‘PARADISE LOST’: EPISODIC ORDERING AND THE FREE WILL CONTROVERSY

Abstract

John Milton’s (1608-74) international fame is due to his epic poem, Paradise Lost (1667; 2nd.ed.1674). The poem’s explicit goal is to “justify the ways of God to men” (01.26), that is: to promote a justification of the Fall, which would hold humanity responsible for its own demise while redeeming Divine Providence and confirming its mercy. This article proposes that Paradise Lost be conceived as a thought experiment: Milton’s strategy would be to manipulate or insert episodes in the possible gaps found in its underlying biblical narrative, so that they would fulfill the necessary conditions for the characters to be shown as conscious and satisfactorily rational agents, who could be held accountable for their unhappy choices. Milton would have thus offered a narrative solution for a philosophical problem.