03.01.2015 Views

2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)

2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)

2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

E n g l i s h<br />

Free will is an interesting paradox in Milton’s Paradise Lost. At <strong>the</strong><br />

same time, free will is <strong>the</strong> cause of man’s fall since through <strong>the</strong> abuse<br />

of free will, Satan tempted Adam and Eve and <strong>the</strong> two succumbed<br />

to this temptation, but free will also brings grace and deliverance.<br />

God and Christ give man free will and <strong>the</strong>n through Their own free<br />

will devise a way for man to be reunited with God, and man, in turn,<br />

responds to <strong>the</strong> “prevenient grace” given by God and Christ to man,<br />

and repentance and regeneration follow. Milton presents free will as<br />

often in conflict with itself, at once <strong>the</strong> means of damnation and <strong>the</strong><br />

road to healing, at <strong>the</strong> same time a stumbling block and a steppingstone.<br />

It is through free will that man falls, but it is through grace<br />

provided by free will that man is saved. While free will may be a<br />

paradox, it is a glorious one, allowing for all of <strong>the</strong> pain, sorrow, and<br />

ultimately, and paradoxically, joy in <strong>the</strong> lives of men.<br />

Works Cited<br />

Elledge, John. “God.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />

Elledge, John. “The Fortunate Fall.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge.<br />

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />

Fish, Stanley Eugene. Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost.<br />

Berkeley: University of California Press. 1971.<br />

Frye, Northrop. “The Story of All Things.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott<br />

Elledge. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />

Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th edition. New<br />

York. London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Footnote. 2021.<br />

Holy Bible, The King James Version. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2000.<br />

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen<br />

Greenblatt. 8th edition. New York. London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.<br />

Nicholson, Marjorie Hope. A Reader’s Guide to John Milton. New York: Syracuse University Press. 1963.<br />

Samuel, Irene. “The Dialogue in Heaven.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott<br />

Elledge. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />

3 5<br />

W r i t i n g A c r o s s t h e C u r r i c u l u m

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!