First Blog Revisited!!

In my first blog post I compared two different interpretation of Hell and how they compared to the poem "Paradise Lost". To reference my blog:

I first realized that it seems as though Milton has a clear picture in his mind of what hell is. He often describes it throughout the poem as a "burning mark" (1.296), a convex of fire (2.433), and a "fiery gulf" (1.50). There is not a point in which Milton stresses the greatness of the Hell and its positive attributes. The hell created in "Paradise Lost" is one that no one could possibly want to have to deal with. The notion that hell is a fiery pit filled with suffering and misery is one that has held true for centuries. It was this that made me wonder how people other than Milton at the same time had viewed Hell and how that compares to a different interpretation.

In my initial blog I referenced two videos found on youtube. However after going back and reviewing them, I have realized that they are not accredable sources. They hold no scholarly value seeing as how one is a comedic skit and the other a film created by a youtube user who is for as far as we know is an unreliable provider of facts. Therefore I decided to go and look for new interpretations.

The first one that I found was a painting done in the 16th century. To view it go to: then select the painting by Albrecht Dürer entitled "Suffering of Hell"

This painting is accurately titled, "Sufferings of Hell". It is even clear immediately to notice the tribulations and agony that the habitants of Hell are enduring. There are demons being beaten by others as we see in the lower right hand corner. We can see painful expressions on the fallen angels faces, flames from the "convex of fire" (2.433), and some mutant animals flying around. For example the creature that is flying at the top of the painting. He is obviously inflicting pain on another however we see one of the affects of Hell was mutation. This was also apparent later in the poem as Satan returns to hell after being on Earth in the garden with Adam and Eve and he is met by the demons. It is here that instead of receiving the cheers that he anticipates, he is met by hissing. It is not that the demons do not wish to cheer for him but they have been reduced to just making hissing noises. (Milton,John. "Paradise Lost", 10.504-09).

The next painting that I found was done in the twentieth century by John Grosz called "Pandemonium". A link to this picture is:

I thought this painting was a great one to reference because it was a more modern image of how people viewed hell and yet it still held true to Milton's original standards of hell. As I looked at the drawings I realized that there were many meanings to this drawing. I have noticed people attacking one another, strangling each other, stealing, and raping and exploiting the women. This is without a doubt what seems to be a hellish terror. However, I have noticed that there are school buses and churches and many other things that one would not expect to find in hell but rather on earth. It is this that made me question whether or not this was supposed to reflect an Earth that has turned into hell. This I think is an interesting viewpoint on hell. There are many similarities between the hell that Milton created in his poem "Paradise Lost", the hell created in the painting by Dürer, and the one that Grosz created on Earth.

I wonder if it is possible that Grosz has used a technique that Milton himself used. Here in this drawing, Grosz used his surroundings as a model for his drawing. It seems that he is commenting on the dissatisfaction that he has for the environment around him through his drawing. This is something that is similar to the idea that Milton has used the political struggle that he faced in his every day life with Charles I and Oliver Cromwell. I think this is strengthened by the idea raised earlier in the poem "Paradise Lost" regarding the notion that one can make a hell out of heaven or a heaven out of hell. I think that people have the ability to create a hell from whatever is around them however it has seemed that throughout time, the idea of just what exactly hell is has remained constant.