Cosmological Order In Milton’s Paradise Lost

In Paradise Lost,Milton has presented his own idea of cosmological order to readers.There are different forms of order in Heaven,Hell and Eden,but little attention from scholars has been paid to them.Since the cosmological pictures and order are built as the foundation in Paradise Lost,it is worth exploring underlying meanings of them.Meanwhile,the study of cosmological order in the epic is also necessary in that it is related closely to the poem as well as the poet himself.This thesis aims to study the cosmological order in the epic by comparing Milton’s own idea of cosmological order with traditional cosmological order.Harmony is important not only for Milton in Paradise Lost,but also in traditional cosmology.It states that once there is order,there is harmony.Therefore,hierarchy keeps the entire cosmos running in a way as Milton perceives it to be proper.Milton’s cosmos in Paradise Lost is harmonious in that he arranges hierarchy in Heaven,Hell and Eden.Thus,he inherits the essence of harmony from traditional cosmology.What is more important is that Milton also has his own innovation in the epic.He thinks that there must be punishment for those who transgress hierarchies in the cosmos.Whoever attempts to break hierarchy will be punished at last.Therefore,Milton inherits the idea of harmony from traditional cosmology;he also adds his own idea of punishment into the poem.Such kind of comparison demonstrates that Milton is a traditional poet as well as a revolutionary hero.At first,there is heavenly order which exists among the Father,the Son and all good angels.At the same time,angelic hierarchy also dominates among all good angels.Angels act and serve the Father according to their positions in Heaven,which means that they observe angelic hierarchy in Heaven.Both heavenly order among the Father,the Son and all good angels and the angelic hierarchy are dominating in Heaven.The reason why they are predominating in Heaven is that both of them support the spirit of good in Heaven.The spirit of good exerts its effect not only in Heaven,but also in Eden,namely,Adam and Eve.The hellish order is consisted of Satan,Sin,Death and fallen angels.Moreover,the angelic hierarchy also continues in Hell,which maintains harmony there.Contrary to heavenly and edenic hierarchies,both hellish hierarchy among Satan,Sin,Death and fallen angels and angelic hierarchy among all fallen angels serve the spirit of evil.The spirit of evil is brought into Eden by Satan,then by Sin and Death.Satan and those fallen angels attempt to drag Adam and Eve into their party,and thus employ a trick to seduce them.Since both the spirit of good and the spirit of evil have their influence on Adam and Eve,it is Adam’s and Eve’s fate to make a choice between good and evil.It means that they have to decide whether to obey the law of the Father or to be seduced by Satan into fall.At last,their choice is first made by Eve,then by Adam.Eve eats the forbidden fruit because of the seduction of Satan.Then Adam follows her out of his passion towards her.After a careful study,it is not hard to find that there is hierarchy between Adam and Eve as well.In other words,there is patriarchy between them.Thus,Eve has to be submissive to Adam.The moment that Eve decides to leave Adam to labour separately she faces danger of fall.When she is alone,Satan seizes the chance and succeeds in his seduction.What is worse,this is only the beginning of their fall;at last,Adam also shares the same fate with Eve in that he eats the fruit as well.Their behaviour betrays the Father as well as hierarchy in Eden.The Father has to drive them out of Eden so as to restore harmony in Eden.