• Admin
    UC Research Repository
    View Item 
       
    • UC Home
    • Library
    • UC Research Repository
    • College of Arts
    • Arts: Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
       
    • UC Home
    • Library
    • UC Research Repository
    • College of Arts
    • Arts: Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of the RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Man in Devil's guise : Satan's exceptional humanity in Milton's Paradise Lost

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    coleman_thesis.pdf (5.049Mb)
    Author
    Coleman, Henry Peter
    Date
    1998
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10092/7112
    Thesis Discipline
    English
    Degree Grantor
    University of Canterbury
    Degree Level
    Masters
    Degree Name
    Master of Arts

    The subject of this thesis is Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost. I begin by observing how major critics and poets from Dryden on have understood this wonderful yet controversial character in Milton's greatest poem. After identifying the Satanist and anti-Satanist schools in this tradition and some of the general features of each school, I proceed to argue my central claim: by virtue of his consciousness, will, reason, and passion, Satan is a character whose nature is not in fact supernatural but fundamentally and essentially the same as that of an exceptional human being. I justify this claim by treating each of these attributes in separate chapters (the first chapter documents both consciousness and will). In making this argument, I take issue with early anti-Satanists, such as Dryden, Addison, Blair, and Johnson, and later anti-Satanists, such as Williams, Lewis, Musgrove, and Fish who fail to recognise Satan's exceptional human qualities, especially his reason. Though I align myself with some of the Satanists I discuss in the opening chapter, I also distinguish myself from them by first providing a distinct description of the specific nature of Satan's consciousness, will, reason, and passion. In so doing, I advance the Satanist critics' understanding of Satan by demonstrating that when all these particular features of Satan's character are taken together he can be seen as an exceptional human being. Thus, I explicitly argue for a claim that Satanists either gloss over or simply assume: Satan is essentially human. And it is because he is essentially human that Johnson is mistaken in claiming that the poem lacks human interest: we are interested in Satan because Satan is like us.

    Collections
    • Arts: Theses and Dissertations [1448]
    Rights
    http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/thesis/etheses_copyright.shtml

    UC Research Repository
    University Library
    University of Canterbury
    Private Bag 4800
    Christchurch 8140

    Phone
    364 2987 ext 8718

    Email
    ucresearchrepository@canterbury.ac.nz

    Follow us
    FacebookTwitterYoutube

    © University of Canterbury Library
    Send Feedback | Contact Us