A Thematic Study Of The Heavenly War In Milton's Paradise Lost

As one of the most influential and famous literary works in English history,Milton's Paradise Lost tells the story of man's fall.The topic of Paradise Lost originates from the fall of Adam and Eve in the Genesis which accounts for only a few pages,while Milton's wild imagination and artistic creativity enlarged it into twelve volumes,adding a great amount of details including Satan's rebellion which highlights in the war in heaven.The war in heaven first appeared in the Revelation.Similarly,lines in the Revelation are just the indication that there was a war in heaven.In Paradise Lost,Milton took Raphael as the narrator and elaborately narrated the war.Milton was not only a great poet,but also a prominent politician,an active revolutionary and thinker.Milton argued for human rights and liberty of publication,of education,of religion and of marriage.After the outbreak of English Revolution,Milton devoted himself to it with great enthusiasm,but was sent to prison after the Restoration.Milton began his epic writing after he was released.Therefore,the conclusion can be drawn that Milton began to infuse his political ideology within his epic writings after he could not publish it publicly.Considering his political stance and his encounters,the war in heaven can be seen as a political allegory for England.Not only did Milton add his political ideas in Paradise Lost,but also his religious thoughts.Being a pious Puritan and an active revolutionary,he needed to deal with the contradictions in two different identities in his epic writing.As a revolutionary,Milton should oppose the tyranny of English King;as a puritan,he should obey the authority of God.Milton's dealing with the war in heaven and outcome of the war is his way to balance his identity.As an epic,Paradise Lost inherited the ancient Greek-Roman epic traditions in structure and in discourse.In the beginning of epic creation,Milton decided that his epic would meet the same approbation as Homer's or Virgil's.In classical epic tradition,war is as indispensable part for epics,so the war in heaven in Paradise Lost serve the same function.Therefore,based on the close reading of Milton's Paradise Lost,this thesis connects his political,religious and cultural background to analyze the meaning of the war in heaven to the epic.Apart from the introduction and the conclusion part,the thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter one begins with analyzing Milton's political contexts and further probes into the inner relationship between the war in heaven and the seventeenth British political turmoil.Chapter two explores Milton's theology and his views on God's power which is expressed in the war.Chapter three compares and contrasts the war in heaven with the Trojan War in ancient epics and tries to find out Milton's characteristics in his war description.