A nome dei prof. Alessandra Petrina, Omar Khalaf e Alvaro Barbieri,
A nome dei dott. Elena Muzzolon, Sibilla Siano e Lorenzo Zaggia
The Parliament of Fowls. Conversations on Medieval and Early Modern Literature
22 maggio, 16:30, aula 6, Complesso Beato Pellegrino
Lorenzo Zaggia, The Arca-Metaphor in The Cloud of Unknowing and its Related Texts
Raffaella Cappello, How Free is Eve’s Will in Milton’s Paradise Lost?
On May 22, The Parliament of Fowls offers two presentations in English. Even though they are
very distant from one another, both chronologically and thematically, the presentations by Lorenzo
Zaggia and Raffaella Cappello have some common themes: the relationship with tradition and the
representation of the relationship between the individual and the divine.
The Cloud of Unknowing and its related texts are the clearest representatives of the Middle English
tradition of apophatic mysticism: they guide their readers to an experience of God that the human
intellect cannot access, and thus words cannot describe. Like many other devotional texts, however,
they rely on images and symbols to clarify their teaching and make it attractive. One of the clearest
instances of this tendency is the re-elaboration of the arca, a symbol drawing together the Biblical
Ark of Noah and the Ark of the Covenant to represent the soul’s ideal composition and its journey
towards spiritual unity with God. A close reading of the passages including this image also allows
to measure the relationship these texts entertain with some of their central influences: Hugh of St
Victor and Richard of St Victor.
In Paradise Lost, John Milton shapes an Eve slightly different from other representations: she is a
much more complex character. A greater complexity is also visible in her Free Will, which is
different from Adam’s one. Indeed, while Adam makes his own choices only relating to Eve’s ones,
Eve decides to disobey in order to acquire independence and freedom from God and Adam.
Although Milton could not change the ending of the poem, considering its religious and traditional
roots, he manages to transform an act of predestination into one of awareness of one’s freedom. The
message that needs to be read behind Eve’s action is that the choice is ours, we must choose for
ourselves, there are not predestined events.