The ideas of reason, disobedience, and liberty in John Milton and Gerrard Winstanley.

Abstract

The following thesis considers the themes of reason, disobedience and liberty within the works of John Milton and Gerrard Winstanley. In particular, this thesis will be focusing on John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost and political pamphlet The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates and it will also concentrate on Gerrard Winstanley’s the True Leveller Standard Advanced. The themes of Reason, Disobedience and Liberty were identified as prominent in the Narrative of the fall which is central in this discussion because it constitutes the primary event which inspired and essentially, brought to life, John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Additionally, within the context of the political discourse of seventeenth century England and particularly within the political discourse of the civil war period, the themes of Disobedience, Reason and Liberty are often referred to, further enhancing the relevance of these topics within the associated subject matter which is debated in this thesis. Furthermore, despite the fact that all three themes do on occasion appear in isolation, they are in fact interrelated to a certain extent. The focus within each chapter is on Reason, followed by Disobedience and Liberty, respectively.