Paradise Lost and the origin of “evil”: Classical or Judeo-Christian?
Identifieur interne : 000216 ( Main/Exploration ); précédent : 000215; suivant : 000217Paradise Lost and the origin of “evil”: Classical or Judeo-Christian?
Auteurs : Neil Forsyth [Suisse]Source :
- International Journal of the Classical Tradition [ 1073-0508 ] ; 2000-03-01.
Abstract
Abstract: Milton’sParadise Lost is an epic opem about the origin of evil, mixing classical and Christian forms and sources. This essay first explores whether “evil” is primarily a classical or Judeo-Christian concept, and shows that it is a product of the religious syncretism of the Hellenistic period. Yet among the poets, we meet this new sense of malignance chiefly in Virgil, especially in such a figure as Allecto. The essay then shows how Milton’s language carefully discriminates among these origins, so that the imagery of Hell comes from Virgil, while the conception of evil remains principally Christian, both in the narrative and in philosophical reflection. But in the final section of the essay, we see that the being whose identity is the answer to the poem’s initiating epic question (‘Who first seduc’d them to that foul revolt?’), and whose actions drive the poem into motion and inaugurate its story—Stan—, is, like his daughter Sin, a complex and seductive blend of both—and this helps to explain some of the tension we feel in his presence. He is a much more complex answer than those required by the initiating questions in Homer or Virgil, and indeed it takes the whole poem to understand that answer.
Url:
DOI: 10.1007/BF02907069
Affiliations:
Links toward previous steps (curation, corpus...)
Le document en format XML
<record><TEI wicri:istexFullTextTei="biblStruct"><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title xml:lang="en">Paradise Lost and the origin of “evil”: Classical or Judeo-Christian?</title>
<author><name sortKey="Forsyth, Neil" sort="Forsyth, Neil" uniqKey="Forsyth N" first="Neil" last="Forsyth">Neil Forsyth</name>
</author>
</titleStmt>
<publicationStmt><idno type="wicri:source">ISTEX</idno>
<idno type="RBID">ISTEX:C0D025D9A9045625099E4E2B9B4168CDC6456B3C</idno>
<date when="2000" year="2000">2000</date>
<idno type="doi">10.1007/BF02907069</idno>
<idno type="url">https://api.istex.fr/document/C0D025D9A9045625099E4E2B9B4168CDC6456B3C/fulltext/pdf</idno>
<idno type="wicri:Area/Istex/Corpus">000766</idno>
<idno type="wicri:explorRef" wicri:stream="Istex" wicri:step="Corpus" wicri:corpus="ISTEX">000766</idno>
<idno type="wicri:Area/Main/Curation">000749</idno>
<idno type="wicri:Area/Main/Exploration">000216</idno>
<idno type="wicri:explorRef" wicri:stream="Main" wicri:step="Exploration">000216</idno>
</publicationStmt>
<sourceDesc><biblStruct><analytic><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Paradise Lost and the origin of “evil”: Classical or Judeo-Christian?</title>
<author><name sortKey="Forsyth, Neil" sort="Forsyth, Neil" uniqKey="Forsyth N" first="Neil" last="Forsyth">Neil Forsyth</name>
<affiliation wicri:level="4"><country xml:lang="fr">Suisse</country>
<wicri:regionArea>Faculté des Lettres, Section d’Anglais, Université de Lausanne, BFSH 2-5065, CH-1015, Lausanne-Dorigny</wicri:regionArea>
<orgName type="university">Université de Lausanne</orgName>
<placeName><settlement type="city">Lausanne</settlement>
<region nuts="3" type="region">Canton de Vaud</region>
</placeName>
</affiliation>
</author>
</analytic>
<monogr></monogr>
<series><title level="j">International Journal of the Classical Tradition</title>
<title level="j" type="abbrev">Int class trad</title>
<idno type="ISSN">1073-0508</idno>
<idno type="eISSN">1874-6292</idno>
<imprint><publisher>Springer Netherlands</publisher>
<pubPlace>Dordrecht</pubPlace>
<date type="published" when="2000-03-01">2000-03-01</date>
<biblScope unit="volume">6</biblScope>
<biblScope unit="issue">4</biblScope>
<biblScope unit="page" from="516">516</biblScope>
<biblScope unit="page" to="548">548</biblScope>
</imprint>
<idno type="ISSN">1073-0508</idno>
</series>
</biblStruct>
</sourceDesc>
<seriesStmt><idno type="ISSN">1073-0508</idno>
</seriesStmt>
</fileDesc>
<profileDesc><textClass></textClass>
<langUsage><language ident="en">en</language>
</langUsage>
</profileDesc>
</teiHeader>
<front><div type="abstract" xml:lang="en">Abstract: Milton’sParadise Lost is an epic opem about the origin of evil, mixing classical and Christian forms and sources. This essay first explores whether “evil” is primarily a classical or Judeo-Christian concept, and shows that it is a product of the religious syncretism of the Hellenistic period. Yet among the poets, we meet this new sense of malignance chiefly in Virgil, especially in such a figure as Allecto. The essay then shows how Milton’s language carefully discriminates among these origins, so that the imagery of Hell comes from Virgil, while the conception of evil remains principally Christian, both in the narrative and in philosophical reflection. But in the final section of the essay, we see that the being whose identity is the answer to the poem’s initiating epic question (‘Who first seduc’d them to that foul revolt?’), and whose actions drive the poem into motion and inaugurate its story—Stan—, is, like his daughter Sin, a complex and seductive blend of both—and this helps to explain some of the tension we feel in his presence. He is a much more complex answer than those required by the initiating questions in Homer or Virgil, and indeed it takes the whole poem to understand that answer.</div>
</front>
</TEI>
<affiliations><list><country><li>Suisse</li>
</country>
<region><li>Canton de Vaud</li>
</region>
<settlement><li>Lausanne</li>
</settlement>
<orgName><li>Université de Lausanne</li>
</orgName>
</list>
<tree><country name="Suisse"><region name="Canton de Vaud"><name sortKey="Forsyth, Neil" sort="Forsyth, Neil" uniqKey="Forsyth N" first="Neil" last="Forsyth">Neil Forsyth</name>
</region>
</country>
</tree>
</affiliations>
</record>
Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
EXPLOR_STEP=$WICRI_ROOT/Wicri/Musique/explor/DiesIraeV1/Data/Main/Exploration
HfdSelect -h $EXPLOR_STEP/biblio.hfd -nk 000216 | SxmlIndent | more
Ou
HfdSelect -h $EXPLOR_AREA/Data/Main/Exploration/biblio.hfd -nk 000216 | SxmlIndent | more
Pour mettre un lien sur cette page dans le réseau Wicri
{{Explor lien |wiki= Wicri/Musique |area= DiesIraeV1 |flux= Main |étape= Exploration |type= RBID |clé= ISTEX:C0D025D9A9045625099E4E2B9B4168CDC6456B3C |texte= Paradise Lost and the origin of “evil”: Classical or Judeo-Christian? }}
This area was generated with Dilib version V0.6.33. |