Milton's Paradox of Knowledge in Paradise Lost: The thirst for knowledge and truth is one that cannot easily

be quenched. Truth is sought through different rivers of knowledge such as language !ath science history !ythology cos!ology religion and !any other various sub"ects. #n Paradise Lost Milton would argue that truth is found internally within in the for! of $alvinist faith. %tanley &ish literary critic and author of How Milton Works, adds '...Milton would say...e!(irical investigation always gets you: nowhere or )it is the sa!e thing* anywhere. +hen you look at the (articulars severed fro! any already,in,(lace assu!(tion about what things !ean generally they tell you nothing or they tell you anything-)./*. Thus according to Milton one learns things fro! (reviously acquired knowledge. #n 0ook 1ne of 2ohn Miltons' Paradise Lost it is suggested that the internal truth in the for! of $alvinist faith should be the lens through which all e!(irical investigations are conducted. +ithout this lens external for!s of knowledge will inevitably distort the internal truth. Language is a for! of external knowledge that can either (ro!ote or distort one's internal religious truth. Milton constructs the language in Paradise Lost in such a way that it can (ersuade its reader to feel sy!(athy for %atan or even to choose his side over 3od hi!self. The reader who falls for the cleverly constructed tra( of a logical argu!ent is one whose internal truth is not established. %tanley &ish literary critic of Milton and author of How Milton Works, (rovides insight on Miltons !ethod and states that Milton language '...will dis(lay a double !eaning and structure that corres(ond to the distinction between inner and outer the distinction between a dee( truth always (resent and always governing and the a((earances and surfaces that see! to be or seek to be divorced fro! it-)45*. The 'dee( truth- &ish !entions is the sa!e internal truth in which Milton believes is the true for! of knowledge. Thus any external knowledge or acquisition of external knowledge deviating fro! this truth will si!(ly corru(t the truth with he believes is absolute. &ish continues this idea by adding 'The surface for! will always say: Look over here or out there for !eaning salvation illu!ination truth. The settled and certain soul will decline the invitation and look within for the (ers(ective in the light of which what is over here or out there is correctly and truly configured-)45*. $onsider these lines in Paradise Lost:

Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built Here for his en y, will not dri e us hen!e" To rein is worth ambition though in Hell" #etter to reign in Hell, than ser e in Hea 'n )lines 678,79*.

These lines s(oken by %atan i!(ly that even in the fall freedo! and (ower have been obtained. :ven though the (rice is ruling in hell the (ower and freedo! is still !ore beneficial than having no (ower or no freedo! in heaven. These lines s(eak highly of individualis! and inde(endence as they suggest that (aradise !eans nothing without individual (ower but individual (ower !eans so!ething without (aradise. ;ccording to Milton however there is only one a((ro(riate res(onse for the individual which contains the absolute truth. 1ne who contains the absolute truth would recogni<e this as te!(tation to

deviate fro! the right (ath. Thus this (assage serves as an exa!(le of the 'surface for!- which uncertain souls look towards for '!eaning- or 'truth-. These uncertain souls will not recogni<e the (resence of te!(tation within the verse and instead find co!fort or ins(iration in these lines. Thus their for! of truth beco!es corru(ted through the used of language. =owever Milton bears the rhetoric faith in which ' Language according to this (osition is a creature of the hu!an !ind which re!ains its docile but i!!ensely (roductive servant. The rhetoricians lived by the faith that language e!(loyed with disci(line and study was an instru!ent for obtaining truth...-)3reene .9*. Thus Paradise Lost in its entirety functions as a rhetoric !echanis! in which the truth is (resented to the reader who (ossesses the ca(acity to see it. Milton also (ro!otes the idea that using external knowledge in the for! of science to (ro!ote religious truth is useless corru(tive and a sign of evil. #n believing that there is an internal absolute truth it is to be i!(lied that this truth cannot be found externally. Thus the acquisition of external knowledge to seek an internal truth is nothing !ore than a deviation fro! the truth. #n relation to Milton &ish states:

The distinction between knowledge and belief is a given for a Post $artesian world in which the inner real! of sub"ectivity )now first invented* has been severed fro! and (ut in an ever, (roble!atical relation to external reality. ; sub"ect thus se(arated fro! the real has no direct was to a((rehend or confir! the truth about things and !ust have recourse to i!(ersonal !echanis!s )!athe!atics scientific ex(eri!ent* devised to neutrali<e and>or by(ass its (artiality. %uch a sub"ect can never be sure of anything and...!ust always be in search of !ore knowledge there will never be enough* in order to shore u( to its faith )95,96*.

+ith this being said it is evident that Milton regards the acquisition of knowledge to (rove faith as a (asti!e of the lost soul. #n other words either one is filled with an internal truth and awareness that they (ossess all knowledge or they have been corru(ted to believe they !ust find this truth elsewhere. #n believing that the truth !ust be found and (roven externally they allow the!selves to be corru(ted by the outside world. #n seeking elsewhere one will never be satisfied in finding truth and kee( searching endlessly. The use of science as a way to (rove existence rather than religious faith is viewed by Milton as being corru(t. Many references are !ade to the telesco(ic discoveries of 3alileo however they are not viewed in a (ositive light. 1ne exa!(le co!(ares %atans shield to the !oon as seen through the telesco(e:

He s!ar!e had !eas't when the su$ierior %iend Was mo ing towards the shore; his $onderous shield &theral tem$er, massy, large and round, #ehind him !ast; the broad !ir!umferen!e Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose 'rb Through '$ti! (lass the Tus!an Artist iews At & 'ning from the to$ of %esole,

'r in )aldarno, the des!ry new Lands, *i ers or Mountains in her s$otty (lobe+)6?@,6/5*

;lthough Milton was fascinated with the !oon he saw through the telesco(e in #taly he also feared the !agnitude of this discovery because of its corru(tion to the internal truth. #n co!(aring %atans shield to the !oon it not only alludes to the !assive si<e of the shield but suggests that the o(tic glass or telesco(e is a (ortal to evil. The shield is described as being strengthened in celestial fire and then !olded into a large s(here. +ith this descri(tion the !oon is (erceived as being a (art of %atan and thus knowledge ai!ed in the direction of the !oon is inherently ai!ed at evil or %atan as well. #n her article Milton and the Teles!o$e, Mar"orie Aicolson describes the ex(erience Milton had with the telesco(e and its role in Paradise Lost ' The !oon which 3alileo had discerned through his telesco(e in 578/ and 5758 a((ears in Paradise Lost as it had in #taly. This is not longer the !oon of conventional (oetry...#t is a vastly larger !oon, the largest circular body which Milton could think of when he sought an a(t co!(arison with the shield of %atan-)67*. &urther!ore although 3alileo isn't directly !entioned in this (assage the lines s(eak heavily of the 'Tuscan ;rtist's- influence on the scientific world. The '1rb Through 1(tic 3lass- is the eye of 3alileo through the telesco(e as it (ierces the night sky into a (reviously undiscovered worldB 'descry new Lands-. 'Calderno- is the na!e of the valley 3alileo lived the rest of his days in after being (laced on house arrest by the #nquisition for his beliefs that the :arth was not the center of the universe. '&esolewere the hills that were visible fro! his window when he would look out with his telesco(e. The danger of corru(tion is not in the discovery itself rather it lies in one's (erce(tion of such a discovery. #n the case of 3alileo the discovery was (erceived as being a threat to the $hurch. Thus instead of obtaining knowledge through the $alvinist lens knowledge was being obtained outside of this lens that was a distortion of truth. Milton constructs a (arallel between cos!ological discoveries and %atan to illustrate that 3alileoDs discoveries were a distortion of truth since they dis(uted the internal truth (ro(hesied by the $hurch. ;lthough external for!s of knowledge such as language and science can be corru(tive to ones internal truth they can also serve as beneficial ways to reaffir! this truth. Milton works fro! the inside, out and thus truth defined by Milton is known internally and reinforced externally. #n this any for! of external knowledge can be beneficial to strengthening ones internal truth as long as it does not contradict what one already knows. :xternal knowledge is based u(on (erce(tion '...of what a((ears or does not a((ear to you...EandF is a function of a (rior inner orientation: what you see de(ends radically on what you believe you can see-)&ish 6@*. The truth that one knows internally will change the (erce(tion one has on the world. #f ones truth is true they will view external knowledge such as language and science as a !echanis! to share and e!(ower this truth. #f ones truth is corru(ted they will view external knowledge as a necessity to understand what they lack to see. ;ccording to Milton

..you have to know what so!ething !eans before you see itB and then when you see it the !eaning you already know it to have will be (ers(icuous for you without con"ectures collections evidence gathering

narrow scrutinies inquests trials !ethods or tests. ;nd conversely if you don't already know what so!ething !eans its !eaning when you see it will be hidden fro! you)./*.

1ne who has to resort to using extended rhetoric such as %atan in 0ook 1ne to convince the!selves or others of the truth is si!(ly co!(ensating for their lack of understanding of what the truth is. &urther!ore one who has to resort to excessive evidence gathering and tests such as 3alileo is also atoning for their lack of understanding of the internal truth. =owever if rhetoric is used as a tool as by Milton in Paradise Lost and scientific discoveries are !ade within the sco(e of an internal truth this knowledge is thought to be beneficial. The ulti!ate !essage Milton exhibits in Paradise Lost regarding knowledge is '#t was 3od who directed the !ind towards truth and who set the divine light of reason in !an...it was 3od who wrote Paradise Lost who was the (ower behind Miltons !use-)0lessington 9*. 0ook 1ne of Miltons Paradise Lost exe!(lifies Miltons (ers(ective on the idea of truth and knowledge. #t illustrates how knowledge can be both beneficial and detri!ental to ones internal truth. #n addition the idea of (reconceived knowledge is also attributed as being a !eans for which knowledge is beneficial or detri!ental. The way Milton defines knowledge and truth is often overlooked by !any readers who lose the!selves in the rhetoric tra(s however u(on understanding truth through a $alvinist lens a whole new (ers(ective is (resented. Perha(s the greatest as(ect about Milton's work Paradise Lost is the vast variety of inter(retations one can generate fro! !ere lines. ;lthough a difficult read Milton offers a !a( of understanding to those who have the ca(acity or desire to understand. ;nd with this !a( the treasure of truth is uncovered.