Comus critical essays

The core idea of Comus is the high dedication required for those embarked on the philosophical quest for a higher understanding of truth and beauty as understood by the Renaissance and Reformation Platonists. That is, arguably, the broad philosophical setting.

On a personal level, Milton may have been using "Comus" as a vehicle to express a rational and natural defense of the virtue, temperance, and even chastity he believed was necessary for any man in general, and himself in particular, to reach a higher moral and intellectual level.

Chastity was, consequently, not an end in itself for Milton but represented, in this case, the type of sacrifice and single-minded dedication he believed was necessary for him to achieve his goal of moving to a higher level of understanding. Virtue in Comus also makes the most sense when understood in the Platonic manner.

Milton through the masque states that heaven itself will intercede when necessary to defend the virtue of a pure soul with "just hands" in order to guide such men to rise upward on earth. This is yet another Platonic doctrine present in Comus. That ope's the Palace of Eternity: