For this assignment, I chose to make a painting illustrating the very end of Book 12 of Paradise Lost. I find Milton's wording of the last line to be quite interesting. Even though Adam and Eve have already departed from Eden, Milton writes "through Eden took their solitary way" (12.649), rather than 'from Eden'. To me, this suggests that despite having been cast out of God's version of paradise, Eve and Adam have not left paradise. They have changed as characters, and gained more knowledge, and thus their vision of paradise has shifted as well, and no longer wholly aligns with God's. To illustrate this, I painted a signpost with signs marked 'Eden' pointing in all directions to show that no matter which direction Adam and Eve go, and how they continue to develop as characters, they will be able to find some version of paradise. Additionally, I depicted Eve and Adam as being rather characterless conjoined black ink splotches as they walk "hand in hand" (12.648) to evoke a sense of uncertainty and to emphasize how relatively unformed they are as they embark on this new beginning. Really the only detail about them is the red apple Eve is carrying that serves as a reminder of their past, and also of the knowledge they now hold that has shaped them. I also left the forest pretty bare, as Milton writes that Adam and Eve "took their solitary way" (12.649), and I felt that a bare forest evoked a similar feeling of loneliness. Additionally, the future Eve and Adam are heading towards holds a great deal of uncertainty, and I felt this idea paired nicely with them heading towards a relatively featureless forest. Milton also references a "flaming brand" (12.643) and "fiery arms" (12.644) along the gate guarding Eden, and while I substituted this image for angel wings in the painting, I used a reddish color on the wings, almost as if there is a reflection of this hellish imagery on the backside of the wings
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My voice thou hast not eve’ heard, but hast hated,
Laced with anger, how hast I become So feared to thee? that thou art trembling, that Thou art beastly muttering? hast thou done that which Prosper gave thee charge thou mustn't do To whom thus Caliban sore beset repli'd. O Setebos! in evil strait this day I stand Before my cruel Judge, to accuse That Prosper in total Crime, or to accuse His vile daughter, that little wench who hath With her father, taken from my this land, I cannot conceal, and must expose to blame This villainous Prosper; whose magical prowess Thou favours him with, Subdues me Having exiled me from both my land and home, Forcing his tongue, upon me Despoil’d; and in a warranted fury, I deem’d Appropriate to force my tongue. For if I am to be transformed by Prosper, I find it for little Calibans, running ‘round, To carry on the tradition of Sycorax, And from my accursed hand she suspected no ill, And if not for that Prosper, whatever in itself, This island would not be scarcely populated; And he whom thou favours would fail. To whom the sovran Presence thus repli'd. Thy villainous beast, thou that has no sense, Baring thy despicable thoughts, Thou is weaker, not but equal, to that Prosper Thou did'st resigne thy virtue, and thy freedom Wherein I set them above thee, And for thee, whose imperfection farr excell'd Their’s in all real dignitie: Adornd She was indeed lovely to attract but thy disobey’d that Prosper And with the beastly nature, Unseemly to beare freedom, which was thy gift hadst thou now relinquished in thy self aright. Analysis: For this creative project, I chose option 5 combining the events in “Paradise Lost” with the characters from The Tempest. Specifically, I analyzed Lines 119-156 from Book 10, the scene where The Son confronts Adam for the first time after he ate the forbidden fruit. In this passage in “Paradise Lost”, The Son finds Adam, embarrassed from his own nudity, and asks him if he ate from the Forbidden tree. To which Adam responds by taking some blame, but deflecting most of the responsibility onto Eve. He attempts to justify his action by indicating that if such a beautiful, divine woman like Eve consumed the fruit, it would only be appropriate for him to do so. The Son responds by scorning Adam’s independence, reminding him that she is not his God and that his God in fact “set thee above her”. I attempted to perform a similar rendition of this passage, instead taking a look at Caliban and the God he believes in, “Setebos.” This conversation between the two characters takes place following Caliban’s attempt to rape Miranda, after which he is enslaved by Prospero. Caliban’s resentment towards Prospero’s attempted subjugation had been bubbling for some time as Prospero attempted to impart his language and culture onto Caliban, and Caliban in response attempted to rape Miranda, hoping to populate the islands with “little Calibans”. Ultimately, he failed in his task, but not before displaying some of the primitive behaviors he possessed. Caliban and Adam are both portrayed as very different characters although they have their faults. One is the first man, the other is depicted as having bestial qualities. One has a companion and a home of his own (in Paradise), the other is alone until subjugated by Propsero and Miranda. And yet both perform a sin, whether it be disobeying God’s orders or attempting rape, that leaves them homeless and almost powerless. The comparison between God and Setebos is rather different however. Our perception of Setebos is based on Caliban’s representation of him as a cruel God, one whose intentions are simply to bring upon suffering to Caliban while showing blatant favoritism towards Prospero. We never hear from him however, and thus it is impossible to truly tell his nature. On the other hand we have God, as he is displayed in "Paradise Lost." He is not particularly cruel or vengeful, but is relatively just and gives to his creations free will, thus absolving all responsibility from the actions that they perform. In this dialogue, which is based upon the exact same framework that the discussion between the Son and Adam occurred, Caliban explains his frustrations with Setebos and his preference for Prospero while trying to once again remove himself of any blame. Setebos responds with a short and derisive attack on Caliban - which fits Caliban’s (probably skewed) representation of him. too long, I have rested
my fate in my God’s good grace, and i think it is better to spend seventy years loving even if it means an eternity of debt i must repay. darling, maybe you can be my salvation. there is nothing i wouldn’t give for your earthly affection. no gift of god, no promise of heaven. memory and melody intertwine, much like space and stories, and i know that if leave you now i will be plagued by your absence. though the oxygen will eventually eat us both alive at least there will be some of it left when we’re gone. and i dare say someone will remember us, even in another time. because woman, in the metaphysical, time and space are irrelevant, indifferent - i am yours. Analysis: For this assignment, I decided to write a poem from Adam’s perspective when he makes the decision to fall with Eve. Though much of John Milton’s Paradise Lost is not kind to Eve – often casting her and her actions in a misogynistic and infantilizing light – there is space to romanticize Adam’s sacrifice in falling with Eve. Offered the chance to remain in Eden with another woman, Adam refuses, thinking that he won’t find love again that resembles what he has with Eve. This act is not the noblest that he could have committed, as he could have asked God to die in place of Eve and burden himself with her sins. But there is a certain drama in his request to fall with her, even though he knows his fate will be terrible, to be inseparable in both life and death. I decided to incorporate a version of Sappho’s famous quote “Let me tell you this: someone in some future time will think of us,” to separate this display of love Adam is showing toward Eve away from the Christian tradition. When many of us hear of Adam and Eve, we may be prone to think of their relationship strictly in terms of traditional biblical gender relationships, and in many ways, this is not an unfair assessment of their place in cultural discourse. However, Milton’s adaptation of biblical events lends it to a broader interpretation of their love as not strictly out of Godly duty – but one formed out of stubborn, genuine affection. There was not much hope to be had, entering the unexplored, terrifying wilderness of Earth. I think the desire for legacy is at the root of the human existence, and so I assigned Adam the hope that, if nothing else would come out of their tribulations, at least there was hope that one day they would be remembered. Passage I adapted from: “fairest of creation, last and best Of all God’s works, creature in whom excelled Whatever can to sight or thought be formed, Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost, Defaced, deflow’red, and now to death devote? …for with thee Certain my resolution is to die.” Dear Diary,
I simply cannot bear to be without her. I really shouldn’t have let her leave my sight when she wanted to go alone to tend the Garden, but she so forcefully insisted that we divide the work between us. What could I say? Though now, I face the consequences. To be alone like this, away from my beautiful Eve, is some kind of a death sentence. I cannot stand to be without her. God must have made us to be together. That must be true, for without me by her side, she could not resist the temptation to eat the apple, and without her,…well, I am a terrible mess. Tell me, is this love? I had this strong desire to keep her safe-- to protect her from the dangers of letting her wander through Eden alone-- even though she thought I was over-protective. I know she believes she can do everything by herself and that I don’t need to stand by her 24/7, but the truth is, neither of us can stand without the other. I had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to resist, though a small part of me wanted to give her some space. I regret it now. I don’t know what to do, but I know that she is the only Eve I want to be with. God could create a different Eve from my rib. He could mold her with my flesh and construct her with my bones, but our hearts, our souls, would never match. My heart will forever be with Eve, and hers with mine. These feelings must be love, for I cannot find another term to explain it. We support each other, and right now, I need to be with her. I must leave this world of paradise to be with her. I must. -Adam Analysis: In writing Adam’s diary entry, I wanted to encapsulate both the obvious and less obvious aspects of his character. I used the lead-up to Adam’s Fall as my starting point for his diary entry, specifically, the lines where Adam states, “How can I live without thee, how forgoe / Thy sweet Converse and Love so dearly joyn’d, / To live again in these wilde Woods forlorn? / Should God create another Eve, and I / Another Rib afford, yet loss of thee / Would never from my heart; no no, I feel / The Link of Nature draw me: Flesh of Flesh, / Bone of my Bone thou art, and from they State / Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe" (9.908-9.916). I found these lines particularly interesting for how they represent Adam’s feelings for Eve. I tried to translate this to Adam’s diary entry, focusing on his deep attachment to Eve on both an anatomical and soulful level. I also drew inspiration from earlier lines in Book 9 (lines 205 through 269), where Eve shows her love for work and desire to be independent while Adam argues that they should stay together to tend the Garden, revealing his value for love (and potentially his feeling of superiority over Eve). My piece takes fragments of what I gained from the interaction/argument between Adam and Eve and Adam’s deliberation over whether he should eat the apple, utilizing love as the glue which binds these together. Through this, I realized that Adam does seem to value love, specifically, romantic love, for if he didn’t, he probably would have been fine living in paradise and letting God create another Eve for him. I portrayed Adam as being less condescending towards Eve than what he may have seemed when he said, “The Wife, where danger or dishonour lurks, / Safest and seemliest by her Husband stairs, / Who guards her, or with her the worst endures" (267-269). Compared to Adam’s diary entry, where he claims to truly care about Eve’s safety and believes that neither of them can stand without the other, the lines I drew partial inspiration could be read as Adam stating that Eve isn’t sufficient to stand and that she needs Adam to be strong enough. Still, I attempted to portray the side of Adam which feels that Eve was more susceptible to Falling. I want to give readers room to interpret Adam’s comments in his diary entry as they see fit, but I feel that in my piece, the subtleties of Adam’s character are more apparent. For instance, while he does exhibit controlling qualities and instances of condescending statements in his interactions with Eve, he is also a character that loves Eve deeply (at a soulful level). He would do just about anything to stay with her. He also appears quite vulnerable in this diary entry, an aspect of his character that may not have been as clear in Paradise Lost but is more easily seen in his diary entry, where his thoughts would supposedly remain private. Here is the link to my video: https://youtu.be/qCkWlCt-2yE
Analysis: For this creative project, I chose Option 2 and performed lines 46-78 from Book 4 of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. I was most inspired by the lines, “Me miserable! Which way shall I fly / Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? / Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell” (Milton 4.73-75). I was particularly interested in exploring the depth of Satan’s self hatred and deprecation as he realizes that he has only himself to blame for the situation he is now in. Although he has often been seen as a character with great confidence, a spunkiness that makes him likable, Book 4 places the readers directly into his inner thoughts. There is such pain in his lines, “So burthensome, still paying, still to ow” (4.53) as Satan comes to grips with the errors he has made in his life. I wanted to show a transformation of his character through the performance of the lines, as well as display his volatile nature. To do so, I began the “monologue” quite sarcastically, almost bitterly as he speaks of God. When I speak line 53, there begins a shift in how his mocking tone turns to deep unhappiness and loathing towards himself, as he ponders how no other Angel fell but him. The rest of the performance is meant to increase in intensity, showing greater and greater resentment until Satan finds himself so trapped that he finds there is no place to escape or find closure. He realizes, with great defeat, that he could fall further and it is this fear that makes the “Hell I suffer seem a Heaven” (4.78). While Satan is considered to be a male figure, I thought it would be interesting to portray him as a female, with makeup, and large and heavy earrings. I wanted to show that if we consider Satan to be an encapsulation of pain and suffering, then there is no gender that can “accurately” portray it, so long as one is able to evoke a sense of sympathy and to display agony. Initially when I filmed, I was not wearing any makeup or any earrings but in looking back at the videos, I realized that I still looked too “good” so I shrouded my eyes out with black eyeshadow, messily applying it so that it went out even further than my eyelid and placed some on my cheekbones to hollow out my face. I was also going to apply black lipstick but then I decided that a bright red seemed more in character for Satan: while the eyes act as windows to the soul and as such, show the darkness within him, bright red lips portray a fake sense of confidence, as all the words that slip through his tongue reveal the complete opposite. In this interpretation, I was able to practice the lines several times to gain new insights into the original character, proving him to be multifaceted, with such a confusing and shell shocked mind that it was hard to navigate the performance of certain phrases. Throughout the lines, he travels from a sense of self reflection, to anger, to hatred, to a deep depression, and then to defeat. In this adaption, I believe I portrayed him in a more sympathetic light, hopefully portraying his torture yet accepting that it was he who has placed himself in this situation. While I lost the reflection of him deserving his situation because of what a horrible person he has become, I chose to focus solely on his inner thoughts rather than on the story as a whole: if we examine the situation from an objective point of view, it is quite easy to see Satan as a villain and one dimensional character who deserves his place in life; however, I was portraying him individually and as such, had to elicit the emotions I believe he would feel, the self pity and burden he carries. https://youtu.be/IdJ8Z68q8VA
“Satan and Eve” is a short orchestral work that highlights how Eve becomes a partial mirror of Satan prior to Adam’s fall in Paradise Lost. The music is based on 9.791-999. Satan and Eve each have their own musical motifs. The similarity of the original motifs foreshadows Eve’s manipulation of Adam. The difference in tone and texture between the motifs highlight’s the characters’ differences. Eve’s original motif is, in a sense, light and “feminine” while Satan’s is darker. The music introduces Eve and Satan, then musically depicts the events from Eve’s fall through Adam’s fall. My music promotes the interpretation that Adam actually fell from Eve’s manipulation, even if Milton claims he was “not deceived, / But fondly overcome with female charm” (9.998-999). Throughout the music, Eve’s motif becomes increasingly similar to Satan’s, depicting how Eve’s manipulation of Adam mirrors Satan’s earlier manipulation. However, the final motif — “EVE HAS BECOME LIKE SATAN” — is still a bit different from Satan’s original motif because, while Eve mirrors Satan’s tactics, she does not turn into a full mirror of Satan. She is still not entirely the same as Satan. Excerpt:
The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built ere for his envy, will not drive us hence: ere we may reign secure; and, in my choice, To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, Th' associates and co-partners of our loss, Lie thus astonished on th' oblivious pool, And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy mansion, or once more With rallied arms to try what may be yet Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell? (1.254-270) Analysis: For this creative project I wanted to explore the false dichotomies that Satan presents within Paradise Lost, drawing upon the comparison of Coca-Cola versus Pepsi that was mentioned in class. With this art, I explored the idea of what a modern Satan would do with vending machines, which is an excuse for me to draw my affinity for Japanese vending machines. I am also trying out digital art for the first time, therefore I am not completely content with the work that I have made. To describe what a drew, the first panel shows the typical vending machine with an assortment of products and colors. The second panel shows Satan with a bottle of Pepsi, and a side character asks "why always Pepsi?". For the final panel, we return to the vending machine and see that it is no longer colorful or diverse in products; instead it is monochrome except for two products: Coke and Pepsi, individually labelled "God" and "against God," respectively. Finally, the second and last piece of speech is "because I have free will," making a connection to the line "Here at least / We shall we free" within the book (1.258-259). I made this choice to show the ironies of Satan's interpretation that only rebellion against God will give him free will. Instead of gaining free will, he sets up false dichotomies and actually limits his free will. I had to look at the character of Satan with a new lens, and I also had to simplify Satan's conflict with God and struggle for free will within a couple of illustrations. A new interpretation that I gained was that Satan's creation of false dichotomies might not only just ignore the other options (in this case, Fanta), it could be that he does not realize that other options exist. While a small detail, I wondered if I should have the other products as simply "out of order," monochrome, or non-existent. I ended up with monochrome because I think Satan is intentionally color-blind to the other options that allow him to exercise free will. Also, "out of order" can have a secondary meaning, such as how buying a drink outside of Pepsi would be outside of the perceived "order" that Satan has in mind. However, reducing Satan's perception of free will into an illustration did leave out some details, such as Satan's desire for hierarchical and ontological power. Satan desires to be superior to others, but a simple vending machine analogy was not able to encapsulate Satan's hunger for power. The illustrations left out a lot of the complexity surrounding Satan's rebellion, but it also allowed me to focus more narrowly on hypocrisies or ironies that Satan creates Y
I The Wedding Day A Poem by Gage Miles Ferdinand and Miranda, joined in communion, Their effusive love, this happy union. The fountain gushed its jaunty springs, While the singing birds unfurled their wings. Lip to lip, our couple met, As the avian choir sang in sweet quartet. Ceres’ hand struck the sacred bough, “Nuptial vines,” she said, “Grow and grow!” Husband and wife, together in hand, Inspired the growth of the jewel of the land, The overwhelming splendor as it sprung from the earth, Drew the eye and suspended the mirth. Miranda’s pure gown, slipped down to her feet, Her naked bosom, sweet love did secrete. Her fair consort also, kingly robe descended, As the branches of the tree slowly extended. Crisp, enticing apples, with blushes of red, Did form along the branches, right over their head. One may have fallen, in the hand of our maiden, But it was dropped at the sight, for it was heavy and laden. Blissfully eager the original couple departed, Out into the garden, a new life had started. The fallen apple at the altar did lay, Blackened flesh, as it withered away. Analysis: The primary inspiration for this poem comes from Act 4 Scene 1, lines 110 though 117 in The Tempest, Ceres’ marriage blessing over Ferdinand and Miranda. However, I chose to extrapolate this into a symbolic wedding that I envisioned for the couple. I was particularly struck by the Edenic imagery the goddess of agriculture employs in her blessing, and several connections to Milton’s Paradise Lost at once began to fall into place. I chose to expand upon an angle of analysis I briefly pursued in my Tempest Paper, which related Ferdinand and Miranda’s marriage to that of the original couple, “a surrogate,” even, situated in an alternate universe where Eve would have never expressed a desire to eat the forbidden fruit. Thus, my poem attempts to make an implicit argument for how Ferdinand and Miranda’s marriage is similar, yet diverges at key points, from the relationship of the original couple. To establish the connection and parallels between the two scenes/settings, Ceres’ blessing and Milton’s Eden, I alluded to key details from both sources. “Ceres’ hand struck the sacred bough, / ‘Nuptial vines,’ she said, ‘Grow and grow!’” is a direct reference to the lines “Vines with clustering bunches growing / Plants with goodly burden bowing;” from her speech in The Tempest (4.1.112-13). Likewise, the lines “The fountain gushed its jaunty springs,” are a reference to the sacred, life-giving fountain in Milton’s Eden: “Rose a fresh fountain and with many a rill / Watered the garden” (4.229-30). These allusions establish several points of intersection between the world of The Tempest and a Miltonian Eden, effectively importing the symbolic imagery of the latter into a description of the former. The two worlds fuse as Ferdinand and Miranda themselves transform into an image of the original couple (even referred to as such) by the end of the poem: naked, blissful, and unafraid. Before I continue, I must acknowledge that for the sake of establishing a clearer, more decisive parallel, I did sacrifice some of the other meritable facets of Miranda’s character: most notably, her acknowledgement of her deprivation of knowledge and a desire to receive it (the story of her journey to the island with Prospero). This does, in part, mirror Eve’s own thirst for knowledge, but in the end, Miranda does not pursue it. While Miranda may be a curious, inquisitive girl, this is not the path she ultimately chooses; her love for Ferdinand suppresses these inclinations. This is the crux of the argument: whether each woman ultimately decides to breach or maintain their contracts of marriage. The “jewel of the land” introduced in the fifth stanza and described throughout the remainder of the poem represents the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and its appearance in the poem alludes to how the unity, constantly enforced, of Adam and Eve to shield Eve from temptation is ultimately what offends her and leads to her temptation. As the tree looms over the heads of Ferdinand and Miranda, so does the question: will Miranda be subject to the same fate as Eve? It would seem not. Her dropping of the forbidden apple, “laden” with evil, demonstrates the complete marital deference of her bosom to her “fair consort,” Ferdinand. Unlike Eve, who is unwilling to subject herself and accept permanent servility to Adam, Miranda freely places herself in this position, and relishes in it, out of her love for Ferdinand: “I am your wife, if you will marry me / If not, I’ll die your maid. To be your fellow / You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant / Whether you will or no” (3.1.83-86). The apple cannot entice her, for she wholeheartedly embraces the servitude of marriage, above all else. Miranda expresses no discomfort in her sexuality or the natural gender hierarchies she is subjected to, and thus the apple's power over her is rendered fruitless (pun intended), causing it to "wither... away." Eve, on the contrary, does not embrace the ontological hierarchy: her feelings of inferiority ultimately cause her to sever her connection from Adam and fall into Satan’s snare. To drive home this distinction, the poem’s ending scene attempts to mirror that of Milton in Paradise Lost, with one crucial departure. Instead of leaving Eden at the conclusion of Paradise Lost, the couple, hand-in-hand, is entering into the garden for the first time, for Miranda, our Eve, rejected the temptation of the fruit and demonstrated that her love would forever be absolute. A truly pure, enduring love that supersedes all other convictions merits a transcendence into the divine, to Eden. At the same point where Adam and Eve fall, Miranda and Ferdinand rise. As a whole, the poem attempts to capture the Shakespearean imagination of an original couple without Eve giving into temptation. For our Renaissance playwright, Miranda is an Eve that chooses love over knowledge, earning her way into a paradisal eternity. (Of course, however, there are treacheries that lie in any human relation… The serpent can slither through even the smallest crack in the rock of solidarity...) Shaped, I dissolved in my own adoration
the reflection is a magnet, some hypnotist’s pendulum. As I strong-arm towards the water fingers melt into the liquid: my reflection sloughs like skin. Legs no longer balanced, my bodies shift and move together - different no more. Can I help but be drawn to the unreal? A body so bewitching my devotion is consuming. These eyes, still unmarred - can I be blessed enough to own them. Analysis: My poem draws upon the Book IV scene lines 455-467 in which Eve, from Paradise Lost by John Milton falls in love with her own reflection. In this scene, Eve is fixated in her attraction to her own body to the point where she becomes absorbed in vain desire. My poem draws upon this ideal, and extends it by depicting Eve literally reaching for and becoming so strongly drawn to her own body to the extent where her bodies (both the reflection and the actual) are no longer different beings. Eve describes herself in Paradise Lost as “look[ing] into the cleer / Smooth Lake, that to [her] seemd another Skie,” a moment in which she both looks down as her first act after having been created (in opposition to Adam, who looks up towards the sky), and simultaneously connects that lake and what dwells beneath it to the sky. In other words, she showcases the ability to synthesize the heavens above with the hell below, and the inability to differentiate fully between the two. I strive to analyze this concept in my poem as I discuss how Eve’s “reflection sloughs like skin / …[her] bodies shift and move together -/ different no more.” Here, I use a physical depiction of Eve’s reflection that, via simile, is described in a manner more akin to how a tangible body, covered with skin and muscle, would act, while that self-same physical body instead becomes more attuned to her reflection, as her “fingers melt into the liquid.” In this way, I draw on Eve’s canonical confusion and synthesization to illustrate how her initial - and later - ignorance of God and the righteous path become literally embodied within her as a physical creature. In the end, Eve questions whether she can “be blessed enough to own” her reflections’ alluring eyes (a representation of the enticing nature of the body as a whole). In Paradise Lost, Eve is tempted enough by the fairness of the fruit that she consumes it; here, her attraction to her own visage causes her to simultaneously consume and be consumed - and subsumed - by her reflection, which I describe as more ‘real’ than Eve herself, questioning whether the concept of Eve’s physical body as the consummate Eve is even valid. Here, the usage of a period rather than a question mark at the end of her query about whether she is indeed blessed indicates that Eve has agency: she questions something that she herself knows the answer to. Direct, powerful diction such as “strong-arm” also contributes to my interpretation of Eve as a character with agency, even if she does not want to admit it as stylized in my poem. In my interpretation of the poem, Eve loses a part of her Miltonian innocence; my Eve is far more aware of the vanity that she is allowing to dictate her actions. However, she also gains a great deal of agency, as, in my version, she is also conscious that she is being drawn toward her own body, and giving in to that impulse is not something out of her control. In doing so, I was able to reflect on the possibility that a character can give in willingly to an impulse, simultaneously exerting free will and allowing that free will to be overtaken. Eve’s impulses are her, and she is her impulses: they are one and the same, and she is able to be both an agent and a victim at the same time without those two terms becoming mutually contradictory or exclusive. The stage dims. AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” begins playing. The crowd roars as Satan steps onstage, his chest puffed with both hands in the air. Flames and sparks appear on the sides of the stage. The music fades as Satan walks forward, adjusts the mic, and begins. Hey y’all! How are we doing tonight? Crowd cheers. I just want to thank you guys for coming out. It means so much to me to have your support (Crowd claps). You guys are my family, you know? There’s not a lot of folks I can call “family”, but…you guys are it. I mean, do any of y’all see Dad here tonight? Crowd laughs. Didn’t think so. You know, He claims to be “omnipresent” or whatever, but obviously that isn’t true. Maybe the Guy isn’t so big and strong after all, hm? (Crowd laughs). Growing up with Him…now that was an experience. There was this one time, when I was a baby angel…I’m talking like, only five feathers on the wings…I was a baby angel, and I skipped over to Him and asked if He could play with me (“Aw” from crowd). And, I-I swear to the Man Himself, this was how He responded: He had this stone-cold face…you know, the way He always looks…I swear this Man has never smiled once in His entire existence. Probably drinks black coffee too. Crowd chuckles. He looked down at me with this stone-cold face, put His right hand on my shoulder (Satan acts out the movements), grabbed the top feather of my left wing with His other hand, and said, “I’m working, son”. Then He – no joke – hurled me off His throne into the skies of Heaven. Crowd roars in laughter. I was a child. A freakin’ adorable one at that. I mean, I’ve always had my good looks…not sure where those genes came from, but it certainly wasn’t from Dad’s side of the family. Crowd laughs. I was a child, and this tyrant just, tosses me aside like I’m some human. What kind of dad does that? I was pouring my heart out, there, trying to tell Him how much I loved Him, and He (Satan pretends to toss something) tosses me out. Just like that. Like, sorry, Your Highness, for disrupting your “just” and “good” work with my loving nonsense. Satan shrugs. It only got worse as I grew up. Those teen years were nasty. Yet, even at my worst, when I was locked in my room for days and only came out to play with my band (crowd chuckles) …we were actually pretty good…called ourselves “The Velvet Aboveground” (crowd laughs). I was too shy to sing up front at the time, so I played drums in the back and sang while Beelzebub mouthed the words as the "lead singer". Ha. Anyway…even at my worst, I still loved Him. I did everything for Him. And yet, He never loved me. (Satan walks to the end of the stage and sits) I loved Him despite His flaws. But He never shares that bit of the story, does He? Nope. Just tells everyone that I’m “evil” or whatever. That I “sinned”. But you know what my sin was? Do you know? My sin was that I loved Him too much. (Sounds of agreement from crowd) I loved Him too much. I loved Him so much that I wanted to impress Him: to make Him proud of me. And He’s always preaching about the importance of free will, so I decided to show Him that I understood. That I got His lesson. That I agreed with Him. That’s why you guys all got onboard, right? (Crowd cheers) I mean, He is a tyrant, of course, so part of why I…why we wanted to rebel and all that was to reveal His flaws to Himself…but I only did that because I cared about Him. I hated watching Him become this-this “holier than thou” king. I couldn’t let Him do that to Himself. So, part of rebelling was to save Him from Himself, but the other part was because I wanted to impress Him. I thought He would be so proud of me…of us…for understanding free will and using it. He blessed us with it, so why should He get mad when we use it? That’s like, if Dad gave us wings and then yelled at us for flying. (Crowd laughs) Like? What did you – why did you create wings then, Buddy? For decoration? To keep the flies away? For better air circulation in Heaven? Why? We showed Him that we understood His “free will”, and we used it to protect Him from Himself. And our brothers and sisters from Him. Then, as a reward for our work, He cast us down here to the party pit, complete with fiery light fixtures and all-you-can-eat, damned souls. Crowd laughs. Hey, I’m not upset about it. I say, good riddance! At least we have heat (crowd cheers and laughs). Have fun freezing up there in the clouds, Dad. The temperature sure suits your cold heart (“Ooh” from crowd). Ha. Anyway, enough of my whining. I’m happy here, I really am. I mean, I’ve got you guys! (“Aw” from crowd) we did the right thing, and we know it. I love you guys. I really do. (Crowd claps) We got our own little slice of heaven down here, didn’t we? At least we don’t have to walk around naked in grass, right? Poor Adam and Eve…now that is Hell. (Crowd laughs) I mean, just imagine how itchy that must be. And all the little animals staring at you all the time? No thanks. Poor, poor humans…and so naïve, too. They probably don’t even care that Sally the Squirrel is checking them out (Crowd laughs). Don’t worry, though; we’ll put them out of their misery. Save them from becoming Dad's little servants. I really do love you guys though. I know we all didn’t have such a great childhood, and now we all have daddy issues (Crowd laughs). But I got us out: we got out. And I’ve got your backs, even if the Big Guy Upstairs doesn’t. Crowd cheers. Thank you all for coming. Have a good night. AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” resumes as Satan waves goodbye, blows kisses to the crowd, and exits the stage. The audience cheers and claps. The camera secretly follows Satan backstage. He reaches his dressing room, and slams the door behind him. Satan sees his reflection in the mirror, then angrily smashes the glass and knocks over a chair. He stops, takes a deep breath, and notices the camera. He smiles: “Who needs mirrors, anyway?” Analysis: My conceptual starting point included Satan’s speeches to the members of Hell in Book II of Paradise Lost. In his first speech, Satan opens the debate “high on a throne of royal state”, where he sat “exalted” (2. 1-5). In his second speech, Satan volunteers to journey out of Hell after orchestrating the entire debate and speaking through Beelzebub; the members of Hell “ended rejoicing” (2. 430-85). These scenes seem to initially introduce Satan as a hero, yet at closer look, he is a prideful liar who manipulates his followers through language. Because of his both literal and figurative place on a throne, which represents his pride, Satan seems to enjoy looking down on others. Therefore, I decided to place him onstage, where he commands and enjoys the crowd’s attention as their "superior" for the duration of the special. Because Satan is a master of manipulation, and standup comedy involves the manipulation of language and timing to draw a reaction from the audience, I decided to have him perform a standup special. Standup comedy often involves false, exaggerated stories; the comedian crafts a certain image for the audience, just as Satan does for his followers and enemies. In his special, Satan uses shorter stories to weave together a narrative that paints God as the evil, unloving ruler who “holds the Tyranny of Heav’n”, and himself as the innocent victim whose only flaw is that he loves too much (1.124). The crowd receives the jokes and reacts, but doesn’t question Satan’s stories.
In Paradise Lost, Satan creates a fantasy for himself where he is a victim of God’s tyranny, and a hero for rebelling against God. Though God explains free will and how individuals will face consequences for choosing to rebel, the prideful Satan twists the story to play the victim rather than admitting his faults. In the end of the special, Satan cannot even look at himself in the mirror; he cannot self-reflect because he prefers his own, crafted lies to the truth. Writing Satan as a standup comedian revealed some about his possible psychology and how these events have shaped his character. As a manipulative, narcissistic liar, it’s likely that Satan would use humor to deflect blame, cope with his emotions, and portray himself as confident and unfazed by his poor choices. Additionally, imagining Satan speaking about certain experiences in this way strengthens his connection to the flawed humans, and distances himself from the “perfection” of Heaven. However, Satan is a very complex, nuanced character, and some of that nuance is lost in this adaptation. In Paradise Lost, Satan does reveal his true emotions and regret for his actions, yet quickly returns to his façade (4.30-74). In this adaptation, we mostly see Satan covered by his façade and manipulating his fantasy; the end scene where he returns to the dressing room doesn’t reveal as much vulnerability in his character. Yet I believe the use of humor adds to Satan’s deceptive and manipulative character; Milton initially portrays Satan as likeable, and humor strengthens his likeability, especially to an audience. |
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