PL Critics

Question 1

Blake

Answer 1

Milton was of the devils party without knowing it

Question 2

C S Lewis on Satan

Answer 2

Undergoes a progressive degradation

Question 3

C S Lewis - what does he consider Eve’s action of giving Adam the fruit

Answer 3

Murder

Question 4

Voltaire on Milton’s portrayal of love

Answer 4

In all other poems love is represented as a vice, in Milton only is it a virtue

Question 5

What did Dryden say about heroism in 1697?

Answer 5

Milton would have been worthy of regard as a great poet if the devil had not been his hero instead of Adam

Question 6

Shelley on Satan’s morality

Answer 6

Milton’s devil as a moral being is far superior to his god

Question 7

What did David Daiches say about sin and virtue? And how does this link to the felix culpa?

Answer 7

(Milton) explores a daring moral paradox, if we can only resist evil by knowing it, and we can only know it by becoming involved in it, then the innocent are incapable of true virtue, therefore only the morally tarnished can succeed in the struggle for virtue’

Felix culpa - the fall was necessary for true virtue to prevail