Volume 3,Issue 7
Analysis of Ethical Conflict Tension in Milton's Paradise Lost under the Theory of Hegel’s Tragedy
John Milton's epic masterpiece Paradise Lost is based on the Bible, the Old Testament and the Book of Genesis, in which a profound moral and ethical battle is shown through the conflict between the subjective world and the objective world, which demonstrates the tension of conflict and reconciliation between various ethical entities. The characters, plot, and social background of the story also lead to an inevitable tragedy, as if a fixed ending had been set in advance.
Hegel's theory of tragedy, with its profound conflictual thinking and unique aesthetic and artistic insights, provides a powerful theoretical tool for us to interpret literary works. This paper takes Hegel's theory of tragedy as the theoretical basis, links the deep humanitarian ethical dichotomy and tragic contradiction in Paradise Lost, and explores the embodiment of the concept of "absolute spirit" implied therein, and carries out in-depth analyses and excavations in four aspects, namely, the relationship between human beings and society, between human beings and human beings, between human beings and the self, and between human beings and nature, in order to experience Hegel's theory of tragedy. In this way, we can experience the tension of ethical conflict in Hegel's theory of tragedy and the reasons behind it, and combine the text with the social background of Milton's creation to understand the Puritan ethical outlook of the times and the epochal nature of the era's characteristics.
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