Unleashed academics, tutors, and ornamental hermits Alice and Rowan do a deep dive into dark hero archetypes on a semi-weekly basis.
This episode they begin their mini-series on John Milton’s Paradise Lost and discuss the extent to which his famous protagonist—Satan—can be considered the progenitor of the modern dark hero. In their introduction to Paradise Lost they discuss the illustrious life of John Milton, how Milton combined the dark heroes that came before him to create Satan, the context of seventeenth-century England, and the relevant critical discussions regarding Satan’s character.
Next episode, they consider Satan's role in books I and II of the poem.
Recommended Reading:
Forsyth, Neil. The Satanic Epic. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Lewalski, Barbara. Paradise Lost and the Rhetoric of Literary Forms. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.
———. The Life of John Milton: A Critical Biography. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
Lewis, C.S. A Preface to Paradise Lost. London: Oxford University Press, 1969.
Milton, John. Milton: Paradise Lost. Edited by Alastair Fowler. New York: Routledge, 2013.
Ricks, Christopher. Milton’s Grand Style. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
John Steadman. Milton’s Epic Characters. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968.
Bibliography:
Addison, Joseph. Notes Upon the Twelve Books of Paradise Lost. Collected from the Spectator. London: Company of Stationers, 1719.
Bryson, Michael. The Tyranny of Heaven: Milton's Rejection of God as King. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2004.
Danielson, Dennis Richard. The Cambridge Companion to Milton. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Davies, Stevie. ""Triumph and Anti-Triumph: Milton's Satan and the Roman Emperors In" Paradise Lost." Études Anglaises 34, no. 4 (1981): 385-98.
Empson, William. Milton's God. London: Chatto and Windus Ltd, 1965.
Fish, Stanley. Surprised by Sin. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1967.
