Eve's Apology In Defense Of Women Analysis

When Eve took that bite of the Forbidden Fruit, she had no idea what she had gotten women-kind into. Whether or not you believe in the story of creation, the perception of women as corrupting and sinful had shaped women's social roles in Western Society for thousands of years. Augustine was one of the first to write about the wickedness of women, and the acceptance of this doctrine is evident in the Letters of Abelard and Heloise through their disdain toward marriage. Along with mass death of the Black Plague, came an opportunity for women to change the ways in which society viewed them. The great number of deaths in Europe often resulted in the situation where no male heirs remained which led to the legal ability of women to inherit

With this in mind, it is clear that the author was implying how Eve or females in general, are unintelligent where they became gullible to the point that they are persuaded to do things that have major consequences as the result. Moreover, with her excessive curiosity of obtaining the knowledge when consuming the apple from the forbidden tree made her unaware to the punishment that will surely come when she devours it. With this, the author wants to point out to the people how they are incapable of logical thought for their actions are solely based on their emotions. With these, people are able to conclude that women don’t think before they act, while men can manipulate others that verify their intellect. As a matter of fact, this ignorant similar persona can be seen in the Onondaga story also. Specifically at the part where the Ancient Chief’s wife leaned over to look down the whole that seems like a bottomless pit or an abyss where she holds on to the tip of a branch to not fall over the pit. Likewise to the first point to how females are described to be ignorant, the Ancient Chief’s wife also acquires that characteristic where she shows the lack of knowledge that the tip of the branch is not enough to support her from falling. Besides the tip of the branch is the weakest part of a tree and is said to be very brittle and weak.

And then towards the middle of the 1600, when the Scientific Revolution was beginning, women slowly began to work with the fields of math and science. Even though they

    The seventeenth century poet, John Milton, takes the attitude common to the time period while portraying Eve in Paradise Lost.  This epic, telling of Adam and Eve's fall from Paradise and the story of creation, constantly describes Eve as a weak individual, while Adam is often compared with God.  The idea of women's inferiority has been fixed through time, making Milton's characterization of Eve not surprising, but rather expected and accepted.  However, Milton shows a suggestion of women's inner strength while describing the control Eve has over Adam.  Nevertheless, except for this instance, Eve is depicted as subordinate to Adam.  This is evident through Adam and Raphael's treatment

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Scientific Revolution, which was the development of new sciences and technology, and the Age of Enlightenment, which was the so called “age of reason”, had sparked women’s

The primary role for women in the 17th century was to make science easier for others to understand. The last sentence in the historical background “women translated scientific works.” shows this. I think that the significance of this is to show women’s contributions to science.

It describes how women did not get as much recognition in the scientific world due to only men in this profession being viewed/praised by society. “Most people have not heard of the women that will be discussed shortly, but surely all have heard of Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Sir Isaac Newton, and Rene Descartes”. “...families criticized their daughters for their absorption in such inappropriate, inelegant, and unfeminine endeavors.”

by eating the fruit even though he didn't want to. Eve was brainwashed by the serpent because she was mentally weak. Adam and Eve later go on to get married and have two kids named Cain and Abel. Cain ends up killing his brother Abel because Abel’s heart was faithful and was devoted to God and his commitment was trustworthy in God’s eyes. When Cain realized that God was not pleased with his sacrifice but accepted Abel’s, he became extremely jealous and felt a strong hatred in his heart and jealous of his brother and killed him out of envy. One thing that I noticed when it came to gender roles was that the serpent understood who to manipulate. God directly talked to Adam then next in line was Eve. The serpent understood that Adam was more than

This directly shows that women were not expected to study science, and that they were to be taught “agreeable knowledge” which is domesticated responsibilities that create a suitable wife. Luckily for Emilie, she met Voltaire who understood her brilliance, and he gave her a way to break away from social norms. Voltaire wrote to a friend that “There's a woman in Paris, named Emilie who outdoes everyone in intelligence” (69). This was incredible because he did not compare her to other women, but instead he placed Emilie above everyone.

In the article of Hbbard she quoted that “women tried to get access to higher education in nineteenth century. Scientists claimed that women could

To begin with, in order to understand the philosophies of Margaret Cavendish one must also understand the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was a revolution in both thought and methodology. During the Renaissance science comprised of the organic theories of the magicians and vitalistic theories created by chemists. Additionally, humans personified the world as a motherly figure i.e. Mother Earth and Mother Nature; however with advances in technology all

In “On the Equality of the Sexes,” Murray begins by arguing that the inventiveness of women is more than proof of their intellectual capacity, stating “Invention is perhaps the most arduous effort of the mind; this branch of imagination hath been particularly ceded to us, and we have been time out of mind invested with that creative faculty” (132-133). She goes on to give various examples, such as “the variety of fashions… [and] how continually are they

Elizabeth reflects Austen point of view in feminism and because of their radical nature, can be taken as feminism of the 18th

We can see the poem deals with the entire story of man's fall from grace, including background for Satan's motives. In Paradise Lost, Eve was tricked by Satan, who assumed the form of a serpent, into eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Satan had whispered into her ear when she was asleep, and when he spoke to her later, he used his cunning to mislead her:

Furthermore, the tree of knowledge of good and evil makes reference to the decay of humanity, in the Book of Genesis, because of Adam and Eve. The fifth stanza makes clearly the link between “the fruit of Deceit” in the poem and the forbidden fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The first two lines of the paragraph contain a contradiction between terms which are commonly not compatible: “And it bears the fruit of Deceit / Ruddy and sweet to eat”. Indeed, “the fruit of Deceit” reveals the decadence of humanity, the sins of human beings and also the end of innocence. Besides, only because of his appellation, this fruit is supposed to be bad and bearer of misfortune. Nonetheless, “the fruit of Deceit” is described as “ruddy and sweet to eat” which gives the urge to eat it. Thus, despite the contradictions, men are corrupted by their selfish desires because “Of the Mystery over his head”. Moreover, the tree of knowledge gives birth to the nest of raven which symbolizes death: “And the raven his nest has made / In its thickest shade”. Effectively, the paradox is that the tree carries the fruit of Deceit and the nest of the raven which both signify mortality and darkness. However, near these two symbols of death stands a gorgeous and