'Paradise Lost' John Milton, Lecture notes of English Literature

Download 'Paradise Lost' John Milton and more Lecture notes English Literature in PDF only on Docsity! ‘Paradise Lost’ | John Milton Se: SEO Tuesday 1° February 2022 Recap: Key quotations – the temptation of Eve Write a couple of sentences explaining the meaning and significance of the following quotations: 1. ‘…for inferior who is free?’ 2. ‘ I extinct; / A death to think.’ 3. ‘Tedious, unshared with thee and odious soon.’ 4. ‘..if death / Consort with thee, death is to me as life.’ 5. ‘..he scrupled not to eat / Against his better knowledge..’ 6. ‘..it might be wished, /For this one tree had been forbidden ten.’ Book IX: Lines 1134-1189 Lines 1134-1161 How do we see Adam blame Eve? Do you find his case weak? How does Eve defend herself and in fact blame Adam? Lines 1162-end How does Adam continue to hold Eve responsible? What does he say about free will? What does he blame himself for? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j__itIVgOk Book X: 1. Why does God not blame the angels for the fall of Adam and Eve? (34 – 47) 2. Why does God send his son to judge Man? (55 – 62) 3. How are Adam and Eve’s responses to God contrasted and why is this important? (125 – 162) 4. What judgements are given? (163 – 208) Critical Views • William Empson ‘Milton’s God’ (1960) • Sees God as cruel and wicked, not unlike Joseph Stalin. Empson cannot reconcile God’s omniscience and omnipotence with a God of Mercy. • ‘Paradise Lost’ is written because Milton is ‘struggling to make his God appear less wicked.’