Fw: [Milton-L] Reading Samson Agonistes

[Carol Barton]

Question of perspective, Alan: "God's will" as the ancient Greeks and 
Hebrews understood it is not how we see God's will today--and I think that 
one of the reasons that we find what's going on in Gaza--in Samson's time, 
in our time, and in every era in between, it seems--so repugnant is that 
we're aware that (in effect) we have found the enemy, and he is us (Walt 
Kelly's Pogo, for those of you too young to recognize the lift). For all of 
our "Christian" (as in "emulating Christ") ideals, we mortals tend to be a 
self-justifying bunch of savages, left to our own devices. One of the most 
unforgivable sins of anyone who claims to be righteous and holy (which is 
not the same as being "religious," alas) is to kill in the name of the Lord 
. . . but we go on smiting our enemies again and again, under the delusion 
(or excuse) that we're "doing God's work"--whether we're exterminating 
dissenters in the Inquisition, or wiping out whole populations of "infidels" 
with our war machines.

Especially because of his experiences as a Parliamentarian, I think part of 
Milton's quest in the "trilogy" was very personal--an attempt to understand 
how even someone who believes passionately in doing what is right and good 
and just can be misled--which is 99% "can mislead himself"--into following 
the wrong star. We all know (only too well, right now, I'm afraid) people 
who knowingly, consciously, deliberately take action they have no doubt is 
morally wrong, then justify it with some transparent self-righteous alibi. 
(Can you say, "Weapons of mass destruction"?) But what about those who, like 
Milton, believe with all their hearts that they're following only the 
highest ideals--and get it wrong, anyway? That's where Fish's paradigm is 
most powerfully applied: Jesus sees through Satan's attempts to mislead him 
into self-seduction in PR, but Satan doesn't recognize Sin as the product of 
his own delusion in PL, and Eve can't see how the Serpent's sophistry is 
leading her to mislead herself. Adam sins consciously, even stupidly, 
putting his own will (and passion) before the duty he owes his 
Maker--knowing that he's doing wrong, then trying to justify it, both before 
and after the fact. I've said this before, but one of the observations my 
undergraduate Milton professor, John Potter, made many years ago that has 
stuck with me ever since is that the Serpent *has no hands*--he can't force 
you to do anything you don't already want to do, or to go anywhere you 
weren't already planning to go.

Eichmann was "only following orders," too. (His own.)

You'd think that the Hatfields would tire of slaughtering the McCoys (and 
vice versa) after centuries and centuries of bloodshed, but it doesn't 
happen. The trouble with Talion law is that once the cycle is in process, it 
never ends.

Best to all,

Carol Barton