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Taylor Huston

2113H: The Early Modern World

Jessica Bowers

October 20, 2014

Midterm Essay: Possibilities for Self-Improvement

Self-improvement has been debated on and discussed throughout all kinds of literature,

with each genre taking a different stance on it. Religious poetry, such as Paradise Lost, views

self-improvement as a result of free-will. Philosophers, such as David Hume, look at self-

improvement as a byproduct of free will and determining moral judgments. Lastly, fiction works,

such as Don Quixote, examine the practical aspects of self-improvement and how one can

achieve this.

This passage of Paradise Lost depicts the conversation between the Archangel Raphael

and Adam. Raphael is advising Adam to always obey God and that he owes his existence and

happiness to God. Raphael also informs Adam that although he should always be obedient go

God, he also possesses free will. He has the power to choose to follow God and serve him

willingly, or not to do so. Raphael explains that the angels are happy to serve God and that

because they have free will they are free to love God. Raphael is having this conversation with

Adam as per God’s instructions to do so. God knew what Satan was planning and did not want

Adam and Eve to claim that they were surprised and committed the sin out of ignorance. Raphael

does not share this information with Eve because she had a dream concerning the foreshadowing

of their fall and the belief that Eve will respect Adam’s authority.
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As for the structure of this passage, Milton constructed Paradise Lost as an epic poem,

reminiscent of ancient Greek poetry such as the Odyssey or the Iliad. He also used a complex

sentence structure that could be described at Latinism. This term refers to Milton’s tendency to

use words of Latin origin which are meant to be understood as their classical meaning rather than

their current English definition. Milton also tends to structure his sentences in a Latin model,

causing the word order seems odd and confusing to modern English speakers. Milton’s diction is

also interesting in that it is exact and scholarly. Some examples of this include “angelic host” and

“not immutable”. Although Milton’s diction itself is not particularly hard to understand, it is the

word order and sentence structure that makes the passage difficult to comprehend.

Some ideas that are emphasized throughout the passage are obedience to God, and the

freedom of Adam to choose his actions. This is done mostly through repetition of words such as

“obedience” and “serve” as well as “freely” and “will”. There are many line breaks that form

mid-sentence. When this happens, it emphasizes either the verb or noun at the end of the line as

well as the noun at the beginning of the next line. An example of this in the passage is “And

good he made thee, but to persevere/He left it in thy power,” Here Milton is emphasizing both

Adam’s freedom to fall from good and into evil as well as God’s role in allowing this to happen.

The speaker throughout this passage is detached and formal. They are merely relaying the

events or conversations exactly as they happened without giving any kind of moral judgment or

bias on the subject. This is representative of Milton’s desire for this poem to be seen as a biblical

document instead of a work of fiction that is loosely based on the events of Genesis. Milton

wants to appear factual and realistic in order to seem more credible. This may also be indicative

of how Milton views religious ideals; as factual and consistent.

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God gives Adam, as well as mankind, freewill in hopes that he will choose the godly path

and serve him like Raphael and the other angels. But as we know, this does not happen and

Adam and Eve fall into sin. By including this conversation between Raphael and Adam, Milton

is not creating suspense as everyone who reads this knows the result of these events. Instead,

Milton wants his readers to realize the severity of Adam and Eve’s sin and of their misfortune.

Theoretically however, Adam could have used this knowledge to better prepare himself for an

attack from Satan and avoided the fall. It is only because of human kind’s capacity for free will

that we can improve our situation and lives.

David Hume, in An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, comes to a similar

conclusion, but rationalizes where free will comes from. Hume states that free will comes from a

combination of choosing to do something and being able to do something else if we had chosen

to do that instead. Similarly, Hume defines liberty as “a power of acting or not acting according

to the determinations of the will,” (104). Hume defines it this way in order to make it compatible

with another, usually conflicting, idea: determinism. This means that our perceptions of events

make them causally necessitated, and not the events actually having a causal relationship.

This argument can be extended to show that one can either choose to improve

themselves, or choose not to. Self-improvement may be a motivation for action because our

behavior is guided by our motives. As Hume discusses, “All laws being founded on rewards and

punishments, it is supposed, as a fundamental principle, that these motives have a regular and

uniform influence on the mind and both produce the good and prevent the evil actions,” (106).

This means that in order to achieve self-improvement, one must seek out a reward that will serve

as a motive to produce good actions. Self-improvement may also be a motivation or cause of

moral judgments. Moral judgments are based on observations of our behavior. Behaviors that
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“contribute to the peace and security of human society,” (110) are necessary for self-

improvement whereas “characters which excite blame” (110) are counter-productive for

improving one’s self. Whereas Hume looks at self-improvement in the theoretical, Cervantes

takes a more practical view of how it can be used in the real world.

Miguel de Cervantes takes yet another approach to the subject of self-improvement in

Don Quixote. Don Quixote was originally a lower middle-class farmer known as Alonso

Quixano but was unsatisfied with his role in life. He decided to create a new identity for himself.

He gave himself the title “Don”, which is typically reserved for someone of a higher class, and

became a knight errant. He also took on a squire, Sancho Panza, and renamed his horse

Rocinante, after Julius Cesar’s horse. Don Quixote created a new reality for himself, one that he

saw as much improved and one that he greatly desired.

This idea of creating your own status or lifestyle and promoting individuality was radical

during this time period where moving from one social class into another was uncommon and

frowned upon. This can be seen in the conversation between Sancho and his wife concerning

their daughter’s potential marriage. Sancho wants to marry his daughter to a wealthy title-owning

gentleman and his wife strongly disagrees with this, “I’m afraid this earldom of my daughter’s is

going to be her undoing. You go ahead and do what you like, make her a duchess or a princess if

you please, but I can tell you it won’t be with my goodwill or consent. I’ve always been in

favour of equality, and I can’t stand people getting above themselves for no good reason,”

(Cervantes 517). Here, Sancho has been swept up in the ideals of Don Quixote and believes that

there is no reason why his daughter shouldn’t marry a Duke or Earl if he so desires it. His wife,

Teresa, believes that this would be going above their station or class and that this would be

highly inappropriate and humiliating.

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The success of Don Quixote in improving his status and his reality was a mixed bag. In

Part I he was unsuccessful in that no one took him seriously. He was often mocked and made fun

of. Those that went along with his story did so out of fear that he was dangerous and that he

would become upset when faced with reality. An example of this can be found when Don

Quixote encounters the prostitutes and innkeeper at the inn. The innkeeper fear Don Quixote and

believes that the only way to get him to leave is to go along with his story by knighting Don

Quixote and immediately sending him on his way, “The innkeeper, concerned only to be rid of

his guest, replied to his rhetoric in no less high-flown although somewhat briefer terms, and was

so delighted to see the back of the man that he didn’t demand payment for his stay at the inn,”

(41). In Part II of the novel, Don Quixote is more successful as someone has written a popular

book about him and although others still see him as ridiculous, he is viewed now more as a

source of entertainment and is more highly valued. An example of this would be how the Duke

and Duchess treat him. They act according to chivalric traditions, but do so in jest. An example

of this would be the Duchess’ amusement of Sancho in his anger, “The Duchess was ready to die

of laughter as she contemplated Sancho’s wrath and listened to his speech.” (711). The Duke and

Duchess are kind to Sancho and Don Quixote, but not for pure reasons.

This brings up another aspect of self-improvement in Don Quixote. Cervantes

characterizes those in lower classes, such as Sancho and Don Quixote, as kinder, with greater

ability to grow and improve themselves, than members of higher society, such as the Duke and

Duchess. Sancho, in particular, is portrayed as wise and capable of improving himself a great

deal. This is shown clearly when he is given a chance to rule over his own “island”. Sancho turns

out to be a fair and just ruler. This contrasts sharply with the Duke and Duchess who commit

good deeds only for their own gain and use Don Quixote for their own entertainment.
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Paradise Lost, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, and Don Quixote all

discuss self-improvement. David Hume examines where self-improvement comes from in a

theoretical view, while John Milton discusses the relationship between free-will and self-

improvement. Miguel de Cervantes uses Don Quixote to illustrate how one may improve on

themselves. This standpoint is the most practical one and also discusses how this may have not

been common during this time period.