The "War in Heaven" in Books Ⅴ and Ⅵ of Paradise Lost has been considered one of Milton's daring attempts, at which he not only "soar[s] / Above th' Aonian Mount" but also goes beyond the theologically acceptable realm of ...

The "War in Heaven" in Books Ⅴ and Ⅵ of Paradise Lost has been considered one of Milton's daring attempts, at which he not only "soar[s] / Above th' Aonian Mount" but also goes beyond the theologically acceptable realm of the Scripture, expanding limited sources to the extent that he appears to be challenging the biblical and theological authority. Critics have wondered how Milton, a declared orthodox Christian, uses his own poetic imagination to compose the episode in such an unconventional way and fits it into the larger structure of the epic from his own exegesis of the Bible. Milton's indebtedness to classical epics, as well as various apocryphal sources, for this angelic conflict hardly needs illustration. But Milton's freedom with his biblical sources is controversial in view of his strong theological background clearly demonstrated in his systematic theology, Christian Doctrine. This paper attempts a closer examination of Milton's narrative structure in the "War in Heaven" to find an answer to the question of his freedom with the Bible. The study focuses on how Milton employs several narrators to convey the story of the evil angels' revolt against God to his reader.
It seems that Milton intentionally uses this multiple-narrator strategy to justify his departure from the traditional, biblical exegesis. For, it seems in a modern sense, he already recognizes the uncertainty of language, especially when a story is relayed through more than one narrator; the inspired poet, therefore, keeps as much distance as possible from the reader. In other words, the main narrator places go-betweens when he has to tell the doubtful reader the "War in Heaven" that is supposed to have happened long before the Creation - an event mentioned only in the Book of Revelation as a future event in the Day of the Last Judgement. In this narrative strategy, Milton tries to defend himself from possible attacks both from literary critics and biblical exegetes, thus relieving himself from the responsibility for straying from the Bible, his single most important source of his poetic work. Moreover, Milton demonstrates his monistic position by mixing the spiritual with the material when he describes in detail the battle between the evil and good spirits in Heaven. This reflects Milton's belief in the theory of accommodation, based on which he portrays the spiritual event in terms of our limited understanding. In short, Milton's "War in Heaven" is a highly imaginative work of art, which lacks biblical and theological foundations; but his narrative strategy justifies his "waywardness" from Scriptures, recognizes the instability of language (which is in fact a manifestation of Milton's modernity), and makes the episode an integral part of the whole structure of Paradise Lost.