PRESENCE AND ABSENCE: GOODNESS AND EVIL IN "PARADISE LOST" (MILTON)
Abstract
This dissertation explores and defines the nature and generation of goodness and evil in Paradise Lost. Chapter 1 first demonstrates the inability of the Satanist debate to answer its central question: if all creation is originally good, what then is the cause of evil? Three critical responses to the question are summarized: the first posits a dualistic universe; the second a dualistic nature in man; and the third suggests that evil results when a creature denies its own nature. The chapter closes with a presentation of theological underpinnings in Paradise Lost: the concepts of original goodness, free will, and permissive evil. Chapter 2 establishes the dynamic nature of goodness in Milton's epic and introduces his conception of relative perfection. It does so by exploring Milton's embodiment of the metaphysical relationship between all created natures and God in Raphael's vision of the cosmic plant. Chapter 3 presents a theoretical framework for determining the nature of evil in Paradise Lost. It extends the Augustinian definition of metaphysical evil and describes three categories of evil which are evident in the poem: logical, moral, and physical evil. Chapter 4 further explores goodness and evil by illustrating goodness as the presence of unity and truth and evil as the absence of these attributes once possessed by an originally good creature. Chapter 5 discusses goodness as unity and truth in motion, the act of fulfilling the divine pattern as commanded, "conformity divine." Evil, then, is a loss of unity and truth in motion, a failure to fulfill the divine pattern. Chapter 5 illustrates evil as such through explication of Michael's visions in Books 11 and 12 of Paradise Lost. Hence evil is shown to be not an entity but privation of goodness once possessed. It is manifested in motion rather than being, in existence rather than essence.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
British and Irish literature
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