Milton's Representation of the East and Satan as Coloniser in Paradise Lost: Different perspectives

B.R Rajan in his work Under Western Eyes says

"Scholarship on Milton's India is not voluminous, and the student in search of understanding cannot proceed very far beyond the Milton encyclopaedia article on the subject."

It seemed very true when I started this paper because there were only a handful of references to pick out from Paradise Lost. But scholars in this field had a bunch of perspectives regarding these references. What I intend through this paper is to connect these dots and try to reach a conclusion.

                   Before entering into the references by Milton about the East, one needs to look at Milton's perspective about trade and colonialism at that time. Walter S.H Lim in his book John Milton, Radical Politics and Biblical Republicanism points to the argument of Martin Evans. Martin Evans in his book Milton's Imperial Epic finds that Paradise Lost contains "almost every conceivable permutation of the colonial experience available in the seventeenth century. Some of the works written at that time were driven by "Imperial fantasies"; defined by S.H Lim as "related to a cultural frame of mind that perceives and constructs national identity with reference to other geopolitical and cultural spaces deemed viable for domination". We must remember that the trade relations with East was gaining its power and England and other European countries were being enchanted with the tempting smells of Asian spices and shimmering lights of its valuables. England was late to enter into the arena of trade than other European countries which created within them a competitive mindset. They were in a frenzy to conquer new lands and new trade relations. Walter Lim says "Under Oliver Cromwell, Milton found himself energized by the possibilities of building up England as a maritime empire." Some thinkers of that time interpreted this unhealthy obsession with the eastern goods as succumbing to something evil and mysterious. At Milton's time, sea voyages gained popularity. This clearly reminds us about the sea voyage that Satan undertakes that finally ends in Asia. Walter Lim says "Milton's distinctive listing of place names in Paradise Lost indicates the presence of a literary imagination shaped by deep geographical interest." This "English map mindedness" was due to their yearning to understand foreign world that is mysterious and exotic. Such a formation of binary was necessary to present the orient as something indolent, dark and mysterious than the civilised, dynamic and enlightened Occident.

Satan as the colonizer

B. R Rajan in his work Under Western Eyes makes some remarkable insights into the Orient themes within Paradise Lost. Some of his arguments may seem to portray Paradise Lost as an imperial poem. The poem assumes an imperial stand when it "surveys" other foreign lands with an "arrogant attitude" of the "epic eye". It represents East just as the way West perceives it; inferior to European civilization. Rajan even defines further representation of India within imperialist discourses as Miltonic. David Quint in his book Epic and Empire portrays Milton as a poet against empire where as Paul Stevens disagree with this notion. Stevens points out that Satan's voyage depict not a satire against colonialism but points to its abuse; it is a parody of colonial ventures. Even the representation of Adam and Eve and their "nether Empire" (4.145) is according to the desire of modern colonialists. Stevens further suggests that "the Earth/ shall all be paradise " (12.463-64) was the mentality that drove the building of European colonial empires. Satan even talks to the naked inhabitants of the new world like an English colonizer. (4. 159-65). Stevens says

"In the event, in what seems like a ringing indictment of colonialist ambition, honour and empire are shown to mean fraud and dispossession; the poor natives are cheated of their birthright and fall prey to the ghastly hellhounds of Sin and Death."

It is to be assumed that making the English familiar to faraway lands and materials was a way of strengthening their own identity and imperial power.  Is the struggle of Adam and Eve to cultivate in wilderness, their struggle towards civility? Even there is a division of labour between them. The land under them is given a female image that needs to be cultivated and fertilised. Satan becomes impatient after hearing about a new world being created by God (1. 652-54) that he needs to investigate and conquer it; thus becoming the archetypal colonialist. When he sees Adam and Eve for the first time in Garden of Eden; he is amazed by their innocence. He views it as if a colonizer is watching an exotic land for the first time. Satan embarks on a reconnaissance mission as a scout (PL 3:543) Satan even acts like a slave master at some points reminding us of the slave trade in England in the 17th Century.

Reference to the East

All scholars admit that there is a limit to the interpretation of these references. B.R Rajan states that most of these exotic references are used "in infernal or postlapsarian context". He thinks these references can be "collectively proposing the Satanization of the Orient in a way of becoming familiar to Milton's time."

References to Orient can be seen from the very first book of Paradise Lost.  Rajan says that" Egypt was an abomination, and anything east of it was likely to be worse".  False gods and construction of Pandemonium is given an eastern touch in Paradise Lost. Babylon is the extreme limit of evilness; things beyond that are not even addressed. B.R Rajan quotes J.B Broadbent " ...the oriental similes place the building (pandemonium) as a citadel of barbaric despotism". Some others argue that the structure of Pandemonium is actually a jab at the Papacy with the evil aura of an Eastern authority. There is also a reference to the pygmies beyond "the Indian mount" (I. 781). Rajan affirms that even reference to fairy elves point to East by connecting it to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream and Spencer's The Faerie Queen. His justification is that "dissension in the fairy realm, sufficient to upset the seasonal order, arises over a young boy given to Titania by an Indian queen who is Titania's votaress" and Spencer claims dominion over India for the world of Faerie.

It is the Pandemonium that is the main reference to the Orient. Its structure itself is similar to the palaces of the East and the Despots it encompass. Its hierarchical organization, class distinctions and secret chambers for the elite gives us a visual of Indian Mughal Kingdoms.

"High on a Throne of Royal State, which far

Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

Showers on her kings barbaric Pearl and Gold,

Satan exalted sat, by merit raised

To that bad eminence. "(2. 1-6)

Ormus mentioned here was the centre of the Persian Gulf pearl trade. Its prominence receded and position of India rose. Though Indian goods were revered, Hindus were seen culture less and barbaric heathens. Even Satan's throne is compared to Shahjehan's Peacock throne by Rajan since it even outshines the wealth of Ind. Obviously such a structure could have attracted the attention of the Europeans. Rajan says "With its pearl-fringed canopy supported by golden pillars, the throne was the epitome of the "gorgeous East" in its opulence." Though Rajan points out that Milton might not have been aware about the historical fitting of some events, a particular inscription could have caught his attention. Shahjehan was succeeded by Aurangazeb who killed of his competitors to the throne like Satan. The interesting fact is he says

"... He (Milton) was aware of the inscription, four times repeated in letters of gold, in Shah Jehan's white marble Hall of Private Audience, which corresponds to the council room of Pandemonium... "If there be Paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this... with the triple repetition compounding the force of the "if"." Is Milton placing India as the heart of evil empire?

       Rajan points out various spice trade similes in Paradise Lost when Satan undertakes a sea voyage to Asia; thus juxtaposing evil and India.

As when far off at Sea a fleet descri'd

Hangs in the Clouds, by Equinoctial Winds

Close sailing from Bengala, or the Isles

Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring

Their spicy Drugs; they on the Trading Flood

Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape

Ply stemming nightly toward the pole. So seem'd

Far off the flying fiend. (2. 636- 43)

Satan here is depicted as a fleet of merchant ships returning from East Indies, Bengal and Spice islands. Bengala is clearly Bengal, that later became the East India Company's centre of trade. Ternate and Tidore are spice islands in Moluccas. By reading these lines about Satan's voyage, we are reminded of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India. The English had only the intention to build up their empire that time and complete the reformation process, thus focusing only on commercial profits. Rajan argues that Milton, through Satan merged Imperialism and Commerce. One can assume that Milton was against consumerism. Commerce according to Milton was "consumerist self indulgence". It is to be noted that Bengal was not directly on the spice trade route yet Milton included it to specify its importance for the East India Company. Milton uses the word "spicy drug" here. Rajan states that "The term is in fact a synecdoche for the entire range of conspicuous consumption... At this point in the poem, "spicy drugs" anticipates Adam and Eve's transgression and the hallucinogenic qualities of the forbidden fruit." The forbidden fruit that "Greedily she engorged without restraint"(9.791) could be the symbol for commercial items from the east that ultimately ended in a curse.

       A new argument arises now. Is Orient the actual seat of darkness or a victim of the darkness?

As when a Vulture on Imaus bred,

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,

Dislodging from a Region scarce of Prey

To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids

On hills where flocks are fed, flies towards the springs

Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

But in his way lights on the barren Plains

Of Sericana, where the Chinese drive

With sails and wind their cany wagons light:

So on this windy sea of land, the fiend

Walked up and down alone bent on his prey. (3.431-41)

India with rivers like Jhelum and Ganges was thought to be a paradise. Milton represents India as a place to which vultures fly to get their next prey. Milton clearly disagrees to locate a paradise in India.  Vulture's preys in India like lambs and yeanling kids" portrays India as a victim of the darkness. Invaders of India and the Mughal Kingdom were famous for slaughtering millions of Indians. Milton even terms India as the "windy sea of land" suggesting the violence and disruption within its vast plain.

       In book five, Raphael descends to meet Adam and Eve to give instructions. He approaches the pair through a wilderness of "flowing odours "and a "spicy forest". The Banyan tree passage (9.1099- 1118) is the most prominent image of India given by Milton. After being expelled from paradise by Gabriel, Satan circles the earth three times in an east west direction and four times in a north south direction with "inspection deep" to find which creature might best "serve his wiles". He finds the creature to be "The Serpent, subtlest beast of all the field" (9.81-82, 86-87) at a "land where flows/ Ganges and Indus". Rajan defines this act as the "infernalization of India". He further argues that usage of the Banyan Tree as a cover up is "... a virulent desacralization of a tree that has always been holy to Indians..." Victim image can be further seen where the tree "spreads her arms" reminding us of crucifixion imagery. Rajan provides interesting interpretations about the Banyan tree image. The "Daughters grow/ About the Mother tree" (9.1105-6) suggesting familial bonds. But the "pillared shade" daughter trees provide suggests a composed architecture than wilderness according to Rajan. It also resembles the Doric pillars of Pandemonium. Its "High over arched" formation is similar to Vallombrosa tree simile where fallen angels were compared to fallen leaves. Rajan suggests that trees can provide shelter but also concealment. "It permits withdrawal into meditative depths. It also encourages absorption in a narcissistic coma." He says "The lines are all the more disturbing because the tree's natural attributes lend themselves so easily to demonic appropriation."

       Another image is that of "Indian Herdsman". Rajan says " The shepherd seeks refuge from the heat of the sun's rays, Adam and Eve seek refuge from the "blaze/ Insufferably bright" (9.1083-84) of the Son's presence. The Son is the shepherd, offering a protection symbolised by the tree's outstretched arms, which the guilty pair unknowingly invoke in using that very tree to avoid the Son's gaze." The characteristic features of the tree is used here to do something wrong.

At the end when Adam sees future empires (" Agra and Lahor of great mogul" (11.391)) from the highest hill of Paradise, is Milton glorifying building of empires? "Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind" (11. 399) points at the place Melind from where Vasco da Gama started his voyage to India.  Satan's inquiry to Uriel as to how to find a way to the new world is similar to Vasco da Gama's act of asking direction to India to the king of Malindi. Calicut, the very last place visited by Vasco da Gama, was not only the chief emporium of Arab trade in Malabar Coast but also an international trade centre.

Apart from India and China; Turkish Monarchy and Islamic Orient is also referred in Paradise Lost. Right in Chapter 1, Satan is established as the "great Sultan" of the fallen angels. Furthermore, in book 10, when Satan returns to his oriental throne in Pandemonium, he is attended by "the great consulting Peers/ Rais'd from thir dark Divan" (10.456-57). Divan refers to Turkish Council of State.

It can be concluded that Milton was proud of English Colonial adventures but was against the mercantile excess as Stevens points out. It's ironical because the class to which Milton was born was mercantile. His maternal grandfather, neighbour and even his son stood for mercantilism and colonization. Paradise Lost is indeed a poem about colonialism. Some says it shows its aftermath whereas some others suggest its support of imperialism. Walter Lim says

"Identifying and analysing the associations Milton forges between Satan, hell and the Islamic world raise the issue of whether certain representations in Paradise Lost can be properly read as forms of early modern Orientalism."

While Ormus suggests reference to Oriental trade, reference to India suggests the fascination towards Mughal kings and their wealth. India stands as a symbol to everything the Imperial nation desire to conquer in East. "To conquer India is to penetrate one of the major geopolitical and cultural space of the east and access its fabled wealth."  Representation of the East later became a recurring motif in English Literature like Shakespeare's characters and Cleopatra.