Virgil’s or Homer’s work. He mentions that now the ‘Tragic’ part of his epic is going to be revealed. Satan is further degenerated before corrupting Eve. Satan again shows regret to what had happened but he shows no wavering in his determination to destroy humankind. Satan feels the agony of internal despair as he realizes that it would have been better if he hadn’t fallen and been allowed to appreciate the creation of God that he must now ruin. Milton carefully shows that Satan and Man both have absolute power to reason and free will. He expresses that the mind can become one’s own enemy by using reason to approach an unreasonable position. Satan easily succeeds in tempting Eve which again shows that woman is the weaker sex in the Miltonian world. Milton expresses Eve has lacking the ability to reason soundly. She rather falls for false praise and superficial things. Furthermore, once she is corrupted, she cannot stand losing Adam and wants him to be corrupted too. Adam knows that it would be wrong to eat the fruit but he cannot stand the situation where Eve is banished and he is forced to live without her. So he chooses Eve above God and readily eats the fruit. As a result, their pious love turns into a perverted sexual whim.
This is it for today. We will continue to discuss the remaining parts of Paradise Lost. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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.
