The two falls in ‘Paradise lost’ : free will or predestination? : understanding John Milton’s treatment of the paradox against Aristotle’s ‘Poetics’

Abstract

John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost has received a considerable amount of critical attention. One can note how, over the years, critics remain fascinated in discussing the free will versus predestination debate which is a key theme in Milton’s poem. This dissertation examines Milton’s treatment of the paradox inherent in the free will versus predestination debate pertaining to the two Falls in the epic – that of Lucifer and that of Man. The two Falls are analysed against Aristotle’s Poetics in order to understand the heroic qualities, if any, of the characters. The introduction serves to indicate the application of Poetics to Paradise Lost, analyse Milton’s theodicy and also the direction of the argument concerning the paradox. This then leads to a discussion of the Fall of Lucifer in the first chapter and the Fall of Man in the second chapter whereby the characters’ position within the paradox of free will and predestination, discussed in both chapters, is asserted. Following this discussion, it becomes clear that both literary critical response and the reader of the epic have had to come to terms with Milton’s avowed intent ‘to justify the ways of God to man’ in the epic. In doing so, this continues to raise social and moral concerns with regard to Milton’s treatment of this paradox. The concluding chapter then aims to briefly analyse the seventeenth-century and the twentyfirst century readers of Paradise Lost in order to understand their respective perceptions of the paradox. Apart from analysing Milton’s treatment of free will and predestination in the epic, the main objective is to determine whether the observations made in this dissertation can provide a fresh interpretation from a contemporary reading of the poem.