Milton and Areopagitica Lecture (02/03/2012) Milton allows freedom of expression to groups such as his own, but restricts

it from other groups, such as Catholics, and similarly undesirable groups. Importance of building rhetoric on the basis of understood consensus. Pamphlet was a seminal document type not printed terribly quickly, but it reached a second edition in the mid seventeenth century as ideas criticising regimes began to bubble up. UK Bill of Rights the right to petition parliament without fear; freedom of speech within parliament; US Bill of Rights, limiting what central governments could do and command of their citizens. Declaration of the Rights of Man. Violence of the French Revolution puts a cap on freedom of expression legislation, placing it on the backburner until... After WWII some opening up UN Declaration on Human Rights (1948). Freedom of expression regardless of medium or frontier. What does Areo do, what does it achieve, and how does it affect rhetoric? Common strands to early modern speeches: importance of ethos (rhetorical persona) in stirring an audience. The ways in which speeches are constructed Quintilian and Cicero. Meaning is negotiated in partnership with the medium of reception it matters that audience and speaker are connected by a common strand. What survives of James and Elizabeths speeches is some sort of echo of the moment of oral delivery. With Milton the situation is more complex. Milton is writing at the beginning of the modern media age; the beginning of a news revolution; politics and public affairs affected by printing. Milton aware of how rhetoric operates in print as how it operates in an oral/aural context. He can frame himself as a virtual speaker within a virtual auditorium amidst a virtual audience. Contrast his view of parliamentary rhetoric in PL. Here, he is hopeful that speeches can steer people to good aims. PL published during the restoration; during the Commonwealth he was involved with politics. While he was never enfranchised, he does try to use print to shape a virtual parliamentary camera outside of the formal conditions of the chamber itself. He tries to spread political responsibility among the people making citizens out of subjects (men; certain types of men; intellectual requirements). At this period England has a heavily centred print industry. By 1642, control had loosened leading to 1156 non-governmental pamphlets being printed. New opportunities for independent thinkers to shape thought. Before the Civil War he is the unemployed graduate, going down from university in 1632. In 1640 his political writing takes off. In 1649 he is appointed Secretary of Foreign Tongues a crucial post in persuading the rest of Europe that England remains a valid nation. Extraordinarily capable linguist. Presents himself as learned and highly polished. So why did this man not become a clergyman, and why did he not become a parliamentarian? He was too far removed in terms of belief to be ordained in the Church of England. He was seemingly bullied at University perhaps didnt have an impressive speaking voice a clear stumbling block at a time where speaking was so important. Miltons first marriage ran into difficulties, and within a very short number of weeks she left. He was a parliamentarian, she was a royalist. He published a series of tracts arguing for divorce if there were grounds of irreconcilable difference. Normal controls were breaking down alarm at the growth of wild religious groups. Faced with a burgeoning world of freedom, Parliament issued a licensing order (1642) that decreed that all books should be passed by a Board of Censors who would approve the texts or otherwise. In 1644 the Company of Stationers ask parliament to supress all unlicensed books. In Nov 1644, Milton issues Areo addressed to the parliament of England.

As in his divorce pamphlets, it is advertised as a speech. For Milton, however, this is an act of deliberate rhetoric designed to shape rhetoric. The title refers to the original democratic debating chamber of ancient Athens, and the content is an appeal for the freedom to write in accordance with ones own conscience. (Clearly over long for oral delivery.) It positions Milton in a position of being a modern Athenian. Persona of Isocrates (who happened to have a weak speaking voice). Epigram taken from Euripides, taken from the foundation of democratic principles on Athens (by Theseus). This is the paratext which sets up a frame for the rest of the rhetoric. Milton places Britain at a similar watershed. Milton was, perhaps, playing to an educated elite. Milton is inferring that censored books is like slaughtered children (submerged female identity?). The pamphlet follows the structure of classical speeches: Exordium He starts by establishing his ethos as a plain-speaking free man, using the historical trope of impersonation. He places himself in the company of others (who have been permitted to address parliament), using parallel devices to line himself up with others (extract B). This would have read as a tactful way in, establishing his right to speak. [Mixed emotions.] Goes on to praise parliaments for its achievemnts to that point (with Gods help). Protests that only freedom of speech shows what has been done to be sincere, and what he is doing to be sincere. Narratio The facts of the matter. Lays out his argument for the freedom of the press (extract C). Now he uses a voice to think about books an equivilancy is built up between humans and books. Suggests that books and their content have a type of surrogate life. (Habermass theory of Public / Private Sphere look at a whole political nation depends on the growth of a print culture where people could have the sense of a shared reading community that went beyond their own friends. Milton to some extent anticipating Habermass?) For M., books are not dead things prosopopeia. Mixed metaphors (knowingly) Egyptian process of the transmutation of souls. Fragmentation of metaphor. (BooksTruth) this is an example of syllogism. Reason is the image of God in man (commonplace idea). Importance of life over killing. Makes use of historical precedence to add weight to his argument. Catholic Church is singled out for criticism: the suppression of literature (not allowed to print as they dont believe in the freedom of speech). Writing for an audience which believes in Biblical truth weight of argumentation. Extract D comes within a discussion of a living biblical text. Odd folding of Christian church onto the Egyptian myth of how Osiris operates. An example of a fable negotiating the gap between the history of the Bible and reality. Division Proof Refutation Peroration Flatters his readers as being at a crucial point in English nationhood. Also an exhortation to rise from the sleep of ignorance. Peculiar use of sight imagery, suggesting potential difficulties. Metaphor is fragmented, because truth is not singular, but rather had lots of different forms. Handing power back to parliament; to those empowered to do something about it. The lasting message of the pamphlet was that political writing had a life beyond that of its author. [Vincent Blas, Yale Law School].