Daniel Ledezma
Professor Cooper
Section 303
3 May 2018
The Formation of Figurative Language: Purity and Rhetoric in Paradise Lost John Milton's Paradise Lost is considered by many scholars to be one of the most ambitious epic poems written in the English language. The poem, being centered around the biblical story of Genesis, aims to trace the cause and effect leading to the fall of Adam and Eve. In Milton's epic, as a consequence of the fall, language is affected in the poem, creating a different aspect to the language of the pre-fallen Eden. Milton endorses the idea that language itself transitioned from being pure and consisting solely of truth, to a language full of ambiguity and rhetoric, utilized by Satan himself to confuse Adam and …show more content…
His enticing rhetoric, consisting of the post-fallen, figurative language style, is used by Satan to divert Adam and Eve from God by appealing to their inner desires. His figurative language style differs from that of God, who speaks mainly in a clear cut and direct way within the poem. In Book 6 of Paradise Lost, Raphael says that Satan's speech is "so scoffing in ambiguous words," as he retells the war in heaven (6. 568-569). Satan's "ambiguous words" are used as a persuasive technique to entice Eve within the garden, consequently leading to the fall. Furthermore, his persuasive rhetoric is also used to seduce readers of the epic. He does so by drawing himself as a sympathetic and heroic character in the narrative. When re-telling the story of the battle in heaven, Satan …show more content…
Language changes from a pure construct into an unstable one, one capable of dooming the entire human race. The moment man fell was the moment language fell too. This fallen language was given a second chance near the end of the epic. However, as Milton and the epic endorse, this fallen language no longer retains its once felt purity and can no longer solely point to factual evidence. Milton expresses that this fallen language still has the ability to use rhetoric for evil uses as Satan had done to gain entrance into Eden and deceive Eve. Milton, on the other hand, uses his fallen language to continue the word of God through his ambitious epic and endorses readers to use language for good as
Professor Cooper
Section 303
3 May 2018
The Formation of Figurative Language: Purity and Rhetoric in Paradise Lost John Milton's Paradise Lost is considered by many scholars to be one of the most ambitious epic poems written in the English language. The poem, being centered around the biblical story of Genesis, aims to trace the cause and effect leading to the fall of Adam and Eve. In Milton's epic, as a consequence of the fall, language is affected in the poem, creating a different aspect to the language of the pre-fallen Eden. Milton endorses the idea that language itself transitioned from being pure and consisting solely of truth, to a language full of ambiguity and rhetoric, utilized by Satan himself to confuse Adam and …show more content…
His enticing rhetoric, consisting of the post-fallen, figurative language style, is used by Satan to divert Adam and Eve from God by appealing to their inner desires. His figurative language style differs from that of God, who speaks mainly in a clear cut and direct way within the poem. In Book 6 of Paradise Lost, Raphael says that Satan's speech is "so scoffing in ambiguous words," as he retells the war in heaven (6. 568-569). Satan's "ambiguous words" are used as a persuasive technique to entice Eve within the garden, consequently leading to the fall. Furthermore, his persuasive rhetoric is also used to seduce readers of the epic. He does so by drawing himself as a sympathetic and heroic character in the narrative. When re-telling the story of the battle in heaven, Satan …show more content…
Language changes from a pure construct into an unstable one, one capable of dooming the entire human race. The moment man fell was the moment language fell too. This fallen language was given a second chance near the end of the epic. However, as Milton and the epic endorse, this fallen language no longer retains its once felt purity and can no longer solely point to factual evidence. Milton expresses that this fallen language still has the ability to use rhetoric for evil uses as Satan had done to gain entrance into Eden and deceive Eve. Milton, on the other hand, uses his fallen language to continue the word of God through his ambitious epic and endorses readers to use language for good as