Research On John Milton's Political Thought

John Milton (1608-1674) was a great English poet and publicist. Noted for his great epic Paradise Lost, Milton also wrote several political and religious essays and pamphlets to support the English revolution. Being one of the first thinkers to step forward natural rights and social contract theory among the history of the western political thought, Milton is also one of the most arguable poets. It's hard to generalize his ideas as well as his era since both were complicated matters. There have been enormous ranges of Milton's researches and critics along the development of the history. But how has the historiography field fixed the value of Milton's thoughts? This thesis provides several typical ideas about Milton, then it endeavors to summarize and analyze the thought objectively based on the previous researches, thus to further confirm John Milton's role and to reveal his great image in the history. Also it is hoped that this thesis could do its contribution to John Milton's 400 Anniversary, 2008. This thesis is divided into five parts:Chapter 1, Milton's background of living. Milton lived in an era which English society was upon a transitional reformation and the class of bourgeois was in war against the feudalism and striving for freedom. Each class had its own idea to fight against the feudal system. Milton's ideas had resources originated from the humanism, religious reformation and the influences of the revolution which all endowed in his works.Chapter 2, Milton's religious ideas. Milton was a very religious person and laid the emphasis on direct contact with God, but is often troubled by his own beliefs. He wandered among different religious groups and even broke away from them. His first five pamphlets were religious related; he stood with the Puritan's side to further the religious reformation: he opposed episcopalism and autarchy kingship, appealed for a purified church and religious tolerance but his radical remarks and non-conventional ideas made him not accepted by the mass crowd. His religious idea was the main tool of his debates and its role could not be neglected.Chapter 3, Milton's idea of liberty. Milton thought that 'freedom is superior to all' and he struggled for the whole nation's liberty even at the cost of his eyesight. He held the idea that people should own three species of liberty, namely religious liberty, domestic liberty and civil liberty. He had prose works on the Freedom of the Press, Speech, Beliefs, Marriage and Education, among those the freedom of speech was the most powerful. Though his ideas were not formed systematically, they had penetrating and profound ideas to be claimed as an early apostle of liberalism by the predecessors.Chapter 4, Milton's idea of Republicanism. England founded a sort of republic within the years of 1648 to 1653. Affected by the tide of republicanism, Milton believed that the republic was the best form of government. His debates over the revolution and the construction of the republic were considered as his utmost contribution to the revolution. His ideas were classified as being classical. He advocated 'People's Sovereignty' and setting up a republic of parliamentary sovereignty without a king and House of Lords, which had a tendency of idealization.Chapter 5, John Milton's status in the history of political thoughts. As a citizen, his pursuit of ideal and truth as well as his wholehearted devotion to the nation would make him immortal and could be inherited as a great heritage. As a publicist, he was one of the first thinkers to step forward natural rights and social contract theory; and he believed people's natural rights were liberty, property and life, liberty being the most fundamental one. He clamored for liberty, equality and the construction of the republic. But Milton was no saint--- his ideas were bound by the circumstances that suggested them thus were not systematic. He believed in the best government form to realize the liberty was the republic, but he was not a firm republican; He's an advocate of 'People's Sovereignty', but he was not a democratic republican.