While Anthony Burgess’ provocative novel A Clockwork Orange has been loosely associated with Milton’s Paradise Lost in very few academic works, the utilization of each text as a tool to better understand the other remains largely unexplored (Evans 130; Pearson 41) At first glance Burgess’ blood-hungry, sexually gluttonous dystopia may appear as the furthest depiction of human nature from Milton’s how-to guide on salvation possible. However, both texts are established on, and consistently advocate for, personal autonomy and freewill. Furthermore, both texts prompt readers to acknowledge the detrimental effects resulting from the loss of these liberties. In A Clockwork Orange, the main character Alex is presented upfront as a deplorable individual, just as Satan is in Paradise Lost. And while more obvious, and seemingly more intentional with Alex, the presentation of Satan’s humanistic moral flaws similarly implies that no being is deserving of getting their autonomy stripped from them.
In Paradise Lost, it is the absence of genuine freewill that undermines what is presented as such. There is no negative connotation with the constraints that the “will” of those under God’s command must function within. Conversely, it is presented as a blessing that “man shall not quite be lost, but sav’d” by not of will in him[self], but grace in me[God].” (Milton 3.173-79) Although this scenario may appear different from Alex’s conditions, he also must follow the “grace” of a greater power, the law, in exchange for his share of freewill. This example serves not as an excuse for Alex’s actions, but as a guide to see that his violence towards the law and his community is representative of an evolved version of Satan’s disobedience. Note how both characters have freedom to exert their wills as they please until they abuse it past the point of no return. In A Clockwork Orange, one instance being two years into Alex’s prison sentence when he is “reminded” of when he “was like happy and free.” (Burgess 86) Returning back to the absence of freewill, in Paradise Lost, it is through God’s expulsion of Satan from the heavens that proves this point, because he is physically restricted to employ his freewill only in hell. It is important to note this action as evidence because unlike Alex, Satan is unaware of his loss of autonomy. Consider his assertion that in hell “at least we shall be free” since “th’Almighty hath not built since here for his envy” and therefore “will not drive us hence.” Despite their level of awareness, both characters have had a significant reduction in their ability to act and move freely.
Regarding preexisting mentions of the intersection and overlapping of A Clockwork Orange and Paradise Lost, material on the matter was sparse and primarily concerned with the authors. For instance, Robert O. Evans, an associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky only mentions Paradise Lost in his essay to point out that Burgess’ style of writing is “closer to Milton’s Paradise Lost than any of his predecessors in the dystopian convention.” (131) Additionally, although the essay “Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange” featured in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Vol. 316 acknowledges that the “fundamental issues” present in A Clockwork Orange are the “very ones” presented it Paradise Lost, author Douglas Pearson Jr. also spends most of his essay on Burgess’ life experiences. (Pearson 41) While potentially helpful for a historical analysis, the lack of text-based evidence fails to overcome the death of the author and therefore can only be used as a starting point for deeper, critical literary analysis.
As for why a critical literary analysis should be done on A Clockwork Orange and Paradise Lost, both texts function as pivotal influences on society and culture far beyond literary studies. Note how former U.S. presidents Jefferson and Adams “each responded enthusiastically to Paradise Lost,” and that these responses to Milton’s cautionary tale “prefigure political differences” of the country. (Tanner, John S., and Justin Collings) Nearly 300 years later, A Clockwork Orange’s emergence in 1962 then reestablished this inquisitive fear of “what we[humankind] are,” leading to “something dreadful” at the forefront of the modern zeitgeist. (Evans 131) While considered “highly controversial,” it is in fact the novel’s “focus on violence and human depravity,” that has preserved both A Clockwork Orange, and its less disquieting predecessor, Paradise Lost’s influence on “the problem of what to do with a humanity that is capable of good and evil.” (Overholtzer 2; Pearson 41)
All in all, this is to say that the best way to tackle convoluted philosophical queries with appropriate nuance is through a combined effort of artistic works past and present. Questions such as where the line should be drawn between “the rights of the individual versus those of the society,” “the moral dilemmas associated with combating misbehavior by eliminating freedom of choice,” or exactly how have we “grown accustomed to thinking about ourselves as free, autonomous individuals,” require more than just one individual’s experiences, viewpoints, and values. (Pearson 41; Overholtzer 2; Low 348) This is why literary studies are important. To equip a person with the tools of critical consumption is to equip them with the tools necessary to fight back in a world where language frequently gets bastardized and weaponized to strip individuals of their autonomy and freewill.
Sources
Josselson, Diana. “Rev. of a Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 316, Gale, 2015. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.libproxy.plymouth.edu/apps/doc/TAWXFA335321597/LCO?u=plysc_main&sid=bookmark-LCO&pg=2&xid=76b17099. Accessed 3 Dec. 2025. Originally published in Kenyon Review, vol. 25, no. 3, 1963, pp. 559-560.
Pearson, Douglas A., Jr. “Anthony Burgess’s a Clockwork Orange.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 316, Gale, 2015. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.libproxy.plymouth.edu/apps/doc/XHIXBX137094945/LCO?u=plysc_main&sid=bookmark-LCO&pg=40&xid=7f1cfacd. Accessed 3 Dec. 2025. Originally published in Censored Books, edited by Nicholas J. Karolides, et al., Scarecrow, 1993, pp. 185-190.
Evans, Robert O. “The Nouveau Roman, Russian Dystopias, and Anthony Burgess.” Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk, vol. 62, Gale, 1991. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.libproxy.plymouth.edu/apps/doc/ZFIEZC282555024/LCO?u=plysc_main&sid=bookmark-LCO&pg=130&xid=1f988bf3. Accessed 3 Dec. 2025. Originally published in British Novelists Since 1900, edited by Jack I. Biles, AMS Press, 1987, pp. 253-266.
“A Clockwork Orange, An Introduction to.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 316, Gale, 2015. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.libproxy.plymouth.edu/apps/doc/UGQRLM951224344/LCO?u=plysc_main&sid=bookmark-LCO&pg=3&xid=bbdf9891. Accessed 3 Dec. 2025.
Leonard, John. “There Is Such a Thing as Freedom in Surprised by Sin—and It’s a Good Thing, Too.” Milton Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 4, Dec. 2018, pp. 324–32. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1111/milt.12270.
Low, Anthony. “`Umpire Conscience’: Freedom, Obedience, and the Cartesian Flight from Calvin in Paradise Lost.” Studies in Philology, vol. 96, no. 3, June 1999, p. 348. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a79bc712-a1a5-32b1-9a7c-cd0b9c7b0ea3.
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Sprockets and Springes 