THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

THE DEVIL‘S PARTY: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE MILTONIC SATAN IN PHILIP PULLMAN‘S HIS DARK MATERIALS

MICHAEL S. WEITZ

Spring 2010

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in English with honors in English

Reviewed and approved* by the following:

Laura L. Knoppers Professor of English Thesis Supervisor

Janet W. Lyon Associate Professor of English Honors Adviser

Sanford Schwartz Associate Professor of English Faculty Reader

* Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. i

ABSTRACT

This thesis focuses on Philip Pullman‘s young adult fantasy series, His Dark Materials, released between 1995 and 2000, and its connection to John Milton‘s Protestant epic Paradise

Lost, published in 1667. In particular, it examines how Pullman utilizes Milton‘s figure of Satan.

The Miltonic Satan has had a long history of critical analysis as well as a unique place in public discourse. Pullman uses the more modern reading of Satan as freedom fighter and epic hero as well as traditional views of Satan as a deceitful tempter. This thesis primarily examines the

Satanic parallels in Pullman‘s Lord Asriel and Mary Malone, though it also analyzes Satanic traits in other Pullman characters. Ultimately, by not relying on any one interpretation of Satan, and by representing different aspects of the character in a wide range of figures in his own works, Pullman offers choice rather than demanding adherence to his own interpretation, aligning him closely with Milton himself. Pullman also argues that Satanic qualities – good and bad – have been disseminated not only amongst his cast of characters, but amongst the human race.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

―Tears Such as Angels Weep‖: Establishing Pullman‘s Sympathetic View of the Miltonic Satan 1 Asriel and Satan: Waging War On, and In, Heaven ...... 6 Playing the Serpent: Mary Malone as Satanic Temptress ...... 14 ―A Universal Hubbub Wild‖: Pullman‘s Proliferation of Satanic Ideals ...... 21 ―The World Was All Before Them‖: Pullman‘s Satanic Dissemination ...... 28

1

“Tears Such as Angels Weep”: Establishing Pullman’s Sympathetic View of the Miltonic

Satan

Since its publication in 1667, John Milton‘s religious epic Paradise Lost has been a divisive text. The work has received high praise from literary luminaries ranging from contemporaries such as Andrew Marvell – who lauded its inclusion of ―Rebelling Angels, the

Forbidden Tree, / Heav‘n, Hell, Earth, Chaos, All‖ (qtd. in Burt 47) – to figureheads of the

Romantic period such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and especially William Blake. Yet the

Romantics‘ praise for Paradise Lost focused on the character of Satan. The oft-quoted assertion by Blake that ―the Reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devil‘s party without knowing it‖ (Blake 35) exemplifies the clash between two opposite ends of a spectrum. At one end is

Blake, along with Shelley and their Romantic comrades, as well as many modern readers. This group views Satan as a figure both heroic and tragic, and holds him up as the true hero of

Paradise Lost. The opposite end of the spectrum takes Milton‘s stated intent for his epic, to

―justify the ways of God to men‖ (I.26)1 more to heart. In order to explain Satan‘s seeming appeal, this group might agree with Stanley Fish‘s ―surprised by sin‖ hypothesis, which states that Milton crafts such an alluring Satan in order to ―trick‖ readers into sympathizing with the devil, leading to a shock when they realize how easily they have fallen into temptation2.

These are, of course, two polarized views, representing two antithetical readings of the text. Philip Pullman, author of the young adult trilogy His Dark Materials, would seem to fall in the former camp. Together, the three novels in Pullman‘s trilogy form an anti-religious saga about two young children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, who embark on a journey which

1 All citations from Paradise Lost are taken from Milton, The Major Works, eds. Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. 2 For more, see Fish, Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. 2 eventually leads into a quest to save the multiverse from the cruel ―Authority‖, a clear analogue for God, and his regent, the Metatron. Pullman has acknowledged his debt to Milton on many occasions. Most obviously, the title of his trilogy is taken from the description of Chaos in

Paradise Lost: ―But all these in their pregnant causes mixed / Confus‘dly, and which thus must ever fight / Unless the almighty maker them ordain / His dark materials to create more worlds‖

(II.913-916). The North American title of the first book in the series, The Golden Compass

(known elsewhere as Northern Lights) is also based on a quote from Milton, again about creation: ―Then stayed the fervid wheels, and in his hand / He took the golden compasses, prepared / In God‘s eternal store, to circumscribe / This universe, and all created things‖

(VII.224-227). It comes as no surprise, then, that Pullman draws heavily upon Milton‘s Satan, the most well-known and controversial character in Paradise Lost. With the tone of the novels set by their anti-religious message, one might expect Pullman to display an unabashedly pro-

Satan viewpoint in his trilogy.

Yet despite Pullman‘s own assertion that ―I am of the Devil‘s party and know it‖ (de

Bertodano), His Dark Materials does not represent an unmitigated Satanist reading of Paradise

Lost. Rather, the various echoes of Milton‘s Satan present in Pullman‘s work lead to a far more complicated vision of the character. By dispersing Satanic qualities, both positive and negative, among his characters, both heroes and villains, Pullman shows that Satan, as presented by

Milton, cannot simply be seen as a ―hero‖ or ―villain‖, as ―good‖ or ―evil‖. Rather, as with humans, Satan has characteristics that are both redeeming and damning. Not simply a blind supporter of Satan, Pullman is much more measured, taking care not merely to present a one- sided figure through his Satanic analogues in His Dark Materials. 3

Though many volumes have been written on Paradise Lost and lively critical discussion occurs over His Dark Materials, relatively little work has been done analyzing the two together.

Some scholars read Pullman as taking a Blakean stance on Milton. Stephen Burt looks at representations of the Miltonic Satan in Pullman in his chapter ―‘Fighting Since Time Began‘:

Milton and Satan in Philip Pullman‘s His Dark Materials.‖ The Romantics‘ understanding of the Satan character plays a major role in Burt‘s study. He argues that through Pullman‘s use of

Satan, His Dark Materials ultimately becomes more strongly Miltonic, rather than (as might be thought of a work which casts Satan in a positive light) hostile to the highly religious Milton‘s intended meaning. Burton Hatlen likewise connects Milton and Pullman in his ―Pullman‘s His

Dark Materials, a Challenge to the Fantasies of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, with an

Epilogue on Pullman‘s Neo-Romantic Reading of Paradise Lost.‖ In the essay, Hatlen compares

Pullman‘s ―perspectives on Milton‘s epic‖ (84). He argues that Milton allows for multiple readings of his poem, stating that ―Paradise Lost reflect the tensions within Western culture at the moment of its creation, and as a result it lends itself to a variety of readings‖ (85). But like

Burt, Hatlen views Pullman‘s trilogy through a Romantic lens, as ―a Blakean redaction of the

Miltonic mythos, directed against the neo-Christian readings of Lewis and others‖ (86).

Other scholars seem to be drawn to Pullman because they agree or disagree with his religious stance. Leonard Wheat takes the task of explicating His Dark Materials on his own shoulders in his book Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials – A Multiple Allegory: Attacking

Religious Superstition in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Paradise Lost. Wheat seems to have an ulterior motive – he sides with Pullman very strongly in denouncing religion, taking every opportunity to do so. In addition, he lays out his views, on the text and otherwise, as hard and fast rules – as facts, essentially – and leaves no room for disagreement. Despite this, 4 however, Wheat‘s book is useful for the sheer detail he provides, examining nearly every character and event in His Dark Materials in searching for analogues to Paradise Lost and its themes.

Others focus on questions of reading or on individual characters. In ―His Dark Materials,

Paradise Lost, and the Common Reader,‖ Lauren Shohet‘s interest lies less on either text and more on the reader response to the interplay between them. Her notion of ―dissenting reading,‖ however, seems extremely Satanic, for what does Paradise Lost‘s Satan do but dissent from the

Father‘s ―reading‖ of what is fair and just in Heaven? Shohet argues that the creation of such a layered text is Pullman‘s goal, and that, ultimately, this is both Pullman‘s and Milton‘s intention.

Of Paradise Lost, she writes that ―the multiplicity visible in the poem‘s fabric lets readers imagine ‗it happened this way and that way‘: Yahwist and Priestly, Eve‘s version and Adam‘s, the narrator‘s sympathy for God‘s and for the devil‘s party‖ (Shohet 64). Ludmilla Miteva-

Roussanova, in ―Dreaming of Eve: Milton versus Pullman‖, focuses primarily on Pullman‘s character of Lyra and her connection to Milton‘s Eve, with whom she is explicitly connected in the text of His Dark Materials. However, she also equates Lyra with Adam, and lays out how various other characters in Pullman‘s trilogy represent analogues of characters in Paradise Lost.

Of particular interest for Pullman‘s representation of Satan, Miteva-Roussanova discusses Dr.

Mary Malone‘s role in The Amber Spyglass as the serpent figure, who will come to facilitate the

―second Fall‖. Though never connected with Satan in the Bible, Milton‘s version of the Fall of

Man in Paradise Lost explicitly makes Satan the agent of the Fall, occupying the serpent‘s body in order to tempt Eve. Miteva-Roussanova also considers the Fall itself, its causes, and its effects. 5

In assuming that Pullman simply offers a Blakean reading of Paradise Lost, scholars have not looked at how he disseminates the character of Satan among his own cast. By not recognizing how Pullman presents multiple Satanic figures, they have missed an essential aspect of Pullman‘s theme. Most importantly, this failure to fully examine the Satanic in His Dark

Materials leads to an assumption that Pullman strongly identifies with the early Blakean ideal of

Satan, when in fact his view is much more measured. Though qualities that Blake admires in

Satan – charisma, martial prowess, a strong sense of justice – are indeed present in His Dark

Materials, focusing on these qualities has led to an incomplete reading of Pullman‘s use of

Satanic qualities. By splitting the Satan character into multiple figures in his trilogy, Pullman is free to use the dangerous, negative, destructive characteristics of Satan, such as lying, pride, and gross ambition. It is critical that Pullman does not dictate one point of view to his reader, but rather allows a choice. Choice is at the heart of His Dark Materials, perhaps even more so than

Paradise Lost emphasizes choice. Rather than simply inverting Milton, which would run the risk of the same sort of tyranny that Pullman sees as so problematic in Milton‘s God, he encourages the reader to think about such issues as religion and politics, to engage in discourse about them, and to choose their own point of view.

6

Asriel and Satan: Waging War On, and In, Heaven

The most obvious analogue to Milton‘s Satan in Pullman‘s works is Lord Asriel, an influential yet enigmatic figure in the alternate Britain Pullman creates. As the trilogy opens, readers come to know Asriel as the protagonist Lyra‘s uncle; however, it is later revealed that he is in fact her father. In The Golden Compass, Asriel initially appears as a man couched in mystery, who seemingly has his hand in nearly all the important goings-on of Pullman‘s fictional world. The first novel revolves around the mystery of Dust, a type of newly-discovered particle that is believed to be the physical manifestation of original sin; the Church, almost all-powerful in Lyra‘s world, therefore wants to destroy it. However, as the trilogy unfolds we learn that Dust is, in fact, the source of human consciousness (or perhaps a product of it), described later as

―only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself‖ (Spyglass 31). The climax of the novel reveals that Asriel‘s plan has been to create a bridge between two of the parallel universes that exist in Pullman‘s cosmology; Asriel himself states that ―somewhere out there is the origin of all the Dust, all the death, the sin, the misery, the destructiveness in the world. Human beings can‘t see anything without wanting to destroy it, Lyra. That’s original sin.

And I‘m going to destroy it. Death is going to die‖ (Compass 377). Later we learn that this is merely an intermediary step in Asriel‘s ultimate goal, to wage war on God and put an end to the control that his representatives have foisted on sentient beings throughout the entirety of the multiverse.

With their similar rebellions against God (in Pullman‘s trilogy commonly referred to as the Authority), it is easy to see the parallels between Asriel and Satan. Burt writes that ―for the first two volumes, no characters seem more like Milton‘s Satan than Lyra‘s father, Lord Asriel‖

(49). Leonard Wheat believes that Asriel‘s association with Satan is ―inescapable‖, and that 7

Asriel‘s bridge to the stars is ―further, and absolutely conclusive, evidence‖ (215. Yet, perhaps because he is such an obvious analogue, scholars tend to focus on Asriel as the sole representation of Satan in Pullman. In addition, they view Asriel in Blakean, heroic terms, ignoring the man‘s darker side. But this darker side is clearly present from the time the character is first introduced; as well, the description of Asriel is one which a reader familiar with Paradise

Lost can immediately connect with Satan.

As The Golden Compass opens, the young girl Lyra, spying in the Retiring Room, ruminates that ―the visitor mentioned by the Master, Lord Asriel, was her uncle, a man whom she admired and feared greatly. He was said to be involved in high politics, in secret exploration, in distant warfare, and she never knew when he was going to appear. He was fierce: if he caught her in here she‘d be severely punished, but she could put with that‖ (Compass 6).

Pullman has managed to work a remarkable number of Satan‘s key attributes into the reader‘s introduction to Asriel. ―High politics,‖ ―secret exploration,‖ and ―distant warfare‖ characterize the activities of both Asriel and Satan. The Miltonic language in this passage is also notable; numerous words from these lines appear again and again in Paradise Lost.

In the ―great consult‖ (I.798) in hell, Milton‘s Satan proves an expert statesmen, conspiring with Beelzebub to push his own agenda while disguising his hand in the matter: we are told that ―thus Beelzebub / Pleaded his devilish counsel, first devised / By Satan, and in part proposed‖ (II.378-380). He also manages to appear heroic in the eyes of the rebel angels even while promoting himself, offering to leave Hell and corrupt mankind. As Satan himself notes,

―long is the way / And hard, that out of hell leads up to light‖ (II.432-433); yet he will ―abroad /

Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek / Deliverance for us all: this enterprise / None 8 shall partake with me‖ (II.463-466). This serves to highlight the personal danger in which he places himself by volunteering.

―Secret exploration‖ describes the activities not only of Asriel, but also of Satan. Lyra is told by John Faa, Lord of the Gyptians (her world‘s version of gypsies, a primarily boat-faring people who have taken her in) that ―when he was a young man, Lord Asriel went exploring all over the North, and came back with a great fortune‖ (Compass 121). ―Explore‖ is also an especially apt descriptor of Satan‘s undertaking in Book II of Paradise Lost. Here, he must explore two realms; first, Satan must find the boundaries of hell in order to escape it, and then he must find his way through the realm of Chaos to the earth. In his quest to discover the way out of hell, Satan ―puts on swift wings, and towards the gates of hell / Explores his solitary flight‖

(II.631-632). In Milton‘s cosmology, hell is separated from the earth (and, evidently, everything else) by the gulf of Chaos. In order to reach the earth and corrupt mankind, Satan must first find his way there through this abyss. It is described as ―the hoary deep, a dark / Illimitable ocean without bound, / Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height / And time and place are lost; where elder Night / And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold / Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise / Of endless wars, and by confusion stand‖ (II.891-897). Satan himself, however, claims to reject the role of explorer for himself; in addressing Chaos and Night, he contends that ―I come no spy, / With purpose to explore or to disturb / The secrets of your realm‖ (II.970-972). It is conspicuous that this speech contains reference to both exploration and secrets (a word frequently in Paradise Lost), which Pullman combines into one phrase.

Later in Paradise Lost, the word ―exploration‖ is used in not just in a physical sense, but referencing a quest for knowledge. Adam asks Raphael about the formation of the universe: ―if unforbid thou mayst unfold / What we , not to explore the secrets ask / Of his eternal empire, but 9 the more / To magnify his works, the more we know‖ (VII.94-97). This intellectual curiosity is likewise characteristic of Asriel, who seeks to discover the nature of Dust, as well, and is a major theme of the trilogy. Pullman urges his reader to always seek information. The term is also used by Milton to describe an investigation of oneself; after he is confronted with the display of

Satan‘s rebellion and self-exaltation, Abdiel ―that sight endured not, where he stood / Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds, / And thus his own undaunted heart explores‖ (VI.111-113).

Again, this is a theme that Pullman investigates as well. Asriel undergoes this self-examination in The Amber Spyglass, realizing how important his daughter is to him and to the multiverse;

Mrs. Coulter does as well, to an even larger extent. As well, Mary Malone essentially conducts an emotional inventory of herself as she recounts her story to Lyra and Will (Spyglass 441-447).

It could also be said that Lyra and Will‘s discovery of their love for each other (Spyglass 466) amounts to such an investigation.

Since Paradise Lost is an epic, Milton, particularly in the early books, casts Satan as a military hero out of the Homeric tradition, echoing depictions of, for example, Achilles in the

Iliad. Satan‘s massive size is described at length (I.195-208). His military accoutrements are also especially noted, with Satan‘s ―ponderous shield / Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round,

/ Behind him cast; the broad circumference / Hung on his shoulders like the moon‖ (I.284-287) pointed out in detail; soon after, ―his spear, to equal which the tallest pine / Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast / Of some great admiral, were but a wand‖ (I.292-294) is described. The fallen angels are depicted in terms befitting military legions, rather than the heavenly choir of modern popular image, with Satan as their war leader. Asriel, as well, assumes this role in

Pullman‘s trilogy, primarily in The Amber Spyglass. Though he is described as physically powerful and imposing, the emphasis, apart from his final battle with Metatron, is not on Asriel‘s 10 personal martial ability; instead, Pullman describes his skill as a general and leader of men, which Milton also emphasizes in regard to Satan, particularly in describing the war in Heaven.

Asriel creates a vast fortress on a barren world from which to lead his rebellion against the

Authority. He convenes a war council of top allies, including the Afric king, Ogunwe, from his own world, a fierce warrior and leader of men; Xaphania, the leader of a rebel faction of angels; and Lord Roke, who represents the Gallivespians, a species of diminutive humanoids who serve as spies. These allies can be seen as a mirror of the chiefs of the fallen angels who speak in the great consul of Hell, including Beelzebub, Moloch, and Mammon. And like Satan, who develops cannon with which to battle the loyal angels (VI.470-523), Asriel‘s forces invent new technologies, including the intention craft, an extremely powerful airship that is powered, as its name implies, by the pilot‘s intentions; it is effectively controlled via thought, and can only be piloted by a human with a dæmon, an animal companion that is a sort of representation of the soul, which all humans in Lyra and Asriel‘s world possess from birth (Spyglass 214-219).

Asriel is described time and again as fierce, which also evokes Satan in Paradise Lost. In addition to Asriel‘s introduction, when he and Lyra meet again on Svalbard, Pullman writes that

―his powerful dark-eyed face [was] at first fierce, triumphant, and eager‖ (364). The word is also often used of Satan, particularly in Book IV; when Uriel spies the rebel angel outside Eden,

Milton tells us that ―his [Satan‘s] gestures fierce / He [Uriel] marked, and mad demeanour‖

(IV.128-129). Gabriel, too, later notes the ferocity of Satan‘s nature; after sighting Satan being led towards the western gate of Eden, he tells his fellows that he sees Ithuriel and Zephon, and that ―with them comes a third of regal port / But faded splendour wan; who by his gait / And fierce demeanour seems the prince of hell‖ (IV.869-871). Finally, and perhaps most importantly,

Satan uses the word to describe himself. In his verbal sparring match with Gabriel, he proudly 11 declares, ―Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain, / Insulting angel, well thou know‘st I stood

/ Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid / The blasting vollied thunder made all speed / And seconded thy else not dreaded spear‖ (IV.925-929). Satan also uses the word ―fierce‖ to describe his emotions; after witnessing Adam and Eve‘s marital bliss, Satan muses to himself about the injustice of the humans residing in Paradise, ―while I to hell am thrust, / Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire, / Among our other torments not the least, / Still unfulfilled with pain of long pines‖ (IV.508-511). Later, when Satan is struck ―stupidly good‖ (IX.465) for a time by

Eve‘s beauty, Eve‘s ―every air / Of gesture or least action overawed / His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved / His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought‖ (IX.459-462). Almost instantly, however, ―the hot hell that always in him burns‖ (IX.467) shakes Satan out of his reverie, and

―then soon / Fierce hate he recollects‖ (IX.470-471).

All this connection to Milton‘s Satan is evoked by the first lines Pullman writes concerning Asriel. The association only becomes stronger as the novels progress. Like Satan,

Asriel has a dominant personality, easily able to get his way by swaying others to his side or simply bullying them into submission. For Satan, this is demonstrated in his role in swaying a third of the heavenly host to rebel, and the position of dominance he maintains over his army in both heaven and hell. For Asriel, the attitude can be summed up in the man‘s reaction to his supposed ―incarceration‖ on Svalbard, the inhospitable, frigid island home of the panserbjørne,

Pullman‘s imagined race of sentient armored bears. Asriel‘s ―haughty and imperious nature‖ is commented upon; Pullman writes that ‗he dominated even Iofur Raknison, arguing forcefully and eloquently, and persuaded the bear-king to let him choose his own dwelling place.‖ Asriel also ―flattered and bullied Iofur Raknison,‖ and he is described in the situation as ―a prisoner acting like a king‖ (Compass 362). This skillful use of speech intimately connects Asriel with 12

Satan, who Milton depicts as the most eloquent character in Paradise Lost. This quality, however, is problematic; Satan employs his gift for speech to serve his rebellion against God, to inspire similar rebellion amongst the heavenly host, and to bring about the Fall. Asriel is also revealed to use his honeyed speech to hide his true motives and to cast himself in a more positive light.

By the beginning of The Amber Spyglass, Asriel, like Satan, has begun an all-out war on

Heaven. And, just as Paradise Lost begins with Satan and his rebel host lying insensate, ―rolling in the fiery gulf‖ (I.52) of a lake of flame, Pullman introduces the site of Asriel‘s host, a desolate and formerly uninhabited world, in similar terms: ―A lake of molten sulphur [sic] extended the length of an immense canyon, releasing its mephitic vapors in sudden gusts and belches and barring the way of the solitary winged figure who stood at its edge‖ (Spyglass 55). Asriel‘s end, too, hearkens back to this beginning; in a fight that mirrors Satan‘s battle with Michael in

Heaven, Asriel, Mrs. Coulter, and their dæmons attack Metatron. Just as Satan and his comrades are cast into Hell, ―Lyra‘s mother stood and found her footing and leapt with all her heart, to hurl herself against the angel and her dæmon and her dying lover, and seize those beating wings, and bear them all down together into the abyss‖ (Spyglass 409). The differences between these two scenes and the two characters, however, are crucial as well; one begins Paradise Lost, the other occurs near the end of His Dark Materials. Satan and his followers have been cast into Hell for their own selfishness; Asriel and Mrs. Coulter willingly, selflessly, sacrifice themselves so that their daughter might live.

While most scholars covering Pullman‘s connection to Milton have concentrated on the

Blakean, heroic qualities of the Satanic Asriel, we have seen, then, that Pullman works both negative and positive characteristics of Milton‘s Satan into the figure of Lord Asriel, prompting 13 his reader to examine the character and judge for him or herself. In the figure of Mary Malone,

Pullman even more dramatically reworks Milton‘s Satan and the very nature of the Fall.

14

Playing the Serpent: Mary Malone as Satanic Temptress

Little scholarly attention has been given to Dr. Mary Malone, the nun-turned-scientist from our earth who is told by the computer program she has rigged to ―speak‖ to Dust that

―YOU MUST PLAY THE SERPENT‖ (Knife 250). Mary is introduced in The Subtle Knife as a scholar from Will‘s world, which is also our own. She is a physicist studying dark matter, which she refers to as Shadows, and which turn out to be Dust. Lyra is directed to her by her truth- reader, and through Lyra, she eventually comes to communicate with her ―Shadows‖, which turn out to be conscious. They then inform her of her task, giving her only vague directions. She is sent to a roundabout in Oxford, eventually discovering a window to another world. There she meets the mulefa, a sentient species who use the seed-pods from the giant trees of their world to traverse the smooth, flat, hard surfaces that spiderweb its surface, theorized to be lava flows. She develops a device that allows her to view Dust, which the mulefa call sraf, as the mulefa can naturally – the titular amber spyglass of the third novel. She remains on this world until Will and

Lyra arrive.

Scholars have, if anything, avoided linking Milton‘s Satan with Mary. Wheat maintains that only one figure can be linked with Satan, and that figure is Lord Asriel. Burt briefly mentions Mary as one of a number of possible Satan figures; he calls her ―the beneficent Satan in

Pullman‘s Garden‖ (50). Scholars have not, however, explored at any length Pullman‘s rewriting of Satan as tempter in the figure of Mary. In doing so, they have overlooked how

Pullman‘s Mary rewrites both Milton and Blake.

Pullman‘s Mary, though a secondary character in a large cast, plays an extremely important role in the mythos of His Dark Materials. She is the one who ultimately causes the second Fall (which is a positive event in Pullman‘s mythos). And, as the serpent character, Mary 15 is also intimately connected with Milton‘s Satan. It must be noted that Satan does not appear in the Book of Genesis; his conflation with the serpent that does appear in that book is a much later,

Christian development. Nevertheless, Milton explicitly links the two. In Paradise Lost, Satan

―with inspection deep / Considered every creature, which of all / Most opportune might serve his wiles, and found / The serpent subtlest beast of all the field. / Him after long debate, irresolute /

Of thoughts revolved, his final sentence chose / Fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom / To enter‖ (IX.83-89). After a lengthy soliloquy by Satan, Milton then describes how ―in at his [the serpent‘s] mouth / The devil entered, and his brutal sense, / In heart or head, possessing soon inspired / With act intelligential‖ (IX.187-190).

Leonard Wheat states that ―the idea that Asriel is Satan does seem to conflict with explicit statements by Pullman identifying Mary Malone as ‗the serpent‘‖ (215), yet in fact, these ideas do not conflict at all. The multiplicity of Satanic representations adds to, rather than detracting from, Pullman‘s ultimate point. Wheat attempts to explain away the conflict he has stumbled across. He writes:

According to both PL and popular theology, the serpent in the Garden of Eden was Satan.

But in Genesis the serpent, or tempter, in Eden is not identified as Satan. This fact allows

Pullman to treat Satan and the serpent as separate entities. A further consideration is that

Mary‘s role as the serpent is explicit and is presented as a figure of speech, a metaphor,

whereas Asriel‘s role as Satan involves subtlety and must be recognized through

deduction. We can be sure that Mary, though she is a figurative serpent or tempter, is not

the Satan symbol. Asriel is Satan. (216)

Wheat is wrong on several counts. Most obviously, he makes the assumption that only one character can represent Satan. This is clearly not the case, as Milton‘s Satan is a multifaceted 16 character; to assume he can only be represented in one manner seems counterproductive. It is also an artificial and needless limitation. Further, Wheat‘s assertion that Pullman‘s positioning of Lord Asriel as a Satan analogue is ―subtle‖ and ―must be recognized through deduction‖ is tenuous at best; anyone who is familiar with the story of Paradise Lost or the Book of Genesis ought to see the connection between the two characters.

Mary is explicitly connected with Satan in a number of ways. She is, by her own admission, susceptible to the greatest of Satan‘s sins. After describing her delivery of a physics paper at a conference, she admits, ―I was full of relief and pleasure… And pride, too, no doubt‖

(Spyglass 442). She also mentions Satan when communicating with the Dust ―angels‖, who tell her they intervened in human evolution for ―vengeance‖ – though she no longer believes in God, she replies, ―Vengeance for—oh! Rebel angels! After the war in heaven—Satan and the Garden of Eden—but it isn‘t true, is it?‖ (Knife 250). In taking the path that is given to her, Mary, like

Satan, uses deception. In order to trick the guard at the window between worlds, she fashions a fake ID: ―Among the items she had taken from the drawer in the laboratory was an expired library card of Oliver Payne‘s. Fifteen minutes‘ work had produced something she hoped would pass for genuine‖ (Knife 253).

Mary and Satan have been established as the agents of temptation in His Dark Materials and Paradise Lost, respectively; of critical importance, then, are the scenes of temptation in both works. In Paradise Lost, Milton elaborates on Genesis‘ brief temptation scene, explicitly identifying the serpent with Satan, who begins his temptation thus:

Wonder not, sovereign mistress, if perhaps

Thou canst, who art sole wonder, much less arm

Thy looks, the heaven of mildness, with disdain, 17

Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze

Insatiate, I thus single, nor have feared

Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.

Fairest resemblance of thy maker fair,

Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine

By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore

With ravishment beheld, there best beheld

Where universally admired; (IX.531-541)

Satan‘s rhetoric is clear; he begins his coercing with an appeal to Eve‘s vanity, flattering her physical appearance. When he states that ―all things living gaze on‖ Eve, Satan is playing to

Eve‘s most readily apparent flaw, continuing the trend he began with his earlier whisperings in

Eve‘s ear in the form of a toad. Recounted by Eve as a dream, Satan makes similar claims then:

―heaven wakes with all his eyes / Whom to behold but thee, nature‘s desire / In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment / Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze‖ (V.45-47). Eve is partially tempted even then, but Adam reminds her that they must be faithful to God. Thus, in the actual scene of temptation, Satan must step up his rhetoric, offering Eve even more. He continues:

[ . . . ] but here

In this enclosure wild, these beasts among,

Beholders rude, and shallow to discern

Half what in thee is fair, one man except,

Who sees thee? (and what is one?) who shouldst be seen

A goddess among gods, adored and served

By angels numberless, thy daily train. (IX.542-548) 18

Satan also argues that it is not enough for Adam to appreciate her beauty. The only other companions she has in the garden are beasts and cannot appreciate Eve‘s form. It is also important to note, however, that even in this opening speech, Satan has already breached the topic of godhood. By referring to Eve as a ―goddess among gods‖ and opining that, like the

Father in heaven, she ought to be ―adored and served / By angels numberless‖, Satan has, in effect, transferred his own desires onto her.

In The Amber Spyglass, the serpent role, as played by Mary, is much more subtle. She is aware that she is ―playing the serpent‖, but doesn‘t seem aware of the particular instant of temptation. Instead, she simply tells Lyra and Will a story, the story of her falling out with the

Church; it‘s also a story about love. Yet its effects on Lyra are profound:

As Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. She found a stirring

at the roots of her hair: she found herself breathing faster. She had never been on a roller-

coaster, or anything like one, but if she had, she would have recognized the sensations in

her breast: they were exciting and frightening at the same time, and she had not the

slightest idea why. The sensation continued, and deepened, and changed, as more parts

of her body found themselves affected too. She felt as if she had been handed the key to

a great house she hadn't known was there, a house that was somehow inside her, and as

she turned the key, deep in the darkness of the building she felt other doors opening too,

and lights coming on. She sat trembling, hugging her knees, hardly daring to breathe, as

Mary went on. (Spyglass 444)3

3 In the North American editions of Spyglass, this passage was edited due to its suggestion of sexuality. These versions read only: ―As Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. She felt as if she had been handed the key to a great house she hadn‘t known was there, a house that was somehow inside her, and as she turned the key, she felt the other doors opening deep in the darkness, and lights coming on. She sat trembling as Mary went on‖. The more complete quote I have used in the main text is from the British edition; however, the page reference I have used indicates where the corresponding quote may be found in the American edition. 19

The sexualized description of Lyra‘s ―awakening‖ mirrors the language used of Eve, and there is a sense, both in Milton and in Pullman, of the knowledge received from their respective ―falls‖ having physical effects. Yet otherwise the temptation scenes, and the falls themselves, are played very differently. On the most obvious level, for Milton the Fall of Man is a negative event, though it will eventually be rectified by the incarnation of Christ. For Pullman, the second fall is a positive and necessary occurrence which halts the disappearance of Dust and the destruction of all sentient life throughout the multiverse that would occur if Dust were no more.

By setting up Mary as a counterpart to Milton‘s Satan, yet greatly altering the circumstances of the temptation and Fall, Pullman makes a critical point. In His Dark Materials, the Fall is portrayed as a positive event. Both Milton and Pullman treat the Fall as a fall into knowledge. For Milton, this is not a fortuitous occurrence; as God laments after the Fall, it would have been ―happier, had it sufficed him [mankind] to have known / Good by itself, and evil not at all‖ (XI.88-89). For Pullman, however, all knowledge is positive. With his focus on choice, Pullman views it as better to have knowledge of, and to choose, evil, than to know only good and thus be forced into pursuing it. Though seemingly opposed, this concept in fact aligns

Pullman further with Milton, who was deeply concerned about free will, both in the area of theology as well as in one‘s personal and civic life. Further, the Fall, particularly in His Dark

Materials, is a fall into sexual experience. Milton raises this issue as well. Immediately after

Adam partakes of the fruit and falls as well, its sinister effects take hold in a perhaps unexpected way: ―but that false fruit / Far other operation first displayed, / Carnal desire inflaming, he on

Eve / Began to cast lascivious eyes, she him / As wantonly repaid; in lust they burn: / Till Adam thus gan Eve to dalliance move‖ (IX.1011-1016). Though Milton strays from orthodoxy in depicting pre-lapsarian sexual activity, this instance is condemned in the text, both by characters 20 themselves and by the narrative voice. On the other hand, Pullman portrays the sexual awakening of adolescents in a positive light. He seems to be taking a stand against the taboo treatment sexuality has received in Christian circles, arguing that sexuality is a natural and essential aspect of human nature. In establishing Mary as the tempter figure, Pullman inverts

Milton, reinterpreting the Fall as a positive event, while drawing attention to the complexity of

Milton‘s Satan. By reclaiming the Fall, he trumps Milton‘s negative portrayal of the event, figuratively showing ―how all his malice served but to bring forth / Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown‖ (I.217-218), while also bringing to light Satan‘s deceitful and petty desire for revenge against God. In doing so, Pullman goes beyond the Romantic view, establishing Satan as a complex character.

21

“A Universal Hubbub Wild”: Pullman’s Proliferation of Satanic Ideals

Though Lord Asriel and Mary Malone are Pullman‘s two characters with whom the most

Satanic parallels can be seen, Pullman draws upon Milton‘s Satan in shaping a number of other characters. Although scholars have paid little attention to characters besides Lord Asriel, Burt briefly suggests some possibilities. He notes that Lord Boreal, the man from Lyra‘s world who, after finding a window between universes, takes up residence in Will‘s (and thus ours), has a

―serpent dæmon‖ with ―mailed head and emerald eyes‖(qtd. in Burt 50). He also connects the man‘s names, Boreal and Sir Charles Latrom, with Satan, noting that the first ―makes him lord of winter‖ and the second is ―‘mortal‘ spelled backwards‖ (50). He puts forth Mrs. Coulter, a primary antagonist of the series, as Satanic as well. Mrs. Coulter undergoes a sort of Satanic transformation in reverse, however; beginning the series as a scheming, Machiavellian seductress, by a hundred pages before the last book ends she has sacrificed herself for her daughter. Satan, in contrast, begins as one of, if not the most powerful and respected angel, going on to become God‘s eternal and steadfast enemy. Finally, Burt connects Satan with Will

Parry, ―whose surprisingly violent exploits liken him to heroes of pagan epic‖ (50), just as Satan, in the first two books of Paradise Lost, is continually cast in that light. Burt concludes his inventory of Satanic characters in the trilogy by invoking the concept of choice, well-suited to a discussion of Pullman; he states that ―these analogies both demonstrate and complicate

Pullman‘s Satanism: to take the right side, to champion the Republic [of Heaven], we need to decide for ourselves who the ‗right‘ Satan is‖ (50).

In giving so many characters aspects of Milton‘s Satan, Pullman seems to be suggesting that Satanic characteristics pervade human society, and, primarily, that this is a good thing.

However, as has been established, Pullman‘s treatment of Satanic elements in His Dark 22

Materials is not universally positive; he extends Satanic traits to ―evil‖ and unlikeable characters, and, perhaps more importantly, incorporates many of the negative aspects of Milton‘s Satan into his protagonists. But if Pullman acknowledges that Satan is not a flawless role model – as

Leonard Wheat phrases it, ―a hero of sorts – imperfect to be sure‖ (165, emphasis mine) – and accepts the numerous negative qualities the character displays as part and parcel with his more heroic attributes, Pullman is then forced to acknowledge that, in addition to the spirit of the courageous rebel, that of the deceitful liar has been spread amongst mankind. For all Satan represents the great warrior, so too does he represent the prideful coveter. Pullman, by multiplying the instances of Satanic representation, and by varying that representation, shows that Milton‘s Satan character has propagated itself into the Western consciousness.

Of key importance in this distribution of Satanic attributes is the trilogy‘s primary protagonist, Lyra Belacqua. Lyra begins the novel as an orphan girl who is jointly raised by the scholars at Jordan College, a fictitious school within the Oxford University system of the alternate universe in which she lives. After saving her ―uncle‖ Asriel from being poisoned, she is given an alethiometer, a truth reader (the titular golden compass of the first novel of the trilogy) which leads her on a journey to the north to rescue her kidnapped friend, Roger Parslow.

Roger‘s death at the hands of Asriel, who has been revealed to be Lyra‘s father, opens the portal to the world of Cittàgazze and eventually leads on to her larger quest, to free the spirits of the dead from their ―prison camp‖ world and ultimately to become the new Eve. Throughout all three novels, Lyra shows herself to be a master liar and manipulator. Her very name audibly suggests both ―lie‖ and ―liar‖, words used repeatedly in Paradise Lost to reference Satan and his speech. The demons in the epic catalogue of Book I ―by falsities and lies‖ (I.367) trick mankind into worshipping them instead of God. Later, God laments that mankind ―will hearken to his 23

[Satan‘s] glozing lies‖ (III.93). Later still God tells Raphael to inform Adam and Eve of the nature of their adversary, pointing out that he ―is plotting now / The fall of others from like state of bliss; / By violence, no, for that shall be withstood, / But by deceit and lies‖ (V.240-243).

Raphael tells Adam how Satan ―with lies / Drew after him the third part of heaven‘s host‖

(V.709-710), and after the Fall, God speaks to the assembled angels, saying, ―I told ye then he

[Satan] should prevail and speed / On his mad errand, man should be seduced / And flattered out of all, believing lies / Against his maker‖ (X.40-43). In addition, Satan is explicitly called a liar by Gabriel: ―To say and straight unsay, pretending first / Wise to fly pain, professing next the spy, / Argues no leader but a liar traced, / Satan, and couldst thou faithful add?‖ (IV.947-950).

In The Golden Compass, Lyra tricks the usurper king of the panserbjørne, or armored bears, into thinking she is a human dæmon; for this, the rightful king, Iorek Byrnison, bestows on her a new name:

―I told him you was coming, because I reader it on the symbol reader; and he‘s desperate

to be like a person and have a dæmon, just desperate. So I tricked him into thinking that

I was your dæmon, and I was going to desert you and be his instead, but he had to fight

you to make it happen. Because otherwise, Iorek, dear, they‘d never let you fight, they

were going to just burn you up before you got close –‖

―You tricked Iofur Raknison?‖

―Yes. I made him agree that he‘d fight you instead of just killing you straight off like an

outcast, and the winner would be king of the bears. I had to do that, because –‖

―Belacqua? No. You are Lyra Silvertongue,‖ he said. ―To fight him is all I want.

Come, little dæmon.‖ (Compass 347-348) 24

In earning this name, Lyra emulates Satan; in Christian tradition, the devil is the author of lies.

And in Paradise Lost, Satan deceives both other angels and Eve. Furthermore, Lyra takes this name as a point of pride later; she introduces herself to Will as ―Lyra Silvertongue‖ when she first meets him (Knife 20). This pride clearly connects her to Satan, as does the fact that she cast off her old name, Belacqua, because of a disconnect from her father after the death of Roger

Parslow. Similarly, it is indicated that Satan was known by another name in Heaven: ―To whom the arch-enemy, / And thence in heaven called Satan, with bold words / Breaking the horrid silence thus began‖ (I.81-83). Milton uses the name Lucifer three times, always in reference to events in Heaven; Christian tradition states that Satan was known by that name before his rebellion. Just as Lyra‘s anger at her father causes her to use a new name, Satan‘s conflict with

God the Father causes his rebellion and leads to him becoming known by a different name.

Stephen Burt notes the similarities between the two, suggesting that ―in some ways the character most like Satan is Lyra‖ (50). He notes as well that ―the essential attributes of Milton‘s Satan, after Book I, are ‗hiding and spying,‘ lying and flying; Lyra does these things too – they almost define her‖ (50).

A character in His Dark Materials who might not initially strike one as a figure comparable to Satan is the Authority. Yet upon examination, the two align in many ways.

Unlike the benevolent, all-powerful God of Christian theology, Pullman‘s Authority is neither the author of the multiverse nor an omnipotent deity. In fact, by the time the trilogy is set, the

Authority is little more than a husk sealed inside a crystalline casket, no longer wielding any real power – instead the actual clout is held by Heaven‘s regent, the Metatron. Like Milton‘s Satan, the Authority is no longer known by his true name – if he even has one. Instead, as Balthamos tells Will, ―The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, 25 the Almighty – those were all names he gave himself‖ (Spyglass 31). And like Satan, the

Authority is also a liar. Again, Balthamos informs Will, ―He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves – the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are [ . . . ] The first angels condensed out of Dust, and the Authority was the first of all. He told those who came after him that he had created them, but it was a lie‖ (Spyglass 31-32). Like

Satan, the Authority craves power over those below him, and to obtain this power, the Authority crafts a lie that Milton has Satan wonder about in Paradise Lost. Abdiel reminds Satan and his assembled host of rebels that God created them and thus they owe Him their allegiance: ―Shalt thou give law to God, shalt thou dispute / With him the points of liberty, who made / Thee what thou art, and formed the powers of heaven / Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?‖

(V.822-825). Satan, however, balks at this, contending:

That we were formed then say‘st thou? and the work

Of secondary hands, by task transferred

From Father to his son? strange point and new!

Doctrine which we would know whence learned: who saw

When this creation was? rememb‘rest thou

Thy making, while the maker gave thee being?

We know no time when we were not as now;

Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised

By our own quickening power, when fatal course

Had circled his full orb, the birth mature

Of this our native heaven, ethereal sons. (V.853-863)

What Satan argues here is the very case that happens to be the truth in Pullman‘s world. 26

However, though the Authority began as a liar and perhaps a tyrant, that is far from the character actually presented in His Dark Materials. Taken out of the Clouded Mountain by Will and Lyra, the Authority has devolved into a creature trapped in his crystal, a creature whom Lyra instinctively wants to comfort, ―because he was so old, and because he was terrified, crying like a baby and cowering away in the lowest corner‖ (Spyglass 410). He is described as ―demented and powerless‖, as an ―aged being‖ who ―could only weep and mumble in fear and pain and misery‖. Yet when he is freed of his litter, Pullman writes that ―he tried to smile, and to bow, and his ancient eyes deep in their wrinkles blinked at her with innocent wonder‖ (410). This is not the behavior of a cruel despot. Metatron has long since taken over that role. These descriptions are words that would never be used by Milton to describe the Almighty. Though readers and critics have for centuries taken issue with Milton‘s Father, who seems arbitrary at best, despotic at worst, Pullman creates a God figure who is pathetic, almost wretched. Yet the same emotions are connected with Satan. Sin, in describing her birth, reminds him that ―all on a sudden miserable pain / Surprised thee‖ (II.752-753) before she sprang out of his head. Satan later reminisces on his own situation, finding himself incapable of repentance and grieving, ―Me miserable! which way shall I fly / Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? / Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell‖ (IV.73-75). In this and other situations, Satan and the Authority seem of a kind; rather, the Authority the reader sees in The Amber Spyglass mirrors Milton‘s depictions of Satan at his most sympathetic. There is a sense from both characters that they regret what they‘ve done and what they‘ve lost by their choices, but that they are unable to turn back. For the Authority, the only option is a release from his suffering; for Satan, an ease to his pain can be found through wreaking continued havoc on God‘s creation. 27

Other characters are identified with Satan, as well. Xaphania, the leader of the angels who side with Asriel, is a clear counterpart to Milton‘s leader of rebel angels. She even rebels for much the same reason, from a certain perspective; as related to Will, ―one of those who came later was wiser than he [the Authority] was, and she [Xaphania] found out the truth, so he banished her‖ (Spyglass 32). As has been established, Satan speculates on the true nature of the angels‘ creation. Though in Milton this is merely an attempt to justify rebellion, in Pullman‘s world, it turns out to be the truth, linking the two characters.

28

“The World Was All Before Them”: Pullman’s Satanic Dissemination

Much ink has been spilled over the anti-religious nature of His Dark Materials, and

Pullman himself has freely admitted as much in interviews and essays. Yet by drawing on

Paradise Lost, Pullman goes beyond an attack on religion. Aside from simply retelling the story,

Pullman comments on Paradise Lost simply in the act of writing. As other scholars have noticed, Pullman‘s retelling focuses on issues of the Satanic. But rather than casting the Satan figure as the epic hero, elevating him upon a pedestal while critiquing the Father as a tyrant to whom the reader cannot relate, Pullman‘s usage of Satanic characteristics in his characters points out a more realistic premise. Through his distribution of Satanic attributes and allusions to a wide variety of characteristics – good and bad, major and minor – Pullman suggests, perhaps to the horror of strictly orthodox readers of both his trilogy and Paradise Lost, that the ideals represented by the Miltonic Satan are present, in one form or another, in all human beings.

Yet Pullman also takes care to acknowledge that Satan is not a shining example of the repressed fighter for freedom standing up to a cruel autocrat. Satan is also a liar, a conniver, a being who sometimes relishes in suffering. Pullman does not shy away from these aspects of the character; instead he explores them, because like those other, more positive qualities, they too are ever-present in our post-lapsarian, post-Miltonic world. By incorporating these qualities into his characters and consciously connecting them back to Milton, Pullman creates a more realistic perspective on the world than either his Romantics forbears or Milton himself. And by spreading these ideals among so vast an array of characters, Pullman deftly points out that Milton and his

Satan figure have come to pervade our consciousnesses.

In interspersing these two sides of the Miltonic Satan throughout His Dark Materials,

Pullman, finally, gives the reader a choice. No single point of view is given; instead, all the facts 29 are laid out, and it is left up to the reader to take them in, synthesize them, and choose their own reading. This is, perhaps, Pullman‘s most significant goal for the trilogy. By encouraging the act of choice in reading, he hopes to inspire the same act in the life of his readers. The skill set he aims to teach – analysis, synthesis, conclusion, and choice – is, in essence, the key to formulating personal philosophies on many of life‘s ―big issues‖ – the same big issues, like politics and religion, that Pullman discusses in His Dark Materials. Instead of dictating his own points of view on the matter, Pullman instead equips his audience to arrive at their own conclusions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blake, William. ―The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.‖ The Romantics on Milton. Ed. Joseph

Anthony Wittreich, Jr. Cleveland: The Press of Case Western Reserve University, 1970.

34-35.

Burt, Stephen. ―‘Fighting Since Time Began‘: Milton and Satan in Philip Pullman‘s His Dark

Materials.‖ Milton in Popular Culture. Eds. Laura Lunger Knoppers and Gregory M.

Colón Semenza. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 47-57. de Bertodano, Helena. ―I am of the Devil‘s Party.‖ The Daily Telegraph 29 Jan 2002: n. pag.

Web. 19 Mar 2010.

Hatlen, Burton. ―Pullman‘s His Dark Materials, a Challenge to the Fantasies of J. R. R. Tolkien

and C. S. Lewis, with an Epilogue on Pullman‘s Neo-Romantic Reading of Paradise

Lost.‖ His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Philip Pullman’s Trilogy. Ed.

Millicent Lenz with Carole Scott. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005. 75-94.

Milton, John. ―Paradise Lost.‖ The Major Works. Eds. Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Miteva-Roussanova, Ludmilla. ―Dreaming of Eve: Milton versus Pullman.‖ TRANS: Internet

Journal for Cultural Studies 15 (May 2004): n. pag.

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass. New York: Dell Yearling, 1995.

Pullman, Philip. The Subtle Knife. New York: Dell Yearling, 1997.

Pullman, Phllip. The Amber Spyglass. New York: Dell Yearling, 2000.

Shohet, Lauren. ―His Dark Materials, Paradise Lost, and the Common Reader.‖ Milton in

Popular Culture. Eds. Laura Lunger Knoppers and Gregory M. Colón Semenza. New

York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 59-70.

Squires, Claire. Philip Pullman, Master Storyteller: A Guide to the Worlds of His Dark

Materials. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006.

Wheat, Leonard F. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials – A Multiple Allegory: Attacking

Religious Superstition in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Paradise Lost.

Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008.

ACADEMIC VITA

Name: Michael S. Weitz

Address: 3239 Independence Court Bensalem, PA 19020

Email: [email protected]

Education Major: English Honors: English

Thesis Title: The Devil‘s Party: Representations of the Miltonic Satan in Philip Pullman‘s His Dark Materials Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Laura L. Knoppers

Work Experience December 2003 – August 2004 Bagger/Cashier Retail associate performing a variety of duties; later checkout cashier. Acme Markets, Morrisville, PA Supervisor: Kristy Hedgecoth, Assistant Manager

January 2006 – present Barista Primarily charged with preparing espresso drinks, as well as preparing pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, and performing customer checkout. Occasional duties as bookseller or cash-wrap checkout. Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Fairless Hills, PA Supervisor: Sheri Ratner, Manager

Awards: Dean‘s List, Spring 2007; Fall 2007; Fall 2008; Spring 2008; Spring 2009; Fall 2009

Language Proficiency: German – levels 1-5 high school, three semesters university