Milton And Dante on free will, with references to their hungarian reception
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59531/ots.2026.4.1.73-98Keywords:
Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, power of judgement, monism, dualism, animist materialism, antitrinitarianism, Neoplatonism, shadow-body, Satan, Briareus, poetry, theology, Nimrod, Alighieri, Hobbes, Leviathan, philosophy, tolerationAbstract
In the present paper the author intends to analyze the concept of free will in John Milton’s thought, in particular in his Paradise Lost, and to compare it with Dante Alighieri’s theory on free will, arguing also in favor of the thesis according to which Paradise Lost can be considered an early-modern version of Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, taking in account also the fact that Milton was a Dante-scholar and his main work was deeply inspired by Dante’s Comedy. In connection to Milton’s work are analyzed – among other elements – his animist materialism, his special monism, his relation to Hobbes, and his antitrinitarianism, as foundations of his idea on free will. In connection to Dante’s work the author tries to give an insight to his peculiar dualism, to his ideas on free will as expressed in the Comedy and in the Monarchia. Some aspects of the Hungarian reception of Milton and of Dante are also presented. In the elaboration of his own arguments the author uses the works of some highly ranked scholars.
References
Achinstein, Sh., Sauer, E. (eds.) (2007): Introduction. In: Milton and Toleration. – Oxford Academic, Oxford.https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199295937.003.0001
Alighieri, D. (1965 1962): Dante összes művei = DÖM (szerk. Kardos T.). – Magyar Helikon, Budapest.
Alighieri, D. (2019): Komédia I. Pokol. Kommentár (szerk. Kelemen J.). – ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, ELTE BTK, Budapest.
Alighieri, D. (2022): Komédia II. Purgatórium. Kommentár (szerk. Kelemen J, Nagy J.). ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, ELTE BTK, Budapest.
Ascoli, A. R. (2008): Dante and the making of the modern author. – Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511485718
Bodnár, D. (2018): Elveszett Paradicsom. John Milton eposzának filmforgatókönyve. – Szent István Társulat, Budapest.
Butler, G.F. (2006): The Fall of Tydeus and the Failure of Satan. Statius' Thebaid, Dante's Commedia, and Milton's Paradise Lost. – Comparative Literature Studies, 43(1-2): 134-152. https://doi.org/10.2307/25659508
Csantavéri, J. (2022): Szerepek és színek: két Pokol-adaptáció a Kádár-korszakban. In: Dante emlékkönyv 2021, Szegedi Egyetemi K., Szeged.
Dante emlékkönyv 2021 (szerk. Draskóczy E., Mátyus N.) (2022), Szegedi Egyetemi Kiadó, Szeged.
Draskóczy E. (2022/A): Alvilágjárások és pokolbeli büntetések. Dante Komédiájának antik és középkori forrásai. – Lazi, Szeged.
Draskóczy E. (2022/B): Purgatórium XXVII (magyar parafrázis, kommentár, értelmezés). – In: Alighieri (2022) (pp.357-368).
Dzelzainis, M. (2007): Milton and Antitrinitarianism. – In: Achinstein S-, Sauer E. (eds.), Milton and Toleration (pp.171-185). https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199295937.003.0009
Fabiny, T. (2012): „If we pray him”. Varieties of prayer in Milton’s Paradise Lost. – In: Milton through the centuries (pp.137-149).
Fabiny, T. (2022): Dante és Milton figurális szimbolizmusa. – In: Dante emlékkönyv 2021 (pp.151-168).
Fagg, R. J. (1964): Milton and the doctrine of the Synod of Dort. Arminianism in Christian doctrine and Paradise Lost. – Thesis, Master of Arts, Faculty of Department of English, University of Richmond. https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/215
Fallon, S. M. (1991): Milton among the philosophers. Poetry and materialism in Seventeenth-Century England. – Cornell U.P., Ithaca and London.
Fáj, A. (2000): Premessa. – In: Madách, I. La tragedia dell’uomo. Accademia d’Ungheria in Roma, Roma (pp.V-XVIII).
Fulton, Th. (2011): Milton and the Cultures of Print […]. – In: Humanities, May/June, Vol. 32, Nr. 3 https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/mayjune/statement/milton-and-the-cultures-print
Hadfield, A. (2007): Milton and Catholicism. – In: Milton and Toleration (pp.186-199). https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199295937.003.0010
Ittzés, G. (2012: The structure of Milton’s universe: the shape and unity of the world in Paradise Lost. – In: Milton through the centuries (pp.34-55).
Ittzés G., Péti M. (eds.) (2012): Milton through the centuries. – L’Harmattan, Budapest.
Kantorowicz, E. (1997 1957): The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology. – Princeton U.P., Princeton.
Kelemen, J. (2002): A filozófus Dante. – Atlantisz, Budapest.
Kelemen, J. (2022): Purgatórium XXV (magyar parafrázis, kommentár, értelmezés). – In: Alighieri (2022) (pp.328-341).
Klima, Gy. (2024): Az ördög incselkedései, avagy az ember tragédiája: Ágoston és Madách történelemfilozófiája. – In: Magyar keresztény gondolkodók az Árpád-kortól napjainkig (szerk. Bíró Csilla, Klima Gyula, Nagy József), Magyarságkutató Intézet, Budapest (pp.163-174).
László, E. (2022): Kiválasztás Krisztusban. Az arminiánus vita teológiai háttere. – KRE, L’Harmattan, Budapest.
Liebert, E. (2003): Knowledge and Falling in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Imre Madách’s The Tragedy of Man. – MA-thesis. University of Canterbury, Canterbury https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/13052/Liebert_thesis.pdf?sequence=1
Lutter, T. (1956): John Milton, az angol polgári forradalom költője. – Akadémiai, Budapest.
Martin, C.G. (2017): Milton’s Italy. Anglo-Italian Literature, Travel and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. – Routledge, New York and London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315617558
Milton, J. (1890, 1930 1674): Elveszett paradicsom (ford. Jánosi Gusztáv). – Franklin, Budapest.
Milton, J. (1969 1674): Elveszett Paradicsom (ford. Jánosy István), Budapest, Magyar Helikon, Budapest. https://www.scribd.com/document/397383636/John-Milton-Az-elveszett-paradicsom-pdf
Milton, J. (1997 1644): Areopagitica (ed. and Introduction by Nathan Chaney, Casey Noga, Thomas H. Luxon). – The John Milton Reading Room (JMRR)
https://milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/areopagitica/text.shtml
Milton, J. (2007 1674): Paradise Lost (ed. by Barbara K. Lewalski). – Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
Milton and Toleration (ed. by Achinstein, Sh., Sauer, E.) (2007). – O.U.P., Oxford.
Myers, W. (2019 1987): Milton and free will. An essay in criticism and philosophy. – Routledge, London and New York.
Nagy, J. (2024): The Freedom of the Will in Milton and Dante. – Tenzone: revista de la Asociación Complutense de Dantología, (23): 159-186. https://doi.org/10.26034/fr.tenzone.2024.5966
Péter, Á. (2012): Milton in the Hungarian cultural memory: two case studies. – In: Milton through the centuries (pp.165-187).
Péti, M. (2012): “Conceived altogether in Homer’s spirit”: Milton’s transformation of an Iliadic type-scene. – In: Milton through the centuries (pp.206-218).
Péti, M. (2022): Paradise from behind the Iron Curtain. Reading, translating and staging Milton in Communist Hungary. – UCL Press, London.
Ravasz, L. (1930): Milton. In: Milton (1930) (pp.iii-xxii). In: Milton through the centuries.
Sambras, G. (2012): “Die he or justice must”: God’s limited monarchy in Paradise Lost. – In: Milton through the centuries (pp.91-101).
Steinberg, J. (2016): Dante e i confini del diritto. – Viella, Roma.
Szenczi, M. (1975): Milton, az angol forradalom tükre. – Gondolat, Budapest.
Szigeti, J. (1970): Milton Elveszett Paradicsoma Magyarországon. – In: ITK, 2: 205-213.
Turner, J.G. (2007): Libertinism and toleration: Milton, Bruno and Aretino. In: Milton and Toleration (pp.107-125). https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199295937.003.0006
Vidmar, A. (1936): Dante és Madách. – Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetem Olasz Intézete, Budapest.
Wojtyla, K.J. (1991 1948): A hit Keresztes Szent János szerint (ford. Széll M.). – Szent István Társulat, Budapest.
Wojtyla, K.J. (2023 1969): Személy és tett (ford. Pálfalvi L.). – Vigilia, Budapest.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
OTS articles are subject to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivates 4.0 International Licenses Copyright Terms.
