Paradise Lost Religion Essay

The view on how religion should impact a person’s life has changed steadily throughout much of English history. These changes can be seen through much of their writing in which the earlier writing has Christianity playing a key role, while, in more recent writing, religion plays a much smaller role in the more modern writings. Strong religious messages can be seen in the earlier writings, such as “The Wanderer” and “Everyman”, but becomes more questioned in later writings, such as “Dr. Faustus” and “Paradise Lost”; and in more current writings, such as “Oroonoko” and “Fantomina”, we see no religious teachings, but the protagonist is still faced with the same struggles as seen in the earlier writings. Within “Everyman”, it shows the basic thought
process someone can go through while in fear of their life. This can be seen when he pleads to death for his life by saying “I pray thee, for God’s mercy, spare me till I be provided of remedy.” This shows not only that he is presented with a fearful situation that will result in death, but the beginnings of a religious message. He further seeks to please god while in fear for his life throughout the story. This leads him to find followers, such as “Good-Deeds” and “Knowledge”, who help lead him in the correct path under god. This showed a successful journey in which the character Everyman completed his journey without fear under the guidance of religion. Religious teachings can further be seen in the story “The Wanderer.” Though this story is not primarily religious, it does exhibit a smaller summary of the message within “Everyman.” In “The Wanderer”, it describes life as something to be dreaded and this is because life is never permanent. It tells of castles eroding and kingdoms that fall to rubble within time, but describes the death as something to look forward to with guidance from religion. This is to be known by the older or wiser men of the world by saying “it is better for the one that seeks mercy, consolation from the father in the heavens, where, for us, all permanence rests.” This carries the same message as “Everyman”, which believes through religion, man does not have to fear death or worry about the struggles life presents to him. In the story “Dr. Faustus” it is noticeable that new perspectives are forming around Christianity. Doctor Faustus begins as an arrogant man who is seeking more in life. When given a choice between Christianity and necromancy, he decided to choose necromancy. He then summoned Lucifer, but regretted this decision because he had to pay for it with his life. When his time left on earth was ending, he became fearful as he recognized the weight of his decision. This is shown when he pleads for his past students to not make the same mistake that he made, and instead seek God. This same change of perspective on Christianity can be seen within “Paradise Lost.” The first book in paradise lost differs from much of the religious writings before it by setting Satan in a different light.
The author does this by telling of how Satan was not necessarily in the wrong, but simply had a difference of opinion. By saying this, the author gives Satan a new light in which he is not someone who is evil, but someone who stands for something entirely separate from God. He goes even further with this by saying “how all his malice served but to bring forth infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shewn on man by him seduced…” This shows, to some, how God is not the only choice and that Satan can provide for his followers, thus taking followers from God’s
teachings. In the story “Oroonoko”, it discusses the troubles a slave would face and how it compares to his life prior to being a slave. “Oroonoko” coincides very well with the story “The Wanderer.” It begins by addressing Oroonoko’s early life in which slavery was not to be worried, but there is knowledge and some participation of it. This is like “The Wanderer” in which the young man has no concerns of the real world. Oroonoko continues with his life, but is quickly brought into slavery, or the main struggle he faces in his life. Nearing the end of his death he has a choice to accept his fate as a slave and change his focus to Christianity, but decides on retaliating instead. He is met with a struggle to live, much like Everyman or the Wanderer, but decides to not follow the lessons of God. As a result, he instead takes vengeance on the man who enslaves him, which follows closely to the teaching of Satan. This shows that Oroonoko chose death over a life of slavery, but a life of slavery without care for the horrible atrocities brought onto him because of his hope for permanence within heaven. Within “Fantomina”, it discusses a girl named Fantomina who has a fascination with sleazy men at a play house, and how she chooses one of the men to try and understand.
This is comparable to the story “Dr. Faustus”, in which the main character becomes obsessed with necromancy over God. Fantomina follows this man to understand him, but each time she is left on the losing end by wasting her time. This is very much like Dr. Faustus who wasted his time on trivial pursuits and later regretted it. When Fantomina becomes pregnant it shows that she is out of time with the man she has been tricking throughout the story, and so she must end the façade. This is comparable to when Dr. Faustus is out of time on earth and must face Satan to pay his debt. However, unlike Dr. Faustus, Fantomina is sent to a monastery in France, but no further info is given about this. This shows that the stories are comparable through the struggles the protagonist faces, but Fantomina is not corrected through a religious
message. The more recent written works, such as “Fantomina” and “Oroonoko” manifest much of the same struggles shown in earlier stories, such as “The Wanderer” and “Dr. Faustus.” However, these differ very much on how the protagonist seeks to remedy the problems they face. Unlike the earlier books which sought to solve their problems through religion, the more modern books seek to follow their own judgement.