Here I am again with another series! (They're getting to be a bit excessive, aren't they?) But that's neither here or there to me at the moment because our first topic is something that I'm really aching to discuss.
As some of you may know, I'm currently taking a class dedicated to the one and only: John Milton. In this class, we read a vast majority of the man's works, but that list wouldn't be complete without his pièce de résistance - the work commonly known as... Paradise Lost. (duh, duh, duuuuummmmm)
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At the moment, we aren't that far into it - we're in Book ll to be specific - but I feel as though I've been transformed from the outside in already. (Seriously, it's already been a great experience. 10/10 of me would recommend.) We've been writing like crazy about it and reading even more, but this week we only have an assignment for Book lll. Most are probably wiping the sweat off their brow, but I'm a nerd and can't keep my mouth shut. So naturally, I had to find some way to get my thoughts out there. Thus, here we are.
We open to this kind of warped meeting in the city of Pandemonium - to be quite honest I think it's an allusion to the parliament meetings Milton would have attended during his political days. Take from that what you will, the guy was the king of shade.
Anyways, during this meeting we are looking in on the fallen angels discussing their next move. As you may have known if you've read Book l, they've risen up against God and been thrown down to "bottomless perdition." This conversation is their next step and like any meeting we might have today, there are a few people who step up to share their ideas. (Maybe they're looking to impress Satan up on the throne?)
So, we hear from four people. This guy named Moloch first, who suggests that they should declare another war on Heaven and really show God who's boss. Seriously, this guy thinks another war is really the way to go - if not for victory, than for revenge.
"Or if our substance be indeed divine
And cannot cease to be we are at worst
On this side nothing and by proof we feel
Our power sufficient to disturb His Heav'n
And with perpetual inroads to alarm,
Though inaccessible, His fatal throne,
Which if not victory is yet revenge."
(2.99-105)
Talk about a hot head...
Next, we move on to a guy who thinks Moloch is going about this all wrong. His name is Belial. Although we're told that he's pretty much a smooth-talking scumbag,
"He seemed for dignity composed and high explóit,
But all was false and hollow though his tongue
Dropped manna and could make the worse appear
The better reason to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels. For his thoughts were low,
To vice industrious but to nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear"
(2.110-117)
we can't help but feel his suggestion is a bit more attainable - and won't lead them in the wrong direction. (Did I mention that Satan is pretty much the Hero of the poem at this point and we can't help but kind of hope all ends well for him? Did I also mention that this is also a trick Milton plays on us? Oops.)
Like the weird flower-child hippy in school, Belial proposes that the fallen angels simply wait for God to forgive them because if they fought him again and lost, their situation could be much worse.
"Shall we then live thus vile, the race of Heav'n
Thus trampled, thus expelled to suffer here
Chains and these torments? Better these than worse
By my advice since fate inevitable
Subdues us and omnipotent decree,
The victor's will."
(2.194-199)
But that's not the worst of it. Belial actually believes that they can redeem themselves if they are patient and stay out of trouble. Because that's going to get them back to where they belong in Heaven...
"This is now
Our doom which if we can sustain and bear
Our súpreme Foe in time may much remit
His anger and perhaps thus far removed
Not mind us not offending, satisfied
With what is punished, whence these raging fires
Will slacken if His breath stir not their flames."
(2.208-214)
(You can chuckle here if you find that a bit far fetched and ridiculous, but you also have to take into account that the text says this is "peaceful sloth not peace," mostly because Belial thinks they should do this only to overtake God when the time is right (i.e. when they are back in Heaven). He's a sneaky little thing, but not everyone is convinced here.
And because of this, another comes forward with his own idea. His name is Mammon and we're not told too much about him. He just sort of starts speaking. (Feels like a real meeting, doesn't it?) His idea pretty much revolves around the fact that 1) Belial is dumb to suggest going back to Heaven in the first place because of all the horrible things they'll be forced to do,
"For what place can be for us
Within Heav'n's bound unless Heav'n's Lord supreme
We overpower? Suppose He should relent
And publish grace to all on promise made
Of new subjection. With what eyes could we
Stand laws imposed to celebrate His throne
With warbled hymns and to His Godhead sing
Forced hallelujahs while He lordly sits
Our envied sov'reign and His altar breathes
Ambrosial odors and ambrosial flowers,
Our servile offerings? This must be our task
In Heav'n, this our delight. How wearisome
Eternity so spent in worship paid
To whom we hate!"
(2.235-249)
And 2) They're reigning in this place already, why not make the most of it?
"Let us not pursue -
By force impossible, by leave obtained
Unacceptable, though in Heav'n - our state
Of splendid vassalage but rather seek
Our own good from ourselves and from our own
Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess,
Free and to none accountable, preferring
Hard liberty before the easy yoke
Of servile pomp."
(2.249-257)
These lines are chalk full of things to talk about when it comes to servitude and one's attidude while doing said act, but that's another article entirely. So, let me just say this: Mammon says that service is easy, and by saying this, he's practically saying that rebelling is hard. One could argue that he's putting deceitful little eggs in reader's heads, but on the other hand what if this line is more of Milton's words than Mammons? I only say this because Milton believed that the restriction of printed materials was, in short, easy - that is unchallengeing to the human brain. And if one just went with the regulations the state run church was making simply because it was the church was making them, that was easy too. But at the same time you were being controlled - yoked like cattle. Liberty and rebellion is hard.
But I don't know. You be the judge there once you look up a bit about the issues that led to the English Civil War.
No matter what Milton really meant in those last few lines, there's still a bit more to what Mammon's saying in his speech. He goes on to talk about work and the "ease out of pain and endurance" which reminds me a bit of the Protestant work ethic. The idea that all they need to do is pick up their boot straps and do what they're best at. What they are best at just so happens to be inflicting evil, but that's only a minor detail - at least to them it sounds appealing. Their reason for this lies in Mammons' logic. He thinks that by working hard and doing evil things - not really sure what that entails specifically because at this point Adam and Eve haven't even been brought up - they'll end up making Hell as great as Heaven. (We know this is impossible, of course, but isn't it the least bit fun to play along?)
At this point, we're told that a bunch of applause sounds. So much that one would think the deadline for submissions has officially closed, but Satan's right - or should I say left - hand man, Beëlzebub, slides into the DM's right in the nick of time. And I hate to spoil this for you, but his suggestion is the one Satan ultimately chooses.
He talks about this other world where a new being called "Man" lives. (Sound familiar to you, because I can't quite place it...)
"There is a place,
If ancient and prophetic fame in Heav'n
Err not, another world, the happy seat
Of some new race called Man about this time
To be created like to us though less
In pow'r and excellence but favored more
Of Him who rules above."
(2.345-351)
Because of this passage, we can begin to see a few things start to piece together. Adam and Eve have been vaguely mentioned although we don't know their name, but the real importance of this here quote is that Beëlzebub took the time to mention not only that man is less than they are, but also that even though this is the case, he is favored by God more so than they are. Talk about a punch to the gut...
And what do they do when this jealousy comes creeping up? They pull a classic mean, popular girl and decide that they are going to go check them out and potentially ruin them. As if that's not bad enough, they want to do it simply to upset God and enact their revenge. How rude.
Unsurprisingly, Satan's on board and when asked who will risk life and limb to go on this adventure, he volunteers - mostly because he's their leader and it's dangerous blah, blah, blah prideful things.
Shew - that was a lot of ground to lay. I know that's quite a lot to take in at the beginning because it starts to become a bit of a slog after a while. I mean there's about 12 pages of discussion about this before Satan gets up and settles it all. But the good news for those of you taking a nap out there (yes, I see you) is that things really start to pick up from here.
There's a few final bits about what the other angels are doing as Satan flies away, but it's not too extensive and once you get past it, the really good stuff starts to happen. (And by good I mean absolutely demented, but if you know me at all, or you follow me on twitter - @brookejohnson96 - you'd have guessed that before now.)
No, the one thing that inspired me to discuss this book was not the wack-job parliament meeting at the beginning here - although I suppose it is rather interesting when one takes Milton's political past into account - my real reason, the crux of my discussion lies in the scene that takes place when Satan arrives at Chaos' gates (that's what Milton calls Hell, btw).
When I first read it, the feminist in me wanted to scream, but the analyzer of literature in me was having a field day because this section says so much about Milton's feelings on gender and the duality that is female.
Just in case you don't know what I'm referring to here, I'm talking about the embodiment of Sin, which, yes, is a woman. Does that get you riled up to think about because I had to take a short break to process it all. But the thing was, I was too wrapped up in the narrative of it to take too long because that shit is fucked up!
If you've ever encountered this part, you know that Sin isn't alone, she's with this shadowy creature that we later find out is Death. And I say this part is fucked up because, as my professor commented, it's pretty much an episode of Maury Povich. "Why?" You may be wondering... Well let me give you a run down.
Sin was born from Satan's head when he conspired against God, which is sort of an odd way to give birth but whatever, she didn't have a Mom. And if you're trying to figure out what that makes her, let be help you out.
She's Satan's daughter.
*Intro to Fergie's London Bridge plays in background*
But this isn't even the worst of the worst thing that happens to her. This poor thing has been through the ringer. Leave it to Johnny-boy to make us feel sorry for SIN.
We go on to find out that Daddy thought Sin was pleasing to the eye so he slept with her. (Yea, who would have thought incest would make it's way into such a text.) Even better, she became pregnant with what is now Death and when Death was born the bottom half of her was given scales and is described as being serpent-like.
But remember how I said there's a worse event that happens to her? We come to find out that Death rapes his mother. :)
Literally, what the Hell, Milton.
You thought that was bad take into account that because of this she is surrounded by hounds that kennel inside her womb and constantly gnaw at her bowls. Placing the blame on the victim much?
But anyway, now that I've recounted all of that, aren't you a bit pissed? Perhaps you're supposed to be, but in this Milton gives us another one of his many choices. They're littered throughout the text, and in Satan's case, during Book l, it might have been a bit hard for some of us to cast him as the hero. Yet, with Sin, you can't help but have pity on her. In fact, in our day and age, you're probably a monster if you don't. Because everything that happened to her was not her fault. It wasn't her idea to be born the way she was, it wasn't her idea to be impregnated by her father, and it most certainly wasn't her idea to be raped by her son only to be assigned post to a gate with him for all eternity!
Granted, Death wasn't born when she was posted there, but still. It's awfully convenient. God is omnipotent after all, surely he knew what would befall her, and if he did, what does that say about him? This isn't exactly the ideal "Why do bad things happen to good people" situation, but it sure is close in my book. Does her lineage make her deserving of this kind of punishment? Because it's common knowledge that no one deserves to be raped.
I could go on forever, but do you see what I'm talking about here? Is it apparent what kind of burden reading something as dense as this places upon the reader? Do you want to have a seance, resurrect Milton, and give him a piece of your mind? Well, me too! So, if you have something to contribute, please, by all means carry on the conversation! I'm really interested to know what you thought about the whole situation because it is a complicated one. Get in those comments and have a field day because I can assure you that I'm still conflicted as you read.
