Milton and Maternal Authority: Why Is the Virgin Mary in Paradise Regained?

Abstract

Milton’s rigorously Protestant views would seem to preclude his interest in the Virgin Mary, yet he makes her a central figure in what is probably his last work, Paradise Regained. Rose argues that the narrative logic of the poem exalts the Son as a hero not for what he does, but because of who he is: a son. The Virgin’s maternal authority is needed to affirm this earthly and, during the time of the poem, emphatically private identity. Milton establishes not only the immensity of the Virgin Mary’s authority but also its limitations. An analysis of Thomas Hobbes’ exploration of parental authority, in which he not only assesses the mother’s natural superiority in conferring legitimacy but also does not extend that authority into a public plot, provides contextualization.