vi ABSTRACT
Putro, Albertus Eko N.W. (2015) Symbols and Their Meanings in The Ninth Book of Paradise Lost Poem by John Milton. Yogyakarta. English Language Education Study Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
The study is about symbols used by John Milton in his work Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost seems to have a relation with the Holy Bible. It is a paraphrase of a part in the Book of Genesis from The Old Testament, which talks about how the first human kind fell into sin. While Paradise Lost consists of twelve books, this paper focuses on the ninth book. This step was intended in order to limit the discussion about this poem. This paper aims to find the symbols that can be found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost, a poem by John Milton. This paper is going to discuss two problems: 1) What are the symbols found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost? 2) What are the meaning of the symbols found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost?
This paper used the mythological criticism approach. There were two mythologies used by the poet as a symbol to represent something. They were Roman and Greek mythologies. The theory which the writer used is the theory of sign. This theory becomes the stepping ground to find the meaning of the symbols found in ninth book of Paradise Lost.
There are some symbols that can be found in the poem. The symbols are: apple which represents the fruit of knowledge, snake or serpent represents the wickedness & sly, goddess which represents Eve, and Satan which represents evil. Each of them represents something in the poem. The meaning of those symbols can be found by looking and analyzing their connection, though there is a symbol which already had its own meaning.
vii
ABSTRAK
Putro, Albertus Eko N.W. (2015) Symbols and Their Meanings in The Ninth Book of “Paradise Lost” Poem by John Milton. Yogyakarta. English Language
Education Study Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
Penelitian ini tentang penggunaan simbol oleh penyair John Milton dalam karyanya yaitu Paradise Lost. Puisi Paradise Lost memiliki kaitan dengan kitab suci dan merupakan parafrase salah satu bagian dari Kitab Kejadian, yang mengisahkan tentang bagaimana manusia pertama jatuh kedalam dosa. Paradise Lost terdiri dari duabelas buku. Penelitian ini akan lebih berfokus pada buku ke sembilan. Langkah ini dilakukan untuk membatasi ruang lingkup diskusi tentang puisi tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan mencari simbol yang terdapat dalam buku ke sembilan dari Paradise Lost oleh John Milton. Terdapat dua rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini: 1)Simbol apa saja yang dapat ditemukan dalam buku kesembilan dari Paradise Lost? 2) Apa makna dari simbol yang ditemukan dalam buku kesembilan dari Paradise Lost?
Penelitian ini akan menggunakan pendekatan kritik mitologi. Ada dua mitologi yang digunakan oleh penyair untuk merepresentasikan sesuatu, yaitu mitologi Roma dan mitologi Yunani. Sedangkan teori yang akan digunakan adalah teori tentang tanda. Teori ini akan menjadi pijakan untuk mencari makna dari simbol-simbol yang ditemukan dalam buku ke sembilan dari Paradise Lost.
Terdapat beberapa simbol yang ditemukan pada puisi. Beberapa simbol tersebut adalah apel yang merepresentasikan buah pengetahuan, ular yang merepresentasikan kelicikan, dewi yang merepresenasiakan Hawa dan Satan yang merepresentasikan kejahatan. Setiap simbol tersebut mewakili sesuatu di dalam puisi. Makna dari simbol-simbol tersebut dapat ditemukan dengan cara menganalisis kaitan antar simbol, meskipun begitu terdapat simbol yang sudah memiliki maknanya sendiri.
i
SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANINGS IN THE NINTH BOOK
OF PARADISE LOST POEM BY JOHN MILTON
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN FINAL PAPER
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendididkan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Albertus Eko Nugroho Wuryanto Putro Student Number: 101214087
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Albertus Eko Nugroho Wuryanto Putro
Nomor Mahasiswa : 101214087
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya dengan judul:
“SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANINGS IN THE NINTH BOOK OF
PARADISE LOST POEM BY JOHN MILTON”
Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan, dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 29 Juli 2015 Yang menyatakan
vi ABSTRACT
Putro, Albertus Eko N.W. (2015) Symbols and Their Meanings in The Ninth Book of Paradise Lost Poem by John Milton. Yogyakarta. English Language Education Study Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
The study is about symbols used by John Milton in his work Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost seems to have a relation with the Holy Bible. It is a paraphrase of a part in the Book of Genesis from The Old Testament, which talks about how the first human kind fell into sin. While Paradise Lost consists of twelve books, this paper focuses on the ninth book. This step was intended in order to limit the discussion about this poem. This paper aims to find the symbols that can be found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost, a poem by John Milton. This paper is going to discuss two problems: 1) What are the symbols found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost? 2) What are the meaning of the symbols found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost?
This paper used the mythological criticism approach. There were two mythologies used by the poet as a symbol to represent something. They were Roman and Greek mythologies. The theory which the writer used is the theory of sign. This theory becomes the stepping ground to find the meaning of the symbols found in ninth book of Paradise Lost.
There are some symbols that can be found in the poem. The symbols are: apple which represents the fruit of knowledge, snake or serpent represents the wickedness & sly, goddess which represents Eve, and Satan which represents evil. Each of them represents something in the poem. The meaning of those symbols can be found by looking and analyzing their connection, though there is a symbol which already had its own meaning.
vii
ABSTRAK
Putro, Albertus Eko N.W. (2015) Symbols and Their Meanings in The Ninth Book of “Paradise Lost” Poem by John Milton. Yogyakarta. English Language
Education Study Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
Penelitian ini tentang penggunaan simbol oleh penyair John Milton dalam karyanya yaitu Paradise Lost. Puisi Paradise Lost memiliki kaitan dengan kitab suci dan merupakan parafrase salah satu bagian dari Kitab Kejadian, yang mengisahkan tentang bagaimana manusia pertama jatuh kedalam dosa. Paradise Lost terdiri dari duabelas buku. Penelitian ini akan lebih berfokus pada buku ke sembilan. Langkah ini dilakukan untuk membatasi ruang lingkup diskusi tentang puisi tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan mencari simbol yang terdapat dalam buku ke sembilan dari Paradise Lost oleh John Milton. Terdapat dua rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini: 1)Simbol apa saja yang dapat ditemukan dalam buku kesembilan dari Paradise Lost? 2) Apa makna dari simbol yang ditemukan dalam buku kesembilan dari Paradise Lost?
Penelitian ini akan menggunakan pendekatan kritik mitologi. Ada dua mitologi yang digunakan oleh penyair untuk merepresentasikan sesuatu, yaitu mitologi Roma dan mitologi Yunani. Sedangkan teori yang akan digunakan adalah teori tentang tanda. Teori ini akan menjadi pijakan untuk mencari makna dari simbol-simbol yang ditemukan dalam buku ke sembilan dari Paradise Lost.
Terdapat beberapa simbol yang ditemukan pada puisi. Beberapa simbol tersebut adalah apel yang merepresentasikan buah pengetahuan, ular yang merepresentasikan kelicikan, dewi yang merepresenasiakan Hawa dan Satan yang merepresentasikan kejahatan. Setiap simbol tersebut mewakili sesuatu di dalam puisi. Makna dari simbol-simbol tersebut dapat ditemukan dengan cara menganalisis kaitan antar simbol, meskipun begitu terdapat simbol yang sudah memiliki maknanya sendiri.
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to The Almighty God for His blessing in doing my final paper. His blessing gives me inspiration and will power to do my final paper.
My gratitude also goes to my father and my mother, JF. Supriyanto and MG. Wuryati, for the big support they have given to me and their prayers, as
they always encouraged me to do my final paper.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor Ibu Veronica Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A., for her guidance, advice, and patience in
guiding me to finish my final paper. Without her patience and attention this final paper would not be finished well.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my two seniors in Teater Seriboe Djendela. First is Kang Padmo Adi for his support and encouragement
in doing my final paper, also for letting me to work on my final paper in his boarding house, even though he was still in the process of doing his post-graduate thesis. Second is Mas Agathon Hutama for his support and the time as my proof reader in grammar.
ix
Yanuari Christiawan, Ign. Martino, and all members of Teater Seriboe
Djendela family for their support and encouragement to do my final paper.
x
2. The Meaning of Symbols Found in Paradise Lost Book 9 ………. 17
CHAPTER III. CONCLUSION……….. 21
1 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of the background of the study and the research method of the study. The background of the study provides general information about the topic, the problem formulation, and the objectives. The approach of the study provides the description of the approach used by the writer.
A. Background
Poetry is one of the three majors in literature beside prose and play. It has its own aesthetic aspects such as rhythm, figurative language, and its writing style. Some people might find their own pleasure in writing and/or reading a poem. This pleasure usually found by including feelings or thoughts through words which picked very carefully. Some people sometimes put some messages in poems they write. Some poets also have the skill to write poems by paraphrasing another work of literature such as prose like bible and also the skill to put symbols in their poems through the figurative language such as metaphor or compare some aspects with another thing. John Milton is one of the poets who have the skill to paraphrase and use the symbols by comparing some aspects with other things.
symbols to paraphrase the Book of Genesis from the Holy Bible and also the way John Milton portrayed some aspects in the poem by comparing them to the mythology from Rome and Greek.
The Book of Genesis from the Old Testament in Christian Holy Bible talks about the creation of the world and also the fall of mankind into sin. It talks about how God created the world in seven days, and in the sixth day He created the first human Adam and Eve. Later they disobeyed God’s command by eating the forbidden fruit even though God had warned them about the consequence of eating the forbidden fruit. Thus God exiled them from the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost Book 9 is chosen because based on the writer interpretation, from all the twelve books of Paradise Lost, book 9 is the part where the conflict began. Paradise Lost Book 9 talks about how the first human fell into sin.
The writer provides some cultural aspects from some regions. These cultural aspects are a kind of useful research resource to get some information about the meaning of the signs or symbols found in the poem in some cultures. The two main cultures which used in this paper are Greek and Roman. Some other cultures might be used in order to provide another perspective of those symbols. This information can be used to find the relation between some signs or symbols.
Therefore, based on the background, questions to this problem are formulated as follows:
1. What are the symbols found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost?
2. What are the meanings of the symbols found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost?
From those two questions, the objectives of this paper are clear. They are to find the meaning and to analyze the symbols and how they connect to each other. Also by studying these aspects, this paper might provide the knowledge about symbols or signs and about the connections between them. Aside from the objectives this paper might be used to provide more references in studying poetry.
B. Approach of the Study
In a glimpse, this poem is like paraphrasing the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. The ninth book talks about the fall of mankind in which Eve was deceived by Satan himself before she dragged Adam into sin too. They ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge. Satan himself deceived Eve with his silver tongue. Satan succeeded in deceiving Eve especially when she could convince Adam to eat the fruit. This ninth book of the poem consists of 1189 lines.
Then, the secondary data are the myths which are used to symbolize or describe some aspects in the ninth book of Paradise Lost. John Milton used some folklores or myths from two cultures which are Greek and Roman. These data are required to find how the symbols are connected to each other in order to help the writer find the relation between the signs or symbols in the poem. By looking at those cultures the writer could find how the symbols are presented and of course it is based on the writer’sinterpretation.
Since the discussion deals with cultures and myths the writer uses the approach of mythological criticism. By applying the mythological criticism approach, the writer tries to reveal the relation between the myths or cultures used and some aspects within the ninth book of the Paradise Lost. The writer believes that there are some connections between symbols found in the poem.
common humanity by tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols common to different cultures and epochs (p.1951).”and still according to them, the key to mythological criticism is the archetype, “a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a deep universal response (p.1951),” and this archetype is developed by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, as cited by Kennedy and Gioia (1999), all individuals share a “‘collective unconscious,’ which is a set of primal memories common to the human race, existing below each person’s conscious mind.”—often deriving from primordial phenomena such as the sun, moon, fire, night, and blood, still according to Jung as cited by Kennedy and Gioia (1999)archetypes “trigger the collective unconscious (p.1951).”
6 CHAPTER 2
DISCUSSION
This chapter contains two parts. The first is the review of related literature and the second is the discussion on the problem formulations mentioned in Chapter 1. The provided review of related literature is to support the discussion. They are Paradise Lost book 9, the theory, and the mythology. The discussion deals with some symbols which are found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost, their meanings based on certain cultures, and the connection between them.
A. Review of Related Literature
1. Paradise Lost Book 9
Paradise Lost is one of the poems written by John Milton. Paradise Lost Book 9 talks about how Satan subtly entered the Garden of Eden in a form of a snake. He patiently waited for the opportunity to drag human into sin. He observed Adam and Eve before he decided to deceive one of them.
In the end, Eve was convinced by Satan’s words. She demanded Satan to guide her into the tree which bore that fruit. Once they arrived at that tree, Eve was tempted by the smell of the fruit and she plucked it from its tree. She ate it and the knowledge flowed into her instead of death. At the same time as the knowledge flowed into her, Eve developed a thought and feeling known as jealousy.
After Eve ate the fruit, she was thinking how she had to face Adam. Should she keep this perfection –knowledge–alone? Or should she share it with Adam? Then jealousy took over her. If she kept this knowledge for herself alone, what would happen to Adam after this? Will God create another Eve for him? So, she decided to share the knowledge with Adam, as she did not want Adam to live with another Eve. So, she came back to where Adam was and brought some fruits for him to eat.
She told Adam what she had done. As she explained it to Adam, Adam got the chill of fear and terror. How could Eve do something which was forbidden? How could she break the rules from God? How could she be so disobedient? But then, he thought to himself. Eve was created by God for him. He did not want to live with another Eve. Eve was love whom God had given to him. So, he decided to eat the fruit and bore the burden together.
However, after that, he blamed Eve out of the desperation he got. How he had to face God now? How he had to explain what they had done to God? Out of desperation, they made some clothes from plants to cover their private parts, and went deeper into the forest of Eden in order to hide from God.
2. Theory of Sign
The theory that used in this paper is about symbol which is a part of sign (later will be clarified in the end of this section). This was developed by Roland Barthes, who was a Saussurrean. Barthes (1981) stated that “The aim of semiological research is to reconstitute the functioning systems of signification other than language in accordance with the process typical of any structuralist activity, which is to build a simulacrum of the objects under observation.” This theory talks about signs – which are also called as semiotics – where sign is divided into three parts. First is the sign itself, second is the signifier, and the last is the signified. Signifier is the material aspect which could be sounds, pictures or letters. Signified is the mental aspect which is presented by the material aspect.
sign with other sign before or the sign after. The relation includes the cause and effect relation in which we need to imagine what will happen.
According to Sunardi (2002), the process of signifying is called the signification. Signification comes from the Latin word significatio which consists of two words which are signum (sign) and facere (create). “Significatio berarti – menurut Kamus Latin-Indonesia – ‘hal menunjuk, hal menyatakan,
pengungkapan, petunjuk, tanda, isyarat” (p.47). According to Sunardi (2002) hal menunjuk (something which refers to) or hal menyatakan (something which states) are the closest definition of significatio. Sunardi (2002) also states that the meaning of sign is not innate (static or never changes); instead it is a result of a system of sign which is used by certain group or society.
Another article that supports this theory of semiology is the paper entitled Pierce’s Theory of Sign by Albert Atkin. It is explained in the paper that Pierce
3. The Mythologies
The mythologies that are mainly discussed in this paper are the Roman mythology and the Greek mythology. The Roman and Greek mythology are chosen because the writer found that in Paradise Lost Book 9, those two mythologies are mostly used by John Milton. Another mythology from another religion or region is presented in order to provide a comparative material to the other two mythologies mentioned above. The Roman mythology is not really different from the Greek mythology. These two cultures share a similar mythology. It can be seen from the pantheon (gods and goddesses). Some of Roman gods are the same gods in Greek; they just have different names such as the god of thunder in Greek, Zeus. In Roman mythology, Zeus is known as Jupiter. Artemis, the Greek goddess of moon, is known as Diana in Roman mythology. This is the list of comparison between Roman and Greek God.
Roman and Greek God Comparisons
Roman Greek
Apollo Apollo
Bacchus Dionysus
Ceres Demeter
Cupid Eros
Diana Artemis
Fortuna Janus
Jupiter Zeus
From the comparison, some of the Roman gods and Greek gods are the same, they just have different names. Also, it can be seen that some of the Roman gods’ names are the names of planets in our solar system. The only goddess in the solar system is Venus–Aphrodite in Greek–while other planets are named after gods. Venus or Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty which according to the Mythology: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty (p.124).
Venus Greek
(Aphrodite)
Figure 2.3: Venus (Source: http://www.crystalinks.com)
Figure 2.4: Statue of Aphrodite
(Source: http://www.crystalinks.com)
B. Discussion
1. Symbols Found in Paradise Lost Book 9
This part is presented to answer the first problem formulation “What are
the symbols found in Paradise Lost book 9?” Here are some symbols that the writer found in the poem. The listed symbols are only those which represent some aspects the writer considered to be important. The symbols found in the poem Paradise Lost book 9 are as follows:
As people know, apple is a kind of fruit with the red or green color, sweet taste, and refreshing when one eats it. In this poem apple represents the fruit of knowledge. It is proven in these lines:
“Loaden with fruit of fairest colours mixed,
Ruddy and gold. In nearer drew to gaze; When from the boughs a savoury odour blown,
Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense 580 Than smell of sweetest fennel, or the teats
Of ewe or goat dropping with milk at even, Unsucked of lamb or kid, that tend their play. To satisfy the sharp desire I had
Of tasting those fair Apples, I resolved” 585(Paradise Lost p.504)
Those lines are Eve’s thought after being led by Satan – who takes form of a snake/serpent– to the forbidden tree which bears the fruit of knowledge as her demand. She had those thought after she saw the fruit and smelled its scent. It can be seen that the fruit of knowledge is represented by an apple proven by the line “Of tasting those fair Apples, I resolved.” “Ruddy and gold” shows that the color of the
apple is the mixed color of red and gold. In line 580 to line 583 shows that the apple has the tempting smell.. Because the smell was tempting Eve’s desire (which might be her desire to knowledge or just her curiosity to taste the very tempting apple) she finally decided to eat the apple or the fruit of knowledge.
b. Snake or serpent
poison. However, in Chinese culture, snake or serpent is related to dragon, the mythological serpent-like creature, which represents wisdom, might, and something divine. In Greek culture, snake or serpent is related to Medusa, or according to Loomis (1965) “Gorgon Medusa” killed by Perseus. Medusa is a mythological creature in a form of snake haired woman. It is said that those who look at her eyes, will be petrified and turn into stone. In other perspective snake or serpent represents immortality. Even in the Greek culture, there is a snake called Ouroboros, usually pictured with a snake curling its body and biting its own tail. This symbolization created the belief that snake has the ability to live forever by eating itself and be reborn anew. Thus snake or serpent could be also a symbol of creation and destruction and immortality.
Figure 2.5: Ouroboros (Source: http://mythologian.net)
In the poem the symbol snake or serpent can be found in these lines,
“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
From sharpest sight; for in the wily snake Whatever sleights none would suspicious mark As from his wit and native subtlety
Proceeding, which, in other beasts observed,”(Paradise Lost p.464-475)
Those lines describe that snake or serpent is the subtlest animal among the other kinds of animals. It proceeds using its instinct to move without being caught or seen. Those lines also describe that snake or serpent is the most suitable vessel or form for Satan in doing his mission to enter the Garden of Eden in order to deceive Eve.
c. Goddess
Figure 2.6: Aphrodite (Source : Age of Mythology)
d. Satan
Anyone who hears the word or sees a picture of Satan mostly imagines about something scary, evil, wicked, inhuman, and monstrous. Satan always tries to persuade human to do something bad and drag them into sin. That is why Satan has always been considered as an enemy of God in many cultures.
The symbol Satan can be found in these lines:
“...When Satan, who late fled before the threats Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improved
In meditated fraud and malice, bent 55
On Man’s destruction, maugre what might hap
Of heavier on himself, fearless returned….” (Paradise Lost p. 472)
2. The Meaning of Symbols found in Paradise Lost Book 9
This part is presented to answer the second problem formulation “What
are the meanings of the signs or symbols found in the ninth book of Paradise Lost?” From the list presented above, we could see some of the meanings. However, some of those symbols have further meaning. The further meaning could be discovered by seeing the relation in each symbol, whether it is the relation between a symbol and itself or between a symbol and other symbols.
The first symbol is apple. As explained in the section “Symbols found in Paradise Lost book 9,” the apple in this poem represents the fruit of knowledge. The apple here is the signifier or the material aspects, while the signified or the mental aspect is the fruit of knowledge. In the Bible, the fruit of knowledge is the forbidden fruit to eat. As Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they were doing something which is called sins by the society. Why the apple (signifier) is used to represent the fruit of knowledge (signified) which dragged Adam and Eve into sin might influenced the Latin word. Apple in Latin word is malum. While malum means apple in English, it also means something else. In English, malum also means evil. As people know, something which is considered evil is usually related to sin. Thus the apple in this poem or the fruit of knowledge means the root of all sins done by Adam and Eve.
means immortality or rebirth. In this poem, snake or serpent means something wicked, sly, and dangerous. The reason is that Satan takes form of a snake/serpent to persuade and drag Eve into sin. This relation is proven by these lines:
“…When Satan, who late fled before the threats Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improved
In meditated fraud and malice, bent 55
On Man’s destruction, maugre what might hap
Of heavier on himself, fearless returned.
…
Fit vessel, fittest Imp of fraud, in whom
To enter, and his dark suggestions hide 90 From sharpest sight; for in the wily snake
Whatever sleights none would suspicious mark As from his wit and native subtlety
Proceeding, which, in other beasts observed…” (Paradise Lost p.472-475)
From those lines, the reason why in this poem snake or serpent means something wicked, sly, and dangerous is clear. Satan, which is one of symbols for something bad, evil, scary and God’s enemy, takes form of a snake or serpent in
order to drag Adam and Eve into sin by persuading them to eat the fruit of knowledge.
also has her own vices such as the jealousy towards other women. Thus the word “goddess” represents Eve not only in a physical aspect but also in the trait of jealousy.
The last relation is the relation between the word goddess and apple. The explanations above have explained the meaning of apple and goddess. Therefore this relation would reveal how the goddess Venus or Aphrodite – who represents Eve – and the apple – which represents the forbidden fruit of knowledge – are connected to each other. As explained before that some pictures of Aphrodite portrayed her holding the Golden apple, also the writer has provided the picture of Aphrodite statue and another picture of Aphrodite holding a golden apple. Also, how the apple represents the fruit has been explained above, and why the writer refers to the golden apple is proven in the line 578 which said that the color of the fruit is ruddy and gold.
“…Loaden with fruit of fairest colours mixed, Ruddy and gold. In nearer drew to gaze; When from the boughs a savoury odour blown,
Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense…” 580 (Paradise Lost p.504)
Also,Aphrodite’s jealousy and selfishness were gained by Eve after she plucked and ate the fruit and it is proven in these lines.
“…Superior; for, inferior, who is free? 825 This may be well; but what if God have seen,
And death ensue? Then I shall be no more; And Adam, wedded to another Eve, Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct!
A death to think! Confirmed, then, I resolve 830 Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe.
So dear I love him that with him all deaths
Those lines show that Eve does not want Adam to live with another Eve.
Therefore Eve decided to share the fruit with Adam, and shall be together in bliss
or woe. In her thought and feeling, she loved Adam so much that she did not want
to lose him, and thought that without Adam her life means nothing.
Based on the discussion the writer presents a conclusion in order to make
the long story short. Satan, who is usually symbolized evil and related to evil,
takes form of a snake/serpent to breach the Garden of Eden without being spotted
in order to convince Eve to eat the fruit of knowledge represented by the apple –
malum in Latin, which also means evil. Eve –pictured in a poem as a goddess of
beauty, Venus/Aphrodite – then demands Satan who was in the form of a
snake/serpent to lead her towards the tree which bore the fruit of knowledge –
apple, –after she ate the apple she developed the feeling of jealousy. She plucked
some of the apples and took them to Adam. Then she persuaded Adam to eat the
apple too. After he ate the fruit, Adam was taken by lust towards Eve. Thus they
did a sexual intercourse out of lust, which led and dragged them into sin.
Another conclusion also can be drawn from the discussion “The Meaning
of Symbols”. Based on the poem Paradise Lost book 9 by John Milton, women
and knowledge can drag people into something bad, or blatantly it could be said
that women can be a source of sin, and knowledge can be a boomerang if a person
21 CHAPTER 3
CONCLUSION
This chapter is the last part of the study. This chapter contains the
conclusion of the study. It presents the conclusion of the discussion in the
previous chapter. From the discussion, the symbols that had been listed before
have their own meanings. As explained in the discussion based on the theory of
sign, a signifier–material aspect–might have different image towards the people
according the culture. For example, most people usually relate snake or serpent
with something dangerous, poisonous, and wicked. However in Greek culture
snake or serpent could be also related to rebirth or immortality (as explained in the
discussion).
Based on the writer’s interpretation, there are some important symbols that
can be found in Paradise Lost book 9.The symbols are: Apple which represents
the fruit of knowledge, Snake or Serpent which represents the wickedness and sly,
Goddess who represents Eve, and Satan which represents the evil deeds. Those
symbols are connected to each other as explained in the discussion which Satan
actually leads human (Adam and Eve) into sin by his acts and persuasion to eat
the forbidden fruit of knowledge. In “The Meaning of Symbols Found inParadise
Lost book 9,”it has been explained how or why all signifiers–material aspects of
signs/symbols –could represent the objects they refer to by connecting them and
23
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Barthes, R. (1981). Elements of semiology (7th ed.). (C.Smith, & A. Lavers, Trans.) New York: Hill and Wang.
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