Milton Group 5: David Volpato, Chuong Trinh, Luohan Wei, Max Renner-Rao, Jenine Burt

[William Shakespeare]

To illustrate a written text is to offer an interpretation of it.
Through this forum, consider how one or both of the two illustrations
below read Milton’s poem. Your first post, which may be independent
of or in dialogue with another student’s post, is due on Sunday April
15th at midnight. Your second post, which must be in dialogue with
another post, is due on Friday April 20th at midnight. Additional
posts are welcome! Posts that do not satisfactorily meet assignment
criteria and/or are put up after the deadlines will receive a zero.
Please be respectful of your classmates – do not post anything that is
offensive or insensitive. When disagreeing with someone else, be
courteous and keep your comments focused on the other students’
writing/ideas.

The illustrations (http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darknessvisible/
illlustration/index.html#)
- Gustave Dore Pic #8: “‘Before the gates there sat | On either side a
formidable shape’ (II.648-49)”
- John Martin Pic #6: “Book II.727: Sin Preventing the Combat between
Satan and Death”

Here are some questions that you might consider:
- What do the illustrations emphasize/de-emphasize in the poem?
- How do the illustrations differ from the poem?
- What additions do the illustrations make to the poem?
- How do the illustrations differ from each other and what is the
significance of those differences?
- What do you think about the appropriateness of each illustration as
a companion to the poem? Is one illustration more appropriate than
the other? Why?

In answering questions like those above, you might consider one or
more of the following topics:
- Characterization, both in terms of individuals and relationships
between individuals
- Setting (i.e. Hell as a place)
- Plot
- Sexuality
- Gender
- Morality
- Pleasure/pain
- Strength
- Power
- Evocations of specific cultural/historical moments
- Anthropomorphism (i.e. depicting the non-human as human)
- Theology
- England prior to the poem’s composition: politics, war, social
structure, etc.
- Formal elements: style, use of light and darkness, degree of
realism, spatial organization, closeness/distance, the absence of
colour, the use of colour, etc.

[Chuong Trinh]

John Martin's print, "Sin Preventing the Combat between Satan and
Death", depicts lines 720 to 726 of John Milton's epic poem "Paradise
Lost", wherein Satan is about to confront Death in order to pass
through the Gates of Hell, but Sin breaks the fight up before any
damage is inflicted on either party. The print was achieved by the
means of mezzotint technology which allowed Martin to work with more
shades of grey. As with any work of art, the study of the medium in
which it was obtained is necessary. One must understand that
printmaking required the artist to etch out the details into a plate
whose higher relief would be inked. In this case, the color of the ink
was black. When working with this method, it makes sense to leave a
lot of black, because it is practical to do so, since etching is long
and arduous process. Martin artfully uses the darkness to his
advantage by enhancing the sombreness of the work of art, by
idealizing Sin and Satan through the means of contrast and by
producing an effective interpretation of Death:
- The sombreness achieved is a means of balancing black with enough
white to create contrast.
- Sin and Satan are portrayed humanely and are therefore idealized.
The aura of light around Sin and Satan suggests some kind of divinity
(even holiness) to the characters. Both characters represent human
ideals of beauty (differing greatly from the poem, because Sin is
supposed to have "snaky" characteristics as well as hound heads around
her waist, which are not depicted) with their proportions and facial
features. Also, the expression of the characters suggest some kind of
virtue: Satan's courageous charge seems heroic (evoking greco-roman
war heroes?), while Sin's strong disapproval and disgust at the
situation suggests motherly or feminine sensibility and emotion.
However, although there are differences in the portrayal of these
characters, the conveyed message does not differentiate as much
because John Martin is also a devout religious figure. By portraying
Sin and Satan as humane characters, Martin warns the public about the
seeming attractiveness of sin and disobedience/stubbornness/pride
(Satan) and makes the observer question his own holiness.
- It makes much more sense to work with light when emphasizing on
darkness, because darkness is the absence of light. Martin succeeds in
his portrayal of Death by using this contrast to create a greater
effect of darkness. Here he characterizes Death as an ethereal and
ambiguous dark figure, similar to Milton's depiction of Death.
Being a Romantic, John Milton did not concern himself with realism as
much as he did with meaning and emotion. Light and shadow is,
therefore, not displayed realistically, in order to emphasize on
expressive qualities. It is also interesting to note that the Gates of
Hell are not represented and are replaced by total darkness. This
blackness adds to the effect of the print. Aesthetically, the print is
very pleasing to look at. However, it does not compromise any of the
poem's audacity and thematic emphasis, even though it omits some of
the elements of the poem.

On Apr 10, 9:46 pm, William Shakespeare <andrewelbur...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

[Luohan Wei]

Gustave Dore's illustration of the following passage: "Before the
gates there sat / On either side a formidable shape" presents Satan in
a position of power towards the shape. The composition of Satan's
position relative to death and sin, and there various shapes help
highlight this distinction. In the image, Satan is placed upon an
elevated platform pointing and looking downwards towards the two
"formidable shape[s]". Satan is holding a majestic lance, while his
right foot is placed upon an even higher elevation, as if he was
somewort of Roman conqueror. However, the shapes are far from the
poem's description of formidable. Sin is hunched and looking towards
the ground as if in submission, and Death is shown leaning back gazing
upwards and pointing in Satan's direction. I think this position can
be interpreted two ways, the first would be that Death is
challenging's Satan's arrival, shown by the two opposing finger
pointing. The second interpretation could be that Death is begging for
mercy, as he is sprawled on the ground arms open and his extended hand
is begging for Satan's grace. Whatever the interpretaion, it is clear
that the composition of the positions of the figures as well as the
portrayal of the individual characters that this illustrations shows
Satan in a glorified position versus the other two characters.

[Max Renner-Rao]

Focusing on John Martin's engraving, we see that his interpretation of
Sin and Death is fairly literal. Unless he was simply being lazy, he
chose to depict Death as formless, the only distinguishable elements
being his weapon and the outline of his face, presumably because those
would be the only two features mortals would perceive when facing him.
Sin, on the other hand, is a very concrete character since she could
be observed all throughout the life of man. Martin deliberately
omitted her serpent tail in order to make her tempting and illustrate
her deceitful nature. No effort was made to conceal her gender either,
which seems like an obvious reference to Eve and Original Sin. The
third and final character in this piece, Satan, shows an ambiguous mix
of heroism and rage. His armaments of shield and spear liken him to
Achilles, a resemblance accentuated by the fact that Satan's right
heel is placed behind him, the same heel which is classically depicted
as being Achilles' undoing.

On Apr 10, 9:46 pm, William Shakespeare <andrewelbur...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

[Jenine Burt]

Sin Preventing the Combat Between Satan and Death by John Martin
depicts lines 727 in Book II of Milton's Paradise Lost.
This painting capture human emotion in the facial expressions and body
language of the figures. We are able to read into the scene and
imagine what is happening.
Sin, one of Satan's offsprings, questions her father's intentions in
fighting with his son Death. Sin's calmness as a female figure is
captured by both Milton and Martin. Her femininity and emotion is
emphasized in her speech "Oh father, what intends thy hand, she cried,
against thy only son?" and by the gracefulness of her body language.
She does not show any sense of violence or anger but concern and
emotion as her body is stretched out in plea. Sin is depicted as the
attractive and ideal woman, something pleasing and appealing to man.
From a theological perspective, sin is also attractive to the human
race. Christians believe that we are constantly tempted by sin and the
delights of the earth that do cause us harm. Also, the setting (in
hell) is where sin will bring those who give into her. Martin captures
Sin's relation to both Satan and Death as her arms are stretched out
towards them.
Satan is depicted as the ideal man and warrior and leader. His figure
is idealized in terms of proportion and his body language, posture and
elaborate helmet suggest might and power. The Bible does describe
Satan as a beautiful angel, which Martin captures in this painting.
Based on the placement of the lighting and Satan's placement on the
left side, he is definitely the focus of the painting which works with
the eye (as we read from left to right). He raises the spear with the
right hand, also a symbol of power in the biblical narrative (seen in
the account of Moses raising the staff over the red sea). In Paradise
Lost, Satan wishes to be a leader
Martin also captures the uncertainty of death. As living beings, we
guess and could only imagine what death is. It is not male nor female
but rather a concept, unlike Satan and Sin that are male and female
figures respectively. Martin encapsulates it as a beastly, spiritual
and dark being unknown to the human race. It's mouth is open, wearing
a crown-also suggesting power and wrath. It seems as though it is in
rage and has intentions to do harm.
Hell is not the focus, as it is in the background. This may also be
due to the uncertainty of hell and may be geared towards bringing our
attention to the elements of hell that humans are able to recognize
and relate to. Hell may be too much of a horrible sight. The painting
invokes fear in the audience due to the grayscale, the contrast
between darkness and unearthly sense of light and inhumane depictions
being unfamiliar to mankind. These same mental pictures in the
admiration of Sin preventing the combat between Satan and Death arise
during the reading of Paradise Lost.

On Apr 10, 9:46 pm, William Shakespeare <andrewelbur...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

[Jenine Burt]

I agree with your interpretation of Martin's depiction of Death, Sin
and Satan. The representation of Death as a formless being is
appropriate, relating to our vague understanding of it as such.
Contrastingly, sin is a concept both understood and condemned. Martin
portrays this by illustrating a recognizable and distinguished figure.
Satan does contain heroic elements. Also, comparing him to Achilles
suggests an incorporation of classical figures and themes.