This thesis is a comparative study between Michelangelo Buonarroti's ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and John Milton's Paradise Lost. The parallels discussed arise out of the Renaissance humanism shared by both of these artists and expressed their works of art. Beginning with Michelangelo, I will establish the relation of Renaissance humanism to the Sistine Chapel ceiling decoration and define Michelangelo's specific conception of the theories associated with this movement. Subsequently, the same critical approach will be applied to Milton's Paradise Lost, which will be revealed to be notably humanistic despite its positioning at the end of the Renaissance in a Protestant country. After exploring the individual works of Michelangelo and Milton separately, I will then consider the views shared by these two in their treatments of the myth of the Fall of humanity: both artists believe in the ultimate dignity and freedom of humankind, and portray both Adam and Eve as free and autonomous individuals; the Sistine ceiling frescoes and Paradise Lost likewise emphasize the regenerative rather than the damning aspect of the Fall of humanity, expressing the humanistic insistence on the value of human experience; finally, the humanistic notion that art, both literary and visual, instructs its audience while entertaining it, provides the governing artistic theory behind the works of both Michelangelo and Milton. Although the commonalities between Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling and Milton's Paradise Lost are extensive, I will not attempt to claim that Milton was specifically influenced by Michelangelo's frescoes. However, my study will reveal the potential for interart analogies to provide greater insight into the individual works of art and literature being analysed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.27958 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | McConomy, Erin Elizabeth. |
| Contributors | Borris, Kenneth (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of English.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001616852, proquestno: MQ37223, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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