So, the second part of Book II was well, interesting… Particularly
how Sin is Satan’s daughter, but also the mother of his son. And then their
son, Death, rapes his mother and she conceives the dog-like beasts that reside in
her womb. Before reading the footnote, Sin’s conception immediately reminded me
of Athena popping out of the head of Zeus. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, and
is thus, an extension of her father’s mind. So it seems fitting that Sin was
created by the evil thoughts that permeated Satan’s mind before he got kicked
out of Heaven. This is one dark, messed up situation if you ask me. But I guess
it makes sense considering incest is a sin, and I guess, Death is the ultimate
outcome of Sin? But death is a natural human condition, so I am not exactly
sure what to make of it.
I’ve been reading Dante’s Divine Comedy in my World Lit class and a lot of Inferno is meant to be a perversion of
Christian ideals, and Milton is doing the same thing. The father, son/grandson,
mother relationship seems to be a demented version of the Holy Trinity. Boy, is
humanity doomed. Somehow that feeling resonates…..
I find it kind of funny how sin is satans daughter, and sin is the mother of satans son simply because in this world... all of that is a sin... incest, rape, all of it is considered sin and ungodly behavior. SO basically that whole family is the embodiment of Ungodly behavior (which makes perfect sense) I just like the fact that it all circles back around. lol I also like your reference to Inferno because it makes sense in comparison to Milton
ReplyDeleteHahaha, that picture is incredible. Also, I totally agree with the whole Zeus/Athena comparison, I think that's a really cool parallel to draw. And your thoughts on Death being a punishment, when it's an inevitable part of life were really interesting too.
ReplyDeleteConnections throughout literature fascinate me, the way they inspire and reference one another, and I really like that you drew attention to that. No matter how cultures change, or how different cultures inherit various older works, they still carry similar ideas and values.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of... since Christian-related works love denouncing non-Christians every now and then (there is the not-terrible-but-still-Hell place for virtuous pagans in Dante's Divine Comedy, right?), do you suppose that if Sin popped out of Satan's head as Athena popped out of Zeus's head, it could be a way of Milton slighting the ancient Greek pantheon and religious traditions?