Milton's Areopagitica
ETS 410
Final Essay
Areopagitica: A Treatise Condemning Consistency
In the centuries since its initial publication, John Milton 's Areopagitica has emerged as an iconic symbol of the academic pursuit. It is widely regarded as one of the original and most impassioned defenses of free speech that has ever been published. Its quotations are staples on library entrances across the English-speaking world. However, does it really deserve this status? As is the case with many texts that achieve an iconic status, there seems to be a concerted effort to simplify and thereby commodify it. In exploiting its apparent libertarian message about freedom of expression, many scholars have overlooked the more nuanced and subtle aspects of Milton 's multi-layered text. Upon closer inspection, it is a text teeming with contradiction. Indeed, I felt that the most consistent aspect of it was its inconsistency.
Milton penned the Areopagitica, considered by many to be his masterpiece, at the height of the English Civil War. A devout Protestant, he took the side of the Parliamentarians, hoping for the establishment of a government truly for the people and by the people. However, Areopagitica was Milton’s response to Parliament’s Licensing Act of 1643. This purpose of the legislation was to enable pre-publication censorship for all printed materials. Milton saw this as a replacement for the monarchy’s notorious Star Chamber, which strictly regulated all printed materials and an unnecessary form of state repression. In writing the Areopagitica and protesting against legislation enacted by the government he supported, Milton displays some of the contradictory attitudes that characterize the entire treatise. He also proves himself to be a freethinking man whose political views did not adhere blindly to party lines.
He admits that there can be still be dissention among the masses. In fact, Milton claims that this is a necessary element of an enlightened society. “…there must be
Final Essay
Areopagitica: A Treatise Condemning Consistency
In the centuries since its initial publication, John Milton 's Areopagitica has emerged as an iconic symbol of the academic pursuit. It is widely regarded as one of the original and most impassioned defenses of free speech that has ever been published. Its quotations are staples on library entrances across the English-speaking world. However, does it really deserve this status? As is the case with many texts that achieve an iconic status, there seems to be a concerted effort to simplify and thereby commodify it. In exploiting its apparent libertarian message about freedom of expression, many scholars have overlooked the more nuanced and subtle aspects of Milton 's multi-layered text. Upon closer inspection, it is a text teeming with contradiction. Indeed, I felt that the most consistent aspect of it was its inconsistency.
Milton penned the Areopagitica, considered by many to be his masterpiece, at the height of the English Civil War. A devout Protestant, he took the side of the Parliamentarians, hoping for the establishment of a government truly for the people and by the people. However, Areopagitica was Milton’s response to Parliament’s Licensing Act of 1643. This purpose of the legislation was to enable pre-publication censorship for all printed materials. Milton saw this as a replacement for the monarchy’s notorious Star Chamber, which strictly regulated all printed materials and an unnecessary form of state repression. In writing the Areopagitica and protesting against legislation enacted by the government he supported, Milton displays some of the contradictory attitudes that characterize the entire treatise. He also proves himself to be a freethinking man whose political views did not adhere blindly to party lines.
He admits that there can be still be dissention among the masses. In fact, Milton claims that this is a necessary element of an enlightened society. “…there must be
Cited: Chaney, Nathan, and Casey Norga. "Milton: Areopagitica - Notes." Dartmouth College. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. . Milton, John. "Areopagitica: A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England." The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse & Prose. Vol. 2. Peterborough: Broadview, 2001. 334-62. Print.