ENGL 220: Milton

Lecture 14 - Paradise Lost, Book IV << previous session | next session >>

Overview:

This lecture examines Book Four's depiction of Adam and Eve and the sexual politics of life in Eden. Seventeenth-century political theory, particularly the work of Thomas Hobbes, is considered with a focus on then-contemporary theories of the structure and government of the first human societies. Critical perspectives on what have variously been proposed as sexist and feminist elements of Milton's Eden are surveyed. Milton's struggle with the problem of depicting an unfallen world to a fallen audience is closely detailed. The lecture concludes with a study of Rembrandt's 1638 drawing, "Adam and Eve."

Reading assignment:

John Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. (Hughes):
Paradise Lost, Book IV
The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), pp. 702-15

Additional reading: Hobbes, Thomas. "Of Man" (1651). In Leviathan

For Section Discussion:

John Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. (Hughes):
Paradise Lost, Book IV

Additional Reading: Ovid, Metamorphosis III. (Narcissus episode)

Class lecture:

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Resources:

"Adam and Eve" by Rembrandt [PDF]