Essay on John Milton’s Paradise Lost - Defense for the...

Defense for the Allegory of Sin and Death in Paradise Lost Milton claims his epic poem Paradise Lost exceeds the work of his accomplished predecessors. He argues that he tackles the most difficult task of recounting the history of not just one hero, but the entire human race. However, he does not appear to follow the conventional rules of an epic when he introduces an allegory into Paradise Lost through his portrayal of Sin and Death in Book II. Some readers denounce his work for this inconsistency, but others justify his action and uncover extremely important symbolism from this forbidden literal device. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines an epic a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a†¦show more content†¦His adverse opinion of Custom further emphasizes his contrary relationship to the classics. Therefore, it is no surprise that Milton challenges traditional epic form by including an allegory. In addition, Milton was not the first epic poet to alter the customary form of an epic. Renowned authors preceding him, including Vergil and Ariosto, exercised their poetic licensee to variation and individuality as well. Vergil effectively combined Roman epic attributes with tragic, pastoral, satiric, and political sub genres in The Aeneid, and Ariosto combined romance with epic in Orlando Furioso. With this in mind, Milton merely exercised a preexisting practice of altering traditional epic form by integrating an allegory into his work. Even readers who are skeptical about the allegory’s valid placement must realize that without these accumulated variations in writing style, new, distinctive qualities in literature could not possibly evolve. An allegory can be interpreted at two different levels: literally and interpretively. The literal meaning is most apparent and usually easy to understand while the interpretive meaning can be complex and require extensive insight to comprehend. At first glance, the literal interpretation of Sin and Death jumps out at the reader and seems overly appalling. In summary, Satan begets Sin then has sexual relations with her, thus Death is born who later has sexualShow MoreRelatedA Dialogue of Self and Soul11424 Words   |  46 Pagesat the ‘drear November day’ and reads of polar regions in Bewick’s History of British Birds. The ‘death-white realms’ of the Arctic fascinate her; she broods upon ‘the multiplied rigors of extreme cold’ as if brooding upon her own dilemma: whether to stay in, behind the oppressively scarlet curtain, or to go out into the cold of a loveless world. Her decision is made for her. She is found by John Reed, the tyrannical son of the family, who reminds her of her anomalous position in the household