Revision document created by an A* A-Level student now attending the University of Oxford. This document contains AO5 critics' quotes from 1802 up to the present day, showcasing the various interpretations of readers when considering the key themes and characters of Milton's great poem. These clear...
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Paradise Lost AO5 Key Critics
Quotes about the Book
Milton ‘[Wrote Paradise Lost] to justify the ways of God to man’
1961 Empson ‘The reason why the poem is so good is that it makes God so bad’
‘Milton genuinely considered God in need of a defence’
1967 Fish ‘The true hero of the poem is the reader and seeing Satan as
attractive and God as malevolent is simply an indication of our fallen
state [which was Milton’s purpose]’
1973 Revard ‘Happiness cannot exist without liberty’
1977 Hill ‘The fall is an analogy for the collapse of commonwealth
government’
1997 Lowenstein ‘A domestic tragedy’
1999 Edwards ‘Making mistakes is not only valuable, but crucial [...] Mistakes can
be redeemed; that is the nature of human life’
‘The point is not the fruit. The point is the rule, God's Command.
Whatever that is, the point is obedience’
2006 Batt ‘Milton seeks to redefine classical heroism in Christian terms’
Quotes about Satan
1802 Blake ‘Milton was on the devil’s party without knowing it’
1818 Shelly ‘Milton's Devil as a moral being is as far superior to his God, as one
who perseveres to be excellent in spite of adversity and torture’
1818 Hazlitt ‘Satan's ambition was the greatest, and his punishment was the
greatest’
1940 Williams ‘Malicious and idiotic’
1942 C.S. Lewis ‘Milton’s presentation of him is a magnificent poetic achievement’
‘[Satan is] diseased, perverted, twisted’
1975 Steadman ‘The Satanic image is not simply an illusion but a perversion of true
heroism’
1999 Edwards ‘Unrepentant, fallen creature’
Quotes about Adam and Eve
1942 C.S. Lewis ‘Through giving Adam the fruit, Eve commits murder’
1964 McEvoy ‘Adam and Eve fall because they think honestly for themselves as free
beings, and out of love’
1967 Burden ‘The Fall is more his failure than hers’
1968 Carey ‘Adam is father and mother to Eve’
1983 McColley ‘Men fell by choice’
‘Obedience can take place only when the will is free’
1989 Bennett ‘Milton's Adam and Eve were created already fallen’
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