27Nov/070
Milton’s just, merciful and redemptive God
William Empson’s book Milton’s God is an account of Paradise Lost that associates God with a Stalinist tyrant (146). The primary association for this understanding is located in Empson’s critique of Milton’s God as a "neurotic parent" (116) who exposes his children to certain temptation, and ultimately orchestrates their Fall. For this author, it appears that in releasing Satan (Empson 112), God assures the Fall of humankind in order to "save" it, and in this way is a harsh tyrant who enslaves His human creations to serve His own narcissism. (Empson 39)
