paradise lost AO5 modern critical quotes Flashcards
Carey about satan
2017
‘Milton’s effort to encapsulate evil in satan was not successful’
‘satan is the only heroic figure in the poem … Adam is pathetic’
Carey about morals
2017
‘morally repellent but Biblically authentic’
Lannucci
2009
‘they fall, but fall together’ (do they actually though?)
link to Dore’s 1882 painting of A and E in remorse and despair - they both seem to be physically in pain from the regret
‘Milton is almost too good at describing evil’
Stutz about Satan
2005
Satans character ‘exemplifies a fragmented subjectivity [which readers] recognise and he is therefore somehow human’
link to Auladell 2012 graphics novel on satan being cast out of Heaven - we become devil sympathisers and advocates
Tillyard about Eve
2005
‘Eve takes and keeps the initiative’
initiative - to initiate things independently
link to Schall 1792 painting - they are getting expelled but Eve isn’t looking in despair but more curious whilst Adam has his head in his hands with despair
Fallon about Sin and Death
1987
‘the character Sin is the allegorical embodiment of satan’s turning from God; Death embodies the result of that turning’
link to Stuck’s 1893 painting of Sin who has a snake wrapped around her showing the serpent as Satan which is also wrapped around her lower half symbolising her sexual organs being taken over by Satan which he used to sexually reproduce Death
Bowers about Sin and Death
1980
‘as abstracts of night, Sin and Death will work to further the darkness and shadow, that approaches to enshroud the word’
Gilbert and Gubar
1979
‘the Milton’s problem of the fall is a specifically female dilemma’
in all paintings and depictions of Eve and Adam it is Eve who is the problem just like in Milton’s story of the fall of mankind
Gilbert about Eve
1978
‘Eve is gradually reduced from an a
angelic being to a monstrous and serpentine creature’ (link to paintings of Eve is snakes)
compare the paining by Rubens in 1598-1600 who was presented as hyper feminine vs. the depiction later by Stuck in 1893 who was associated with snakes and then later in 2001 (in modernity) - Britney Spears at the VMA’s with a snake representing her sexuality
Steadman about satan
1976
‘the satanic image is not simply an illusion but a perversion of true heroism’
link to Martins 1823 painting of satan presiding at the Infernal Council - Satan stood on top of a great mount preaching to an audience
Burden
1967
‘the tragedy is more his failure than hers’
link to Schall 1792 painting of the expulsion of Adam and Eve - E is in awe of curiosity and A has his head in his hands
Empson about Milton’s God
1965
‘the reason why the poem is so good is that it makes God so bad’
C. S. Lewis about Adam and Eve
1942
‘Adam’s sin was less ignoble than Eve’s’
‘Adam fell by uxoriousness’ (excess attachment/ dependence on a wife -“flower crown”)
link to the Lempicka 1932 painting of Adam’s and Eve committing original sin - Adam is all over Eve showing his sexually driven temptations
through giving Adam the fruit Eve commits “murder”
C. S. Lewis about Satans fall
1942
‘throughout the poem, satan undergoes a progressive degradation from God’s 2nd in command to a mere peeping Tom’
