Compare how Milton and Ford present sining in relation to Milton’s Paradise Lost Book IX and Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore.

Plan for essay

John Milton’s Paradise Lost Book IX and John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore explore the causes and consequences of sin.

Para 1- In both works sin is encouraged by false logic, that of man and Satan, especially when delivered in person. Satan and Giovanni deploy it to persuade Eve and Annabella to sinfully succumb to their mortal appetites, just as fallacy allows Marlowe’s Dr Faustus to undermine his capacity to acknowledge his “blasphemy” and “repent.”

Para 2- Circumstance, including the characters’ nature and environment, also drives them towards sin: The unjust society and the twisted culture of Parma pushes Annabella towards sin just as the warped society of Verona compels Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to flout their parental duty. Likewise the circumstance of Eden’s structural hierarchy leads Eve astray as does the fallen nature of Giovanni and Satan.

Para 3- Language too bears responsibility for engendering sin. The Reformation had given language a new flexibility; vernacular editions of the Bible were suddenly legitimate, opening the possibilities for new interpretations. In Paradise Lost language is “alterd” after the Fall, like the reformed language after the Reformation, and changes the way Adam and Eve perceive each other. Likewise the corrupted language in Tis Pity makes moral resolution impossible.

Conclusion- These four texts share the idea that when human beings, however unconsciously, presume to break God’s law they are setting themselves above God and therefore inviting their own doom.