{"id":{"repo_id":"gsu","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1167"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/gsu/oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1167","repository":{"repo_id":"gsu","name":"Georgia Southern University","base_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Forbidden Fruit: Dryden's The State of Innocence And Fall of Man, An Operatic Version of Paradise Lost","abstract":"Ever since Dryden published his opera The state of innocence, critics have speculated about his reasons for making a stage adaptation of Milton's Paradise lost. The fact that Dryden worked for Milton in Cromwell's government may have been a factor. Dryden's Puritan indoctrination during childhood, followed by influences from a royalist schoolmaster in his teenage years, makes the answer to the question somewhat more complex, as does the fact that the play, its source a Puritan epic adapted by an Anglican royalist poet, is dedicated to the Catholic bride of James, Duke of York and brother to Charles II. Throughout the two works, theological, sociological, and political differences abound, but it is Dryden's stage characters that are the primary vehicles through which he portrays his divergence from Milton's epic. Lucifer, the ultimate evil, is in rebellion against Christ the King, and, while Adam ponders the dilemma of free will versus preordination, the ever-narcissistic Eve traipses through the garden toward her meeting with the serpent. This meeting, being both preordained and a result of Eve's (and Lucifer's) free will, brings about the fall of Man. Thus, Dryden and Milton take the Old Testament story and transform it into a vehicle for their own political, social, and theological agendas.","abstract_html":"Ever since Dryden published his opera The state of innocence, critics have speculated about his reasons for making a stage adaptation of Milton's Paradise lost. The fact that Dryden worked for Milton in Cromwell's government may have been a factor. Dryden's Puritan indoctrination during childhood, followed by influences from a royalist schoolmaster in his teenage years, makes the answer to the question somewhat more complex, as does the fact that the play, its source a Puritan epic adapted by an Anglican royalist poet, is dedicated to the Catholic bride of James, Duke of York and brother to Charles II. Throughout the two works, theological, sociological, and political differences abound, but it is Dryden's stage characters that are the primary vehicles through which he portrays his divergence from Milton's epic. Lucifer, the ultimate evil, is in rebellion against Christ the King, and, while Adam ponders the dilemma of free will versus preordination, the ever-narcissistic Eve traipses through the garden toward her meeting with the serpent. This meeting, being both preordained and a result of Eve's (and Lucifer's) free will, brings about the fall of Man. Thus, Dryden and Milton take the Old Testament story and transform it into a vehicle for their own political, social, and theological agendas.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Middleton, Devane King"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in English (M.A.)","degree_level":"Thesis (open access)","degree_discipline":"Department of Literature and Philosophy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["David Dudley","Julia Griffin"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2006,"date_issued":"2006-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2006-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:29Z","subjects":["ETD","Dryden","Milton","Free will","Paradise lost","The state of innocence","Hobbes","Bramhall","Restoration drama","Charles II","Cromwell","Interregnum","Catholic apologists","Reason","Religion","Adam","Eve","Lucifer","Satan"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/167","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["David Dudley","Julia Griffin"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Middleton, Devane King"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-10-17T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (open access)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Dryden","Milton","Free will","Paradise lost","The state of innocence","Hobbes","Bramhall","Restoration drama","Charles II","Cromwell","Interregnum","Catholic apologists","Reason","Religion","Adam","Eve","Lucifer","Satan"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/167"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Ever since Dryden published his opera The state of innocence, critics have speculated about his reasons for making a stage adaptation of Milton's Paradise lost. The fact that Dryden worked for Milton in Cromwell's government may have been a factor. Dryden's Puritan indoctrination during childhood, followed by influences from a royalist schoolmaster in his teenage years, makes the answer to the question somewhat more complex, as does the fact that the play, its source a Puritan epic adapted by an Anglican royalist poet, is dedicated to the Catholic bride of James, Duke of York and brother to Charles II. Throughout the two works, theological, sociological, and political differences abound, but it is Dryden's stage characters that are the primary vehicles through which he portrays his divergence from Milton's epic. Lucifer, the ultimate evil, is in rebellion against Christ the King, and, while Adam ponders the dilemma of free will versus preordination, the ever-narcissistic Eve traipses through the garden toward her meeting with the serpent. This meeting, being both preordained and a result of Eve's (and Lucifer's) free will, brings about the fall of Man. Thus, Dryden and Milton take the Old Testament story and transform it into a vehicle for their own political, social, and theological agendas."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Forbidden Fruit: Dryden's The State of Innocence And Fall of Man, An Operatic Version of Paradise Lost"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["David Dudley","Julia Griffin"],"dc:creator":["Middleton, Devane King"],"dc:date.available":["2013-10-17T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Ever since Dryden published his opera The state of innocence, critics have speculated about his reasons for making a stage adaptation of Milton's Paradise lost. The fact that Dryden worked for Milton in Cromwell's government may have been a factor. Dryden's Puritan indoctrination during childhood, followed by influences from a royalist schoolmaster in his teenage years, makes the answer to the question somewhat more complex, as does the fact that the play, its source a Puritan epic adapted by an Anglican royalist poet, is dedicated to the Catholic bride of James, Duke of York and brother to Charles II. Throughout the two works, theological, sociological, and political differences abound, but it is Dryden's stage characters that are the primary vehicles through which he portrays his divergence from Milton's epic. Lucifer, the ultimate evil, is in rebellion against Christ the King, and, while Adam ponders the dilemma of free will versus preordination, the ever-narcissistic Eve traipses through the garden toward her meeting with the serpent. This meeting, being both preordained and a result of Eve's (and Lucifer's) free will, brings about the fall of Man. Thus, Dryden and Milton take the Old Testament story and transform it into a vehicle for their own political, social, and theological agendas."],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/167"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Dryden","Milton","Free will","Paradise lost","The state of innocence","Hobbes","Bramhall","Restoration drama","Charles II","Cromwell","Interregnum","Catholic apologists","Reason","Religion","Adam","Eve","Lucifer","Satan"],"dc:title":["Forbidden Fruit: Dryden's The State of Innocence And Fall of Man, An Operatic Version of Paradise Lost"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (open access)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:29Z"}