Paradise Lost in Review

Here's to our last blog post!!

Of course, the one time we read two "chapters" of a book, its the one book that I want to read in it's entirety.

I think Paradise Lost was my biggest in class reading success thus far this semester. Granted, that first sentence threw us all for a loop (especially when Dr. MB drew the sentence out... Like, whaaaaat?!) But, this is the first book that we've read this semester where I wanted to keep reading and reading until there wasn't anything left to read out of this thing!

PL was right up my alley in terms of content. With Beowulf, I was interested in the back story; what the author DIDN'T tell us rather than what they did. Beowulf awakened my imagination with "What if..." questions. I wanted to know everything about Grendel and his mommy dearest. I was convinced (and still am) that Grendel's story was bigger than what we were able to experience in the poem of Beowulf. PL was exactly the same! We were able to take a glimpse into something that no one could possibly even fathom (except for Milton, of course!)

I mean, sure, Grendel COULD have had a bigger back story than originally thought. Maybe. But to take on what happened to make Satan and his followers fall from Heaven? That's a tall order and I was digging it the whole time! PL really made me think about what the Bible doesn't say and what was left out that we won't ever knew to begin with.

I have always been a huge religion buff. I love learning about different theories regarding Heaven, Hell, Satan, angels, demons, devils EVERYTHING! So this book was perfect for me. Everything from Satan's push out of Heaven to meeting Sin and Death was so friggin' awesome. Because, honestly, no one ever really thinks of this stuff until someone brings it up in some way. We wouldn't have thought about Satan, Sin, Death, "demonocracy" <-- thanks Brendan, if it weren't for Paradise Lost. This book made me scratch my head with questions in the best way possible.

It's just an interesting concept that feeds my brain. I have all these questions and no answers and I want to know! Even just getting someone's interpretation or general idea about these things is so cool, to me. I'm starting to understand how Dr. Faustus felt. Now, I wouldn't go as far as to make a deal with Satan to get these answers but I'd come pretty close!

It's been fun socializing and discussing with everyone about what we have read this semester!

"Fools that will laugh on earth, most weep in hell"

That "Faustus is gone to hell" (5.2.92) is really not a shocker. He repeatedly chose earthly gain over eternal pleasure, and ignored the Good Angel's urges for him to repent. That's the point I'd like to stress: he made a choice. Mephostophilis was upfront about hell - he didn't sugarcoat it! I don't think Faustus really believed that he couldn't repent or that it was too late to do so - I think he was "in denial", so-to-speak, because he desired those earthly possessions. Perhaps he really thought it was too late there at the end, but I have trouble believing that.

The reason I find it difficult to believe that Faustus truly didn't think that he could repent and be saved is that everyone else seems to know that he can do this! The Good Angel repeatedly tells him he can be saved, and even the scholars in Act 5 tell him he can repent. Lucifer and Mephostophilis tell him he can't be saved because they know he can be - think about it: did we expect Lucifer to pat Faustus on the head and say, "There, there. You can totally repent and be fine"? Of course we didn't. Lucifer and Mephostophilis act just as we'd expect them to (Duh, Faustus! They're playing you, fool).

We make choices everyday, and those choices have effects (I don't want to say "consequences" because I think that tends to have a negative connotation, and choices can have a good effect just as much as a bad effect). Faustus chose to make a deal with the devil. I repeat, Faustus chose to make a deal with the devil - for vanity. He knew God would frown upon this, and he knew he could chose not to make a deal with Lucifer, but he made that choice. Just as Lucifer chose to turn against God, so too did Faustus, and to hell he goes!

How would this play be different if Faustus had repented? Well, if he had repented or never signed the deal with Lucifer, then we wouldn't have a play. But, if he had repented in Act 5? It seems significant that Marlowe chose for Faustus not to repent even at the end.

Why did Christopher Marlowe write this play? Did he expect us to pity Faustus, to empathize with him? Did he want to stress the choice with which Faustus was presented? Was he interested in what such a person as Faustus would do in this situation?