John Miltons Paradise Lost Essay -- Epic Biblical Poems Blind Faith E

John Milton's Paradise Lost Freedom (free will) is the absence of imposed behavior. Individual freedom is obviously attractive, but when there is real freedom of choice, the wrong choice is the one that is made - such as the choice made by Satan who although he can be admired for his having dared to rebel against the norm, is not heroic for having chosen to plot against God. Free will was given to man in order to be able to choose the faith since in the absence of free will, there is no way to test faith. The more tested we are, the closer we are to God although whether we truly exercise free will is questionable since perhaps it is simply enforced via the threat of punishment upon transgression. In any event, despite the sanctions, man continues to disobey. Paradise Lost begins in medias res, i.e. in the middle of the action and from line 1, the association is made to the consequences of sinning (disobedience). Such is the responsibility of free will. The motivation to sin is the associated pleasure of fulfilling individual desires. Disobedience leads directly to punishment. It is important to note however that there is no fulfilment with transgression since the feelings associated with this fulfilment disappear before they can even be apprehended while the punishment lasts. Milton surely knew all about since as a puritan, he was a great believer of penance. It was also believed by Protestants at the time that without deprivation during life, there was no ascent to Heaven upon death. Satan's flaw in one word was pride. For any true protestant, this is a terrible sin since any achievement is directly attributable to God and not to the man in question. Milton identifies pride as the cardinal sin b... ...ms throughout Paradise Lost that this simple equation might work : since God is good and Charles II can be compared to God then logically it can be deducted that he is also good. Conversely, in the poem, we arrive at the conclusion that Satan is bad and this time, since milton compares cromwell to Satan then it would seem logical to deduce that cromwell is also bad. However, this equation does not hold up to close inspection and in this way, it is evident that in fact, this is a test since we should properly analyse the facts and not simply accept things at face value because they seem right. He encourages us to make our own investiations and make informed, knowledgable decisions. Consequently, it cannot be simply stated that all monarchs are good since such sweeping statements are false and it is primordial to properly examine each separate individual.