The Analysis of the Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake - Research Paper Example

English Literature ic and Modern), Research Paper Topic: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell/ William Blake Introduction “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” is a unique literary creation by William Blake, (1757-1827) with a different layout. It is a handcrafted work of art produced by own hand and has twenty-seven color plates, originally itched by Blake himself on copperplates. The book contains his philosophical message as pointed out by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, editor of the book and he writes in his introduction, “He was a philosopher poet, putting Imagination above Reason.”(Blake, 1975, ix) To him, secular and divine are the alternative beats of the same heart. Keynes further states, “Blake regarded human imagination as the essential divine quality by which God manifested himself in Man.”(Blake, 1975, ix) His writings are revelation-like of the Perfect Masters and as such the contents of the text are path-breaking for generations to come. His understanding of the divine is often bitterly criticized and he is sidelined by his contemporaries. He challenges Christianity as it is practiced by the established Church by asserting that the authorities have limited appreciation of God, and at the same time he holds Bible in high esteem, which he believes contains spiritual revelations. Blake asserts that human imagination and experiencing are the instruments for personal communication with the divine. God’s power and grace is evident in the functioning of all activities in the cosmos and the discerning ones will be able to perceive it. On the last page of the book Blake writes, “For everything that lives is holy.” This shows the level of his profound spiritual disposition, and his inner being remains ever in contact with the supreme power that governs the cosmos. He has the realization, as to who controls the musical orchestra in the cosmos and the numbers of musical instruments are not of consequence to him! He is concerned about the total effect of the splendor of divine music. To him “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” means the union of the positive and negative forces that govern the Universe as representatives of the Ultimate Power, in the metaphysical sense. Challenge to Orthodoxy: Keynes writes, “As a boy of fourteen he had according to his own statement, already read, criticized, and rejected the conventional philosophers and their materialistic views of the meaning of human life.”(Blake, 1975, x) As such, he is not in the good books of the Orthodox scholars. Blake argues about the equality of Heaven and Hell, as none of them exist in the physical world, as such one cannot contest about their greatness of otherwise by comparing them. The term “Marriage,” is used by him as the connotation of equality. In the metaphysical world these traits are opposite. In the physical realm they are one and the same. The physical world is governed by actions and the reactions. Every action will have the consequence that it merits. Blake contests dualism and tries to establish monism as the valid theory of life. He highlights the contradictions in the religious practices, the faults of class structure, and how they submit in their functioning to the religious ideals of the time and in the process lose their intrinsic divine essence. In conclusion, he asserts that most of the holy Christian texts as vile and proves that there is no evil or good as they are liable to be interchanged. The sum and substance of the book emphasizes the physical monistic reality in which we live. William Blake: His Personal Mythology William Blake contests the practices of Christianity, and to fill the vacuum of faith, he devises a substitute in the form of personal mythology. He perfects this by the harmonious combination of The Bible and Greek Mythology. He establishes the inevitable relationship between contraries and progression. This is the area of strongest objection to Christianity by Blake. Christianity is vocal about the suppression of basic instincts of humankind and challenges earthly joy. They are considered as evil. Blake visualizes wellness in evil and argues about the need of synthesis of powers that seem contradictory and he propounds this philosophy in “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” He underlines the necessity of such contradictions for human progression and its march to experience based perfection. He asserts that Good and Evil are like the foundation stones of the superstructure of existence and they have equal importance. Blake articulates that by advocating blind faith, Christianity eulogizes inactivity or stagnation and in the process life becomes passive, static, and without the movement and flow it becomes poisonous. Blake reposes faith in the ability of reason which will advise an individual to check prior to crossing the limitations. To enable one to derive happiness to the maximum extent, people need to find out correctly what exceeds the desired limit. He therefore, gives equal importance to Good and Evil and pleads that they must live harmoniously to evolve an ideal level of living. Blake highlights the pairs of opposites for progression and this is the sum and substance of his personal mythology, not condemning Evil or eulogizing Reason. To him, they are like the two banks of a river. In a weighing scale both arms are equally important to strike the correct balance and similar is the case with Evil and Reason. One attribute is not acceptable to him at the cost of the other. Too much reason results in inactivity and stagnation and too much Energy will lead to confusion, restlessness and clear direction will be lost. Both are equally essential for a balance, peaceful and rewarding existence. William Blake emerges as the true believer in God The argumentative Toms assert that whatever they say is correct. William Blake candidly admits that whatever correct is there in the world belongs to him. He sees no blemishes in the Supreme Power that governs both Good and Evil, and in their play, everything in the world happens as it should. This is the message he delivers through the poem, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” The poem is written in 1792 and its contents and import go well with the conditions prevailing today. The reason for this is simple and straightforward. Truth transcends time. Truth is Immutable. Truth is Changeless. Truth stays the same at all times. Blake tells his interpretation of Truth like the practicing theologian of the day delivers the sermon. He articulates the conflicts and contradictions related to the heart, mind and soul. These are the issues that confront the citizens whose life is impacted by the technological innovations and materialistic civilization. Blake is not against religion but he is against the religion as it is practiced by the so-called guardians of religion. The more he becomes anti-religious, the more he loves God. The circumstances leading to the American and French revolutions and the cruel practices of the Anglican Church frustrate him and the true spirit within him rebels. He wants to prove with his writings how people are constantly fed with the lessons in misconceptions and untruths, and puts a question to the so-called intellectuals of the day whether God creates human beings for propagating falsehood in the name of religion and to become hypocrites. He pinpoints the inaccuracies in the teachings of the Church. William Blake’s plates are like the edicts. In the Plate, “The Voice of the Devil” he asserts, “All Bibles or sacred codes have been the causes of the following errors, 3. That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his Energies”. (Blake n. p.) Thus if a man is sensual, he is condemned for ever. But in the plate, “Proverbs of Hell”, he reminds you, “The nakedness of woman is the work of God. Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps. The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man. The fox condemns the trap, not himself. Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth” (Blake, n.p.) God has given humankind sensuality, but religion condemns it. This is a paradoxical situation which is the creation of orthodox religion to challenge the will and arrangements of God. He further proclaims, “Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of & enslav’d the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus began Priesthood; And at length they pronounc’d that the Gods had order’d such things. Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast.”(Blake, n.p.) Man forgets that the inner beauty is within, and one has to make efforts to experience it. Blake lists the contradictions and asserts that our senses are the gifts from God. He states, “Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason. Energy is Eternal delight.”(Blake, n. p.) He enumerates and comments on the hidden desires of human beings. In the Plate, “Proverbs of Hell”, Blake compares prudence to incapacity, “Prudence is a rich old ugly maid courted by incapacity.” (Blake, n.p.)Such an old maid is not capable of love and will have little or no comments on all that is sensual. He cautions that the unfulfilled desires like the diseases. Do not restrain your desires, if you do, “theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place & governs the unwilling.” (Blake, n.p.)If you forcefully give up desires, you will be confined to inactions and pinned down for ever. Blake tells the man to be guided by one’s inner convictions and not to imitate the talents of others. You are born to travel on a particular path and it is wise to follow it, by not wasting time to observe and imitate what someone else is doing. Speak your truth gently but firmly and do it as the gift from God. He states that God rewards prayers. What you have been missing in life, is to live your life, the life of your choice. He cleverly puts it thus: “you never know what enough is unless you know what more than enough is (Blake, n. p.)”, and advises not to destroy sensuality. Man wittingly or unwittingly nurtures the state of confusion in his mind, and accepts half-baked versions as the final truth. Blake asserts that man never keeps the doors of perception fully clean and as such he cannot visualize the reality, and he sees the vague, not the entire view. Therefore, a man is unable to see the clear picture, the image he is attempting to see is hidden behind the clouds, or enveloped in dust, and then the contradictions begin about what one is taught as for the meaning of forces of good and evil. We proceed on the basis of reason and later question the inactions of our hidden desires. Unable to come to a solid conclusion we are torn in essence. Blake explains in the plate, “The Argument,” thus: “From these contraries spring what the religious call good & evil. Good is the passive that obeys reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy. Good is Heaven, Evil is hell.”(Blake, n.p.)In the Plate, “The Voice of Devil,” he states, “That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his Energies”. (Blake, n. p.) But Blake states that “Without contraries, there is no progression.” Energy, love and hate are all necessary for human existence. Jesus was all virtue, and acted from impulse not from rules.”(Blake n. p.) Some of his proclamations are listed and they do not need further analysis. Their meanings are self-evident. For example, light is bright, and it is evident. Milk is white and it is evident. Similar is the virtue of the following profound observations by Blake. Plate 14: “For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.” (Blake, n.p.) Plate 16: “But the chains are the cunning of weak and tame minds which have power to resist energy, according to the proverb, the weak in courage is strong in cunning.” (Blake, n.p.) Plate 20: “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water and breeds reptiles of the mind.”(Blake, n.p.) Plate 20: “We impose on one another, and it is but lost time to converse with you whose works are only analytics” (Blake, n.p.) Plate 20: “Opposition is true friendship.”(Blake, n.p.) Plate 23:“The worship of God is: Honoring his gifts in other men, each according to his genius, and loving the greatest men best: those who envy or calumniate great men hate God, for there is no other God.” (Blake, n.p.) Blake is rebellious, many centuries ahead of his time. He is persuasive and nowhere arrogant. He is defiant but not aggressive. He revers God by utmost humiliation, challenges beliefs and exposes by highlighting the merits and demerits of opposition. William Blake: A Visionary for Free-Religion William Blake’s life has miracles attached to it. He belongs to the first generation of Romantics. His brother’s death in 1787 changes the course of both his writing style and the contents. He is reported to have seen his brother’s spirit departing from the body clapping in joy. Several possibilities are attributed to this incident; nevertheless it is the turning point in his life. Some assert that he lost his sanity, mental equilibrium, while other claims it makes him realize the deeper truths related to life. Some thinkers brand him as the “insane genius.” A new focus emerges out of his writings. His writings are impacted by Universalist Unitarianism (UU) a creedless religious society. The reflection of seven principles adopted and being promoted by UU, reflect in his writings. Blake never claims to follow any society but many UU ministers make a mention of his writings by quoting and commenting upon them in their sermons. Blake eulogizes individual experience, not preaching, and this is his parting point with the church. Churches tell to teach, and that process subdues the spirit and quells the knowledge that can be gained through experience. The significance of the world in this context is not the secular experience of the day to day activities, but the experience of the inner world of an individual. Blake proves through his writings that spirituality is independent of religiosity. The followers of different religions can co-exist only through adopting democracy to find solutions to their differences. His argument in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, makes his stand clear. In the Plate, “The Argument,” Blake writes, “Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence. / From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy." (Blake, n.p.) He categorically asserts that the vehicle for progress is democracy and the life without progress has no meaning. He does not deny religious beliefs, he has his own, and to him spiritual truth is the ultimate threshold for the human soul to rest. He breaks free of the church and encourages free thinking. The realm of God is in the perception of the infinite in all things. Blake writes in Plate “A Memorable Fancy,” "I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in everything, and as I was then perswaded, & remain confirm'd, that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for consequences but wrote."(Blake, n.p.) He challenges the religious authorities, which is s serious offence, and would have invited serious repercussions. He proclaims, "The mystery of me is endless. Some great grief made it; some joy redeemed it." (Wormser, 77) This shows Blake’s tremendous control on his moods. William Blake, the poet. Next to the spiritual aspirant, one who is nearest and dearest to God is the poet. His literary creations in general, and “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” in particular, has inspired poets, spiritualists, and those with the scientific bent of mind alike. Followers of religious rituals and traditions began to review their thinking styles afresh. Blake sees divinity in each and everything and has firm conviction that it is the all-pervading power. This is no ordinary observation. It can emerge from the one who has transcended the mind-level to be in contact with the Immutable Power. Intellectuals remain unaware of the truth of grand unification of everything, because they are experiencing only a part on the physical layer. The whole truth is not known to them. One cannot search every part of the macrocosm but can look inside the microcosm to know the truth, which is reflected within the inner world. Conclusion: William Blake propagates the theme of ‘the world is one family,’ about three centuries ago and his prophetic genius is evident. He challenges rationality of his time by offering spirituality as the alternative. Imagination and experiencing are the hallmarks of his literary creations. He articulates that mankind is on an eternal journey back to seek unity with the divine. That is the ultimate purpose of human birth and existence. He seeks unity in the ideals propounded by art, science and nature. They are not mutual contestants. They need to co-operate with each other. He fears that materialism is the cause for human beings compromising relationship with the green and pleasant lands. This would restrict the aura of spirituality. In this book, Blake highlights the situation in which the soul is unable to nurture its natural energies from the restrictions of organized religion and social reason. Humankind needs to abide by truth that transcends past, present and future. Works Cited Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Sir Geoffrey Keynes (Ed.) Oxford Paperbacks; 1975 Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. n. d. www.levity.com/alchemy/blake_ma.html, Accessed on March 25, 2013 Wormser, Baron. "William Blake" Southwest Review 91 2006, no1 61-77 . Read More