How far do you agree with Dr Johnson that Miltons work lacks human interest?

How far do you agree with Dr Johnson that Milton’s work lacks human interest?

Samuel Johnson, or Dr Johnson as he was sometimes referred as, was a great English author who made enduring contributions to English literature. Being such a distinguished and renowned author, his views on literature were and still are today, stern and well-known. However, I have views both agreeing with and opposing Dr Johnson’s view that Milton’s work lacks human interest.

Firstly, human interest strictly speaking, is about everyday people just like us, being able to relate to a story, and possibly learn something from it and put it into practise in our own lives. The epic poem Paradise Lost concerns the Christian story of the Fall of Man, while dealing with more present topics such a marriage and politics. Milton’s purpose, as stated in book I, is to “justify the ways of God to men.” This is a good base to start my argument on, which is that I do not agree with Dr Johnson, and believe that Milton’s work does hold human interest.

By involving politics and marriage into his works, this is surely of human interest, as people will be curious and inquisitive about how things worked back then, and it is therefore of human interest if people want to learn about it. Milton states the purpose of his epic poem, and it is obvious that he intended Paradise Lost to educate people about God. If anything, Paradise Lost holds universal human interest. The event in the poem concern the whole of the human race, as the single event of disobeying God and plucking a single apple has moulded the destiny of the world, and it should surely be of interest to anyone who is born into this world. People must be, and generally are, curious about how their world evolved and how it reached the state of where it is now. If people are curious about this and eager to be educated on this topic, then they may read Milton’s work to learn about these events, and consequently are showing signs of human interest.

Looking more in depth into Christianity, Christians believe that due to the event of Eve picking the apple, all humans are born with sin, and it is whether people choose to act on it or not that defines us. However, a big factor to consider is whether people actually believe in God or not. Atheists wouldn’t take any notice of this argument, let alone and interest of Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. This is my argument agreeing with Dr Johnson and saying that Milton’s work does lack human interest. To an atheist, they would take absolutely no interest in the ...

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Also being literal about it, for anyone, let alone an atheist, it is hard to relate to an event that happened such a long time ago, and we only know to be true from a book and lots of believers. How do we even know that this happened? How do we even know God exists? These are all questions that are very important when answering this question.

Many different theological issues are presented in the epic poem, such as fate, the introduction of sin and death into the world, as well as the nature of angels, heaven, hell and Satan. However, sin and death cannot be ignored, even by atheists, as these two issues are both around us and will happen to us in our lives. So, this means that people are able to relate to these issues in Milton’s works, and therefore showing signs of human interest. Also, nowadays, we are not scared of disobeying something that will have as huge of a consequence as picking the apple did. Anything that we do today is not going to have an huge impact on the world, affecting all of its inhabitants and the world itself. So, in this sense, it is hard to relate to Milton’s work, and it can be said that it does lack human interest.

Another literal relation that we can have with Paradise Lost is the consequences of picking the fruit relating to God, not just the event itself. Not only did God show his mercy and temperance in their punishments, but he also displayed his love and compassion through the Son, Jesus Christ. Atheist or not, everyone learns about Christ and the Fall and it is whether you chose to believe it or not which is what makes people an atheist. In this sense, Paradise Lost does not lack human interest as it can always be related to and people are always taught about it, even if it was in the classroom and compulsory, or by their parents. The knowledge of Jesus Christ and the garden of Eden is general knowledge, and therefore must be of human interest. Also, the hard work that men and women have to endure, and the pain of giving birth for a woman are all consequences of Eve picking the apple off the tree and disobeying God’s only rule. And therefore, as we all experience hard work, and the majority of women experience child birth, we can all relate to this in some way or another.

So, having analysed and read through this epic poem, I am going to disagree with Dr Johnson that Milton’s work lacks human interest. I think that everyone can relate to Milton’s work in one way or another. You could say, that if you were not able to relate to his work, then you havent related to the story of Creation and havent learnt about God or Christ. Also, you do not need to believe in all of the Creation stories and the Garden of Eden to have related to Milton’s work. Above all, Milton is a fantastically talented writer, and that alone is a reason as to why Milton’s work does contain human interest.

Bibliography and Webography:

The Bible

The Complete English Poems – John Milton