John Milton’s Areopagitica: The Use of Rhetoric and Subordinate Style

The year is 1644. England has yet to separate church from state. Freedom is still

defined as living under a monarch governed with religious politics. In order to keep the

general public under control, the higher-ups (Lords, House of Commons, and

Parliament) enact censorship on all printed matter throughout England. The only way to

obtain a proper licensed publication is through the filtration system known as the “twenty

licensers” or the “Committee of Examinations” (Milton 23; Sabine viii-ix). That is where

John Milton comes in. Fallen victim to the censorship of his written opinions on divorce,

Milton strives to convince the government to realize that censorship …show more content…
Areopagitica is a written condemnation of pre-publication censorship that has

paved a way for the establishment of free speech and the freedom of the press in

modern day era. However, this book caused a “lively controversy” in the English public

back in 1644, where it challenged the English government, Parliament, on the morality

of the licensing law in effect (Sabine viii). Milton displays his skills and knowledge as a

Cambridge scholar, by expertly attacking Parliament’s religious belief, empathy, and

logic with the use of subordinating styles. The subordinate styles that Milton uses are

causality, temporality, and precedence. To help identify these subordinate styles the

use of Stanley Fish’s book, How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One, will be

critical, as it breaks down and describes each subordinate style. According to Fish, the

following are the descriptions of the subordinate styles: causality is when “one event or

state is caused by another;” temporality is when “events and states are prior or

subsequent to one another;” precedence is when “events and states are arranged …show more content…
The Spanish armada was foreseen

as the victor, due to their technological advantage in ships despite being outnumbered

by the English; however, what happened next was nothing short of a miracle. The

English defeated the Spanish armada with few casualties and reopened the access of

seaports. This victory allowed England to keep their religion and their freedom. Milton

uses this recent piece of history to show that the Parliament’s censorship is much like

the Spanish Armada trying to blockade the spread of “merchandise,” where

“merchandise” is truth (Milton 41). Milton then brings up the history of censorship and

the Turk “prohibition of printing” (Milton 41). Milton reminds the audience of the Turks of

the Ottoman Empire, who has captured more than half of the Christian world. The Turks

controlled the Christians, by forbidding the spread of the bible and all works not related

to or against their Alcoran (Quran). Milton compares the Parliament’s censorship to that

of the Ottoman Empire trying “to extinguish […] the light of reformation” that is

Christianity (Milton 41). Milton establishes that antichristians support censorship,