“나의 모험적인 노래”: 밀턴의 야망과 『실낙원』 캐릭터들의 교만

Abstract

This is a study on Milton's Paradise Lost with a focus on what Milton calls, “my advent'rous Song,” which implies Milton's audacious and dangerous desire to see things invisible and achieve his literary immortality. This desire can be compared to Satan's ambition to rival God, Adam's desire to know more, and Eve's pride to be like God. Though there are similarities between Milton and others in their pursuit of knowledge and position above their state, Milton is different from them in that his invocation or prayer for his epic reveals not only his pride, but also his humbleness, both of which are intermingled in the face of one of the greatest and the most difficult tasks in literary history. In his fallen state, Milton skillfully traces the process of Satan, Adam, and Eve's degradation, and justifies his own desire as a proper means of knowing God aright as stated in his end of learning. In the course of writing, Milton's imagination works as a kind of answer to his invocation; and it becomes knowledge inspired and approved by his Muse or the Holy Spirit.