INNOCENCE AND EVIL (Paradise Lost)

How are the Readers Ideas of Innocence and/or Evil Shaped by the Narrative Voice in your Chosen Text?

Innocence is a confounding concept when delved into; it suggests a total purity and complete ignorance of anything other than itself, and is a characteristic often placed upon children and infancy – an all-encompassing naivety when it comes to the world and what it contains. Milton's narrator in Paradise Lost certainly raises many questions about the nature of innocence and what it really means to be innocent, even going as far as challenging the existence of innocence at all.

The voice of the narrator can be assumed to be that of Milton himself, and throughout Paradise Lost many parallels can be found between the two; the narrator speaks of having 'eyes, that roll in vain to find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn' (PL III 24) and of course Milton, at the time of writing, suffered from blindness. With the notion that Milton himself is the speaker in the poem, much insight is given into his owns ideas about innocence; it is worth noting that the narrator has seen 'evil days' (PL VII 25) much like Milton, and so his innocence has been long gone. At the start of book one Milton also attempts to 'invoke thy aid to [his] adventurous song' (PL I 13); it is no doubt that writing Paradise Lost was a huge undertaking, not only due to the vast and epic nature of the story, but also the difficulty involved in portraying innocence. One can argue that due to the retrospective nature of the story, Milton cannot portray true innocence, as he himself is not ignorant to the evils of the world; the whole story has an overtone of inevitable downfall, even to the point where before even being introduced to Adam and Eve, God is aware that 'man will hearken easily to [Satan's] glozing lies, and easily transgress the sole command, the sole pledge of his obedience: so will fall he and his faithless progeny.' (PL III 93) Milton sets out from the start that it is a tale 'of man's first disobedience' (PL I 1), so this feeling of inevitability is made apparent from the start, perhaps meaning that innocence in itself is there to be lost; a state of pre-experience that cannot be sustained by living.

When first introducing the characters Adam and Eve, Milton describes them as beacons of 'truth, wisdom [and] sanctitude severe and pure' (PL IV 293); in their infant state it could be argued that they are at their most innocent. At this time they 'thought no ill' (PL IV 320) and are yet to be awakened to the evils of the world. It can be said that at first Milton tries to portray the innocence in Adam and Eve as much as possible, but they are not without their flaws; soon after she 'first awaked' (PL IV 450) she is held captive by her own 'vain desires' (PL IV 466) whilst gazing upon her own reflection in water; she can already be seen to have lost her own innocence by marveling at her own being – could Milton be suggesting that there was no innocence to begin with? Eve states that she 'oft remembers' (PL IV 449) the day, so this feeling of desire towards herself is something that dwells in her mind and that she does not forgot easily, suggesting that her thoughts are not entirely innocent. Satan is able to play on this intrinsic vanity and seeks to raise 'discontented thoughts, vain hopes, vain aims' and 'inordinate desires' (PL IV 808); perhaps Milton is repeating these words to emphasise characteristics that he feels all humans possess. Adam too before hearing this from Eve tells her to 'not think hard one easy prohibition' (PL IV 433), acknowledging that 'God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree (PL IV 427) – by making man aware of death and punishment, Adam and Eve surely know the difference between good and bad and thus are already removed from a state of total innocence. By trying to forget about it, Adam is acknowledging the temptation to eat from the tree, showing that he too has considered how easy it would be to disobey God.

Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost is an extremely three-dimensional character, and this only emphasised in his great speeches. In book IV, he talks of his descent to hell and fall from Grace; Satan says 'farewell hope' (PL IV 108) and asks for 'evil [to] be [his] good' (PL IV 110), renouncing his goodness in any way for his innocence was lost when he chose to read a revolution against God, but Milton stresses Satan's discontent at his former existence as a servant of God, but still remorse that he has fallen from such great heights. He understands that if he 'could repent and could obtain by act of grace [his] former state' (PL IV 93) then he would, but he also understands that he is past the point of innocence and can no longer return. Satan sees the innocence in Adam and Eve, referring to them as a 'gentle pair' (PL IV 366), stating that he 'melt[s]' at their 'harmless innocence' (PL IV 388), but this only strengthens his resolve to deceive them, just as he has deceived others in the past; he reveals that he 'seduced with other promises and other vaunts than to submit, boasting [he] could subdue th'Omnipotent.' (PL IV 84) Satan uses deception and misdirection to achieve his own personal goals, and is not afraid to manipulate even those who are loyal and faithful to him for his own purpose. These qualities found in Satan perhaps reflect Milton's own views on what it is to be evil; Satan is jealous, bitter, spiteful and manipulative, and although we are led by Milton to feel sympathy for him in the beginning, as the book goes on his true nature and characteristics are revealed. The true danger of Satan is the susceptibility of others to his charm, and so maybe Satan is a metaphor for the temptation to do bad for personal gain, disregarding others to achieved your own goals, whether personally justified as in Satan or otherwise.

As stated by Bennett and Royale, 'time is crucial to narrative' (Bennett and Royale, 2014); one of the things that sets Paradise Lost apart from this is that it is being told retrospectively and we are told what the story is about at the very beginning. Milton uses the voices of the characters and his own voice to shape the readers views on the subjects of the book; when it comes to innocence one can argue that although everything appears to hold some degree of innocence, the characters are sure to reveal their lack of innocence through their own voices; when Milton speaks of Adam and Eve, he talks of their nudity as 'dishonest shame' (PL IV 313), showing his own feelings on the matter, however when Satan sees them he talks of their 'divine resemblance' and 'grace' (PL IV 364), and is not phased by their nudity. When Eve looks into her reflection, it is her voice that tells the reader that she is impure of thought. Milton does well to let characters dig their own graves whilst giving them a degree of freedom to make those mistakes themselves, despite the reader knowing the outcome of the story.

One can argue that innocence and evil are already concepts in the world prior to Adam and Eve; Satan's fall from grace shows that he has lost his innocence, but as an Angel was he aware of the consequences of his revolt? Angels are presumably servants of God and abide to his will; are they ignorant of what would happen if they did not? True innocence can surely only be achieved through ignorance, so Milton challenges the existence of innocence at all – the Angels surely know they will incur the wrath of God if they challenge him just as Lucifer did, so they are not truly innocent themselves, neither is God, for to be aware of being innocent and the concept of innocence is to be aware of not being innocent.

Bibliography

Milton, J. Paradise Lost – Penguin Classics Ed. London: Penguin Books LTD, 2003.

Bennet, A. Royale, N. An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory 4th Ed. New York: Routledge, 2014
Word Count; 1351 1
Gregor Gault