Rocky Mountain Review
of Language and Literature
Volume 64, Number 1
Spring 2010
CONTENTS
From the Editors
Articles | Forum | Reviews
Articles
The Bipartite System of Laws
in Paradise Lost
Eric Dunnum
Marquette University
Because Milton chose to depict God the Father as a king within
Paradise Lost, the Father's power functions like a political
king, through laws. By drawing on Althusser's distinction between
Ideological State Apparatus and Repressive State Apparatus, this
essay argues that the Father's laws can be divided into two separate
categories: external and internal. The external laws come directly
from the Father and are enforced through violence (they are repressive).
The internal laws are never directly articulated by the Father, but
rather are internalized in his subjects through the gifts of reason
and freedom (they are ideological). Ultimately, this bipartite system
conflicts with itself, causing its collapse; and the collapse of the
laws is what facilitates the fall, "man's first disobedience."
Forum
Reviews
Approaches to Teaching Teresa
of Ávila and the Spanish Mystics, ed. Alison Weber
Reviewer: Albrecht Classen
Dreaming Across Boundaries: The
Interpretation of Dreams in Islamic Lands, ed. Louise Marlow
Reviewer: Christa Jones
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