English Language and Literature ETDs

Publication Date

7-17-1972

Abstract

Current readers of Paradise Lost still question whether the content of Books XI and XII provides a conclusion which is integrated artistically with the prior books of the poem. Through an analysis of the thought, the character, and the plot of the last two books, this study directs itself to demonstrate three points. One, Michael's consoling revelation is of primary significance for the meaning or thought that it imparts. Two, the effect of this thought on Adam is the instruction or reformation of his character to the extent that he is able to choose and act, and, hand in hand with Eve,. to take his first heroic steps in knowing and loving obedience to Providence. Three, the plot in Books XI and XII culminates in this final action of the last two lines, which is the telos of the entire epic and its most outstanding action of moral worth. The issue of this study, therefore, is that in the structure of its plot, Paradise Lost begins in disobedience, the climax of which is the fall of man, and ends in an act of voluntary obedience, the overwhelming significance of which is that it shows the extent to which man is regenerated as he leaves Paradise to enter his troubled domain. Thus, chapter One identifies the action of XI and XII within the plot of the last four books and concludes that the banishment, assumed willingly by Adam and Eve at the end of the poem, follows directly from the judgment, which is a direct consequence of the fall, and that the plot of the last four books is therefore whole. Chapter Two discusses the incidents in Book X and concludes that the judgment is a paradigm of justice and mercy, the memory of both the matter and the manner of which moves Adam and Eve to humble and contrite prayer. Chapter Three takes up the idea of regeneration and suggests that repentance is the purpose of the revelation in XI, while faith is the form and end of the revelation in Book XII. The fourth and fifth chapters then turn to examine the thought, character, and plot of the last two books. These chapters establish that Adam, though bound to his fallen disposition to sin, receives through Michael's instruction the intellectual and spiritual faculties whereby he may conquer the sin within him and be equal to the work of Satan. And the fifth chapter concludes that when Adam and Eve, moved by their love of God alone, take their first solitary steps toward the world, the power of Satan, the "cause" that first moved our parents to sin, is exhausted within the poem in this final and climactic action.

Degree Name

English

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

English

First Committee Member (Chair)

Edith Buchanan

Second Committee Member

Hoyt Trowbridge

Third Committee Member

Leon Howard

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Download

Share

COinS