Milton's Sexist Strategy And The Relevance Of Paradise Lost As A 21st Century

SUMMARY

The following study aims to place in juxtaposition and critically review three scholarships on Milton’s Paradise Lost, namely, Milton and Modernity by Matthew Jordan, Regina Schwartz’s “Rethinking Voyeurism and Patriarchy: The Case of Paradise Lost,” and ultimately, Deirdre Keenan’s “Redeeming Eve.” The three aforementioned texts, with their carefully curated arguments on gender identity, bring out Milton’s chauvinistic prejudices, thereby rendering Paradise Lost as an obsolete text in today’s times. Patriarchy prevails abundantly in Paradise Lost – starting from God begetting a ‘son’ to him creating Eve as a carnal commodity – and therefore needs to be critiqued afresh by 21st century readers.