Who Is Naming The Animals?

The story of Adam naming the animals is a prominent image in both the Bible and in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, although what it means to name something, and, conversely, to have one’s name taken away from oneself, is not always clear. It seems that if one can name someone or thing, it shows that one has authority over the named, with authority being defined herein as the right to command and give orders, as in the case of Adam naming the animals. Paradoxically, naming as the way to confer authority is supported by two different ideologies, which are in tension with one another throughout Paradise Lost. In other words, God, as creator of the universe, has the right to name his creations because he is the one who gave the life, and he also
For example, God tells Adam, “ Possess it [the Earth], and all things that therein live, or live in the sea, or air, beast, fish, and fowl. / In sign whereof each bird and beast behold / After their kinds; I bring them to receive /From thee their names” (8.338-344). First, note the imperative of the form “possess,” suggesting that God is not so much as giving Adam the Earth as a gift but rather commanding him to own it; Adam has no choice in this and must obey. Secondly, the inverted syntax of “I bring them to receive / From thee their names,” or placing “thee” in front of “their,” indicates that God is using language to imply that Adam is now superior to all the animals. Also, the use of “thee” is telling in that “thee” is the accusative form of “thou,” which was considered the familiar form of the more formal “you,” suggesting a close personal relationship between Adam and God. Adam was, after all, created in God’s image, and now he is like God in that he is ruler over his own dominion, namely, the Earth and the animals. Adam’s newfound power is first exercised in his ability to name the animals, suggesting that if one is able to name something, one has power or authority over that thing. However, Adam cannot do this without God also displaying his power, implying that even though naming allows Adam to have
First of all, the lines “though of their names in Heav’nly records now / Be no memorial, blotted out and razed / By their rebellion, from the Books of Life” creates an image of two acts of their names being stripped from the “Books of Life.” At first, their names are merely “blotted out” from the “Books of Life,” meaning that their names are still in the “Books of Life,” but now they are marked or covered so that they can no longer be read. Then the names are “razed,” meaning their names are cut out completely from the “Books of Life,” negating any hope to undo the damage the blotting had done. The effect of the blotting out, then, is that if anyone were to find the scraps of paper razed, no one would still be able to know the names of the fallen angels, meaning that there is no way their old names could exist. The “Books of Life,” then, seem to depict a record of all names that God has bestowed upon others, for if he is the one doing the blotting and the razing, it stands to reason the he originally named them. Yet even if he takes their names away, he still has power over them, for he is still able to cast them out of heaven and into hell, although now their former identities as angels are completely destroyed. In a sense, then, he created them anew as devils, which still fits