A Comparison of Civilization in The Oresteia and Miltons Paradise Lost :: comparison compare contrast essays

Civilization in The Oresteia and Paradise Lost The unceasing search for a perfect shade marks the history of human being progress. From Plato to Locke to Marx, man has sought to order federation to provide justice for himself and his children. In this quest for paradise, myths of primitivity help describe how social institutions give the axe direct serviceman away from their temptations toward higher goals. In Aeschylus The Oresteia and John Miltons Paradise Lost, human refinement is viewed as an imperfect balance of opposites which helps combat mans tendencies toward barbarism and misogyny. For Aeschylus, successful civilization defines itself not by complete devotion to Fate or the gods instead, society forms the ultimate product of conflict between opposing forces in which effect and antisocial behavior are repressed through a hierarchization of value (Zeitlin 1). The social myth of The Oresteia is viewed not as a historical verity but as a useful symbol - a condition of humans run amok as the social institutions of family and government concede way to a cycle of destructive violence. The trilogy sets justice, family, and city against revenge and intake in a test of whether any social institution can survive in the face of a threat to its supremacy. In contrast, the potently Puritan John Milton describes the structure of society as a least(prenominal) among evils it forms the scaffolding which, when the building is finished, is only a troublesome disfigurement to mans possess ability for good (Milton The Reason of Church-government qtd. in Fish 534). The conflict in Paradise Lost juxtaposes mans submission and faith with his sensuousness and ignorance. The Coming of the Son promises the nett solution to mans problems and an end to this clash of values (Fish 536). Yet until the Resurrection, the Fortunate pass leaves lasting marks on human civilization that are dramatically portrayed as cracks in the veneered per fection of mythic Eden. The gorgeous tend belies the theological chasm that separates man from his Creator. Humans cannot accept the command to be abject wise (PL VIII.173). When Adam promises to avoid obscure and subtle (PL VIII.192) thought, he acknowledges that given(p) the mind or fancy is to rove/Unchecked (PL VIII.