Milton

Book 1

Milton’s Satan is an interesting character. For one, he is treated like a protagonist for the first part of the work. Because of this literary approach, he is given some positive characteristics which one would not attribute to evil normally. For example, he is a master orator and also quite a skilled military leader. Even though he and his legions have been defeated, he somehow rallies them to stand again.

One character trait I thought was interesting was that despite the quasi-positive light shed on Satan, he is still controlled by God, which is an aspect we have seen in previous works as well (Donne especially): “so stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay Chained on the burning Lake, nor ever thence Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will And high permission of all-ruling Heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs.”

Book 9

The Eve in Milton’s Book 9 contrasts the various versions of a 17th Century woman's identity in a few ways – Milton gives her a lot more power and character than a lot of male authors we’ve read tend to give women. For one, she has a lot more power over her husband than we’ve seen women to have in our previous readings – she is impetuous, opinionated, and forceful. We can see this from her persistence to work separately from Adam. Although he tries several times to convince her otherwise, she insists that they will achieve more if they are apart, and they will not be tempted by evil even though they are not together. Eventually she gets her way with Adam, and it doesn’t seem like he’s particularly upset about it. This seems unrealistic for a woman in Milton’s time – recalling Phillips’ poem A Married State, it seems like women didn’t have a lot of say in their relationships: “A married state affords but little ease/ The best of husbands are so hard to please.” Secondly, she possesses considerable power of reasoning, which we see employed when she is deciding whether or not to eat the fruit: “Great are thy Virtues, doubtless, best of Fruits. Though kept from Man, and worthy to be admired…Here grows the Cure of all, this Fruit Divine, Fair to the Eye, inviting to the Taste, Of virtue to make wise: what hinders then To reach, and feed at once both Body and Mind?” This aspect of women is rarely explored in the literature we have read previously; for the most part women are admired and written about for their beauty and charm. Third, she is selfishly in love with her husband: As she says, “Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe: So dear I love him, that with him all deaths I could endure, without him live no life.” Recalling Cavendish’s view of her husband and Phillips’ view of married life, it’s interesting how attached Eve is to Adam. It is also interesting that she is able to convince Adam so easily to taste the fruit; in fact, he more or less talks himself into it, citing the same reasons she does for sharing it with him: “if Death Consort with thee, Death is to me as Life; So forcible within my heart I feel The Bond of Nature draw me to my own.”