현대적 자아의 탄생: 『실낙원』에 그려진 노동을 중심으로

Abstract

In the Early Modern Era, fundamental changes in the public and private lives were occurring in England. These changes of the sex roles, the idea of work ethics, and the relations between sexes can be seen in Milton's Paradise Lost. We can also find the sexual division of labor, the birth of the modern individual and the relation between the individual and nature in Milton's text. Critics have found different significance in the gardening work of Adam and Eve. Labor in Eden makes their lives pleasant and also declares their dignity. Work is just as central as love and sexuality to Milton's conception of humanity. The Protestant work ethic and the birth of the modern individual are well described in both gardening labor and the separation scene in Paradise Lost. Milton's conception of creation is dynamic and open-ended. As nature in the Garden grows "Luxurious by restraint", Eve argues that Adam and she should work separately because their companionship prevents them from working efficiently. Eve's arguments in the separation scene are similar to those put forth in Areopagitica. She uses the same argument as Areopagitica to demonstrate that temptation itself does not taint, and that they should not fear it. Milton uses the disputation in the separation scene to show us not Eve's weakness, but her strength. Even with many controversies among critics, Milton seems to demonstrate that she can freely know, will, and maintain a stance she defines independently. After the Fall, Adam and Eve are born with a new subjectivity having the knowledge of Good and Evil, and this means the birth of the modern individual having 'paradise within' and acting according to their conscience before God.