resolution
As with "courage," the martial virtue to which Mary Shelley here yokes
"resolution," this word also evokes the characteristic diction of
Milton's Satan. In arising to call his forces to assemble, he marks his
agenda:
how we may henceforth most offend
Our enemy, our own loss how repair,
How overcome this dire calamity,
What reinforcement we may gain from hope,
If not what resolution from despair.
-- I.187-191
When Satan ends the assembly by having his fallen legions endorse his
plans to corrupt the garden of Eden, Milton's language emphasizes the
force of his resolution.
Thus saying, rose
The Monarch, and prevented all reply;
Prudent, lest from his resolution raised,
Others among the chief might offer now,
Certain to be refused, what first they feared.
-- II.466-470
