John Milton. "Lost heaven"

JOHN MILTON. PARADISE LOST

Of Man "s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed In the beginning how the heavens and earth Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill 10 Delight thee more, and Siloa" s brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th" Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rime. And chiefly Thou, 0 Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples th" upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know"st; Thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, 20 Dove-like sat"st brooding on the vast Abyss, And mad "st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; Tha t, to the height of this great argument, I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. Say first - for Heaven hides nothing from your view, Nor the deep tract of Hell - say first what cause Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state, Favored of Heaven so highly, to fall off 30 From their Creator, and transgress his will For one restraint, lords of the world besides? Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? Th" infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile, Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High, 40 If he opposed; and, with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud, With vain attempt. Him th" Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion, down To botomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day and night 50 To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew, Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, though immortal; but his doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes, That witnessed huge affliction and dismay, Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate: At once, as far as Angel's ken, he views The dismal situation waste and wild; 60 A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all, but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. Such place Eternal Justice had prepared 70 For those rebellious; here their prison ordained In utter darkness, and their portion set, As far removed from God and light of Heaven As from the center thrice to th" ultimate pole. Oh, how unlike the place from whence they fell!

John Milton's poem "Paradise Lost" is included in the programs of university courses in the history of foreign literature of the 17th-18th centuries and the history of English literature. The available literary works about this work in Russian require clarifications and comments, mainly related to the interpretation of the image of Satan and the formulation of topical problems of study. The proposed materials invite you to observe the originality of the problems and genre features of the poem.

The main headings guide the student, starting to study the text of the poem, in its content and problems. Problems are proposed for discussion, each of which can be considered in more or less detail at the discretion of the teacher and in connection with the tasks that are set at the seminar, as well as in connection with the inclinations and individual interests of students. Some of the proposed problems (1,3,6,7) allow us to generalize the knowledge gained in the courses of the history of foreign literature, to consider the work of J. Milton in a broader context, to see it in connection with the problems relevant to contemporaries, to show how J. Milton is included in the development of the Renaissance problems. All the problems posed are focused on working with the text of the poem, on finding answers in Milton's formulations and ways of expressing the author's thought.

Certain issues require an in-depth consideration of the philosophical and linguistic problems reflected in the text of the poem. One of the most complex and interesting among them is the question of the nature of the Word - creative, Divine and given to rational creatures, which can be used at one's discretion for good or for evil. It is this aspect of the discussion that seems to us the most attractive among linguists and philologists. And that is what we decipher, giving a possible course of the conversation.

Plot moves. KEY POINTS

Book I. The beginning of the first book plays the role of a Preface to the poem, which defines its problems and time limits: it says that the work will consider events from the fall of Man to the atonement of his guilt by Christ, who died in the name of the salvation of Mankind. In fact, the time frame of the poem turns out to be shifted compared to the stated plan.

The narrative in it begins with the overthrow of Satan, who rebelled against God, from heaven, and then this border shifts to the moment of the creation of the world (book VII) - this is the earliest of the events described. The action in the poem ends with the expulsion from Paradise of Adam and Eve (XII), and the latest information about life on Earth is contained in the story of the Archangel and barely reaches the Great Flood. Thus, it would be more legitimate to assume that, firstly, the author perceived "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained" as a dilogy, which is preceded by a general Prologue; secondly, that it was more important for him to determine in the first lines the essence of what was happening - from the fall to salvation, and not its chronology.

In an effort to determine how the fall into sin began, the author refers to the moment of the overthrow of Satan and how, having come to their senses after many days of unconsciousness from a blow, the fallen angels give advice on how to proceed further.

Book II. In the course of the council, which is held by Satan, a new tactic of opposing Heaven is being developed: to wage a covert war, to try to destroy the harmony of the Divine plan, inducing doubt and disobedience to the new creation of God - Man. To this end, Satan begins his journey to the new world. Having made his way to the gates of hell, which are guarded by Death (in English language"death" masculine) and Sin (in English "sin" feminine), he promises to rescue both by giving them new world who promises to find. The flight of Satan begins with a fall into the abyss, from which he is pushed out by a flying comet; it is only by receiving this strongest impulse that he copes with the immeasurable, insurmountable space and, with the greatest tension of his huge wings, equalizes his flight. Approaching Divine world, he gets from the world of Chaos to the world of Nature, the idea of ​​which in Milton is associated with harmony and order.

Book III. Satan's approach to the new world does not go unnoticed by God, who informs the Son that he knows about the Enemy's plan and that He will allow this plan to be carried out: Satan will be allowed to enter the world of Man, the perfection of which should be put to the test. It is immediately known that Man will not stand. But no matter how sorry the new creation is, to interfere in events would be to question the strict law of free will. Man has to go through the fall and become mortal. He will be able to regain Heaven only on the condition that someone voluntarily give his life for him. God the Son does not hesitate to offer his life in exchange for the salvation of Man and impresses the Father with his greatness.

Approaching the new world, Satan is struck by its harmony. He reflects on how the world works, what role the Sun plays in it, and which of the shining balls is assigned to Man.

Book IV. Satan is amazed at the sight of Paradise on Earth. Beauty gives rise to repentance in him. But he persists in his arrogance and unwillingness to yield. Second the strongest impression he has the appearance of the first people. He admits to himself that he is ready to love them for their perfection, but he considers that it is his duty, as the leader of the fallen angels, to bring his plan to the end. Satan hears the conversation of people at the Tree of Life, which grows next to the Tree of Knowledge, considers the prohibition associated with it, and stops in his plans to kindle the thirst for Knowledge in people. His first attempt to influence Eve through a dream, inspiring her with vague thoughts and annoyance, turns out to be not completed. His intrusion is discovered by the Guardian Angels. Satan's attempt to win them over to his side, accusing them of servility to God, meets with a decisive rebuff: in response, he is accused of servility combined with hypocrisy:

And thou, sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem Patron of liberty, who more than thou Once fawned, and cringed, and servilely adored Heaven's awful Monarch? Wherefore, but in hope To dispossess him, and thyself to reign?—957— 961.

Book V. Eve tells Adam a dream in which Satan promised her that she would become a goddess by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Adam discusses the role of the Imagination in alliance with and opposition to Reason:

In thee can harbor none, Created pure. But know that in the soul Are many lesser faculties, that serve Reason as chief. Among these Fancy next Her office holds; of all external things, Which the five watchful senses represent, She forms imaginations, aery shapes, Which Reason, joining or disjoining, frames All what we affirm or what deny, and call Our knowledge or opinion; then retires into her private cell when nature rests. Oft, in her absence, mimic Fancy wakes up To imitate her; but, misjoining shapes, Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams, III matching words and deeds long past or late. - 99-113.

Archangel Raphael comes to the first couple to answer Adam's questions about the structure of the world and the nature of Man. He talks about the angelic essence, that angels have a sense of smell, touch, hearing and sight. They burn food, eliminating everything unnecessary, "transforming / Corporeal into incorporeal." Raphael pronounces key words about the nature of Man:

God made thee perfect, not immutable And good he made thee; but to persevere He left it in your power, ordained your will By nature free, not over-ruled by fate Inextricable, or strict necessity. - 524-528.

To Adam's questions about the Enemy, the Archangel tells about Satan's dispute with Seraphim Abdiel about the nature of Power and exalting, worthy and humiliating subordination:

Nature and the Lord One law says: to command Worthy is the one who exceeded his subjects in Dignity. But true slavery To serve a madman or a rebel, Who rises up against the Lord, who surpasses Him in everything. Per. Ark. Steinberg

Satanic doubt in the wisdom of the Divine law is based on the fact that no one remembers his birth, and boils down to disbelief that the Angels were created by God, and not spontaneously generated and not equal to him in their originality (853-871). Book VI. The only book written according to the laws of the classical heroic poem describes the battle of the heavenly hosts with the army of Satan. Archangel Raphael tells Adam about the satanic plan to create a super-powerful weapon from particles of matter extracted from the fiery bowels of the Earth, and its implementation (472-494). About how God the Son came to the aid of the Archangels, whose forces were in turmoil under the pressure of a new weapon, how the victory was won and Satan was cast out from Heaven. This brings us back to the beginning of the poem.

Book VII. Archangel Raphael tells Adam about the origin of the idea of ​​creating a new world and its implementation after the overthrow of Satan. Before God begins to create the world with the Word, God the Son will fulfill the general engineering plan:

Here, stopping the flaming wheels Rotation, he took a golden compass, - The product of the Lord's workshops, - To outline the boundaries of the Universe And other created things; And, setting the point in the center, With the other end he circled in the pitch darkness of the Boundless abyss - a circle and commanded: - From now on, to this line, world, stretch! Your circumference and boundary are here!—224-231.

God creates the world with the Word, separating Light from Darkness (242-248), Firmament from Waters, inhabits the world with plants, fish and animals. On the seventh day of creation, music replaces the Word (592-599).

The book ends with a glorification of the Almighty, in which one of his greatest qualities is called the ability to turn evil into good. Book VIII. Adam tells the Archangel about his first impressions of the world, about how knowledge about the world and the nature of things entered into it. He wonders about the essence of Knowledge. The archangel tells him about the wisdom of the world order, about the incomprehensibility of the Divine plan and about the futility of trying to know what is not given to a Man by God, about the wisdom of ignorance, the ability "not to poison / Anxious vanity - delights / Blessed life." God only allows people to guess about the structure of the world and reveals his secrets, laughing at the attempts of people to understand them:

He left the whole universe to the Lovers of conjectures, perhaps Desiring to laugh at them, At the miserable superstition of the men of Scientists, at the barren vanity of Their future opinions, when they Number the stars, they will begin to create Models of speculative skies And invent many systems, replacing one another, striving for Plausibility imaginary give. - 72-82.

In a conversation with God, Adam, observing the pairing of all creatures, asks about his loneliness and receives an answer that he was created in the likeness of God, and he is one. Adam doubts the justice of what he heard (but his doubt is within the limits of faith) and claims that the Divine nature is perfect and self-sufficient, and the human is looking for a similar one. God creates Eve for him. Adam reflects on the nature of earthly Love, its humanity.

Satanic reasoning about the acquisition of Power is fundamentally different from what Seraphim Abdiel said about the nature of Power:

He who longs to reach the pinnacle of power must be ready to grovel on his belly and reach extreme baseness. Who aspires must down as low As high he soared, obnoxious, first or last, To basest things. - 169-171.

Getting used to the Serpent, Satan meets Eve and falsely informs her that he ate the fruits from the Tree of Knowledge and not only did not die, but also gained the gift of the Word. Eve succumbs to temptation. Most of all, she wants to become wise. She is going to hide her deed from Adam, bliss alone and be knowledgeable. But her existence is poisoned by the thought that she probably, as promised, became mortal, may die, and another wife will be created for Adam. A decision matures in her: Adam must share her fate. Adam is overwhelmed by Eve's confession, but is ready to die with her. The earth groans at the fall (782-784).

Before the fall, Adam defines the essence of human nature and speaks of the impossibility of Evil penetrating beyond its own will:

The danger lies, yet lies within his power; Against his will he can receive no harm. But God left free the Will; for what obeys Reason is free; and Reason he made right, But bid her well beware, and still erect, Lest, by some fair appearing good surprised, She dictate false, and misinform the Will To do what God expressly hat forbid. - 349-356.

Book X. There is sorrow in Heaven over the fall of Man, but sorrow dissolves in deep compassion and does not break bliss. Changes are taking place in human nature:

Love was not in their looks, either to God Or to each other, but apparent guilt, And shame, and perturbation, and despair, Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile. - 111-114.

God proclaims eternal enmity between humans and snakes. He appoints Adam to get bread in the sweat of his face, and Eve to give birth in pain. God the Son dresses people in the skins of dead animals.

Separated by huge distances from Satan, Sin and Death feel that it is time for them to leave Hell and move to Earth, and build the strongest bridge connecting Hell and Earth. Sin believes that, having rejected the world, the Creator gave it to the power of Satan, and now he will have to share his power. Satan returns to Hell, makes a speech in the throne room and waits for applause, but instead hears the hiss of his associates turned into snakes.

God says that he must let Death into the world in order to “lick all the abomination and devour the dirt” (629-632). With the advent of Death in the world, "the beast rose / Against the beast, the birds rushed at the birds, / And the fish took up arms against the fish." At the command of God, the angels shift the axis of the Earth by 20 degrees, which causes the climate to change, droughts and colds reign.

Adam is punished by his fate and reproaches God for not asking him for his creation, and is ready to pray for turning into dust. But he understands that he will have to accept the current conditions of life, which he considers immensely difficult. He realizes that he would not have accepted such reproaches from his own son, since he would have brought him into the world not by desire, but by nature: "Yet him not your election, / But natural necessity, begot" - 764-765. Adam is trying to realize what non-existence is and what are the relationships between God and Death: if God is the creator of all things, could he give birth to Death: "lest all I cannot die (...)/ who knows / But I shall die a living death? / Can he make deathless death?" - 783, 787-798. The realization comes that to become mortal does not mean to cease to exist at the moment of the fall, but to live with a terrifying sense of the finiteness of one's own being: "death be not one stroke, as I supposed, / Bereaving sence, but endless misery." - 809-810.

Eve is ready to beg Heaven that only she was punished. She offers Adam not to have offspring, "gluttonous Death outwitted", or to commit suicide without the cowardly expectation of Death. But Adam remembers: God has appointed that the offspring of Eve will crush the head of the Serpent, which means that in order to take revenge on Satan, one cannot refuse heirs.

Book XI. The hearts of the couple are enlightened. God the Son says that the fruits that have been suffered and born from the heart of a person are more valuable than the fruits on any of the trees of paradise. - 22-30. God makes it clear that He deprives Man of bliss not out of cruelty, but in order to heal the flaw that arose during the fall. - 57-71. And Death is delayed for the same: “Many days / Granted to you, so that you can, / Repentant, through good deeds / Correct evil.” - 254-255. At the same time, the Man is given advice "Too much / Not to cling with all my heart to things / Which I do not have the right to possess." - 288-289.

In order to teach Adam to be wise in earthly existence, Archangel Michael shows him pictures of the future, life on Earth before the Great Flood, the vices that humanity will indulge in, many deaths that will have to be experienced. And talks about the art of living. The most cruel thing that awaits a Man is the need to outlive his youth, beauty and strength. Life from it will go drop by drop. Learning to live means being able not to fall in love with life, but also not to hate it: "Nor love your life, nor hate, but what thou liv" st / Live well. "- 553-554. The main thing is to remember that he was "created / For the highest purpose, pure and holy ”(to nobler end, / Holy and pure, conformity divine." - 607-608). The archangel shows Adam the life of the camp of "masters and admirers of the arts", who, meanwhile, "neglect / Their Creator" and reject his gifts. The Archangel sees them as "the source of troubles / In the effeminacy of feminine men, / Who need (...) / Innate dignity to keep." - 634, 636. Then Adam will see a tribe of warriors who perform "deeds of great heroism, but rejecting true virtues", and as a just act he perceives the Great Flood poured by God.

Book XII. Archangel Michael continues his story about the earthly existence of people, about the essence of the fall and new transgressions before God. He talks about how people will think of storming Heaven, desiring to become equal with God, they will begin to build the Tower of Babel, for which God will punish them by mixing languages, sending multilingualism and dissonance of incomprehensible words. - 370-379.

The archangel explains to Adam that the healing of the flaws caused by the fall will be painful. In response to the fact that Man rejected the highest true Freedom granted to him of voluntary service to the forces of Heaven, “God / In retribution will subject him from outside / to the Tyranny of self-proclaimed leaders.” People "They will deprive them of their outer freedom, after that, / When they lose, having sinned, / their inner freedom."

The laws established by God only highlight the sinfulness of Man, but do not eradicate sins and do not atone for them. Redemption can only come from righteous blood shed for sinners. - 284-290. Laws exist only for earthly life and prepare for the perception of the eternal Truth during the transition from flesh to spirit, - 297-299 - when the whole Earth will again become Paradise, which will surpass Eden. - 463-465.

Archangel Michael and Adam affirm and praise the ability of God, named at the end of Book VII, to transform Evil into Good. - 487-489, 565-573. Adam recognizes as the highest good "Obedience, love and fear / Only to repay God (...) only from him / Depend." - 561-564. Archangel Michael declares this understanding to be the highest Knowledge:

Having comprehended this, You have completely mastered the knowledge and do not harbor hopes For more, even if you recognize the names of All the stars and all the ethereal forces, All the secrets of the abyss, everything that Nature has created, everything that is in the Sky, on Earth, In the seas and air was created by the Almighty . - 575-581.

And calls on Adam to reinforce this Knowledge with deeds and Love for neighbors - "she is the soul / of Everything." — 583. The Archangel names the qualities with the help of which a Person who has lost Paradise can find “another / Within himself, a hundredfold blissful Paradise”:

Only add Deeds to your knowledge answerable; add faith; Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love, By name to come called Charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loth To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A Paradise within thee, happier far. - 581-587.

Eva talks about a dream inspired by God, which gives her peace. - 611-614. She considers it a blessing to leave Paradise with Adam: “To remain alone is equal / to Loss of Paradise.” Adam and Eve "Like wanderers, (...) hand in hand" leave Paradise: "They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, / Through Eden took their solitary way." - 648-649.

THEMATIC INDEX

The concept of God in the poem:

Fair. IV, 997-1000.

Omnipotent. II, 362-366, III, 372-374, 377.

All-seeing.

Able to turn Evil into Good. VII, XII, 561-573.

Human Concept. IV, 287, 321, 360; V, 497, 524-534. IX, 344-356.

Human dignity. IV, 489-491, 618-619, XII, 69-71.

Free will. XII, 79-95, 561-573. Laws given by God. XII, 284-290, 297-299.

The purpose of a woman. IV, 635-648.

Human beauty. IX, 452-465.

The meaning of sleep. IV, 801-817, V, 107-123, XII, 595-596, 611-614.

The meaning of prayer. V, 471-490.

Attitude towards power. VI, 176-186, IX, 168-171, XII, 575-582.

Relationship to Knowledge. VII, 103-106, 121-130, VIII, 66-69-80. 100-110, 120-140, 182-187.

Man is aware of himself. VIII, 251-280.

The person gets speech. VIII, 271.

Relationship to Love. I, 567-620, IX, 483-487, X, 111-114, 145, XII, 581-589.

Change in human nature at the fall. IX, 1053-1058.

Changes in gender relations. X, 898-908.

The nature of death.

The coming of death into the world. X, 710-715.

Adam about Death. X, 783-820.

ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION

1. The desire for universalism as a characteristic trend of the English poetic worldview of the 17th century.

Description of the universe in a poem. III, 418, 541, V, 620-627..

The notion of a space capable of creating new worlds. I, 650.

Description of the Earth as a cosmic object (IV, 591, IX, 99-118) reacting to changes in human nature. IX, 782-784. Changes after the Fall. X, 668-675, 710-712.

3. The poem as a synthetic genre that combines the features of drama, lyrics and epic.

The main conflict of the work:

DRAMATISM

Traditions of morality: external conflict of Good and Evil, rendered in relation to Man;

The transition from morality to tragedy: the transfer of the conflict into the Human at the fall. Evil penetrates the Man. Conflict of Faith and Doubt; Discord of Feelings and Thoughts;

. the "middle" position of Knowledge in relation to Good and Evil;

Shakespearean traditions in the use of rhetorical devices in monologues:

Fallen angels on the advice of Satan. I, 244-249-264. IX, 680-779;

Monologue of the Serpent tempting Eve;

Characterization of characters through action.

EPIC

Epic belonging to the family, the desire and duty to protect it;

Hyperbole as an indicator of epicness:

Spatio-temporal scale of the narrative;

Titanism of images. VI, 220.

Attention to the internal state of the characters, the world of feelings and emotions;

Correlation of the states of Man and Nature;

Traditions of English poetry in digressions poems;

The Fall as a Transition from Pastoral to Tragedy (Possibility of a Comic Out: Antipastorals as a Parody Genre of the 17th Century).

The combination of images of Christian and pagan mythology as an indicator of the recognition of the unity and historicity of the search for Truth by mankind.

4. The system of comparisons and contrasts in the poem. Image parallelism.

Nature and Chaos. II, 1051.

Physical blindness and inner insight. IV, 50-60.

The development of Shakespeare's paradoxes: the inner insight of the blinded Gloucester and the acquisition of understanding by the lost mind Lear.

Doubt and Faith. Doubt is the path to change. IX, 1140-1142.

The Creative Word of the Godhead—VII, 171-242—and the man-made creations of man and Satan.

Construction of the palace of Satan. I, 670-675.

Creation of Satan's weapons. I, 725; VI, 472-491.

Shield of Satan. II, 282-290.

Satanic fear of non-existence - I, 253-263 - and the willingness of the Son-God to sacrifice himself for the salvation of Man.

The dream of Eve inspired by Satan - V, - and the dream inspired by God - XII, 611-614.

Word and Music. The seventh day of creation.

5. Word, Name, Number and Time in a poem.

Creative Word. VII, 171-242.

Unspeakable. V, 564-566, 571-576, VII, 113-118.

Who gives names to things:

Names erased for eternity. VI, 373-385.

Human. VIII, 349-356.

The unnamed deity. VIII, 351.

The myth of the Tower of Babel in the poem. XII, 13-62.

Number. VIII, 36-38.

About pairedness, singularity and loneliness. VIII, 364-366, 369-375, 380-391, 419-421-430.

Incommunicability of divine speed through Number and Time. X, 90-91.

Relationship of Time with Death. X, 606.

6. Development of Renaissance issues in the poem:

The problem of differentiation and recognition of Good and Evil II 624-629;

Discussing ways to fight Evil. IX, 756-759 IV 846-847;

Danger of Doubt. The problem of a sharp mind.

7. The concept of sinfulness. Faces of Evil. Satan's Council.

THE CONCEPT OF A WORD IN A POEM. WHO NAMES THINGS

The word in the poem becomes an independent character. Belonging to God, it, like Light, is his attribute. In Book VII, Archangel Raphael tells Adam about how God created the world with the Word, at the same time giving names to the most important things and phenomena:

"Let there be light!" said God; and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep, and from her native East To journey through the aery gloom began, Sphered in a radiant cloud - for yet the Sun Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle Sojourned the while. God saw the light was good; And light from darkness by the hemisphere Divided: light the Day, and darkness Night, He named. - VII, 243-252.

Thus, it turns out that the Divine creative Word is qualitatively different from the name given to a thing, the word that is given by God to rational beings, including Man. The archangel explains to Adam in words how the world was created, but his words, unlike the Divine Word, do not create, but only describe creation. At the same time, the Archangel admits that it is impossible to describe the power that the Divine Word possesses, the connection that exists between the Word of the Creator and the object or phenomenon called by it, by the word given to Man and understandable to Man. Neither a number nor a word can describe the speed with which the Word turns into an object or phenomenon:

The swiftness of those circles attribute, Thought numberless, to his omnipotence, That to corporeal substances could add Speed ​​almost spiritual. - VIII, 107-110.

About the same suddenness (sudden apprehension - VIII, 354) Adam speaks, talking about how understanding of things entered into him when he got acquainted with the world. And just like the Archangel, Adam claims that not everything Divine can be expressed in a word: Adam is given to feel the happiness of being, but it is not given to express his state in a word (I ... feel that I am happier than I know. - VIII, 282). The same difficulty arises when the Archangel needs to be told at the request of Adam about the battle of Heaven with the hordes of Satan:

How shall I relate To human sense th" invisible exploits Of warring Spirits? - V, 564-566.

Milton forces the Archangel to find a way out in comparisons - a poetic device actively developed by the poetry of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. And use the familiar and well-established justification:

What surmounts the reach Of human sense I shall delineate so, By likening spiritual to corporal forms, As may express them best - though what if Earth Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein Each to other like, more than on Earth is thought ? - V, 571-576.

The division of the Word into the Divine and the Human, apparently, served to embody the general plan of the Creator, who deliberately separated the Heavenly from the Earthly in order, according to Raphael, not to tempt Man and stop his arrogance in striving to understand what he cannot be conscious of:

God, to remove his ways from human sense, Placed Heaven from Earth so far, that earthly sight, If it presume, might err in things too high, And no advantage gain.—VIII, 119-122.

The archangel tells Adam that wisdom consists in “Do not poison / With anxious vanity of delights / A blessed life, from which God / Cares and worries removed, / Commanding them not to approach us, / Until we ourselves attract them / With empty dreams and vanity / Superfluous knowledge. "Vanity thought, / Untamed imagination" (VIII), - that's what prevents a Man from being happy. Raphael is trying to teach the Man the correct handling of the word. And the basis of his teaching is the advice not to put unnecessary questions before oneself. Arriving with an assignment to answer Adam's questions, the Archangel conveys some information about the structure of the world in an interrogative form, as a guess that is worth comprehending, thinking out:

What if the Sun Be center to the World, and other stars, By his attractive virtue and their own Incited, dance about him various rounds? - VIII, 122-125.

The Archangel uses a human word that does not create, but describes. And he does it masterfully: movement, dynamics, color, smell acquire objects created by the Creator in his story. His ability to talk about what he saw, the saturation of the story of the Archangel with details, on the one hand, make it obvious that he was present at the Creation of the World, everything happened before his eyes, on the other hand, bringing together the positions of Adam the listener and the readers of the poem, allows them to present the process of creation in detail Earth. The picturesqueness of the story of the Archangel is Divine - he does not play with the Word, but strives to be accurate.

The Creator not only endows Man with a word, but also entrusts him with the right to give names to things. Adam talks about his first feelings and impressions about the world, about the need to speak and finding it:

then speak I tride, and forthwith spake; My tongue obeyed, and readily could name Whater "er I saw. - VIII, 271-273.

Along with the naming, it is stated in the story of Adam, came the understanding of the essence of things, given by God:

I named them as they passed, and understood their nature; with such knowledge God endued My sudden apprehension. - VIII, 352-354.

Adam fails to name only the Creator, since none of the names that come to him encompasses his entire essence, does not contain him completely. And Adam turns to the Creator with the question of how he should be called:

"Oh, by what name - for thou above all these, Above mankind, or aught than mankind higher, Surpasses! far my naming - how may I Adore thee. Author of this Universe..." - VIII, 357-360.

Knowing the names of things is not always a guarantee of knowing the essence, understanding the truth. Let us recall that Archangel Michael considered it more important for Man to understand the need for voluntary subordination to the Divine Principle than the ability to name stars and worlds:

This having learned, thou hast attained the sum Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars Thou knew "st by name, and all th" ethereal powers, All secrets of the deep, all Nature's works, Or works of God in heaven... - XII, 575-579.

But sometimes the name reveals the essence of the phenomenon, bestows an understanding of the truth. So, talking about how Adam should strive for redemption and build Paradise in his soul, Archangel Michael announces that this can be done with the help of Love, but that which is called mercy, Love for one's neighbor: "add love, / By name to come called Charity." — XII, 583-584. This is not love for oneself, not love for a woman and not love for life, but rather, love for one's duties - the ability to help, make life easier for loved ones and delight them. To the ear, Charity is consonant with the word Cherubim (cherub - Heb. Kerubim - guardian angel). To become the guardian of life, the guardian angel of your loved ones - a fate worthy of a Human - that is what the essence of the word says, which is not equal to the word Love, which has its own circle of use. The word is consonant with Greek. charites, the meaning of the root of the word is the same - “mercy”, “kindness”. So called beneficent goddesses, daughters of Zeus.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PLAY WITH THE WORD

The fate of the Word in the poem is dramatic. The word that rational beings are gifted by the Creator belongs to the angels, including the fallen ones.

Speaking Satan is a particularly dramatic figure, fundamentally different from Dante's Lucifer, terrible, but wordless. Lucifer in Dante is deprived of the Divine attribute - the word, although in the hell he depicts Light and fires are possible, which are absent in the Miltonian kingdom of Darkness. When the fallen angels manage to illuminate the palace of Satan, they kindle artificial fires - fuming and fetid, not related to the Divine Light. But all fallen angels are endowed with the gift of words, and the whole depth of their fall is expressed in the word, in the determination to play with it, turning it into evil. It is the play with words that constitutes the essence of the tragedy of the fall, and it is through play with the word that the fallen angels are confirmed in sin, justifying themselves in their own eyes.

The skill of the author of the poem in recreating the false grandeur of the fallen angels excommunicated from the Higher Harmony was so high, the play on the words of those who spoke at the council of Satan was so skillful that it deceived the English romantics, who considered that Milton acted as a supporter of Satan, praising him, and not condemning him.

The speeches of the Archangel Raphael, depicting the Creation of the World, and the fallen angels, looking for the rightness in their crime. become an illustration of the Renaissance dispute about the nature of eloquence: is the art of the word intended to clarify thought, make it bright and conclusive, or does it only lead away from the essence, obscuring the truth. The dispute ended with the assertion that eloquence can be neither bad nor good in itself, but serves bad or good purposes and people.

Milton also solved a more difficult problem. He manages to identify and demonstrate the special properties of the Word:

1. Remaining Divine in nature, the Word cannot lie. The Word used for the Lie is spoken by the Truth. It is impossible to deceive a rational being with a word, apart from his own will, his own desire to be deceived. Pushkin's light "I myself am glad to be deceived" in Milton's poem turns into Satan's gloomy insistence on his Lie, Moloch's tragically desperate attempt not to lie to himself and directly answer the question of what non-existence means, which can become a real threat to the immortals who are repeatedly storming Heaven; the inventive flexibility of Mammon's rhetoric, which seeks to "turn harm / For good." - I, 249-264; coquettish recklessness of Eve, which was expressed in her desire to taste the Lie.

Let us turn to the monologue of Mammon at the council of Satan. - I, 229-283. Argument after argument he finds and launches in order to justify his cowardly position: it is not worth fighting with an invincible enemy. He finds a beautiful move that allows him to maintain his dignity: there is no need to storm Heaven, you need to build a new peaceful life and draw good from yourself:

Let us not then pursue, By force impossible, by leave obtained Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek Our own good from ourselves... - II, 249-253.

High, worthy position? But the Word begins to lead him, and Mammon says: "and from our own / Live to ourselves." — II, 253-254. And in this “life for oneself” the whole tragedy of God-forsakenness, separation from the highest harmony breaks through, the proof of which will be the monumental, magnificent, but devoid of beauty (as the beginning of the Divine), the palace of Satan erected by the fallen angels. The position that Mammon will formulate - "to live for oneself" - contradicts the setting of the epic poem on belonging to a clan and the desire to protect it, it is dangerous even in the camp of Satan, which becomes an independent clan that requires unity. This attitude will also be opposed to the one that Archangel Michael advises to cultivate in the soul of Adam, that same Charity - mercy, the ability to live for another, while feeling and remembering that your existence is full of higher meaning: dedicated to finding the lost harmony.

2. The word can be used for evil. They can be pushed to Doubt, which will lead you astray from the path of Faith. The word used for a Lie will certainly give rise to more and more Lies. Once having served the Lie, the Word begins to change the concept of the world and create a new, false world in which all foundations and concepts change.

Milton creates and develops the myth of the Divine Word and feels he belongs to this myth. The image of the author appears in the poem as a servant of the Divine Word. Evidence of this is the use in the Prologue of the poem of the odic myth of poetic delight. The author seeks inspiration from God not in prayer and not in meditation. He turns to the Heavenly Muse and enlists the poetic tradition, realizes his involvement in it and thereby extends such qualities as truth and truthfulness to any poetic word.

Something paradoxical arises in the text of the poem when, having told with high poetic skill in the VI book about the battle of the Heavenly armies with the hordes of Satan, at the beginning of the IX book, Milton declares: “It is not given to me to describe the war” (Not sedulous by nature to indite / Wars. - IX, 27-28). And this does not express the inability to look at one's work as a complete whole and to bring together the individual prescribed parts. Thus, a strict need was manifested to clearly identify the most important theme of the poem: it is not the battle that is the main thing in it, not open confrontation. Defining his poem as heroic (IX, 20-37), Milton separates himself and his creation from the traditional heroic poems, for which "hitherto the only subject" of chanting was military exploits. The main thing for the author is to be able to say about the inner greatness, which consists in the ability not to lie to oneself. The Son of the Creator possesses such, who without hesitation offers his life in exchange for the salvation of Man. Behind his faith that the Father will not leave him, resurrect him, return him, there is not dodgy cowardice, not craftiness, but strength.

In order to introduce J. Milton's poem into a wider literary and artistic context and identify its originality in the development of the problems chosen by the author, the conversation can be continued, the range of problems expanded and deepened. Any of the questions formulated as additional questions may be proposed for consideration.

Questions of a comparative plan are intended to set off both the genre originality of the poem and the features of the specific historical moment of its creation. Differences in the concepts of sinfulness of Dante and Milton allow us to judge what changes have taken place in the public consciousness in relation to universal problems and values, and what distinguishes the view of the person of the 17th century from the view of the medieval.

Comparison allows you to feel that two points of view require different artistic means for your implementation. Comparative analysis can be continued along the path of identifying the genre originality of each of the works, comparing the originality of their problems and means of artistic expression.

The poet reflects on the reason for the disobedience of the first couple of people who violated the only prohibition of the Creator of all things and were expelled from Eden. Instructed by the Holy Spirit, the poet names the culprit of the fall of Adam and Eve: this is Satan, who appeared to them in the guise of a Serpent.

Long before the creation of the earth and people by God, Satan, in his exorbitant pride, rebelled against the King of Kings, involved a part of the Angels in the rebellion, but was thrown down with them from Heaven into the Underworld, into the region of pitch darkness and Chaos. Defeated but immortal, Satan does not resign himself to defeat and does not repent. He prefers to be the lord of Hell rather than a servant of Heaven. Calling on Beelzebub, his closest comrade-in-arms, he convinces him to continue the fight against the Eternal King and do only Evil against His sovereign will. Satan tells his minions that soon the Almighty will create a new world and populate it with creatures that he will love along with the Angels. If you act with cunning, you can capture this newly created world. In Pandemonium, the leaders of the army of Satan gather for a general Council.

The opinions of the leaders are divided: some are in favor of the war, others are against it. Finally, they agree with Satan's proposal to verify the truth of the ancient tradition, which speaks of the creation of a new world by God and the creation of Man. According to legend, the time for the creation of this new world has already come. Since the way to Heaven is closed to Satan and his angels, one should try to seize the newly created world, expel or lure its inhabitants to their side, and thus take revenge on the Creator. Satan embarks on a perilous journey. He overcomes the abyss between Hell and Heaven, and Chaos, its ancient ruler, shows him the way to the new world.

God, seated on his highest throne, from where He sees the past, present and future, sees Satan, who flies to the new world. Turning to His Only Begotten Son, the Lord predetermines the fall of Man, endowed with free will and the right to choose between good and evil. The Almighty Creator is ready to pardon Man, but first he must be punished for the fact that, having violated His prohibition, he dared to be compared with God. From now on, man and his descendants will be doomed to death, from which only he who sacrifices himself for their redemption can save them. To save the world. The Son of God expresses his willingness to sacrifice himself, and God the Father accepts it. He commands the Son to be incarnated in mortal flesh. The angels of heaven bow their heads before the Son and glorify Him and the Father.

Meanwhile, Satan reaches the surface of the extreme sphere of the universe and wanders through the gloomy desert. It passes Limbo, the Gate of Heaven, and descends into the Sun. Taking the form of a young Cherubim, he finds out from the Ruler of the Sun, Archangel Uriel, the location of Man. Uriel points him to one of the countless balls that move in their orbits, and Satan descends to Earth, to Mount Nifat. Bypassing the heavenly fence, Satan in the form of a sea raven descends to the top of the Tree of Knowledge. He sees a couple of the first people and ponders how to destroy them. Having overheard the conversation of Adam and Eve, he learns that under pain of death they are forbidden to eat from the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge. Satan is developing an insidious plan: to kindle a thirst for knowledge in people, which will force them to transgress the Creator's prohibition.

Uriel, descending on a sunbeam to Gabriel, guarding Paradise, warns him that at noon the evil Spirit from the Underworld was heading in the form of a good Angel to Paradise. Gabriel performs in the night watch around Paradise. In the bush, weary of the day's labors and the pure joys of sacred marital love, Adam and Eve sleep. The angels Ithuriel and Zephon, sent by Gabriel, discover Satan, who, under the guise of a toad, lurks over Eve's ear in order to influence her imagination in a dream and poison her soul with unbridled passions, vague thoughts and pride. Angels bring Satan to Gabriel. The rebellious Spirit is ready to fight with them, but the Lord shows a heavenly sign to Satan, and he, seeing that his retreat is inevitable, leaves, but does not back down from his intentions.

In the morning, Eve tells Adam her dream: someone like the celestials tempted her to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and she ascended above the Earth and experienced incomparable bliss.

God sends the Archangel Raphael to Adam to tell him about the free will of man, as well as about the proximity of the evil Enemy and his insidious plans. Raphael tells Adam about the First rebellion in heaven: Satan, inflamed with envy that God the Father exalted the Son and called Him the anointed Messiah and King, dragged the legions of Angels to the North and persuaded them to rebel against the Almighty. Only Seraphim Abdiel left the camp of the rebels.

Raphael continues his story.

God sent the Archangels Michael and Gabriel to oppose Satan. Satan convened the Council and, together with his accomplices, invented devilish machines, with the help of which he pushed back the army of Angels devoted to God. Then the Almighty sent his Son, the Messiah, to the battlefield. The Son drove the Enemy to the fence of Heaven, and when their Crystal Wall opened up, the rebels fell into the abyss prepared for them.

Adam asks Raphael to tell him about the creation of this world. The archangel tells Adam that God desired to create a new world and creatures to inhabit it after He cast Satan and his minions into Hell. The Almighty sent his Son, the Almighty Word, accompanied by Angels, to carry out the work of creation.

Answering Adam's question about the movement of celestial bodies, Raphael carefully advises him to deal only with such subjects that are accessible to human understanding. Adam tells Raphael about everything he remembers from the moment of his creation. He confesses to the Archangel that Eve has an inexplicable power over him. Adam understands that, surpassing him in external beauty, she is inferior to him in spiritual perfection, however, despite this, all her words and deeds seem beautiful to him and the voice of reason falls silent before her feminine charm. The archangel, without condemning the love pleasures of the married couple, nevertheless warns Adam against blind passion and promises him the delights of heavenly love, which is immeasurably higher than earthly. But to the direct question of Adam - what is the expression of love among the heavenly Spirits, Raphael answers vaguely and again warns him against thinking about what is inaccessible to the human mind.

Satan, under the guise of fog, again penetrates Paradise and inhabits the sleeping Serpent, the most cunning of all creatures. In the morning, the Serpent finds Eve and with flattering speeches persuades her to eat the fruits from the Tree of Knowledge. He convinces her that she will not die, and tells how, thanks to these fruits, he himself gained speech and understanding.

Eve succumbs to the persuasion of the Enemy, eats the forbidden fruit and comes to Adam. The shocked spouse, out of love for Eve, decides to die with her and also violates the prohibition of the Creator. Having tasted the fruits, the Ancestors feel intoxicated: their consciousness loses clarity, and an unbridled voluptuousness, alien to nature, awakens in the soul, which is replaced by disappointment and shame. Adam and Eve understand that the Serpent, who promised them inescapable delights and unearthly bliss, deceived them, and they reproach each other.

God sends his Son to Earth to judge the disobedient. Sin and Death, who previously sat at the Gates of Hell, leave their refuge, seeking to penetrate the Earth. Following the tracks laid by Satan, Sin and Death build a bridge across Chaos between Hell and the new world.

Meanwhile, Satan in Pandemonium announces his victory over man. However, God the Father predicts that the Son will conquer Sin and Death and revive His creation.

Eve, in desperation that a curse should fall on their offspring, suggests that Adam immediately find Death and become its first and last victims. But Adam reminds his wife of the promise that the Seed of the Woman will erase the head of the Serpent. Adam hopes to appease God through prayer and repentance.

The Son of God, seeing the sincere repentance of the Ancestors, intercedes for them before the Father, hoping that the Almighty will soften his harsh sentence. The Lord Almighty sends the Cherubim, led by the Archangel Michael, to expel Adam and Eve from Paradise. Before fulfilling the order of God the Father, the Archangel raises Adam to a high mountain and shows him in a vision everything that will happen on Earth before the flood.

Archangel Michael tells Adam about the future fate of the human race and explains the promise given to the Ancestors about the Seed of the Wife. He speaks of the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of the Son of God and how the Church will live and struggle until His second Coming. The comforted Adam wakes the sleeping Eve, and the Archangel Michael brings the couple out of Paradise. From now on, the entrance to it will be guarded by the flaming and constantly turning sword of the Lord. Guided by the providence of the Creator, cherishing in their hearts the hope of the coming deliverance of the human race, Adam and Eve leave Paradise.

retold

John Milton is a famous public figure, journalist and poet who became famous during the English Revolution of the 17th century. His influence on the development of journalism is undeniable, but his contribution to culture was not limited to this. He wrote a brilliant epic poem, where for the first time Satan was depicted, whom one wants to sympathize with. This is how the archetype, extremely popular in our time, was born, which fell in love with directors, writers and their large audience. It is known that John Milton was a believer and well-versed in the Bible, but it should also be remembered that he interpreted the biblical texts in his own way. The poet did not completely alter the legends, he only supplemented them. Paradise Lost is the best example in this regard.

The name "Satan" is translated from Hebrew as "adversary", "to be an adversary." In religion, he is the first opponent of the heavenly forces, personifies the highest evil. However, if the authors of the gospels expose him as an ugly and vicious demon, for whom evil is an end in itself, then Milton endows his hero with reasonable and even just motives that inspired him to overthrow the Lord. Sataniel, of course, is vain and proud, he can hardly be called a positive hero, but his revolutionary ardor, courage, frankness captivate the reader, makes one doubt the expediency of the divine court. In addition, judging by speaking name Lucifer and the omniscience of God, we can conclude that the heavenly father specifically created a rebellious spirit in order to arrange a showy massacre and strengthen his power. Agree, it’s hard to deceive the lord, who knows everything about everyone, which means that this rebellion was planned by the Creator, and the Devil, as a victim of circumstances, is even more sorry.

Milton, in Paradise Lost, touches on the topic of confrontation, showing the antagonism of Satan. The writer often calls him the Enemy. It is well established in the human mind that the stronger the enemy of the Lord, the more powerful the last of them. The writer presents the Archenemy before his fall not only as the Archangel, but also as the greatest general, able to control everything and everyone, including a third of God's troops. The author also emphasizes the power of the main opponent of the Almighty: “In anxiety, he strained all his strength”, “To the full extent of a giant, straightening up, growth”, etc.

Milton, being a revolutionary, could not recognize autocracy, monarchy. He initially presents the Devil as the main fighter against the tyranny of the Creator, giving the first the title of a kind of "hero". No matter what, he goes to his goal. But the poet does not allow him to go beyond the clearly defined framework and reflect on other options for existence in this world.

Nevertheless, Milton's Enemy has human qualities, possibly remaining from the time of serving God: "He is for the bitterest execution: for sorrow // About irrevocable happiness and thought// About eternal torment ..."

The prince of darkness, in spite of everything, acts according to the will of the Father, who knows everything that he will do three steps ahead. But even when defeated, the Lord of Shadows does not give up, so he deserves respect. Even after being cast into Hell, he says that it is better to be the ruler of the underworld than a servant in heaven.

Milton showed Evil, which, in spite of everything, will not betray its convictions, even going into darkness forever. For this, the image of Satan was so liked by the creative intelligentsia, which again and again dedicates outstanding works to him.

Milton's Satan and Aeschylus' Prometheus - what do they have in common?

Around 444-443 BC, the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus wrote the famous tragedy Prometheus Bound. It told the story of a titan close to the throne of Zeus, who suffered at the hands of God because of his beliefs.

Drawing an analogy, we can say that Milton created Satan in the image and likeness of the hero Aeschylus. Nailing to a rock, eternal torment that the bird devouring the liver delivers to the body, overthrowing into tartar cannot shake the firmness of the spirit of the giant and make him reconcile with God's tyranny. Nectars, feasts, pleasures, life on Olympus have no meaning for the freedom-loving giant, because this is possible only under the condition of absolute obedience to the Thunderer.

Titan rebels against the almighty and unquestioning authority for the sake of freedom, just like Lucifer in Paradise Lost. Unwillingness to obey the Creator, striving for will, pride that does not allow one to dominate oneself - after all, all this was reflected in Milton's Devil. Both the Enemy and Prometheus, before their rebellions, were close to the Lord. Being overthrown, they remain true to their views.

Both characters, the majestic giant and the Archenemy, gain their independence in defeat. They themselves arrange heaven from hell, and darkness from heaven ...

Biblical motives

Biblical motifs are, in a way, the core for many literary works. At different times, one way or another, they are interpreted, filled with new details, but their essence always remains the same.

Milton for the first time violates the interpretations of the Old Testament plots accepted in society, thereby retreating from church dogmas. The era of revolutions, changing lifestyles, values ​​and concepts - all this and much more makes us take a different look at good and evil, shown in the images of the Almighty and the Devil.

Contradictions: good - evil, light - darkness, Father - Lucifer - this is what Milton's play is built on. Scenes from the Garden of Eden are intertwined with descriptions of the war between the troops of the Enemy and the angels. The torments of Eve, seduced by the persuasion of the Evil Spirit, are replaced by a series of episodes in which the suffering of future people is depicted.

The poet dresses the Prince of Darkness in a snake, shows him evil and vengeful, pleasing the church, but at the same time he also emphasizes the majesty of his figure. Depicting the main enemy of the Creator, the poet goes beyond the biblical framework. Milton's God is not a positive hero, he stands for complete and unquestioning submission, while Lucifer strives for freedom and knowledge, like the first people. The author changed the motive of seduction: in his opinion, there was not a deception, but an insight of a person who also chose independence and knowledge.

In addition to the rebellion of Bes, Paradise Lost also shows the story of Adam and Eve. In the center of the work is a picture of the successful seduction and fall of God's creation. But, despite the Demon's luck, the Almighty wins, giving people a chance to correct.

Outwardly, the poem is similar to scripture. However, the images of the Archenemy and the Father, their fights are far from similar to the Old Testament legends. So, for example, medieval visionaries and Christians endowed Satan with disgusting features, which we cannot see in Milton.

In the Bible, the serpent, the most cunning of all the animals created by the Lord, was engaged in seducing people, and in the poem this task was entrusted to Satan, who turned into an animal.

Based on the foregoing, we can say that Milton took the Sacred story as the basis of his creation and supplemented it with brighter elements.

Story of Adam and Eve

One of the main storylines of Paradise Lost is the notorious story of the human fall into sin.

Satan decides to destroy the purest and holiest place on earth - the Garden of Eden, in order to subdue the first earthly people to his will. Turning into a snake, he seduces Eve, who, having tasted the forbidden fruit, shares it with Adam.

Milton, following the biblical story, believes that having tasted the fruit offered by Satan, humanity began its thorny path to divine forgiveness, but it is worth noting that the poet does not recognize sin in what he did. He puts a philosophical meaning into this story, showing life before and after sinning.

Grace in the Garden of Eden, purity and purity, the absence of trouble, unrest, constant ignorance - this is how people lived before they ate the apple of discord. After the deed, a new, completely different world opens up to a person. Being exiled, the children of God discovered for themselves the reality familiar to us, in which cruelty reigns, and difficulties lurk at every corner. The poet wanted to show that the collapse of Eden was inevitable. He believed that heavenly life is an illusion, it does not correspond to the true essence of man. Before the fall, their existence was not complete, for example, they did not pay attention to their nakedness and did not have physical attraction to each other. After that, that close to our understanding, love woke up in them.

Milton shows that in exile people gained what they did not have before - knowledge, passions, reason.

The question of "free will" in the work

The Bible speaks of the fall as a violation of God's main commandment, the disobedience of man, which gave rise to expulsion from Eden. Milton's reading of this story shows sin as the loss of immortality by people, but at the same time, the preservation of free thought and reason, which more often serve to harm a person. However, it is his right to turn them anywhere.

The work deals with the issue of human misfortunes. Milton finds them in the human past, saying that he believes in independence and reason, which will help people get rid of all troubles.

Adam in the work is endowed with beauty, intelligence, a rich inner world, in which there is a place for passion, feelings, as well as free will. He has the right to choose. It is thanks to this factor that a young man can share the punishment for disobedience with his beloved and receive complete free will.

Milton shows the fall as the realization of the freedom of choice that God gave to people. By choosing a pious way of life, a person will be able to regain Paradise and atone for original sin.

Image of Adam

Adam was the first man who was created by the Almighty, and he is also the progenitor of the entire human race.

The author shows him as courageous, wise, brave and, moreover, charming. In general, the forefather in Paradise Lost is presented as a judicious and beneficent shepherd of Eve, who is weaker than him both physically and intellectually.

The poet did not bypass the inner world of the hero. It is a projection of divine harmony: an orderly and flawless world, full of creative energy. Adam even gives the impression of a bore, but he is unspoiled and correct: he listens to angels and knows no doubts.

Milton, unlike other writers, did not regard man as a plaything in the hands of God. The poet extols the protagonist's sense of "free will", saying that it is this that helps people move forward.

However, next to celestial beings, the image of the "royal" progenitor of people, created by Milton, is lost. Talking to the angels, he is shown as an inquiring person, or, moreover, a voiceless one. The feeling of "free will" embedded in the hero dissolves, and Adam is ready to agree with everything that the angels tell him. For example, during a conversation with Raphael about the universe, the archangel abruptly interrupts his questions, talking about his human nature and that he should not try to learn the secrets of the universe.

We see a man who contained all the best in himself: courage, "free will", courage, charm, prudence. At the same time he trembles before the mighty of the world this, does not contradict them and cherishes in the heart the readiness to forever remain a slave to illusions. Only Eve breathed into him the determination to oppose the power of the Creator.

Depiction of Heaven and Hell in the poem

In Milton's poem, nature plays a direct role in all its diversity. It changes along with the feelings of the characters. For example, during a calm and carefree life in Eden, harmony in the world is shown, but as soon as people transgress the order of God, chaos and destruction come into the world.

But the most contrasting is the image of Paradise and the Underworld. How gloomy and gloomy Hell is shown, Heaven looks so faceless and gray against its background. No tricks helped Milton to make the scenery of the kingdom of God bright and colorful.

However, it should be noted that the image of Eden is much more beautiful and detailed than the description of the Kingdom of Heaven. Much attention was paid to the nature of the earthly Paradise: tall trees intertwined with crowns, an abundance of various fruits and animals. And also, fresh air, "Which even the Ocean - the old man ... enjoys." The garden constantly demanded the care of its inhabitants, so the first people can claim the title of the first collective farmers in history: they were also not paid money and were given a salary in food. Such a meaningless and monotonous life disgusts the author, so he is a hell for the liberation of people.

Milton portrayed a gloomy, but at the same time wonderful Hell, as well as a bright and no less magnificent Paradise. It can be seen with the naked eye how huge and immense the palette of colors is that contributes to the description of these two worlds.

The problem of personalization of the "devil" in world culture

The first mention of Satan falls around the 6th century, this is the image of the Devil on a fresco in Egypt. There he was shown as an ordinary angel, no different from the others.

At the turn of the millennium, attitudes towards him changed dramatically. This was due to the fact that intimidation was the easiest method to attach believers to their faith. The church inspired hatred and fear for Bes, so his appearance had to be disgusting.

In the Middle Ages, the life of a commoner, oppressed from all sides by the church and the government, one way or another, forced a person to rush into the arms of a fallen angel, to find, though evil, but a friend or comrade-in-arms. Poverty, famine, plague and much more led to the creation of the cult of the Devil. In addition, the servants of the church also contributed, differing by no means pious behavior.

This era was replaced by the Renaissance, which was able to destroy the already established image of the Enemy - the monster.

Milton saved the Devil from horns and hooves, made him a majestic and powerful fallen angel. It is this idea of ​​the Enemy of God, which the poet gave us, that is firmly entrenched in the minds of people. On the basis of the Bible, the author calls him the "Prince of Darkness", emphasizing or even exaggerating his rebellion against God. Also, in the image of the Enemy, despotism, dominance, arrogance are emphasized. He was overcome by pride and vanity. Satan rebelled against the Lord, but destroyed the entire human race. Although...how can I say? Milton believes that he killed that reptile and insecure collective farmer, who did not really live, but served as a goldfish in an aquarium. But he created the man we all know from ourselves: a multifaceted personality with a contradictory and complex character, capable of something more than agricultural labor.

The author humanized the Dark Lord, endowing him with human qualities: selfishness, pride, the desire to rule and unwillingness to obey. So he changed the idea of ​​Evil, laid down by the Church and the theorists of religion. In addition, if we assume that the Devil is a victim of God's predestination, a whipping boy, then we already begin to empathize with him, since we feel ourselves just as deceived and abandoned. That is, the image of Lucifer became so real and human-like that it became close to writers and readers.

We all remember the charming and original Lucifers: Goethe's Mephistopheles, The Devil's Advocate, Woland Bulgakov, The Devil's Apprentice Bernard Shaw, Bryusov's Fiery Angel, Aleister Crowley's Lucifer, Capital Noise MC, Lord Henry Wilde. All of them do not inspire fear, rather, they attract and inspire their truth, moreover, very convincingly. Sometimes it seems to us that they are the true bearers of justice. Evil gives freedom of thought and fantasy, and it is much easier and more pleasant to fit its standards than kneeling in the status of a servant of God. The devil conquers with cynicism, undisguised pride and an eternal spirit of contradiction that captivate critical people. God, like everything positive and too limited by moral prohibitions, is less popular among the people, especially in the era of postmodernism, when unbelief has become the norm of life and is not persecuted, and religious propaganda has weakened. In the ambiguity of the interpretation of the image of Satan, in the human craving for the forbidden, lies the problem of the personification of the devil in world culture. Evil looks more attractive, clearer and closer than good, and artists cannot get rid of this effect.

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John Milton

Lost heaven

BOOK ONE

Book One first briefly outlines the theme of the work: listening to Man, as a result of which he lost Paradise - his abode; then the reason for the fall is indicated: the Serpent, or rather, Satan in the guise of the Serpent, who rebelled against God, involved in the rebellion countless legions of Angels, but was, by God's command, cast down from Heaven along with all the hordes of rebels into the Underworld.

Having mentioned these events, the poem immediately moves on to the main action, introducing Satan and his Angels in Hell. There follows a description of Hell, which is by no means located in the center of the Earth (heaven and Earth, presumably, have not yet been created, and therefore the curse does not yet weigh on them), but in the region of pitch darkness, more precisely, Chaos. Satan with his Angels lies in a boiling lake, humiliated, defeated, but soon, waking up from the shock, calls for a companion, the first after himself in rank and dignity. They talk about their unfortunate situation. Satan awakens all the legions, hitherto also in a stupor and unconsciousness. Innumerable, they rise, form battle formations; their chief leaders bear the names of idols later known in Canaan and neighboring countries. Satan turns to his comrades-in-arms, consoles them with the hope of winning Heaven and informs them of a new world and a new kind of creatures, which, according to the ancient prophecies and traditions of the Kingdom of Heaven, must be created; Angels, however, according to the opinion of many ancient Fathers, were created long before the appearance of visible beings.

In order to ponder this prophecy and determine further actions, Satan commands a general council to be assembled.

Companions agree with him. From the abyss of darkness arises Pandemonium - the chamber of Satan. The infernal nobles sit there and confer.

About the first disobedience, about the fruit

Forbidden, pernicious, that death brought

And all our troubles in this world,

Deprived people of Eden, for the time being,

When us the Greatest Man

Restored, blessed paradise returned to us, -

Sing, Muse on high! Come down from the top

Mysterious Sinai or Horeb,

Where was the shepherd inspired by you,

Initially teaching his people

The emergence of Heaven and Earth

From Chaos; when you like

Zion Hill and Siloam Key,

The region of God's verbs - I call

Help you from there; my song

I dared to fly over Helikon,

Aiming for lofty objects,

Untouched in either prose or verse.

But first you, O Holy Spirit! - you temples

Prefer pure hearts, -

Guide me with your omniscience!

You, like a dove, soared from time immemorial

Over the abyss, fruiting it;

Fill my darkness with light, exalt

Everything perishable in me, so that I can

find decisive arguments

And to prove the goodness of Providence,

Justifying the ways of the Creator before the creature.

Open first - for Hell and Paradise

Equally accessible to Your gaze, -

What prompted the first couple

In a happy canopy, among blissful bushes,

So exacted by the grace of Heaven,

Those who betrayed the Universe into her power,

Renounce the Creator, His prohibition

The only one to break? - Hell Serpent!

Yes, it is he, jealous and avenging,

Our foremother seduced us with flattery;

Insidious Enemy, cast down from the heights

With their own pride, together with the army

Risen Angels he

Headed, with whose help the Throne

I wanted to shake the Almighty

And with the Lord to be equal, indignant

Heavenly squads; but the fight

Was in vain. Almighty God

An angry headlong overthrow of the shrews,

Embraced in flames, into the bottomless darkness,

To torment in adamant chains

And eternal, punishing fire,

For their armed, daring rebellion.

Nine times the time is up

Which is the measure of day and night for mortals,

As long as in writhing, with his horde,

The enemy rushed about on fiery waves,

Broken, though immortal. Rock doomed

Him to the bitterest execution: to sorrow

About irrevocable happiness and thought

About eternal torment. He now circled

Gloomy apples around;

They hid in them both hatred and fear,

And pride, and boundless longing ...

Instantly, which is given only to Angels,

He looked around the desert country,

A prison where, like in a furnace, a fire burned,

But did not shine and visible darkness

Or rather, it was, flickering only then,

In order to show the eyes of pitch darkness,

The vale of sorrow, the kingdom of grief, the edge,

Where there is no peace and quiet, where

Hope, close to everyone, the way is ordered,

Where endless torment and fierce heat

Bubbling, inexhaustible jets

Fluid sulfur. Here is a shutter

Here the Eternal Judge prepared

To the rebels, in the midst of perfect darkness

And Lord, than the furthest pole

Far from the center of the Universe.

How incomparable with the former height,

Where did their fall captivate!

He sees his accomplices

In the sultry surf, in the burning whirlwind of sparks,

And next to a peer that was second

By rank and villainy, and later

Was honored in Palestine as Beelzebub.

The arrogant Archenemy called to him,

From now on, named by Satan,

And the terrible silence dissolved

With such bold words:

"Are you in front of me? Oh, how low you fell

The one who eclipsed with his radiance

The radiance of the radiant myriads

In the heavenly realms! If it's you

Common union, one plan,

Hope, trials in battles

And the defeat associated with me -

Look into what abyss from above

We collapsed! His mighty thunder

So far, no one has known.

Cruel weapon! But let

Almighty Winner on me

Anyone raises! - do not bend

And I will not repent, let my brilliance fade ...

I haven't lost my resolve yet.

In the consciousness of my trampled

Dignity, and proud anger boils,

Who commanded me to rise to battle with Him

Rebellious Spirits violent regiments,

Those who despised His arbitrariness,

Choosing me as leader. We fail

They tried to shake his Throne

And they lost the fight. What of that?

Not everything is dead: the fuse is preserved

Indomitable will, along with

With immeasurable hatred, thirst for revenge

And courage - not to yield forever.

Isn't that a victory? After all, we have

What's left is what He can't

Neither rage nor force to take away -

Endless Glory! If I

An adversary whose realm is shaken

From fear of this hand,

I would beg on my knees for mercy -

I would disgrace, I would shame

It would be covered and the shame would be bitter,

Than overthrow. By the will of fate

Our imperishable empyrean composition

And God's equal power; passing

The crucible of battles, we have not weakened,

But hardened and now come back

We have the right to hope for victory:

In the coming fight, using cunning,

Having strained strength, overthrow the Tyrant,

Who today, celebrating a triumph,

Rejoices in Heaven autocratically!"

So the fallen angel, overcoming sorrow,

He boasted aloud, melting despair.

The colleague answered him bravely:

"- O Prince! Head of the porphyry-bearing forces,

Leader of the Seraphim armies of war,

Threatening the throne of the Eternal King

Acts that inspire fear

To experience His greatness

Supreme: is it stored

Whether by chance, by force or by fate.

I see everything and am bitterly contrite

A terrible defeat for our troops.

We are driven from the heights, defeated,

Overthrown, as far as at all

It is possible to defeat the godlike

Sons of Heaven; but the spirit, but our mind

Not broken, but the power will return again,

Though our glory and former delight

Suffering swallowed up forever.

Why is the Winner (I admit

His omnipotent; because he could not

With the weakest force - overcome ours!)

Did he leave us spirit and power? To be stronger

We were tortured, quenching revenge