『실낙원』의 "I am"

Abstract

In Paradise Lost Milton does not allow Christ to say the phrase “I am.” I believe that this was done deliberately by Milton because of his beliefs concerning Christ which are stated in “De filio” of De Doctrina Christiana, and because of his knowledge of the Hebrew language which enabled him to understand the meaning of the phrase “I am” as it is used in the Old Testament by its writers when recording God in the first person as saying “I am that I am” to identify himself. Milton’s beliefs about Christ are well stated in the “De filio”: Christ is not God, nor is he co-essential, coeval or of the same numerical essence as God. The basis for Milton’s argument of Christ’s subjection to and difference from God rests in scriptures: John 10:29, 17:3, for examples. Since Jesus uses “I am” several times in the New Testament, Milton could have let the Son use “I am” in his epic. Especially in John 8:58 (“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am”) Jesus uses “I am” to identify himself as God. This phrase is very crucial to the trinitarianism debate, but in “De filio” there is no mention about this important Bible clause: Milton purposely avoids mentioning it. I think that then it is natural for Milton not to permit Christ use “I am.”I also think that there are some places in the epic where Milton could have used “I am” for Christ, but he did not: “. . . where with mee / All my redeem’d may dwell in joy and bliss, / Made one with me as I with thee am one” (11.42-44), as an example. 3.245-6 could be another example for this. God himself in Paradise Lost uses “I am.” In 6.680ff, God talks to the Son mentioning the difference between them, and the phrase “I am” indicates God: “Effulgence of my Glory, Son belov’d, / Son in whose face invisible is beheld / Visibly, what by Deity I am, / And in whose hand what by Decree I do, / Second Omnipotence . . .” In “De filio” Milton, referring to Colossians 1:15 and John 5:19, points out his anti-trinitarianism and almost repeats his view here in the epic. 7.163-69, 8.16-18 could be other evidences for my claim.