The Divorce Tracts of John Milton: Texts and Contexts

Both in content and in method, Milton's divorce tracts are important for the questions we ask of the past in order to address urgent issues of the present. Milton's argument that divorce could be "to the good of both sexes" makes this often intimidating writer and his era accessible and compelling to contemporary readers. His claim for divorce on the basis of mutual incompatibility established the groundwork for the justification of divorce in late twentieth century Anglo-American law. Milton's rhetorical methods from cogent advocacy to speculative commentary and poignant vignettes, from citation of authorities and carefully reasoned biblical exegesis to defensive vituperation demonstrate the range of debate in seventeenth century pamphlet warfare that endures in the media of modern culture.