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This is a Literature Review study.

September 16, 2025

“Wouldst Thou Like to Live Deliciously?” Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015) as a Miltonian Temptation Narrative

Key Points

The film's story captures a psychological descent into madness and temptation, linked to Milton's themes.
Eggers's portrayal of isolation allows for a deeper understanding of temptation, resonating with Milton's works.
The character Thomasin exemplifies the struggle between fear and liberation, akin to Milton's narratives.
The analysis draws connections that illuminate the moral complexities and limitations found in Milton's temptation scenes.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Filmmaker Robert Eggers may not have intentionally set out to adapt the works of John Milton, but his 2015 horror film The Witch evokes Milton’s many temptation narratives, especially A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle. Set in 1630s New England, the movie tells the story of a devout English farming family who loses their infant son to a witch and gradually comes undone. Eggers, who has acknowledged Milton’s influence on his film, constructs a Miltonian universe to explore the psychological aftermath of fear and tragedy that accompanies the family’s isolation; he focuses on the suffering and possible liberation of the daughter Thomasin as she ultimately confronts the devil in the woods. Analyzing The Witch in relation to Milton sheds new light on the power and, paradoxically, the limitations of his various scenes of temptation in his major works.

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