%0 Journal Article
%T Sanctifying Rites in Milton¡¯s A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634
%A Patrick Timmis
%J Christianity & Literature
%@ 2056-5666
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0148333118790583
%X This article seeks to challenge Stanley Fish¡¯s picture of the heroine of Milton¡¯s Comus as a complete and immaculate soul, and thus a static one with no need to grow. In conversation with Book II of Edmund Spenser¡¯s Faerie Queene, I argue that Milton presents the Christian virtues as developed through the ritual enactment of prevenient grace. Thus, the pattern for the Lady¡¯s growth into sanctified maturity is a ceremonial or even liturgical movement intended to lead masquers and audience heavenward
%K Milton
%K Comus
%K ritual
%K Spenser
%K masque
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0148333118790583