John Milton's Fight For Freedom Of Speech And Expression

Research Paper.
Areopagitica: John Milton and his fight for Freedom of Speech and Expression.
Background.
John Milton is one of the most forward thinking man of his time if not entirely. He was a pamphleteer, poet, historian and author of extraordinary ability best known for his work, “Paradise Lost”. He was shortly after the reign of Queen Elizabeth on December 9, 1608 thus seeing the leadership of both James 1 and Charles 1. Charles 1 political uproars saw Milton’s development of a reputation as a pamphleteer as, the political climate saw the writing of pamphlets such as; “Of Reformation”, “Of Prelatical Episcopacy”, and “Reason for Church Government”. In these, his arguments were mostly around the issue of the closeness of the church and the King at the time. For him, this was stifling the church’s chance of purification. Put simply, Milton was during the early 1640s saying what is practiced widely today i.e. state and church being two separate entities. In addition to writing during this time, Milton also married Mary Powell. However, this only lasted for one month before she returned to her father’s home. This can be reasoned to be as a result of the safety she enjoyed being at her father’s home since this was during the Civil War as no

As a writer, he writes from his heart and personal experiences. An example of this can be seen in his work, “On the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce” in which he argues for personal liberation stemming from his wife’s decision to abandon him only a month after their marriage. This tells us that writing was Milton’s avenue of expression of self. Hence, when Parliament of his time made the Licensing order of June 16th 1643 dictating a system of censorship for authors stating that they must present their work for approval before publication, Milton did what he does best – he appealed through letter to the