Religion, Censorship, and Reason
Areopagitica is a polemic, or an aggressive written argument, published by John Milton in 1644. Just two years before Milton wrote Areopagitica, King Charles’s Star Chamber Decree, which was responsible for the widespread censorship of speech and writing, was abolished. For a short time, censorship was nearly nonexistent in England and publications of every type began to rise. To suppress royalist propaganda and police radical ideas, Parliament passed the Licensing Order…
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Knowledge, Learning, and Truth
John Milton was a man of letters, meaning he was an intellectual who highly valued knowledge and learning, and his pursuit of knowledge through books is well-established both historically and in Areopagitica. Parliament’s Licensing Order of 1643 severely limited one’s access to books—books that were considered offensive or particularly controversial were subject to censorship or ban—and Milton argues Parliament’s Licensing Order severely limits one’s access to knowledge and learning as well. Perhaps…
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Writing and Authorship
It is very clear throughout Areopagitica that Milton opposes the pre-publication censorship imposed by Parliament’s Licensing Order of 1643, but he doesn’t entirely disagree with all of the order’s regulations. In addition to mandating pre-publication licensing, Parliament’s Order also dictated that every “book, pamphlet, or paper” must bear the name of the author, as well as the printer and publisher, and be registered at Stationer’s Hall, the official censor appointed by…
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