John Milton and his epic Paradise Lost. Humanism in characterization of Adam and Eve. Satan as a central protagonist.
In ‘Paradise Lost’, the pastoral takes the central place, several chapters in the middle of the poem. In Milton’s Paradise, familiar pastoral motives of harmony of man and nature, leisure and labour in the open air, innocent love of the main characters are elevated because everything there is the result of the harmonious unity of all the creatures and their direct communication with God, the ideal which was lost forever after man’s Fall. It is important to pay attention that Milton describes paradisiacal bliss which became out of man’s reach due to original sin with the eyes of the fallen angel Satan, who also can observe this felicity only from aside, who ‘saw, undelighted, all delight’. Adam and Eve, seen by envious Satan, clearly embody religiously humanistic ideals:
‘And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed)...’
Adam and Eve live in perfect freedom which agrees with the will of God. Vice is alien to them. They both are physically beautiful and ‘In naked majesty seemed lords of all’. Milton reveals the first humans as fully real natural creatures and at the same time as half-allegorical figures which personify man’s and women’s origin in human.
This seems a quiet plausible view to some critics who have their own set of arguments. No doubt in the first two books of the poem Satan is pictured as a magnificent, heroic figure. He is endowed with splendid qualities of head and heart which raise him about the level of other characters in the epic. He is noble, selfless, enterprising, taking upon himself the responsibilities of bold and perilous leadership. He is the uncompromising champion of liberty, defiant of God the tyrant. “To bow and sue for His grace” is an idea which he spurns even after his disastrous defeat. All these have led critics to think that Milton, in spite of himself, has been of the Devil's party. Moreover the traditional idea of the epic hero as a great warrior and leader lends support to Satan as the hero of the poem.
Epoch of Renaissance in English Literature, its idea of Humanism and Reformation.
Revival (Renaissance) is considered the era of transition from the middle Ages to the New time. The distinctive features of the Renaissance culture were: secular (non-religious) character, humanism, appeal to the ancient cultural heritage. The center of the universe was declared not God, but man as a part of nature, as its most perfect creation. Human experiences, his inner world, his earthly life become the main themes of literature and art. Began to form the ideal of a harmonious, free, fully developed creative personality. Humanism is a cultural phenomenon Central to the Renaissance. This is free thinking and secular individualism. It originated in the departments of universities. At the heart of humanism is ethics, which, above all, gives a certain origin of human nature. In accordance with the ideas of Epicurus, the philosophy of the Renaissance focuses on the harmony of soul and body, on the equivalence of spiritual and physical existence. Abilities, inclinations of the person are considered not only as God's data, but also as result of own efforts. This is connected with the understanding of the dignity of man, his essence as a creatively active personality, which through its activity and activity realizes its freedom, individuality.
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Renaissance and reformation - made a kind of revolution in the spiritual life of Western Europe. It would seem that they have little in common. Renaissance is the revival of the ancient heritage, the worldly beginning. The reformation was a renewal of the Church and was accompanied by a surge of deep religious feelings. Nevertheless, what unites them is that they destroyed the old medieval system of values and formed a new view of the human person. The reformation exalted the importance of worldly life and activity. Calvin taught that the sign of God's favor to man is revealed in his practice: success or failure - a criterion that allows you to understand the curse or grace lies on man. Labor ethics of the reformation sanctified practicality, entrepreneurship.
Both the reformation and the Renaissance put the human person at the center, an energetic, striving to transform the world, with a pronounced strong-willed beginning.
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