CRITICAL NOTES ABOUT
MILTON
Milton, one of the
best writer of his period, lives the turbulence of his era being involved in
the English Civil War, supporting Cromwell and devoting his entire work to the
cause of Puritans. His masterpiece, Paradise Lost, is the result of the
combination between the Bible, the Renaissance period and the Puritan's mind. The subject matter is
biblical: man loses the rights of stay in Paradise, because of their ambitious
and not obbedience (eating the forbidden fruit). Paradise is lost and sin and
death become part of the human condition. Paradise Lost is also a great
classical religious epic poem and his inspiration cames from the Gerusalemme
Liberata, the Aeneid and the Ilyad. In
Paradise Lost many elements of the epic genre can be found: the presence of the
hero, the supernatural elements and the highly refined language. Satan is the
most attractive character of Paradise Lost. At the begginig, he is an epic
hero, brave and stubbern, but, then, he becomes a vile creature, the essence of
evil, a great serpent.
A comparison between
Milton and Dante comes automatically to mind. Both describe hell and are caught
up in their religious ideas. But differences exist: in Divina Commedia the hero
is the poet; while, in Paradise Lost, Satan is the hero and in these character
Milton see himself. Dante gives up a picture of the society of his time, Milton
talks mainly of the original sin. Dante's hell is planned and organized, infact
it is divided in "gironi", where bad people "dannati" are punished. However,
Milton's hell is in a state of chaos, everything is absorbed in the morful
gloom.Then, Milton choses as place the Ptolemaic system, where God and Man are
the two ends of chain; God is sitting in his throne sourrended by angels, on of
theme (Satan) has been hurled down in the hell. Dante attacks political
figures; Milton's poem is not concerned with politics, but it's possible to
interpret some elements like a protest against monarchy, infact Milton put
himself at the service of the Repubblic, knows as Commonwealth. Dante, to
describe the hell, used a nag languages, caracterized by a dark tone, while
Milton's language is very elevated and far from common speach, one of the best
examples of high style, rich of Latinism.
