Symbolism is the term for when natural objects (symbols) are used to represent more immaterial concepts or ideas (1). Symbols act as a more tangible manifestation of something that the reader would otherwise have trouble imagining an embodiment for, and allow the writer to convey a complex message through a form that appears on the surface to be much simpler than the concepts behind it. Symbolism is widely used in literature because of this. (Also see Allegory and Metaphor)
John Milton’s Paradise Lost (2), his ideas about tyranny, free thought, revolution, and virtue play out through symbolic characters. God, with his divine legion of angels, rules without explanation, and dominion over Heaven and Earth, symbolizes monarchy. Satan, leading his own force of fallen angels and battling the system created by God, and leading Adam and Eve to self-awareness, symbolizes revolution, and perhaps free thought itself, and Satan’s own fall may in and of itself symbolize the return of monarchy to England (3). Adam and Eve were also symbols too. Before the Fall, they may be interpreted as symbols of innocence and virtue, vulnerable to temptation and easy to lead astray, but also perhaps like children, ignorant and blindly following a king (God) instead of thinking for themselves. After the Fall, they may be seen as the people of England, unable to maintain what Milton saw as the ideal society (See Utopia) of republican government, which is symbolized itself by Eden. Because the characters can embody such complex ideas, Milton can tell a very complicated and very up-to-interpretation version of the classic Adam and Eve tale from the Bible and apply it to contemporary politics in an extremely thought-provoking way.
Works Cited:
- “Symbolism | Definition of Symbolism in English by Oxford Dictionaries.” Oxford Dictionaries | English, Oxford Dictionaries, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/symbolism.
- Milton, John. Paradise Lost: 1677. Scolar Press, 1968.
- Achinstein, Sharon. “Citizen Milton.” University of Oxford, 2007
