Why Milton Matters written Joseph Wittreich critically reviews works of John Milton. In a short summary, the “Preface” for Why Milton Matters explains some of the many reasons why the poem Paradise Lost has become an essential piece of literature in today’s society. The poem Paradise Lost was written by John Milton in 1667, but only gained attention after his death in 1674 up until now. In the twentieth century the text has been picked up by many significant figures and Wittreich tries to further explain why this text is still relevant today and will be into the future. The main critique of Paradise Lost is the argument that reading into historical texts such as this poem means ideologically threatening the various interpretations of the poem. People are frozen in a set perspective when exposed to only interpretations of other readers, and are absent in primary exposure to the original text. The existing groups of interpreters are afraid of new elitist ideologies forming when the readers are given freedom of thought. Wittreich counters that statement by claiming that throughout history, most of the texts that inspired elitist ideologies did not necessarily hold a specific principle in the original form (xiii). In fact, elite manuscripts form when groups of interpreters strongly persuade their ideas upon others. Milton’s poem has created vast amounts of conflicting interpretations which Milton himself acknowledges in Paradise Regain’d as a human tendency to misinterpret (xiv).

Paradise Lost offers an expansion of ideas and interpretations through the developing complex drama which everytime can yield a different point of view. One of the examples Wittreich brings up is the temptation scene of Eve where she was given a chance to think of herself as superior to men with help from Satan (xv). The desire to subverse the rigid patriarchy itself forces Eve into subjection over Adam by offering him the forbidden fruit. Satan himself uses the rigid hierarchies to rule over God’s Creations by teasing their self-fulfilling desires and submitting them into his rule. God ordered the Son (God’s voice) to execute justice on Adam and Eve, and not the snake. The Son however, punished Satan and his subjects as well. The blurring of hierarchies and symmetrical correlation between Hell and Heaven, as well as God and Satan in terms of their relationship with their subjects further support the interpretation laying fully in the hands of the reader. Wittreich claims that by equating the arguments of both sides in his text, Milton fully supports the reader’s ability to interpret contradicting ideas (xvi). However, these ideas do not clash together in Milton’s poems instead are presented in deliberately designed controversial contretemps.

Wittreich claims that debates spark progression (xix). Ironically, Paradise Lost has been critically interpreted in different perspectives each trying to appease to the general public of why their interpretation is the most accurate. When in reality, that way of thinking is completely missing the point of the text itself. Therefore, reading into historical texts is truly threatening the various previous interpretations. but only because the text encourages such behavior. Instead, Milton’s strategies of using contradiction to open new dialog has been criticized as evidence of failures(xxi). In the modern day, as more readers write about Paradise Lost,  conflicts such as politics, sexuallity, religeous views are interpreted more and more (xxiii). Thus, the answers lay in the questions themselves which must be vocalized instead of shut down.

Wittreich briefly quotes Margaret Fuller calling Milton “emphatically American” because of his deep understanding of liberty and justice (xx). The author mentions this point as an overshadowing or even belittling of the Russian critical literature of the 19th century. He casually tosses in a line from Alexander Pushkin that was engraved in a Russian Bronze Medal in 1983 referencing Paradise Lost “at a time when the collapse of the Soviet Union was imminent” (xix). He completely ignored the exponentially growing school of thought supporting the nature of liberty and justice in 19th century Russia before the Soviet Union. Moreover, some of the most influential fictional pieces contemplating similar topics such as psychology, peace, justice and Christian religion came from Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Mentioning some of Dostoyevsky’s works would have improved Wittreich’s point to further ecompase global unity by demonstrating how justice is questioned world wide, and Milton’s ideas are not solely American. Works such as The Brothers Karamazov criticized the judicial system and Christian faith.“The Dream of a Ridiculous Man” explored the idea of corrupting the perfect paradise, and declaring the knowledge of happiness as higher than the feeling of happiness itself. The main focus of this preface is limiting favoritism for specific interpretations and opening doors to new ideas, whether they have conquered the political climate or not. However, Wittreich contradicts his own argument by nationalizing a school of thought that is true to the human condition regardless of time and race.

“The Dream of a Ridiculous Man” dictates a similar plot as Paradise Lost by painting the narrator as destroying the perfect world just as Satan destroyed the Paradise for Adam and Eve. The Ridiculous Man had picked a night to finally commit suicide, but fell into a deep sleep. He had a dream of being guided through space by a magnificent creature to a distant planet where every human and creature were at perfect harmony. They knew no quarrels or jealousy, but simply enjoyed life as it was. It was the Ridiculous Man who came and infected them with his sins. The humans learned how to lie, which grew into jealousy and then into cruelty and soon a human life was taken by another. They started to blame each other and take sides and began to torture animals chasing them away into the forests becoming enemies. However, when asked if they wanted to go back to the happy innocent state, they refused. They have already started to punish themselves for their sins and only wanted to discover truth once again. “Knowledge is higher than feeling, and the consciousness of life is higher than life.”(735)

This short story concisely merges ideas presented in Paradise Lost as well as the Preface written by Wittreich proposing the human tendency to always ask questions. Sigmund Freud perfectly explained human condition in The Uncanny, specifically referencing the unsettling feeling of uncertainty. The feeling of terror arises when confronted with something foreign yet familiar. The uncanny feeling therefore, reflects in some sort of an existential crisis. A path leading to understanding through numerous questions constantly powered by the nagging uncomfortable feeling of the unknown.

Questions:

1. Wittreich hypothesised that Milton is an “emphatically American” poet because he understood liberty and justice. Do you think individual independence can someday lead to a ubiquitous unity? Or do you think the modern bipartisan system will eventually reach a perfect middle ground through years of corrections?
2. Do you think 17th century poets such as John Milton understood the 21st century better than millenials do today?
3. How do you think humans can reach world peace?