Chaotic Effectuation of the Great Chain Of Being in John Milton's Paradise Lost

Abstract

John Milton's (1608-74) Paradise Lost (probably written between 1660-65) holds its place as a great epic in English literature. In over ten thousand lines of blank verse, it renders the story of the fall of Satan and his compatriots, the creation of Man, and, most significantly, of Man's act of disobedience and its consequences which made Paradise lost for us. As the title of the paper suggests, it aims at a thematic presentation of the Great Chain of Being depicted by Milton in his Paradise Lost, as well as the effectuating chaos that is permeated in the hierarchical structure of this chain in terms of superiority and inferiority. Satan, in fact, plays an important role in the crucial moments of the poem via his rebellion resulted in his disobedience and, hence, the breakdown of the hierarchy. Thus, losing his proximate domain from God, Satan attempts to take Man, God's favorite creature, down to his domain at the bottom of the chain as an act of vengeance against his Superior.