Free Will in Paradise Lost PDF

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an essay on free will in John Milton's Paradise Lost for the Milton's Poetry seminar final essay....

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The idea of free will is prevalent in Milton’s epic Paradise Lost. It is a key mechanism in helping Milton’s main purpose of the book, which is to justify the ways of God to Man. From the off Milton makes it clear that his aim is to ‘assert Eternal Providence And justify the ways of God to Man’ (1.25-26). To understand just how important free will is in justifying the ways of God to Man, there are a number of things we must understand. These include Free Will as a concept, how it is attached to Adam and Eve, how it affects their decisions, why God has granted it to them to begin with, and why Milton’s God’s omnipotence can’t interfere with Adam and Eve’s decision making be it for better or worse.

We must also understand that Milton’s epic is seen as a theodicy, which is defined as ‘The vindication of divine providence in view of the existence of evil’ by the Oxford English Dictionary. In other words, Milton attempts justify the ways of God to man even after evil arises, by showing why a supposedly omnipotent and omnipresent Diety would still allow evil into his world.

For Adam and Eve part of the struggle is the dualistic view of God. He is presented as having two facades; That of either a kind, loving, beneficial Diety or that of an oppressive tyrannical ruler who does not use the aforementioned omnipotence or omnipresence to protect those who He has created. In this sense, and via his actions in the epic, God can be seen as almost duplicit. However, this essay does not aim to prove whether God is a good or bad Deity, rather it aims to prove that His allowing of evil into the world is for the good of Mankind (which, should it be shown to be beneficial proves God to be good, despite appearing to allow his creations suffer).

Free will as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is ‘Spontaneous or unconstrained will; unforced choice; (also) inclination to act without suggestion from others’. In this essay the effect of free will on the relationship between Adam and Eve with God will be examined and in turn the

way that the decisions of supposedly free-willed people lets us understand God’s actions (or lack thereof) towards them.

It is outlined from the beginning that everyone, be they human or angel, have free will. ‘I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood though free to fall’ (3.98-99) as well as ‘I formed them free and free they must remain’ (3.124) enforce this. The idea of predestination is also cast aside with God saying ‘they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I’ (3.116-7) as well as ‘they themselves ordained their Fall. The first sort by their own suggestion fell Self-tempted, self depraved’ (3.128-30). It is now abundantly clear to the reader that free will exists, and predestination does not, thus giving reason for free will. If free will were to exist but predestination did, then mankind would have no reason to behave well and be obedient to God, as predestination would have decided who would make it to Heaven already.

If Milton’s God is all knowing and thus could see the fall coming, as well as being omnipotent and could have stopped it, why did he choose not to? All the same, God has given Mankind free will, and to stop the fall would be paradoxical as it would interfere with their free will. They have free will, as well as reason, and they are free to make their own rational decisions. However, in certain key scenes in this epic God hopes for them to forego reason and their own free will and to blindly trust God.

Milton’s God shows that he is wary of Adam and Eve’s potential to fall in Book III. However, if he is aware that they have the potential to sin, it must be asked why he gave them free will in the first place?

‘So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker or their making or their fate, as if predestination overruled

Their will disposed by absolute decree Or high foreknowledge.’ (3.113-116).

Peter C. Herman, in his article ‘Whose fault, whose but his own?”: Paradise Lost, contributory negligence, and the problem of cause’ (2012), remarks that God guarantees ‘that humankind will make choices, and indeed, God ensures they will have to make choices. God assures opportunity, not outcome’ (56). This explains a fundamental idea of understanding free will and choice in Paradise Lost. God’s decision to grant free will but not to interfere when free will could cause harm is how he picks those worthy of eternal providence, by placing full responsibility for the decisions of Mankind on Mankind themselves. It is how Mankind are to prove their faith and obedience.

God clearly removes responsibility from himself with regards to a potential fall. This is necessary also for Adam and Eve to have absolute free will. Now the reason he gave them free will is now more clear. It is so they are free to choose obedience or disobedience, goodness or sin.

This in turn, gives us the challenge of free will. The challenge for Mankind to show obedience to God. Adam and Eve are logical, rational creatures with reason. This sets them apart from the animals in Paradise. Eve’s response to Satan’s temptations in Book VI refer to this reason they possess.

‘But of this tree we may not taste nor touch God so commanded, and left that command Sole Daughter of his voice; the rest, we live Law to ourselves, our Reason is our Law’ (9.651-654)

Satan later convinces Eve that eating the fruit will enhance them and bring them a higher level amongst the angels in Heaven. Using the logic given to her by God, it would make sense to eat

the fruit and benefit from it. Although Satan knows of the punishment they should face, he logically dissects the irrationality of the tree being banned.

‘One fatal tree there stands of knowledge called, Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden? Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know Can it be death? And do they stand By ignorance, is that their happy state, The proof of their obedience and their faith? (4.514-20)

This is how she falls. Stanley Fish says in his book Surprised by Sin that Adam and Eve must ‘perform an act of the will, signifying faith, not understanding, and that lapses in logic do not affect her sufficiency’ (Fish, 254). In this sense, ignoring the reason that is their law is showing faith. God has given them no reason to not eat the fruit, He has simply forbade it and expects them to pay heed and remain obedient to His laws. They are free to eat the fruit, much as they are ‘free to Fall’. However, by ignoring the supposed benefits of the fruit, and ignoring their reason, they would be showing more faith to God, albeit blind faith. Eating the fruit is not a failure of logic, as even Satan’s aforementioned logic related to the tree is perfectly sound. Instead, this is a failure of will and faith. In eating the fruit they are not only disobeying God but also seeking to be more than God has made them, and closer to God in stature. The very same reason that Satan fell.

Given all of what God has provided for them in Paradise, all he requires is for them to show blind faith in his word and to remain truly obedient to Him. As William Walker says, their faith is ‘a freely willed belief in an omnipotent and beneficent deity who is always to be obeyed’ (Walker 144). Fish thus sees Adam and Eve’s free will as ‘exercising the freedom to believe things about

the God and the freedom to act on those beliefs’. This returns us to the dualistic view of God; they are free to see God as good and beneficent or as an oppressor who will punish them if they do not obey, and they are then free to act on whichever they see as more accurate a belief. This freedom should not be solely based on logic and reason, but in will and faith. They are free to show obedience, yet also free to disobey.

For Milton, with free will comes responsibility, and with that temptations. To become truly virtuous one must be faced with temptation and decide against it using one’s own free will. The question of free will in Paradise Lost mirrors the question of censorship and free press in another of Milton’s greatest pieces, Areopagitica, where he argues that forgoing censorship and having a truly free press ‘tests the virtuous by exposing them to contrary opinion’ (Corns, 75). He continues on the topic of censorship and free press, but with an idea that is equally as applicable to Adam and Eve’s free will by arguing that ‘The requirement to obey a reasonless rule makes a sterner test than the requirement to obey a rule which makes sense’ (76)

Milton speaks of how censorship in the press takes away free will, consequently taking away the temptation and thus not allowing the proving of oneself as virtuous. The real test he finds is that if a writer has the ability to turn down an unnecessary temptation they are better. Much like Adam and Eve, had they had the faith in God to follow his interdiction against reason, for their own and mankind’s betterment.

With that in mind, it shows part of God’s reason for allowing this free will and part of how it justifies God’s ways to Mankind, is that otherwise he would not know if Mankind were being consistent in their obedience and faith. He could not reward them for being good if they were not free to sin or if they were predestined to wind up in heaven regardless of behaviour. Without the

freedom to sin and disobey, Their good behaviour means nothing. As is said in Book III;

‘What pleasure I from such Obedience paid When will and reason (reason is also choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled, Made passive both, had served necessity, Not Me?’ (3.107-11)

This all plays it’s part in justifying God’s ways to Man towards the end of the epic when it gives the Son of God the chance to save Mankind and save future generations of Mankind from a similar outcome. As Raphael tells Adam and Eve that ‘God made thee perfect’ (5.524) one would wonder why or how they are still capable of sin? It is not that they are imperfect for choosing to sin. As Milton later states, God also gave them ‘Prevenient grace’ (11.3) allowing for repentance. Alongside the sacrifice made by the Son of God, this allows for Mankind to redeem themselves should they do wrong. It also shows how an aspect of God’s ways to Man is to make the best of bad things, by allowing them the chance to redeem themselves, and not immediately banishing them. As Adam says;

‘O goodness infinite, goodness immense! That all this good of evil shall produce, And evil turn to good’ (12.469-71)

All in all, the concept and application of free will in Milton’s Paradise Lost helps justify the

ways of God to man in three key points which will now be summated. Firstly, God had to ensure that the faith and obedience of his creations was consistent. Without the opportunity to sin or disobey, nobody could prove themselves to be truly virtuous.

Secondly, it resulted in the sacrifice of the Son of God, who further ensured that future generation of Mankind could redeem themselves, thanks massively to his martyrdom. And Finally, it showed that God as a deity, although seemingly duplicit in his approach or behaviour, is there nevertheless to make good of what is bad, for there will always be evil in the world, and he will be there to turn what he can of it to good.

Bibliography Corns, Thomas N. Regaining Paradise Lost. London ; New York: Longman, 1994. Print. Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library. Print. Fish, Stanley E. Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1998. Print. Herman, Peter C. "Whose Fault, Whose but His Own?': Paradise Lost, Contributory Negligence, and the Problem of Cause." The New Milton Criticism. By Elizabeth Sauer.. Print. Milton, John, Radzinowicz, Mary Ann, Former Owner, and Teskey, Gordon. Paradise Lost : Authoritative Text, Sources and Backgrounds, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Print. Norton Critical Edition. Walker, William. “On Reason, Faith, and Freedom in "paradise Lost"”. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 47.1 (2007): 143–159. Web....