AREOPAGITICA - JOHN MILTON

(Synopsis)

Areopagitica, a speech of Mr. John Milton for the liberty of unlicenced printing to the
parliament of England was published in 1644 after the repeated introduction of the licencing
of printing in England. John Milton found this step of government incorrect and that is the
main reason why ho wrote this work.
The book itself is for Milton a real treasure, has dateless value and to destroy any book only
because it contains the opinions we do not agree with, or we simply don’t like it equals to
crime, to the murder: “hee who deƒtroy a good Booke, kills reaƒon it ƒelƒe, kills the Image of
God,…, but a good Booke is the pretious life-blood of a maƒter ƒpirit, imbalm´d and treaƒur
´d on purpoƒe to a life beyond life.”In certain meaning, it is more important than a human
being. And there should be valuable but also the bad books. God also creates bad man equally
as good ones, with different temper and skills. There is the reason for the existence of evil too.
If there would be any, we couldn’t have recognised what is goodness and good or valuable.
And the books are the same.
We have to choose, decide whether we do good or evil things, whether pick good or bad
book. The fears that people would be more influenced by evil and invaluable book is
inappropriate, because: “evill manners are as perfectly learnt without books a thouƒand other
ways which cannot be ƒlopt, and evill doctrine not with books can propagate,…” The State
cannot control all the influences of the evil, and the literature is the least functional for these
bad influences.
Any well-instituted State, in his opinion, does not use this way of licencing. Because new
books are holders of new thoughts of progress, they enrich the society. If there is a licencing
and only the books with “appropriate” content and with no rebel thoughts are published, the
society will start to stagnate. There will be still the same pieces of knowledge, opinions, and
no progress, there won’t be no space for new ones. People will starts to feel they need some
change some new things. If the people are not exposed to the influence of the bad or incorrect
thoughts they won’t be resistible. And indeed, there is no possibility to protect people
completely. And these features may cause the decadence in the society, not the liberty.
The government so undermines itself if it punishes the wits, because in forbidden works
there is still the truth or something new which can the society move forward the progress.
The main reason why people should choose the books and thoughts by themselves is that
no matter how good will be the choice of the authority, people won’t have their own reason
why. They can deal with the right opinions, but they still only share the opinion, they don’t
have their own one. And so their thoughts have no value.
Milton compares this situation to the religion and the heresy: “without knowing other
reaƒon, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds, become his hereƒie.” People
would not know why they do it like this, they just will do it, but as soon as they will find
something new, what do not order them, they will be interested and attract by it.
Author asks government to let the people be “more conƒiderat builders, more wiƒe in
ƒpirituall architecture, when great reformation is expected”.
And the liberty is the only way how to enlighten spirits and give them real, valuable
knowledge of the world.

In our days, the liberty of speech and printing is considered to be something ordinary or
obvious. But I think that this level of liberty violates other laws and extremist thoughts can
harm other people. But the liberty of printing is necessary, as Milton said, because the finding
of the good books is necessary for formation of the person. And the person is able to
distinguish bad and good books by himself, and he knows why he consider the particular book
as the valuable one. And only after that he can appreciate the value of the book.