14. Paradise Lost, Book IV

Milton (ENGL 220) This lecture examines Book Four's depiction of Adam and Eve and the sexual politics of life in Eden. Seventeenth-century political theory, particularly the work of Thomas Hobbes, is considered with a focus on then-contemporary theories of the structure and government of the first human societies. Critical perspectives on what have variously been proposed as sexist and feminist elements of Milton's Eden are surveyed. Milton's struggle with the problem of depicting an unfallen world to a fallen audience is closely detailed. The lecture concludes with a study of Rembrandt's 1638 drawing, "Adam and Eve." 00:00 - Chapter 1. Dissimiles in "Paradise Lost": Fallen Representation of Unfallen-ness 10:16 - Chapter 2. Politics and Seventeenth-Century Descriptions of Adam and Eve 15:45 - Chapter 3. Milton's Political Philosophy 26:29 - Chapter 4. What Made Adam and Eve Unequal? This course was recorded in Fall 2007.