Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2000 Gods, Men and Their iG fts: a Comparison of the "Iliad", the "Odyssey", the "Aeneid" and "Paradise Lost" Paul Norman Anderson Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Anderson, Paul Norman, "Gods, Men and Their iG fts: a ompC arison of the "Iliad", the "Odyssey", the "Aeneid" and "Paradise Lost"" (2000). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7138. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7138 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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GODS, MEN AND THEIR GIFTS: A COMPARISON OF THE ILIAD, THE ODYSSEY, THE AENEID AND PARADISE LOST A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Interdepartmental Program in Comparative Literature by Paul Anderson B.A., Concordia College, Ann Arbor, 1987 M. Div., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1991 M.A., Washington University, St. Louis, 1991 May, 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9963933 Copyright 2000 by Anderson, Paul Norman All rights reserved. UMI__ ® UMI Microform 9963933 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © Copyright 2000 Paul Norman Anderson All rights reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For Laura, "My fairest, my espous'd, my latest found, Heav'ns last best gift, my ever new delight." Paradise Lost V, 18-19 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During my years at Concordia Seminary I learned the importance of the word "gift" from The Reverend Doctor Norman E. Nagel. I was pleased that Professor Robert J. Edgeworth at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge encouraged my interest in pursuing this topic in the context of epic poems. I thank him first of all for his guidance and oversight while I wrote my dissertation. Many others have encouraged me during this period of my life. In order that I might finish this study, my wife, Laura, and my children, Jessica, Kristen, Rachel and Allan, have given of their time and the attention due them. My parents Allan and Lois Anderson have supported me in many and various ways during my time of study. I wish to thank Mr. Jonathan Bradford for his editorial assistance and encouragement. Dr. Ray Allen provided production assistance, without which I never would have finished the dissertation. My other committee members, Professors Emily Batinski, Carolyn Jones, Marchita Mauck, Robert McMahon and Anna Nardo provided suggestions for improving the manuscript that were enormously helpful. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Reverends Bradley Drew and Gary Peterson listened for years as my thesis took form and as they continuously cheered me onward until its completion. Finally, I wish to thank the members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, of Baton Rouge, for giving me encouragement and the leisure necessary to complete my studies. In their midst I have learned more fully the meaning of the word "gift.” Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................... vii INTRODUCTION.................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: THE ILIAD................................... 15 CHAPTER TWO: THE ODYSSEY................................. 65 CHAPTER THREE:THE AENEID................................. 119 CHAPTER FOUR: PARADISE LOST.............................. 158 CHAPTER FIVE: COMPARISONS ..............................214 CONCLUSION.................................................256 BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................262 VITA....................................................... 269 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This dissertation is an examination of the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid and Paradise Lost based upon their similar depictions of gods and men, specifically in regard to their use of gifts. The procedure is lexical and thematic in approach. The word group around which the majority of the evidence is centered is the noun 'gift' and the verb 'to give.' The nature and use of gifts is examined in the four works under consideration. However, the evidence for the notion of gift-giving is not limited by a strict positivistic approach. Evidence from the texts that clearly includes the notion of gift giving is also supplied, though the terms are lacking. The themes which recur in this work are as follows: theodicy, the justifcation of God's ways and gifts; the obligatory nature of gifts versus a conception of free gifts; the nature of the epic description of the divine- human relationship. The Introduction presents the challenge from Milton to compare his work to the ancient classical works. Each of the major works is then presented in an individual chapter. There then follows a chapter comparing the evidence from vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. each epic. A concluding chapter summarizes the comparisons and contrasts. I acknowledge modern scholarship and often challenge the views of certain scholars, not only regarding some of their interpretations of these works, but most of all regarding the terms of discussion that are assumed when discussing epics. I assume that works which are given great reverence, such as these, must be allowed to guide the formulation of the questions we ask of them. The terms 'gift' and 'giving' define the limits of classical epic and serve to explain the divine-human relationship which they all assume exists. I conclude that Milton has received the language and structure of gift- giving from classical epic and has transformed them by inserting his God into that language and structure. Gift- giving language and gift-giving structures must be transformed by Milton's action, for His God is far more consistent and rational than the gods of classical epic. « v m Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION The proem of Paradise Lost could easily lead on to conclude that the work was primarily a Christian theodicy, a justification of God's all-merciful and omnipotent attributes, despite the presence of evil in the world. Such a conclusion, however, is incomplete. For what there is of theodicy in this work should more properly be labeled a "theodical element.” Furthermore, even that theodical element is not, in every respect, uniquely Christian. First of all, Paradise Lost is not primarily a theodicy, because it is not a work primarily about God. Like all of the four epics considered by this study, Paradise Lost is about man. It also obviously speaks about God and the story of the way in which man lost the paradise that was given to him by God. However, if John Milton had intended to write a