Conclusion: Ethical Value Judgements

In the Conclusion, I discuss how Johnson’s interpretative method promotes the “good life” of ethics. He includes the Life of Savage in the Lives of the Poets as the template for his method of literary interpretation, guiding his reader to the ethical import of poetry. While moral value judgements are often seen as absolutistic and inflexible, contextual ethical assessment in the form of literary interpretation provides grounds for refutation. For example, when Johnson claims that the allegory of Sin and Death is a flaw of Paradise Lost, one can contest the view that the allegory undermines the purpose of the epic. In short, when Johnson’s value judgements enter the realm of literary criticism they become contextualized and goal-directed.