Other Devil-ish Works

More than once in our discussions about Paradise Lost I was reminded of a book I've read by C.S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters.

There's a website explaining and analyzing the text, which is interesting: Look Here

Basically, the novel is a collection of letters written by a demon named Screwtape to his young novice, Woodworm, on how to win a soul for Satan. In this complex, mind-messing novel, Lewis creates an intricate hierarchial web in the underworld, which reminded me a lot of Pandemonium.

The thing that mostly reminded me of Paradise Lost, I think, is how real the demon seemed. Conniving and clever, Screwtape is completely committed to his evil cause. However, his arguments make sense and his summation of human nature (though, of course, cynical) is pretty dead on. I think the epistle format of the books also add an element of relatability. Milton also is able to portray Satan (the Arch-Enemy, the Fallen Angel, Lucifer) as a captivating and dynamic figure. There's just something about the fact that Milton chose Satan to be the epic hero in his poem that challenges norms.

In both The Screwtape Letters and Paradise Lost the demons are eerily believable. They also both chose to use the hell to make comparisons to humans, rather than setting a scene in heaven. Milton, a notorious anti-Royalist, portrays heaven as a sort of monarch and hell as having a council as its form of government. Perhaps he did this as a way of saying that only God could be a completely righteous and just monarch, so all of those who are fallen should be ruled by councils. In the same way, I feel like C.S. Lewis believed that it was easier, and more believable, to depict a demon than an angel. How much easier is it to portray human's evil tendencies, after all?

Again, I have to appreciate the guts it takes for any author to take on the challenge of getting into the mind of and personify demons. How do you even begin to get in the mind of a demon? What makes a believeable devil?

Why Light?

I just thought this was cool, especially since we saw the original cover of Anne Bradstreet's "The Tenth Muse." It really has nothing to do with the rest of this blog.

I love Milton's rhetoric. Sometimes I'll find myself re-reading passages just because it sounds so darn good. I've always known words could be powerful, but I feel like this just took it to a whole other level for me.

What especially interested in was Milton's emphasis on LIGHT and DARK. There are so many allusions to this theme, whether he's talking about the underworld being a "dark descent" or God shining bright though covered by a cloud, or the Holy Spirit illuminating what is normally invisible to mortals. Why the consistent return to this language of sight?

- It's just a natural way to describe the indescribable? It is something that is always present, although it's intangible - so it makes the perfect analogy to God?

- It's simply human nature to focus on that which we do not have. So is Milton emphasizing the visual in his poetry because that is what he lacks? Is he perhaps trying to create a world which he can "see" in his mind's eye?

- When you close your eyes, you can still recognize the difference between light and dark, sun and shade. Maybe Milton's emphasis on light comes from the fact that it is still a part of the visual world that he can relate to and sense despite his lack of sight?

- Quite frankly, words of light, illumination and sunshine are beautiful. You just feel happy inside thinking about those things. Words associated with darkness have a very negative connotation. Maybe Milton is trying to play off of these natural human feelings to evoke emotion in his work?

- Along those lines: this stark contrast, the very opposite-ness of the natures of light and dark, make a perfect dichotomy for God and Satan?

The Last Enemy To Be Destroyed Is Death

While by thee rais'd I ruin all my Foes,
Death last

Milton writes these words into Jesus' mouth as part of his acceptance speech to take on the role of Sacrificial Lamb for all of Mankind.

Reading this, I couldn't help but think of another quote...

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." - 1 Corinthians 15:26*

I was instantly struck with this parallel, the almost word-for-word rephrasing of Scripture. Surely people of Milton's time would have recognized this passage, and many others that he invokes in Paradise Lost, as borrowed from the Bible. This may give his work more credibility, with a more reliable and true tone. Or maybe Milton just thought it natural for God to voice these passages, since if Scripture was divinely inspired then God would have said these things before anyway.

This parallel also made me realize just how much of a humanistic work this is. This is combining the classical epic poetry with religion and history and science. The calculated mixture of imagination and learning is difficult to achieve. Well done, Milton, well done.

*Is it bad that I recognized the passage in Paradise Lost as being from the Bible because it was written on James and Lily Potter's graves in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Harry Potter: bridging the gap between Milton and the Bible. I love it.

Free Will and Forgiveness

The first sort by their own suggestion fell,
self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls deceiv'd
By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,
The other none

Here is the choice of free will cropping up again, although in a very different sense than how we normally think about it. The fallen angels (now demons) chose their fate. They, out of their own greed and weakness, decided to fall out of God's favor. Man, however, was deceived by these creatures. Although Man had a choice to chose evil over good, he still was not motivated out of his own wickedness to turn away from God.

And therein lies the difference, and the reason why Satan cannot repent, right? If he was self-tempted in Heaven, eternal Paradise, then why would he satisfied anywhere else, on Earth or elsewhere, if he wasn't The Authority?