2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)

ENGL 2322: Survey of British Literature I (Honors Contract
Project). In this research paper, Kayleigh Overman explores
the role of free will in Milton’s, Paradise Lost in an attempt
to arrive at the answer to the question, “Who is the real
hero in Milton’s Paradise Lost” In her introduction, she
summarizes the different positions of literary critics engaged
in the current debate about who the real hero of Paradise
Lost is and announces that the answer to the question can
only truly be found by determining whom the antagonist or
‘villain’ is. Her unexpected conclusion, which she presents
at then end of her Introduction in her thesis, is that Free
will is both hero and villain in the piece, thus the ‘paradox’
mentioned in her paper’s title. In the rest of the paper,
Kayleigh provides coherent and well-organized evidence
from the work to support her thesis as she presents one
major character after another and shows how each one
exercises “free will” in his or her actions, the consequences
of which form the bulk of the ‘action’ described in the poem.
Kayleigh’s writing is clear and concise, and her argument
is coherent and well supported with textual examples
and details. Furthermore, she smoothly and ‘seamlessly’
integrates her literary sources and quotations with her own
ideas and language so that the ideas flow naturally and
coherently from one to the next. This is the greatest strength
of her paper, coupled with her rather insightful and articulate
analysis of her subject.
Kayleigh won First Place for her presentation of this paper at
the Spring 2008 Honors Day Conference.
Martina Kusi-Mensah
V o l u m e I V : F a l l 2 0 0 8
R e s e a r c h P a p e r
The Glorious
Paradox: The Role
of Free Will in
Milton’s Paradise
Lost
by Kayleigh
Overman
There has been much controversy, fierce debate, and literary
theorizing about who is the real hero of Paradise Lost. However, one
cannot fully answer this question without first determining, who is the
villain. Is it Satan who defies the good Creator of the universe and
tempts the first happy couple Is it Eve whose weakness causes her
to sin and subsequently uses her feminine wiles to cause her adoring
husband to do the same Could it be God, the One who placed the
tree in the middle of Paradise The literary critic is tempted to point
fingers as the fallen pair did when confronted with their newfound
guilt; however, if one looks at the driving force behind all of the
events that led to mankind’s Fall, one can see that free will is the
guilty agent. Now, one might ask, is there any hope for mankind
With Paradise Lost, Milton intended to “Justify the ways of God
to man,” not pin the damaged state of man on his Creator. On the
contrary, Milton presents free will as a paradox, at once the cause of
man’s fall and the avenue of his redemption. The characters in this
work each exert free will, some with beneficial consequences, some
with detrimental. Satan, Adam, Eve, God, and Christ, the Son, are all
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