The world of Milton's Paradise Lost is a world of speech, full of divine and human words. When God creates Christ, he calls him “you, my Word, son begotten by you/This is what I accomplish” (VII. 165-6). Indeed, the concept of "Word" (Greek logos) occupies a central place in the world of the poem, not only in the traditional figuration of Christ as "the word made flesh", but also in the more general revelatory discourse. Paradise Lost, a dialogue between Adam and God about loneliness reveals the different natures and uses of these words. Although God's speech is performative (in the sense of semantic use theory) and the only descriptive of Adam, both work toward the purposes of expression and demand. In fact, Adam's use of speech mirrors that of the divine, creating a figurative counterpart to the literal action that God performs. Through the word, Adam proves that he learned to think, as he was created, in the image of God (VII. 527)" to exercise his free will by judging his own situation and imaginatively constructing this that he desires. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn Book VIII, Adam tells the angel Raphael his answer to the question. of God: Do you seem sufficiently possessed/Of happiness, or not (VIII.404-5 Although Adam wished to find a companion to be happier and less alone, God maintains that he is himself-). even alone/from all eternity and therefore, according to Adam's definition of happiness, imperfect Adam, on the other hand, desires to find a mate without getting angry or belittling God. Speaking of this desire, he must describe for God. something that God has not yet created for him Such a description involves imagination and figurative construction: it is necessary for Adam, in an important sense, to move away from God. Although this departure is not strictly rebellious, it is certainly a demonstration of independence, an affirmation of human will separated from the divine. To speak of man as a man in himself, and not as an agent of God's will, requires a knowledge of self and situation that simple obedience does not require. Indeed, God speaks of his dialogue as an attempt by Adam and a story. Adam, he finds you knowing not only the beasts, which you have rightly named, but yourself, expressing well the free spirit in you, the communion of which is therefore improper for you. The good reason was that you should freely hate (VIII. 438-42). Here God repeats the word free, each time adding a new meaning to the word. Adam expresses his inner spirit well, perhaps signifying both his free spirit and his ability to freely express what he desires. Moreover, Milton suggests, because Adam is capable. to express himself freely, he should therefore freely hate the company of animals. The causal relationship involved here is unusual: it seems that Adam's assertions give him the gift of discernment, the ability to make judgments about what he cares about most. Although Adam's speech is not a creative faculty in itself, it seems to give rise to abilities other than those which words usually do. It seems that Adam's words function through a certain type of enactment, in an allegorical rather than literally hermeneutic sense. Here his speech can be interpreted as having a level of reference beyond that stated in the text. Although at the time Adam had believed that his speech was a mere description of his needs, God significantly told him that it was a test "to see how [he] could judge its adequacy and satisfaction” (L 448).In Paradise Lost, the word judge is extremely loaded: Milton speaks of Christ as a vicegerent Son, to you I have transferred/All judgment, whether in heaven, on earth or in hell (X. 56- 7) as well as later in Thus judged Man, both judge and sent savior (X.209). At least in part, Adam's figurative assessment of his loneliness and desire foreshadows Christ's literal assessment of the human race. The ability to judge suitability and encounter can be said to reflect judgment of Christ on the living and the dead (XII. 460): both processes involve an establishment of priorities, a separation between worthy things and unworthy things. When Adam judges his situation, he decides which of his desires would be appropriate to express to God, in effect carrying out God's commands using his free will. Although it is a more internal process than Christ's judgment of the world, it has similar qualities of selection and choice. Seeing that Adam judged well seems to please God, perhaps because God can see in this earthly judgment a typological prefiguration of the world. a redeemer. It is not Adam's lack, but rather his ability to demarcate and judge this lack in the manner of Christ, which ultimately decides God to create Eve. Adam is capable of carrying out in himself the process that will be carried out against humanity; by expressing this process, he proves that he is worthy of receiving what he desires. Language is, for Adam, the proof of his discernment, but also the expression of his imagined lack. After he has been given all the animals and plants to tend, he says that in these [beasts] I have not yet found what I thought I wanted (VIII. 354-5). Significantly, Adam only thinks that he wants something, he is not sure of the object of desire, nor of the desire itself. Most likely, it is because he is a creature of Eden, who had [God]/all he could have. (III. 97-8). The very utopian nature of Eden suggests that lack should be absent here. His wealth and excesses are all Adam knows of the created world. However, for some reason, Adam begins to consider his world far from perfect. Although such a consideration may seem natural to the modern reader, it is in fact shocking when taken in the context of Adam's world; at the time of his speech in Book VIII, Adam never had to consider the rarity, even theoretically. The concept of lack cannot be inherent in lush vegetation or various animals as created things in themselves, they could not inspire thoughts about the uncreated but desired. The only possible cause of this inspiration seems to be Adam's awareness of the hierarchical nature of being. world, and its consequent understanding of its position as the sole occupant of the earthly and reasoned sphere. While God reigns above him, with speech as performance, and animals (without speech) below, Adam is the only living being who can speak without physical intervention, whose words can only lead to actions through one's own work or through physical action. the divine. Adam shows this limitation here through a figurative enactment, inventing through imagination what he desires. By noting that man's need consists of "Through conversation with his fellow men to help him,/Or console his faults" (VIII. 418-9), Adam expresses his desire for a greater perfection than he could. offer his current solitude. Although the word of God is powerful, it certainly offers little comfort to man, at least until it changes form into the Son. Adam needs a companion who resembles him, who can console his faults without changing them, as the word of God could. The birds and the.."