How would you react if you realized you had altered the future of an entire people? Would you be sympathetic or apologetic? Would you be regretful or sincere? I believe that the reaction of a person in such a situation gives insight into their quality of character and shows us the real extent of their influence over their surroundings and beyond. John Milton’s Adam in Paradise Lost altered the future for mankind just as Margaret Cavendish’s Empress of the Blazing World altered the future for the inhabitants of the Blazing World. Both characters realized the consequences of their actions and desired to change it back to the original state. Both were regretful for their deeds.
However, the manner in which each of the characters showed regret gives us insight into the respective author’s intention for the work. By analyzing the difference between the lamentations of Adam and the Empress, we can see strikingly opposing approaches to the same desire – to correct the wrong. Adam falls into a sincere state of despair while the Empress is much more apathetic about the situation. From this observation, we can make claims about Milton and Cavendish and his or her reasoning for fashioning the characters in the way they are portrayed.
From the outset of the plot, the storylines of both texts seem to parallel along a very similar outline. The opening of each story is a description of a paradise, free from the corruption of conflict, deception, or sin and more importantly, free from the issue of a foreign influence. Perhaps the most influential factor that allows these paradises to continue in their original state is the innocence they possess from just not knowing any other way, the lack of alien influence. This lack of knowledge was G...
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...g entirely fictitious, fabricated, and immaterial. This alteration impacted the reactions of Adam and the Empress. Adam’s real existence required a natural, real reaction just as the Empress’ artificial existence conjured a false, inhuman reaction. The apathetic tone of the Empress mirrored the apathetic tone of Cavendish in stating her intended purpose for the work. The serious tone of Adam mirrored the seriousness of Milton’s intended purpose. Both Adam and the Empress had decidedly altered the future conditions of an entire people to the point that they desired restoration of the original status. However, the Empress’ apathetic tone and Adam’s serious tone shows, respectively, both the extent of influence of the affected people, the reality factor of that people, and most significant, the importance of those people upon the current state of the contemporary world.
The similarities are prolific in their presence in certain parts of the novel, the very context of both stories shows similarities, both are dealing with an oppressed factor that is set free by an outsider who teaches and challenges the system in which the oppressed are caught.
Both works are studied as pieces of irony but I believe both to be great works in other, with a twist of irony in the conclusion, although, worth mentioning, the ironies both serve to the other purpose rather than the plane simple sake of irony.
The basic ideas of the two novels are also similar. They have to do with rebellion against the so-called perfect new world and the sanctuary
In “Book of the Duchess,” Geoffrey Chaucer draws close parallels between the poet’s insomnia and the Knight’s grief. In showcasing the Knight’s complete lack of interest in the hunt, coupled by his general lethargy, Chaucer effectively parallels the Knight’s apathy to that experienced by the Narrator himself and his own feelings of loss of energy and enthusiasm.. The Chaucerian consolation in “The Book of Duchess,” seeks only to revitalize its suffers, and offers very little thorough investigations into the roots of the Narrator’s and the Knight’s prolonged state of despairs. Instead, as far as is possible, it seems that Chaucer ignores all explanation of causes, but continues to provoke the reader’s curiosity for the reasons behind the insomnia, yet never fully answers whether consolation found or rejected. Through these parallels and juxtapositions, the reader can begin to discover, understand, and contemplate, the mechanics of consolation as it functions throughout the poem
Although both authors claim their stories are true, and thereby that their characters are realistic, there seems to be a gap between the authors' claims and the "reality" of the characterization. This question is closely connected to the fact that both novels belong to the earliest English novels. There was no fixed tradition that the authors worked in; instead the novel was in the process of being established. The question arises whether the two works lack a certain roundness in their narrators.
The forms Milton and Mansfield used to tell their stories impacts readers because their views on human desires are still relevant today. Through the ideas the essay will share, it will discuss how Irvine’s concept relates to the ways
...ce, although both writings are interesting in their own ways, the most interesting aspect of both writings together is that they both have a similar plot and theme. It is rare that two
There is a misconception of tragedy with which I have been struck in review after review, and in many conversations with writers and readers alike. It is the idea that tragedy is of necessity allied to pessimism. Even the dictionary says nothing more about the word than that it means a story with a sad or unhappy ending. This impression is so firmly fixed that I almost hesitate to claim that in truth tragedy implies more optimism in its author than does comedy, and that its final result ought to be the reinforcement of the onlooker 's brightest opinions of the human
Naturally two books related to each other in this way have their similarities and differences in certain areas. Most of the similarities between both books fall in the areas of historical correctness and act...
Although the epic poem centers around the story of the fall of man, it is interesting that Milton intertwines in this story the fall of Satan from heaven and the consequences it has not only for Satan himself, but for Adam, Eve, and the world as a whole. Milton allows the reader to see the fall from the point of view of Satan, God, as well as Adam and Eve. Because Milton gives insight into these characters feelings regarding the fall, it is no surprise that he uses “eternal providence” in conjunction with the stories of Satan, Adam, and Eve. The providence being described here is the knowledge of good and evil. However, ev...
Both plays argue their ideas and opinions about salvation, the hypocrisy of the church and the hypocritical, selfish gains, masked by ‘pious’ work by man, in The Canterbury Tales. The difference in time displays the level of depth that each author can go into challenging the norm and arguing their ideas. In Paradise Lost it is obvious that temptation can come in very attractive forms but only by God’s grace, are we saved. Both authors agree that mankind is flawed and but the knowledge of said shortcomings and the study of what is right is what makes life interesting and worth living and this is what determines salvation: fighting the good fight
Milton: Modern Essays in Criticism. Ed. Arthur E. Barker, b. 1875. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. 205-217.
...th as it will significantly influence the whole school’s academic performance. On the other hand, when students graduating from this universities enter the level playing field of professional world, their performance and ability is a gauge used by their employers to judge whether the university is good or not. It is very clear that such practice, with a short-term economic return though, because great damages both to the universities themselves and to the international and local students in the long term.
The biggest similarity between the two stories is the notion of moral decline; the beings start off as peaceful things that don’t need homes, food or anything. As time goes on they need those things and more. After a while they start stealing from each other and eventually hurt each other.
Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton uses various tools of the epic to convey a traditional and very popular Biblical story. He adds his own touches to make it more of an epic and to set forth new insights into God's ways and the temptations we all face. Through his uses of love, war, heroism, and allusion, Milton crafted an epic; through his references to the Bible and his selection of Christ as the hero, he set forth a beautifully religious Renaissance work. He masterfully combined these two techniques to create a beautiful story capable of withstanding the test of time and touching its readers for centuries.