“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10: 18) This quote from the Bible becomes the foundation for the lives of Kevin Lomax and Mary Ann. In the film, The Devil’s Advocate, director Taylor Hackford presents to his audience the struggle between good and evil. At the inception of the film, Lomax and Mary Ann are the epitome of innocence, whose virtue becomes tainted because of the devil’s favorite sin, vanity. Lomax, a small time lawyer from Gainesville Florida, is lured through the deception and temptation of Eric Milton, into a luxurious life sugarcoated with evil, in the sinful city of New York. Lomax, a trial attorney who never loses becomes engulfed by obsession and self love through the wickedness of the Devil, who is played by Milton.
However, Lomax is being assisted by the devil for he is his son. Hackford is masterful at displaying the fight between the natural and the unnatural through his use of symbolism. He plays on the immorality of the Devil in contrast to the morality of God. The movie commences in the courtroom, where Lomax is trying a seemingly guilty man named Getty for child molestation. Hackford intentionally begins the movie in this manner to introduce the idea of the heavenly court. The courtroom scene is symbolic in that sense, yet it introduces the idea of crime and punishment.
Here the man being tried is a symbol of malevolence whose violation of purity should earn him incarceration. Lomax’s clear conscience is at once indemnified by guilt for granting his acquittal. So Hackford from the very beginning imposes upon him a decision dealing with morality, that Lomax must resolve, which shall determine the direction that his life will take. Lomax’s ego corrupts his mind, which makes him susceptible to Milton’s treachery. Hackford effectively uses montage by cutting directly from this scene and superimposing a church, contrasting the immoral decision, with the eternal goodness of the God. Lomax’s success earns him an invitation from a major law firm in New York- Milton, Chapel ton and Walters.
The Essay on Paradise Lost The Devil Compar
How does John Milton portray Satan in his poem, "Paradise Lost"? In this epic poem, Satan's traits include pride, treachery, and persistent spitefulness. I believe that these character traits compare to the leadership of Howe Military School. Satan commits many prideful acts throughout the poem. This shows when Milton writes, "what time his pride / Had cast him out of Heaven, with all his host / ...
The scene displaying his departure from Florida to New York is done nicely, using a series of montages from angels to gothic building structures. This is done to convey his exodus from the natural and entry to the unnatural. John Milton is physically introduced in the movie when he is seen observing Lomax from a distance. Mr. Lomax is not conscious of his presence foreshadowing their eventual crossing of paths.
At first sight Milton is wearing a dark overcoat portraying gloom, death and ambiguity, as if he were hiding his true identity. Milton departs the scene by stepping down into the subway, submerging from the real world and descending into the trenches of hell. Once again the use of imagery in the scene is wonderful. As Kevin Lomax approaches Milton’s firm, Hackford inverts the building, and as he enters, the building returns to its upright position. This incisive maneuvering of the structure depicts that Kevin’s life is about to change. It also prophesies his entry into the flipside of good.
The two characters finally encounter one another in Milton’s office and they travel to the roof to get familiarized with each other. The idea that they are situated on the roof implies that Milton is limited in ascension, therefore God limits him. It also conveys that the devil looks down on the rest of humanity. Milton proceeds in his devious ways by feeding into Lomax’s ego, by acknowledging his perfect record of acquittals, he infiltrates his mind.
Lomax becomes filled with greed for more victories neglecting their guilt. This invigorates him yet it unequivocally poisons his mind. Meanwhile, Mary Ann is being tainted by their new lifestyle, which is evident by her change in appearance. Milton is entering their lives and destroying them, their righteousness is diminishing and this ultimately leads to Mary Ann’s death. Milton kills Lomax’s wife to isolate his son and carry out his prophecy of an anti-christ. Milton would kill man at will because of his theories on man and God: “God’s special little creatures, self-serving greed on wheels.
The Essay on Milton's Paradise Lost And His Justification Of The Ways Of God To Man
When John Milton decided to write, he knew from the start he wanted his creation to be that of an epic. Paradise Lost is just that. It is Milton’s own take on the biblical story of Satan’s fall from grace as well as man’s fall. Milton was not only armed with an extensive knowledge on the Bible, but in everything a man of his time could learn. With his wisdom he emersed himself ...
He sharpens human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desires, and builds egos the size of cathedrals which connects the world, and through those desires they Fist F? ! # God’s ex-planet. Maybe God rolled the dice once too many times, maybe he let us all down!” Milton uses this speech to brainwash Lomax into believing that he is all knowing, when in reality he is just angry and spiteful, with revenge on his mind. Nevertheless, it is Lomax who is crushed at his wife’s death. This is important because he comes to the realization of who he really is and what he has become. Lomax grasps the notion that of his free will to choose right from wrong, he chooses wrong. He eventually kills himself for the guilt that he feels, but his death is a moral victory.
Kevin’s death represents his repent and return to peace and harmony, a place that could never steer him in the wrong direction. As Milton witnesses his suicide he becomes indulged in that sour odor of defeat that he knows to well. Hackford astutely uses a metamorphosis in Satan’s physical appearance to convey his true identity and origin. The transformation is unnatural and unsettling, but also very beautiful.
It reminds us where the Devil came from, and why he exists, he was the highest angel, the closest to God, until his ego caused him to be cast away from God. Today, we are so often driven by our egos and rewarded for it, that we forget how dire Lucifer’s punishment was for his sin of ego and vanity. He is a very real Devil in this story, a demon whose world is our own, with all its mundane events. He appears in human form and presents human choices, and his greatest lure is what we have in common with him- our greed, ego, competitiveness, vanity and dishonesty. He is familiar, and that’s what makes him so dangerous. But when he is fully revealed, that’s what also reminds us he was once divine.
The Essay on Oresteia Gods But Also Human
Vengeance Humanity's Bloody Feud (On Aeschylus's Oresteia) From the beginning of time vengeance or retribution has been part of the human condition. This is especially true in Aeschylus's trilogy the Oresteia. One of the underlying themes in these works is Oculo pro oculo or an eye for an eye. According to the plays introduction by Richmond Lattimore, the history behind this blood feud of ...
It is losing the battle, giving up the struggle against those temptations that damned Lucifer just as it damned Lomax.
