Human Behavior in the Works of John Milton

Introduction: Milton's Life and Literary Context

The English poet John Milton was born on December 9, 1608, in London, near St. Paul's Cathedral. This remarkable birthplace seems prophetic, as Milton became one of the most outspoken voices of his time regarding human behavior and one's relationship with God. Milton was one of three children born to John and Sara Milton. Their family parish, All Hallows, was famous for its reforming Puritan ministers. Milton's father was a professional scrivener as well as a musician and composer (Skerpan-Wheeler).

In 1620, Milton attended St. Paul's School, and in 1625 he entered Christ's College at Cambridge. There Milton studied logic, rhetoric, and ethics. He wrote two books about preaching during this period, and within a few years he was "composing strong, if humorous critiques of strict old-fashioned Aristotelian philosophy" (Skerpan-Wheeler). Milton left Cambridge and became a private student in 1632, hoping to "serve his country by becoming a 'relater of the best and sagest things among mine own Citizens'" (Skerpan-Wheeler). He concluded his education by touring Italy and other countries. When news of civil unrest brought him back to Britain, Milton worked as a tutor but also began to publish pamphlets known as "antiprelatical tracts" (Skerpan-Wheeler).

Many of Milton's works challenged conventions and traditions, and some reveal his reasons for not becoming a clergyman. Albert C. Labriola asserts that Milton's "chief polemical prose was written . . . during the strife between the Church of England and various reformist groups such as the Puritans and between the monarch and Parliament" (Labriola). Labriola further asserts that these works "advocate a freedom of conscience and a high degree of civil liberty for humankind against the various forms of tyranny and oppression, both ecclesiastical and governmental" (Labriola). His works were not without controversy—or fame.

Milton married Mary Powell in 1642. Skerpan-Wheeler suggests this was probably an arranged marriage, since Milton's father owed Powell's father money. Mary returned to her family within months of the wedding, but after external pressure she came back to Milton, and they had a daughter, Anne. His troubled marriage prompted him to write several tracts about divorce, in which he challenged conventional thought by using government as an analogy: if a nation can dissolve its relationship with a failing monarch, then a husband or wife should likewise be able to separate from an incompatible spouse. Milton continued to write on the concerns of his day—education, art, logic, and religious doctrine. His eyesight began to fail, and by 1652 he was totally blind. His wife died in childbirth. In 1656, Milton married Katherine, who died in 1658. In 1663, he married Elizabeth Minshull and is noted to have lived a peaceful life with her.

There is no doubt that Milton's political beliefs affected his writing. This was an organic process, as it tends to be with all thinkers and writers, and Milton seemed to appreciate the unfolding nature of history. His experiences gave him a unique perspective, and we can be confident that he wrote from his own passion and lived knowledge. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than Paradise Lost, in which elements of the Western world are infused with the destiny of one of humanity's oldest stories. Roy Flannagan asserts that Milton was a "child of the Protestant Reformation" (Flannagan 9) and contends that very few individuals have read as widely as Milton did. He composed Latin and Greek dictionaries so "precise and complete" (Flannagan 10) that they served as models for later works. When the new government collapsed and kingship was restored, Milton was jailed for his role in "the now disgraced regicidal (king killing) government" (Moss).

While there is much logic in Milton's work, it should also be noted that his poetry is recognized for its exceptional quality. Thomas Macaulay claimed that Milton's poetry "produces an illusion on the eye of the mind, as a magic lantern acts best in a dark room" (Macaulay 6), functioning like an "incantation" (8). Even though Paradise Lost was written at a time when "images of beauty and tenderness are in general beginning to fade" (19), Milton "adorned it with all that is most lovely and delightful in the physical and moral world" (19). This quality of adornment is precisely what allows Milton's poetry to be studied today.