Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Group Draft

The declaration of Protestantism and the break from the Roman Catholic Church by Henry VIII of England led to a strong tie between the nation and its religion. Under the reign of Elizabeth, protestantism became even more associated with England, and Roman Catholic countries, especially Spain, emerged as national enemies. In order to further dissolve ties with Catholicism, legends and rumors regarding Catholic cruelty were spread through propaganda in England. This continuation of propaganda and religious tension continued throughout the British people after Elizabeth's reign, while under James I and Charles I reign, the attempt by both monarchs to settle religious hatred were unacceptable in the eyes of Parliament and England. Charles passed many reform bills that gave true tolerance to Catholics, and Milton, very involved with the politics of Britain, strongly opposed these reforms.
After being fed up with a ruler who seemed to favor to Catholics, Oliver Cromwell, soon to be England's new dictator, began to challenge Charles. After a bloody revolution that followed between the Cavaliers (those who supported King Charles) and the Roundheads (those who supported Cromwell) and ended with the beheading of Charles I in 1649, Cromwell was put into power. It is here when Milton works right underneath Oliver Cromwell and writes works of literature praising Cromwell. Soon after the war, Cromwell dissolved Parliament, naming himself "Lord Protector," and ultimately declaring himself a dictator and tyrant. Though Cromwell claimed religious tolerance, he continually passed bills limiting Catholicism and promoted intolerance towards Catholicism. Cromwell ruled through fear and hypocrisy, while wielding almost unlimited power in England until he died in 1658, where England decides to put Charles II on the throne to restore the monarchy. While Milton worked for Cromwell, he was forced into hiding for fear of his life in 1659 after the death of Cromwell. In 1674, Milton published his epic poem, Paradise Lost in a twelve book series.
It can be said that Oliver Cromwell was one of the most important men in
the revolution during the life of John Milton. Cromwell was the
self-proclaimed dictator of England immediately following the civil war
and the overthrow of Charles I. Cromwell seemed to be very much like
Charles I as he claimed to practice religious tolerance. This was evident
as Cromwell offered protection for the Jews expelled from Spain during
the Inquisition yet his tolerance only went so far and according to
George Drake, Cromwell’s so called forbearance, “meant that the Roman
Catholics, the Anglicans and sometimes the Presbyterians were excluded
from the official tolerance”1. In many ways one can say that Oliver
Cromwell, someone with whom Milton worked closely with, may have had an
influence on Milton’s character of Satan. At the beginning of the civil
war Oliver Cromwell was the leader of Parliament. Yet Cromwell slowly
goes from being a hero and leading the fallen angels from Heaven to Hell
to becoming a manipulative self-proclaimed dictator. This was very
similar to Satan, as he also led a rebellious group to victory and then
took advantage of his status by promoting himself to a dictator status.
Cromwell also manipulated people through his words, just like Satan did.
Many times Oliver Cromwell would justify his attacks on other countries
and the promotion of his own beliefs with his religious beliefs through
his belief in God. It was said that Oliver Cromwell used his faith,
“against fellow Puritans, the Scots, to show them that God had thrown his
weight behind the Independent rather than the Presbyterian cause” 2.
However later in Cromwell’s career as dictator of England he was accused
of hypocrisy after he announced that he denied every allowing God to
guide him in his decisions regarding the country.3 This again is very
similar to Satan, as Milton describes him to be in the poem, “Paradise
Lost” especially in book two when Satan tells all the other demons in
Pandemonium about the burden it will be to be the leader in hell but he
will make that sacrifice for them when in reality Satan just wants to be
in control of their fates. Satan here uses his words to mask his true
intentions just as Cromwell used his religious beliefs as a “smokescreen”
for his political agenda. 4 In many ways we can see parallels between
Oliver Cromwell, a leader in the revolution as well as some Milton worked
closely with and Satan, the leader of hell whom Milton created.

Though one would expect Oliver Cromwell to have a great deal in common with Satan, so does another major player in the English revolution. King Charles I, according to Joan Bennett’s article, God, Satan, and King Charles: Royal Portraits, shares many commonalities with the leader of the underworld. Both characters are said to be tyrannical, and want to eliminate those who stand in their way. Charles claims to have divine power to the throne, and Satan’s ambitions led him at an attempt to usurp God. Both Satan and Charles strive for absolute power. Even though he was among the strongest of the angels, Satan still wants more. They both want complete control and enormous amounts of power, and would rather pursue those achievements than anything else. “In the portraits of both Charles and Satan, we may discover behind the false idea of a governor a corrupted idea of heroism: The power gotten by such a hero, who seeks personal glory rather than service to God, is employed, once it has been gained, in a wrong sort of rule over others” (Bennett, 444). That “wrong sort of rule” takes place in Charles’s case, where he wants more tax money to try and gain Scotland. He only cares about the resources he can use. Satan, comparatively, convinces a great deal of angels to follow him to go against God. After they fail, he still has the angels eating out of the palm of his hand, but he does not give any regard to anyone else’s opinions or ideas. Their use of rhetoric becomes a great influence when both people use it to manipulate those around him. When they are both confronted with a challenge or judgment, Charles and Satan both fall back onto contemplation and showing signs of regret. Whether this sign of contemplation is genuine or not, is another matter. Neither Charles or Satan really care much about the laws that are in place, and while they also both claim to be abdicators of freedom, it fails to help anyone who follows them. Satan promises freedom from God, yet they are still enslaved under him. Charles, again, will say anything he can to get more money for his Kingdom. “Satan and Charles, in Milton’s two portraits of the tyrant, enslave their followers and themselves in a ‘miste cloud’ of rhetoric that substitutes ‘prerogative’ for the sunlight of God’s law, the only basis for a portrait of genuine royalty” (Bennett, 456). For this major player in the revolution, Charles has more in common with Satan than one would first see.
Milton can be related to Satan as well, in a few parts of his life. Milton seems to think of himself as better than everyone else. He invoked the help of the Holy Spirit to help him write Paradise Lost, and almost seemed to be comparing himself to God. “But we might usefully turn to a statement by Denis Saurat, the first critic to explore the radical nature of Milton’s materialism, for a clear-sighted, if simplistic, mapping of this path: ‘Milton was driven to pantheism by his pride and chastity: his body was holy in his eyes; his body will be of the substance of God; matter will be of the substance of God’” (page 103). In this quote, it becomes apparent that Milton finds himself to be better than others, much like Satan did. Milton compares himself to the “substance of God” and considers himself divine. These exact characteristics were what caused Satan to eventually fall.
Milton also changed his stance suddenly, and went from supporting Oliver Cromwell to backing Parliament, which Cromwell eventually disbanded. After writing a pamphlet called Defense of the English People, Milton allegedly backed away from his stance and his faith. “We have seen the generally liberal impulses behind the idealist philosophy of popular sovereignty marking Milton’s Defense. Not long after its publication, however, Milton edged away from the faith, expressed (however haltingly) in his treatises of the Vitalist Movement, that God had invested the power of self-determination in the “people.” He began instead to forward a more authoritarian vision of a state governed not by the people but by a parliament and, finally, by an even more select and limited council of the nation’s ablest and most rational citizens” (page 110). Here, it is shown that Milton wanted to get rid of the government that was present, just like Satan did, and was even willing to use military force against the “unruly majority” that most likely would have rebelled.

Bennett, Joan S. "God, Satan, and King Charles: Royal Portraits." JSTOR. 1977. 1 Oct. 2008 .

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