The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Freedom and Confinement Quotes

It's not just physical and spiritual freedom that Blake's concerned with here. Here he reminds us that there are also constraints on perception that can be equally damaging. So open your eyes, people.

This scene is probably the most disturbing part of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, what with all the monkeys chasing, raping, and eating one another. It's probably not an accident either that they're all chained up. Remember that the speaker is showing the angel what his (the angel's) future has in store for him, just like the angel did for the speaker when he showed him the spider abyss. The idea here, then, is that the spiritual restraints, which the angel has on in the name of being good, will eventually turn into physical chains. And, we guess, the angel will eventually become a cannibalistic monkey. In any case, it sounds like bad times to us.

Did you forget that Blake was also all about political freedom as well? Just in case you did, he tacks on "A Song of Liberty" at the end of the book. (Some versions appear without the last two sections, in fact.) In it, he calls for an end to empire, for countries to stop colonizing other lands and peoples. In this idea, Blake was way, way ahead of his time. Sadly, the world didn't listen to him. The Age of Empire cranked up not long after The Marriage of Heaven and Hell appeared, setting up a colonial system in which a few countries tried to take over the rest of the world. To this day, the legacy of colonialism is one of suffering and resentment.