6 - Culture and anarchy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 September 2009
Summary
There were to be five great proofs of the existence of chaos, of which the first was the absence of God. The other four could surely be located. The work of definition and explication could, if done nicely enough, occupy the angels forever, as the contrary work has occupied human theologians. But there is not much enthusiasm for chaos among the angels.
Donald BarthelmeIn light of Milton scholars' penchant for the angelic perspective, it should not surprise us that we share the lack of enthusiasm for chaos that Barthelme attributes to the angels. When we look closely enough into Paradise Lost, however, whether the subject be Eve, gold, gender, astronomy, alchemy, or medicine, we find instability and excess; we find incoherence and undecidability. We find chaos. Little has been written on the subject, however, even though the epic, as Robert Adams has observed, “does make it necessary for us to look at Chaos, or think of Chaos, again and again.” In the last chapter, we saw that an uncertain Adam worries that there is something excessive about Eve, or lacking within him. His confusion and the association of Eve with various kinds of generation, both natural and artificial, can be construed as the basis for discomforting questions about the theodicy. Despite suspicions raised by the analogy between Eve and Pandora, I will argue that the problematic of incoherence and excess derives from the influence of chaos and applies not only to Eve but is pervasive in Milton's cosmos, an expression of the nature of things – and therefore of God himself – rather than evidence of a divine plot to ensnare humanity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Milton UnboundControversy and Reinterpretation, pp. 118 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996