The Desire to Know and the Capacity for Wonder in Milton’s Paradise Lost

In Plato’s Theaetetus Socrates ties wonder and knowledge in a binding knot when he defines wonder as “the only beginning of philosophy” and acknowledges it as a distinctive feature of the philosopher. Aristotle associates wonder with understanding and underlines that both of them are pleasurable as is wisdom. In the Metaphysics the Stagirite links this passion to man’s basic drive for learning and truth, while emphasizing that it possesses both an emotional and a cognitive meaning. Aristotle’s words call attention to the capacity for wonder built in human nature as the necessary passion that inspires the desire to know in man, who is naturally a contemplative being. His seminal thoughts on wonder provided fertile ground for philosophy, literature and science, both in their attempt to neutralize wonder and to internalize it. By focusing on some of the most famous scenes, such as Satan’s awakening in hell in Book I and his address to the fallen angels and Raphael’s narrative of the creation of the world in Book VII, this talk addresses the whole set of emotions that characterize wonder in order to show how fruitful an analysis of wonder can be for a full understanding of Milton’s Paradise Lost.