John Milton’s Comus: Symposium Revisited

Plato, one of the most significant of all philosophers of ancient Greece, has exerted an astoundingly powerful effect on Western culture and literature. In particular, English Renaissance writers and poets are greatly indebted to his doctrine of love, as presented and discussed in his Symposium. John Milton, the last and one of the most distinguished figures of Renaissance is no way out of Plato s sphere of leaden influence: everywhere in his works, there are echoes and traces of Plato. This article attempts to briefly survey the concept of Platonic love and then seeks to examine young Milton s comprehension of this doctrine and his practice of applying it to one of his early dramatic works, Comus, A Masque. Ultimately, the article can best be summarized by stating that Milton‘s play manifests what he has already learned about chastity, love, and beauty from the Dialogues of Plato.