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The Female Character in the Epic Stories 'Paradise Lost' and 'the Ramayana'

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The Female Character in the Epic Stories 'Paradise Lost' and 'the Ramayana'
THE FEMALE CHARACTER IN THE EPIC STORIES 'PARADISE LOST' AND 'THE RAMAYANA'
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'The Ramayana' and 'Paradise Lost' hold stories of ancient times that tend to explain the existence of two different cultures in the present world. Milton, the author of ‘Paradise Lost,’ concerns himself with the Christian story of the ‘Fall of man’ while Valmiki, the author of The Ramayana, tries to bring out an explanation to the goals of human life. In this assignment, I would like to compare author’s use of two female characters in both 'The Ramayan' and 'Paradise Lost' as I try to explain the mythological themes expressed in these two old myths (Jung 64). Eve in 'Paradise Lost' and Sita in 'The Ramayan' are the two female characters used extensively by the authors in these separate stories in an attempt to explain the goals of human life and likewise the reason for the fall of man.

The story exhibited by Milton in the book ‘Paradise Lost’ has been told in countless stories and also portrayed in pictures in most religious places as well as paintings to that effect. Similar stories that relate to the book ‘The Ramayana’ can as well be found in Classical mythology (Fryer 233). Jung explains the term myths to be fatal experiences whose effects are normally felt in personal life. He classified myths according to its unconscious nature because he believes that by doing so, they will be accepted by the society hence help shape their traditions and culture. The contents of the personal unconscious are chiefly the feeling-toned complexes while the contents of the collective unconscious are known as archetypes (Jung 66). Different interpretations have been made in relation to the Garden of Eden story with most Christians holding the belief that it was actually true, another interpretation tries to portray it as a story that shows transition in the way of life of the ancient people while a final interpretation



Cited: Dutt, Romesh. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata. London: Dent, 1910. Empson, William. Milton 's God, London: Chatto & Windus, 1961. Franz, M,-L. 'The Process of Individuation." Man and His Symbols. ed. Carl G. Jung. New York: Dell, 1964. Fryer, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957. Jung, Gustav. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. Milton, John. Paradise Lost; An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism. Ed. Scott Elledge. New York: Norton, 1975.

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