Treatise for the Christian Soldier in John Milton’s Paradise Lost Essay

Miltons Treatise for the Christian Soldier in promised land Lost magical spell the War in Heaven, presented in Book VI of John Miltons nirvana Lost, operates as a refutation of the concept of glory associated with the epic tradition, the end also serves a major theological purpose. It provides nothing less than a perfect example of how the Christian soldier should act obediently in combating evil, guarding against temptation, and remaining ever vigilant against the forces of darkness. It also offers the ultimate hope that daimon can be thwarted and comforts Christians in the knowledge that match cannot be victorious. At the same time, the example warns against the pretensions that Christians might have virtually being able to overcome Satan by themselves. Christians are reminded that the mastery can only be won by the Son of theology at best, they can only confirm their allegiance and obedience to matinee idol through their service. Throughout the poem Milton has tried t o show two definitions of glory. The inaugural lies in the assumption that war can bring glory to those who fulfill heroic deeds in its service. This is the view Satan holds, and is evidenced in his words to Abdiel, But well thou comst / Before thy fellows, ambitious to learn / From me some plume (vi, 159-161). The second defines glory not as something won, entirely something given. The Son affirms this definition when he explains to the loyal angels why he entirely must end the war against me is all their rage, / Because the Father, to whom in Heaven unequivocal / Kingdom and power and glory appertains, / Hath honored me, according to his will (vi, 813-816). crowd Holly Hanford perhaps best describes the conflicted feelings Milton had for war War, then constituted for Milt... ...ons example and by Miltons manipulation of the elements of the epic tradition. For Milton, putting down the epic tradition in favor of Christian doctrine exemplifies his thoughts on war. As a possi ble pacifist, Milton saw war as the result of depravity, but knew that because of the presence of sin in a post-lapsarian world, war on earth would only be ended by the Son, just as he ended it in Heaven. Works Cited Fish, Stanley Eugene. Surprised by Sin The Reader in Paradise Lost. New York St. Martins Press, 1967. Hanford, jam Holly. Milton and the Art of War. John Milton, Poet and Humanist essays by James Holly Hanford. Cleveland Press of Western Reserve U, 1966. 185-223. Revard, Stella Purce. The War in Heaven. Ithaca and London Cornell University Press, 1980. Rosenburg, D. M. epic Warfare in Cowley and Milton. CLIO 22.1 (1992) 67-80.