God and the Ploughman: An Epic Simile
...field, Milton goes on to describe the swaying of the grain in the wind, which makes it an epic simile. It seems out of place that a ploughman—a human being other than Adam and Eve—makes an appearance in Paradise Lost, especially since mankind hasn’t yet fallen in the story. One way to interpret Milton’s placement of the unusual figure of the ploughman is that it is being used to explore the relationship between a creator and its creation. The ploughman represents different images of creators, including himself as the “doubting” creator of his grain, and God as the “doubting” creator of mankind. The ploughman made grain from the ground, just as God made man from clay. Since the reader knows that Paradise Lost is the story of the fall of mankind, and Satan has already devised a plan to destroy Adam and Eve, it is safe to say that God could be dubious in His hopes that His creation will overcome evil. As creators, both God and the ploughman are in the position of doubting the success of their creations. All the ploughman can do to see that his crop harvests is plant the seeds in the field and hope that they will grow. Like the ploughman, God is not in complete control of His creation. In His creation of Adam and Eve, He decides to give them the gift of free will. The only guideline He Wendell 3 gives them in order to live happy, unharmed, eternal lives in the Garden of Eden, is that they are not to eat the fruit of the “tree of knowledge”. Although His request is very clear to Adam and Eve, it is still apparent that their future depends solely on themselves and their own free will. Since God and the ploughman are both undeniably separate from their creations, neither can control what they have created. All the ploughman can do is sit around for months at a time and wait for his crop to harvest. All God can do is observe Adam and Eve from Heaven and hope that they make sound decisions and follow the sole guidance that He provided. Both God and the ploughman can only watch and hope that their creations either fulfill their potential, or grow to completion. However, while this epic simile references the fact that God and the ploughman give freedom to their creations to have power over their own futures, it does not altogether disregard the dependency of the created on their creators. Just as Adam and Eve could not have made themselves, the field of grain would not exist if it weren’t for the labor of the ploughman. The ploughman worries that the grain will “prove chaff”, meaning that he is somewhat doubtful that it will fully harvest. God could also be said to doubt the h...