Miltons Passage :: Milton History Essays

Milton's Passage Works Cited Missing In this passage Milton surveys the battlefield after the inconclusive first day of fighting between the rebellious third of the angels and the equally-sized contingent God has sent to face them. The purpose is to portray the disarray and destruction caused by the battle, especially on the side of the fallen, and to contrast that chaos and baseness with the dignity and honor of the champions who defeat them. Little has been accomplished by the fighting, except to demonstrate the difference between the warriors on the two sides. Neither side is defeated, but the side of good has displayed its superiority in valor and glory, and the evil have shown themselves to be the lesser precisely because of their moral inferiority. Though they have fought to a draw, only the angels do so honorably, holding their ground as we watch the Satanic Host fly in a state of fear and panic. Milton seems to evoke a parallel with two of the most famous battles in history, as presented by the father of his tory, Herodotus: the Spartan duels with the vast Persian force of the Great King Xerxes. In the first battle, at Thermopylae, the Spartans stood their ground faithfully, and through obedience and discipline shamed their (in Herodotus' portrayal) morally inferior foe by forcing them to pay an outrageous price for victory. In the second, at Plataea, the Spartans this time defeat their more numerous foe, again due to their inherent superiority, which is ascribed, ultimately, to their virtue. If Milton's scene is imagined cinematically, the view begins low, looking down to see "all the ground" where the detritus lay "strown," "in "heap[s]," and "overturn'd" (388-90), and generally tipped over and fallen down in a catalogue of ways. The rebel angels' fallen condition is made literal by the work of the loyal warriors, whom we see in exactly the opposite condition, in spite of having fought just as hard and taken the same beating. We look up from the jumbled mass to see the angels in their state of "high advantages" (401), seeming to fly in formation unbroken by the onslaught, unperturbed by their wounds. Milton presents a dual image of battle lines shifting and being wrenched out of shape in parallel with the picture of bodies being crushed and mangled. Following his announcement that the devils' "Mightiest quell'd", we are shown that the "battle swerv'd" and we see "inroad[s] gor'd" into the broken battle formations and the broken bodies of the fighters (386-87). Milton's Passage :: Milton History Essays Milton's Passage Works Cited Missing In this passage Milton surveys the battlefield after the inconclusive first day of fighting between the rebellious third of the angels and the equally-sized contingent God has sent to face them. The purpose is to portray the disarray and destruction caused by the battle, especially on the side of the fallen, and to contrast that chaos and baseness with the dignity and honor of the champions who defeat them. Little has been accomplished by the fighting, except to demonstrate the difference between the warriors on the two sides. Neither side is defeated, but the side of good has displayed its superiority in valor and glory, and the evil have shown themselves to be the lesser precisely because of their moral inferiority. Though they have fought to a draw, only the angels do so honorably, holding their ground as we watch the Satanic Host fly in a state of fear and panic. Milton seems to evoke a parallel with two of the most famous battles in history, as presented by the father of his tory, Herodotus: the Spartan duels with the vast Persian force of the Great King Xerxes. In the first battle, at Thermopylae, the Spartans stood their ground faithfully, and through obedience and discipline shamed their (in Herodotus' portrayal) morally inferior foe by forcing them to pay an outrageous price for victory. In the second, at Plataea, the Spartans this time defeat their more numerous foe, again due to their inherent superiority, which is ascribed, ultimately, to their virtue. If Milton's scene is imagined cinematically, the view begins low, looking down to see "all the ground" where the detritus lay "strown," "in "heap[s]," and "overturn'd" (388-90), and generally tipped over and fallen down in a catalogue of ways. The rebel angels' fallen condition is made literal by the work of the loyal warriors, whom we see in exactly the opposite condition, in spite of having fought just as hard and taken the same beating. We look up from the jumbled mass to see the angels in their state of "high advantages" (401), seeming to fly in formation unbroken by the onslaught, unperturbed by their wounds. Milton presents a dual image of battle lines shifting and being wrenched out of shape in parallel with the picture of bodies being crushed and mangled. Following his announcement that the devils' "Mightiest quell'd", we are shown that the "battle swerv'd" and we see "inroad[s] gor'd" into the broken battle formations and the broken bodies of the fighters (386-87).