Milton's God: Authority in “Paradise Lost”

Abstract

ABSTRACT Milton's God consistently evokes an unfavorable reaction in the modern reader, the result not so much of our emotional response to Christianity as of our antipathy to absolute authority. This response is ironic because Milton too opposed authority, but only usurped human authority, since from the perspective of Adam all men are brothers. Paradise Lost presents, in contrast to the abuse of authority in the world, a vision of God's ideal justice, corresponding to the vision of bliss in Eden. The manner of Milton's God has offended, but he speaks as he must: with absolute certitude, with spareness and logic, without recourse to metaphor or sensuous appeal. Nevertheless, his speeches are transcendentally poetic. The Father has been accused of lacking love, but the love which the Son embodies originates with the Father, and is the necessary basis in Paradise Lost for just power. Although the Father reveals little directly of what he is, he is defined by his Son and by his creatures: man, the animals, the physical universe. The human love of Adam and Eve, apparently in contention with divine love, actually depends on it for its existence. So the Father is defined by everything he creates; and what he creates is beautiful and good.