‘Paradise Lost’

Paradise Lost begins and ends with Man, only this is not Man as we know him in daily animateness, nor so as he is usually depicted in literature, but a perfect, pre-lapsarian Man. The primary concern of this epic poem appears to be mans early disobedience2 and the results of that action. However, although Milton uses the word man, it is universally understood that it was not a man, but a woman who disobeyed graven prototype and brought about the downfall of the human race. This woman is eve.Diane Kelsey McColley in her book Miltons Eve asserts that the story of our introductory parents shows woman as flesh, passions, nature, and sexuality seducing man as soul, reason, spiritual virtue and con positioningration from his proper relation to matinee idol.3 The portrayal of Eve as primordial temptress is a long-standing one and can be found not only discursively in literary history but also pictorially in art history, and these traditions are perhaps accountable for the reductiv e opinion of Eve today.Before Paradise Lost, literary accounts of the Fall interpreted the story as male virtue undone by female concupiscence and masculine reason undermined by feminine passion. This unholy for Eve as Adams inferior perhaps originates from the source of the story, the book of Genesis. When divinity fudge discovered that the apple had been eaten, He inquired of Adam whether he had eaten from the tree of knowledge. Unquestionably judge his answer that the blame should be heaped on Eve, for it was she who had given it to him, He then proceeded to accuse her for the disobedienceAnd the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? (Genesis 313) 4This accusation is directed only at Eve, as God assumes Adams view that she is the one to blame. When the Lord comes to dealing with punishment for their actions, it would appear that Adams wrongdoing was in the main in the particular that he listened to and obeyed his wife, as this action is the one God stresses firstly and unnecessarily with the eating of the apple and thus the contravening of His law coming as a secondary citation for punishmentAnd unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten from the tree (Genesis 317) 5It may be surprising that scour by and by the easing of patristic restrictions on womens liberty resulting from the Reformation, Puritan and moderate Anglican writers still continued to echo the reductive view of Eve and consequently women in general. Such a case is John Donne, who draws on the established authority of the Bible and shares such opinions asye wives, be in subjection to your husbands (I pricking 31)ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel (I Peter 37)6The idea that women are weaker, secondary beings who lack in about way the virtues and the higher intellect of men, is reinforced as an established idea by Aristotles statement that t he female is a deformityof natureperhaps preferably bad than good, and Platos that men are reborn as women if they thrust been cowards or led unrighteous lives.7It is perhaps a result of these ingrained ideas, that painters and poets have rarely captured what Milton dwells on in his epic, the naive pre-lapsarian lives of Adam and Eve, and instead have focused on the come-on and downfall of the first man and woman and its symbols Adam, Eve, the ophidian and the tree. Within these portraits, there can be found many depictions of Eve. She is predominantly wanton in one, and yet frailly dignified in another but in all can be found an emphasis on her fantastic beauty, which is presented as a glorious attribute and yet a cunning ambuscade ultimately the source of the loss of the paradisal garden she embodies.McColley discusses some examples of this iconographic tradition in her book, including Raphaels ceiling fresco, Stanza della Segnatura.8 The tree of knowledge stands between Adam and Eve, literally and symbolically the object that divides them. Encircling this instrument of division is the catalyst of the Fall, the serpent, half(a)-hidden in the shade of the tree. Adam, half-sitting, gazes at the tree with his palm outstretched, mirroring Eves gesture. However, she is standing upright in the dominant position, openly gazing at him with a knowing look full of concupiscence and lure.It is difficult to observe from the print in the book, but McColley states that not only is the serpent half woman it is a shadowed Eve the same half-turned face, straight nose, bowed mouth, and rounded breasts, the same hairwaved back over the left shoulder and hang loose on the right, each grasping a limb of the tree, their heads nearly touching, and each bending on Adam the same provocative gaze.9This image of Eve as the beautiful and debilitating seductress, akin with the serpent, represents the dark and dangerous side of the Fall and of Eve herself. This representation suggests to the viewer, by linking beauty and sexuality with the Fall, that Eves qualities were congenitally corruptive. If this is the case and I do not necessarily believe this to be true then the God who created her and gave her to Adam to be fit help(VIII 450),10 would be, as the fallen Adam claims, baiting a trap. To see Miltons Fall as the central action of the poem in this way, with pre-conceived ideas of sin and blame falling on Eves head, would be to see and stress the darkest and most sinister side of each image and allusion that Milton makes. However, if we regard creation and the regeneration of life after the Fall as just, if not more, important, then we shall see patterns of positive and redeeming features in Eves behaviour and be able to foresee possible redemption and regeneration.The main areas of contention which skirt and shape the ideas both of how Eve is perceived, and her role in the Fall, are her relationship to and separation from Adam, her behaviour dur ing the temptation, and whether she was in a sense fallen before the event itself.Eve, do from a rib of Adam, is traditionally seen as his inferior, not equal, as their sex not equal seemed (IV 296)11 and her servitude justified on the basis that Adam is for God only, she for God in him (IV 299)12. However, although this is echoed in the Bibles bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,13 it could be said that the direct distinction in these quotations between Adams hierarchical position and that of Eves is only set forth by the narrators voice depicting what Satan saw. To analyse the statement in this way then, is to question the validity of Satans observations and whether his definition of Adam and Eve is to be sure as correct, and to question whether the narrator is in part responsible for reflecting the expectations of his audience.14In pre-lapsarian scenes, Milton shows that Eve has a growing sense of responsibility as her understanding of the opportunities of her life histor y becomes greater. This is evident in her conversational language which combines questioning, reflection, wit and gaietywe in our appointed work employedHave finished happy in our rough-cut helpAnd mutual love, the crown of all our blissand this delicious placeFor us too largeBut thou hast promised from us two a raceTo fill the earth, who shall with us extolThy goodness infinite (IV 726-734) 15Even her choice of love for Adam over the narcissistic self-love she revelled in when first in the Garden, and her faithful toil for the God who created her reveals her virtues as a strong, determined, generous and selfless person, so why not, therefore, worthy of being Adams equal?Although there appears to be an insistence despite some evidence to the contrary on the essential masculine authority of Adam, the reader should not be blinded to the fact that Eve is as necessary to Adams fulfilment as he is to hers. They naturally complement each other and without the other neither would be com pleteFor contemplation he and valour formed,For softness she and sweet attractive grace (IV 297-8)16This complementary nature could even be seen to stretch to a mutual need and habituationI.enjoying theePre-eminent by so a good deal odds, while thouLike consort to thyself canst nowhere find. (IV 445-48)17However, this argument is perhaps most reinforced by the narrators first description of the pair, when Eve is included in all the valued qualities usually solely attributed to AdamTwo of far nobler shape erect and tall,Godlike erect, with ingrained honour cladIn naked majesty seemed lords of all,And worthy seemed, for in their looks divineThe image of their glorious Maker shone,Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pristine (IV 288-293)18This sharing of attributes and the responsibilities inherent to Gods first man and woman are also lucubrated by the clear parallel of Adam having the power to arouse the animals (VIII 350-354) and Eve possessing an equal power to name the flowe rs (XI 277).The first parents, as an equal couple, perfectly incarnate the proper relations and actions of the two sexes19. The idea that pre-lapsarian Adam and Eve had a sexual relationship causes much debate amongst critics. Whether such intimate relations were appropriate for the innocent and perfect pair is debatable, but I believe that pure love such as theirs cannot possibly be inappropriate, and that a lack of sexual love would indicate a flaw in their relationship. God created them to be the mother and father of mankind, to match continued renewal of life on earth, and so it is with His permission that they make loveBe fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth 1 (VII 531) 20Fertility in infernal region is a curse rather than a blessing it produces tormenting monsters that feed on their mothers womb, but communionly, fertility is everywhere in Heaven. The reader can apprehend it in the light, the fountains, the rivers, the flowers, the dances, and the songs.21 Raphael tells Adam that the angels, the intermediaries between Man and God, contain within them every lower faculty (V 410)22 which enables them to enjoy sexual relations themselvesLet it suffice thee that thou knowstUs happy, and without love no happiness.we enjoyand obstacle find noneOf membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive barsEasier than air with air, if Spirits embrace,Total they mix, union of pure with pureDesiring (VIII 620-628) 23This is an example of a purer and loftier union than that of Man, but represents the transcendence of human love between a man and woman, thus rendering it appropriate, natural and credible. When determined in the context of Miltons beliefs and the politics of the times, his conviction that there could be no paradise for man without sexual love seems personal and original. But in doing so, he attacks not only the conventional idea that sexual intercourse was a result, (if not a cause) of the Fall, but also prostitution, the Catholic tradition of clerical celibacy, the swanky tradition of playing with love, and the entire literary tradition of the lyric poet as abject suitor to his disdainful mistress24. He may be do a political point, but I believe such an idea is fitting and vitally symbolic. They enjoy fertility as ripe as that of the luxuriant Garden which provides them with sustenance, and were created to continue the cycle of Life on Earth, as they themselves help to maintain the cycle of Life in Eden.Gods instructions to Adam and Eve to slope the garden are used by Milton to explain Eves temptation when they are separated. This unquestionably gives her a sense of responsibility for the events which take place, but to what extent is a vital source of debate. Adam can be seen to treat Eve as a free being, dissuading her with lucid arguments, rational warnings, and loving tenderness, but he does not constrain her against her willWell hast thou motioned.Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposedLabourbut if much converse perhapsThee sat iate, to short absence I could yield.But other doubt possesses me, lest harmBefall thee severed from meleave not the faithful sideThat gave thee beingWho guards her, or with her the worst endures. ( IX 229-269) 25A skilled rhetorician, Adam tries to the best of his ability to dissuade her from her decision to divide their labours, but to no avail. Eve, with a determined, the willinger I go26, withdraws from him and continues alone. Perhaps Adams failure to restrain her forcibly is the root cause of the Fall? Ultimately no one can say, but nevertheless I believe this question to be a valid one, if only owing to the last line of the above quotation. The words are make full with poignancy and foreshadowings of the tragedy to come for the knowing reader, and such a line from Milton is surely expected to reflect the ironic seriousness of Adams unknowing promise. Therefore, this clearly should dribble doubt into the readers mind as to whether it was Adam as the too-trusting husband who is to blame for not enforcing Eves expected subjugation to his will, and allowing the possibility of the temptation to actually occur.Eves behaviour during the temptation and the question of whether she was already fallen before the event are often inter-linked and become symptoms of each other. The occurrence of her dream and her reaction to it is also an integral part of this issue.E.M.W. Tillyard in the essay The Crisis of Paradise Lost asserts that Eve has already fallen before the Fall, by referring to her dream, saying..into the mind of angel or man evil may enter, and, if it is repudiated, fail to incriminate. In the abstract the doctrine may be tenable, but it cannot work in concrete literary presentation. No human being can conceive or represent evil entering a mind quite alien to it the mere fact of entrance implies some pre-existing sympathy Eve does by her symptoms imply that it has touched her27One could argue that Tillyards assertion of human beings behaviour is not ap plicable to Eve as both she and Adam are, as I have already stated, not humans as we know them but there is also another line of argument to counter this. It could be said that Milton has built into his poem a sustained distinction between pre- and post-lapsarian nomenclature, and it is this device which aids the reader in distinguishing certain features of Adam and Eves character to illustrate how they have changed from pre-lapsarian innocence into the post-lapsarian, fallen creatures they will become. This also creates an obvious echo between parallel yet contrasting events before and after the Fall.Adam himself describes Eve as crooked by Nature (X 885) 28, implying that Eve was in fact fallen before the eating of the fruit, but this is in the post-lapsarian phase of the poem, and his language has deteriorated from the perfect, pure communication he possessed before the Fall into a dualistic, anti-feminine diatribe. This fact could be seen to reduce the credibility of his words, as he no longer holds the power that is associated with his preliminary Adamic language. One could agree with the fallen Adams assessment of Eve, by citing the many comparisons Milton makes between her and infamous temptresses from classical myth. However, not only do the aforementioned goddesses have innocent aspects as patronesses of natural fertility, (just like Eve in Eden), this reductive portrayal by Milton would commit a terrible blasphemy, contradicting his faith, by blaming God for her sin because he created her innately flawed.What the reader witnesses throughout the temptation is a contest (unconscious on her part) between Eve and Satan for the authority to interpret pre-lapsarian language29. The serpent first stakes a claim upon Eves language through the seeming miracle of being capable of speechhe gladOf her attention gained, with serpent tongueOrganic, or impulse of vocal air,His fraudulent temptation thus began. (IX 528-5531) 30The reference to his communication as organic would infer to the reader that it is natural, and the language of pre-lapsarian Eden. However, although Eve is seduced by this into believing it to be true, the reader alone owing to the description of it as an impulse of vocal air knows it to be false. The reason this is so is because Satan already has the knowledge of good and evil, and is therefore incapable of the untainted speech of Eve. In this way, therefore, I do not believe that Eve can be seen as already fallen, for without a previous acquisition of knowledge Eve could not realise that the words of the serpent were that of an evilly corrupted version of her own.Eves wonder at this evident miracle creates a dangerous moment for Satan, one in which he must exercise special vigilance. However, it is an opportunity she misses, and he turns it into his advantage by attributing his power to the forbid fruit. In the world of Eden, where Adams birthright of the power to name the animals with a pure and natural speech co nveys enormous power, language is knowledge and this is how Satan gains his power.Temptation was not a new idea for Milton. He wrote a Puritan masque, originally entitled A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634, but popularly known as Comus. The theme of the masque is the death of false pagan values when they are opposed by Christian virtues31, and, like Paradise Lost, is concerned with the process of temptation and the power of evil to corrupt innocence. The vital difference between the two, however, is that the central female character, The Lady, does not succumb to the machinations of her would-be tempterCOMUS This will restore all conciselyLADY Twill not restore the truth and honestyThat thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies. (lns 689-692) 32It could be said that the reason for Eve to Fall when The Lady does not is that she was innately flawed, a bait for Adam designed by God, or merely an inferior and weak female. I believe however, that the reason for Eves Fall is to think of redemption and regeneration. Paradise Lost was published in 1667, having been written in a period of great social unrest. The government believed to be Gods government by Milton and his fellow Puritans had collapsed in 1660 with the Restoration of Charles II. This raised moral questions which I believe in part to be responsible for Miltons questioning about the ways of God (I 26)33, and which resulted in the exploration in this poem of a God who does not intervene to stifle evil.The brief image of the labourer returning home after a days work in the fields at the end of Book XII of Paradise Lost is especially effective, a moving evocation of the life and toil and poverty and weariness and also of homely satisfactions all the common experience of humanity which Adam and Eve must now face.34 Eve, though fallen, is in the process of regeneration, and, just like the political climate of Miltons era, can resume development of her pre-lapsarian virtues, though now through pain and woe (I 3).35