Throughout John Milton’s convoluted novel Paradise Lost, obedience and disobedience remain key elements. It remains well known how Adam and Eve fell from grace due to their neglect of God’s one rule: do not eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Many have wondered how such an elementary guideline could ignored so effortlessly, especially since it stood as the sole rule for mankind. Satan acts as yet another example of disobedience, despite living in the most comfortable circumstances. Milton’s constant reiteration of the theme of obedience to God being a central element to life on Earth, as well as Heaven, shows how he prioritizes it in his faith. Milton shines light upon the origin of disobedience, as well as its grave consequences, through …show more content…
God declaring Him and Jesus as “united as one individual soul” (Book V, line 610) pleased many in Heaven, yet with Satan it contaminated his mind with jealousy. With Satan being “the first archangel, great in power/In favor and pre-eminence” (Book V, lines 661-662), he felt insecure in his position under Jesus. This jealousy and insecurity poisoned his goodness, and, fueled by desire (much like Eve), caused him to go against his Maker. Not only does Satan overshadow his goodness with his own selfish desires, “with lies/Drew after him the third part of heaven’s host” (Book V, lines 709-710). Appealing to their same fears of “new laws from him who reigns, new minds may raise/In [them] who serve, new counsels” (Book V, lines 680-681), and with “counterfeited truth” (Book V, line 771) of possible danger of the Son. Though Jesus’s sole goal is happiness and love for all his people, Satan’s power hungry mind warped this truth with dread of being eclipsed by yet another God. Thus, Satan’s blasphemous argument, turned “the golden sceptre” of God into “an iron rod to bruise and break [his] disobedience” (Book V, lines 886-888). Satan once again goes against God, even after being expelled from Heaven, when he tempts Adam and Eve to fall from their perfect state. However, this time his guilty conscious torments him so much that “only in …show more content…
Adam and Eve repeat his fall with an irreversible sin of their own: the eating of the forbidden fruit. Leading up to her sin, Eve shows traits very similar to those of Satan. Eve seems to be created with a congenital vanity, seeing as when she first wakes up is fawn over her own reflection, “pin’d with vain desire” (Book IV, line 466); Eve seemed much like Narcissus in this moment, and would have met a similar fate had the voice of God not warned her against her vanity. Therefore, Eve’s disobedience began when she was first created, and has always been within her. The dream given to her by Satan not only reawoke her selfish feelings, but were “blown up with high conceits” and “engend’ring pride”(Book IV, line 809) by him as well. This dream left Eve asking why she was placed below Gods, instead of beside them; would God really “incense his ire/For such a petty trespass” rather than praise her “dauntless virtue” (Book IX, lines 692-694). Her desire to break her mold and wish for something more than Paradise leads her to seek independence from even her unsuspecting spouse, Adam. Adam faithfully points out that God made them for each other. This causes Eve to question if their “love/Can by his fraud be shaken or seduc’d” (Book IX, lines 286-287), saying that they cannot “suspect [their] happy state/Left so imperfect by the Maker wise/As not secure to single or combined” (Book IX, lines 337-339). Adam relents,
“O Hell!” Satan’s opening exclamation of frustration immediately alerts readers to Satan’s state of mind. As Satan gazes on Adam and Eve, he is struck by their blissful state, which sends him into a spiral of confusion as he slightly reconsiders his plan to destroy them. To himself, Satan addresses the pair; he begins regretful and with pity for Adam and Eve. He later shifts in tone to vengeful, envious, and angry. Further exemplifying Satan’s contrasting attitudes, Milton uses antonymous words of emotion throughout the passage. By the end of passage, Milton solidifies Satan’s hardening of heart and ends the struggle that has been festering inside Satan since his first act of rebellion against God. Milton successfully uses both the shift in tone and the emotional diction to reveal Satan’s stormy internal conflict.
Chronic diseases are a significant and growing challenge in Canada. They are the leading cause of death, disability and account for about two thirds of the overall burden of disease (1). According to the Canadian Chief Public Health Officer’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada for 2009, one in four Canadians had at least two concurrent chronic conditions (2). In 2011, approximately 5 million Canadians were 65 years of age or older accounting for 15% of the total population (3). Improvements in survival and an aging population contribute to the increasing
Throughout the 1960s, King engaged in various civil rights movements furthering the cause for civil independence and rights. Through his civil rights, debatably the most famous, is his “I have a dream” speech. The reason “I Have a Dream” speech made massive impacts, is due to It struck directly into the hearts of Americans both black and white making America realize just what is really going on in this world. King informed people about racial equality and fairness. This speech hit home so well just by the way he structured his speech. You can notice that MLK structures his speech to appeal to the different types of audience, supporting it with the three rhetorical modes; ethos, pathos and logos.
Satan's pride further constrains him. Because he is able to prove his freedom via dissent, and because he has ignored the fact that his free will comes from God, Satan thinks (or at least tells the angels before his own fall) that all heavenly beings including God are "Equally free" (5.792). Focused on his own freedom, Satan cannot understand that God has even more freedom than he. When confronted with the hegemonic power of the Son, then, Satan believes that "new Laws" have been imposed, that God has changed the rules (5.679-80). But this is not a new constraint; it is merely a new formulation of the Godhead.
Milton's purpose in Paradise Lost is nothing less than to assert eternal providence and justify the ways of God to men - a most daunting task. For Milton to succeed in his endeavour, he has to unravel a number of theologiccal thorns that have troubled christian philosophers for centuries. Since his epic poem is, essentially, a twelve book argument building to a logical conclusion - the 'justification of the ways of God to men' - he will necessarily have to deal with these dogmatic problems, and, in doing so, reveal his own take on the Christian theology.
However, craving independence from God ferociously backfires on Satan when he finds out that even after leaving hell, he cannot escape it, “which way [he] [flies] is Hell, [he] [himself] is Hell,” (IV, 75). Satan finds his way to revolt against and separate from God to overrule Heaven and become king, instead however, he takes on the role of the representation of all evil which is evidently seen in his interactions with Eve.
Marijuana as medicine is a theory saying that the highly addictive drug can be used to dull pain and even help other illnesses such as aids and cancer. The fact that marijuana can be used as medicine is a very controversial theory that many contradict.
However, they rebel and sin enters the world after a serpent tricks Eve into questioning God’s love and motives. In her gullible innocence, she ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3). Eve shared the fruit with Adam and they spiritually and physically die. This was catastrophic to Gods Order and led to the condemnation of all human beings (Roman 5:18). Immediately, they
John Milton demonstrates his subservience towards God while
Satan has a relationship with his “evil” followers much like a king to his noble subjects (or God to his followers). This is especially evident in lines 436-459, when Satan appears like a commoner until he ascends his throne and is suddenly clad in glory. The hundreds of thousands of demons are all condensed around the capital of Hell, waiting with bated breath for “their great adventurer from the search / of foreign worlds,” “whom they wished beheld, /
In addition, here, as throughout much the poem, Satan continues to hedge the other side of the argument, insisting that he isn't forced to do evil by opposing God, but that "to do ill our sole delight" (160). This belief that he has a choice in the matter is tied up in the misconception that he was, and continues to be, equal to God, as "reason hath equall'd" (248) them. Quite to the contrary, Milton makes it clear that "the will And high permission of all-ruling Heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs" (211-3). And it is only Satan's perverted sense of reason that convinces him that "The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n" (254-5). He believes that his reason and contemplation will help him discover "How overcome this dire Calamity" (189), or failing that, change his will such that it fits his current circumstance. This is the classic method of the delusional and disenfranchised, holding out hope for change, but at the same time putting forth the belief that the current situation can actually be beneficial. The sophistry has shown through Satan's speech, as he declares that there is no way for God to beat him, in his mind, when we know he is already defeated.
Eve’s “lowliness majestic” is perhaps what enchants Adam the most. He is captivated and totally mystified by Eve’s very nature. Adam seems to understand the nature of humanity based on the qualities that he sees in himself, which at first seems safe, as he is the first man. However, he is perplexed by Eve’s completeness—perhaps because the qualities that Eve lacks are the ones that Adam values most in himself! Beholding his wife, he remarks that by design and intention she is his “inferior” (541): her “inward faculties” (542) are not as useful as his own, and she does not as closely resemble the Maker as he does (543-44). She is not designed, as Adam is, with the desire or capacity to rule over the other creatures (544-46). These things are not true of Eve, so Adam finds it difficult to understand why she seems “in herself complete” (548). He marvels that even as she lacks the qualities that resemble the Maker, she seems “so absolute,” not lacking anything (547). Eve is complete, she is a “guard angelic placed” to Adam—one sent as a helper and a protector (559). He is captivated by how “what she wills to do or say,/Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best,” even though the man was intended to be the wisdom-giver (549-550). Adam’s attitude can be
powerful speeches. In Book II, he gives a long yet powerful speech describing his plan to ultimately defeat God. Two of his followers, Belial and Moloch, are debating whether or not they should try to go to was against God or not. Satan then, rather charismatically, convinces them of a foolproof strategy. He has learned of God's plan to create Earth and the human race. Satan says that the best way to defeat God is to destroy this. Satan is in a sense preaching to the “underdog,” convincing his followers that they have a chance to defeat God: “To suffer, as to do,
Have you ever seen a big red button that says do not push and then pushed it? We have all been there; it was just too tempting to not push it, right? In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, mankind presses that big red button. Through Adam and Eve’s free will to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, they fall from Paradise. It is not like God did not warn the pair; he made it abundantly clear that their one rule was to not eat from the tree. God, being omniscient, knows that they will fall, but makes their choice of disobedience an easy decision. Although God foresees the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden, they have free will and fall on their own; however, God makes it too easy for Satan to succeed.
Satan comes to man with his temptations as an angel of light, as he came to Christ. He has been working to bring man into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may overcome him with his temptations, and then triumph over his ruin. ...He well knows that it is impossible for man to discharge his obligations to God and to his fellow-men, while he impairs the faculties God has given him. The brain is the capital of the body... pg. 236