Epic and Tragic Structure in Paradise Lost

Résumé du livre

"Paradise Lost is a poem of multiple structures, In the view if the Milton scholar John M. Steadman, these complex patterns are subsidiary to the more basic design: the complementary unity conferred by the plot itself. Steadman is concerned primarily with the plot as 'idea' or formal cause of the epic poem. In this illuminating study he considers the epic and tragic structure of Paradise Lost and examines three major elements of Aristotelian plot-reversal, recognition, and 'scene of suffering'- against the background of Renaissance poetic theory. In all three of his major poems Milton endeavored to arouse 'passion or admiration' through the same dual means-external and internal peripetias. But, as Steadman shows, the relation between these reversals of thought and event is sometimes significantly different from the usual relationship between plot and thought in Renaissance epic and tragedy. Milton substituted spiritual for physical combat, and moral crisis for the trial of arms; then, following the structural implications of their logical conclusion, he placed the temptation ordeal firmly in the central position his plot. Steadman shows that the major reversal in Milton's epic plot thus tended to coincide with the major reversal in thought. The incidents in the plot were organized in such a way as to lead directly to the crucial scene of dialectical combat and moral decision. As it was for Aristotle, plot or fable remained the first essential-the 'life and soul' of the poem- but Milton consciously reorganized the epic plot in such a way as to give maximum emphasis to thought and character. Steadman's emphasis on the primacy of plot structure in Paradise Lost in no way compromised the value of other structural approaches. His book serves as a complement and, in some cases, as a necessary corrective to other Milton's poetry and the critical theory of the Renaissance make this book a definitive work on the subject, indispensable to students and scholars alike."- John M. Steadman.