Milton’s Paradise Lost Essay examples

    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

When the “Founding Fathers” of America laid the foundation of the United States, they strove to create a society in which “all men are created equal” (Jefferson, n.p.). Despite this noble ideology, however, the subordinate status of women at the time as well as a booming slave trade prevented our nation from truly achieving this utopian vision. Now, over 200 years later, modern-day America still struggles in achieving true equality for all citizens. While women in the United States have inched closer to equality than ever before and appear to possess the same rights as men, underlying issues persist. Lingering concepts of traditional gender roles, a disturbing sexual double standard effectively encouraging “rape culture,” and the fact that women still receive less than men for the same vocation combine to prevent true equality of the sexes even today. Various literary, musical, and visual forms of art reinforce and perpetuate notions of female inferiority in the minds of many individuals using a plethora of techniques. John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667, 1674) and Temptation of Adam and Eve (1425) by Masolino, for example, appear to accomplish this by tying sexism to the Fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden. On one hand, both Milton’s epic poem and Masolino’s Fresco point to the idea that Eve, and therefore woman, should be blamed for original sin. However, the Biblical account of original sin in Genesis and Milton’s emphasis on free will in multiple writings imply

A. “The allusion to pagan fable that most haunts views of Milton's Eve is her Narcissus-like behavior when, fresh from her Creator's hand, she pauses at the verge of the mirror lake attracted by her own reflection and has to be called twice: first by God, who leads her to Adam, and then, as she starts back toward the softer beauty of the face in the lake, by Adam himself.” (McColley 63).

Milton was, by no means, a feminist, and was of quite a conventional outlook when it came to gender roles as is apparent in the fourth book of Paradise Lost, which has inevitably been scrutinized over and over again under the modern gendered eye. “Paradise Lost,” says Shannon Miller, “is Milton’s most sustained attempt to represent in poetry, gander roles, relations and hierarchy.”It is evident, she points out, in the course of his introduction of Adam and Eve in book IV, the stories of creation they relate there and in book VIII, and finally in the way Milton presents the consequences of the Fall. The reader observes the process by which gender is created as a cultural category.

Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether that home is the character’s birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot. (2010 AP Literature and Composition)

Man above woman, or woman above man? For the entirety of human civilization, this question of gender hierarchy has been divisive issue. Regardless, Milton does not hesitate to join the heat of the battle, and project his thoughts to the world. Since the publication of Paradise Lost, many of Milton’s readers have detected in his illustration of the prelapsarian couple, particularly of Adam, a powerful patriarchal sentiment: “he for God only, and she for God in him” (Milton, IV.299). In essence, this idea declares that Adam and Eve possess unequal roles – Adam is better than Eve, as men are better than women, in accordance to the deeply conventional reading of the relations between the sexes. Eve’s purpose for Adam makes her less

The two books attempt to establish an understanding of Eve as a being inferior to Adam as she is made in his image. Milton does this by pointing out how Eve "resemble[s] less/ His image who made both" (man and

Now I will talk about how milton portrayed eve in his writing. Milton sees Eve as Narcissus. For many hundreds of years, the female has been seen as the weaker sex the gentle sex, the docile sex, even the less intelligent sex. And this is because, for many hundreds of years, the societies that humanity lived in were based mainly on survival. Necessity of women remained in the home in order to further the mere survival of the species, while men were in charge of providing for this family unit. Through this situation, men developed an egocentric view of life, seeing themselves as the centers of their own microcosms. Humans always look for someone else on whom to place the blame any man would be pleased if he were able to place all of the evil of humanity on to a poor decision made by a woman. This view of Eve makes her a flat and undeveloped character. She is vain, falls in love with herself at first sight in the glimmering pool, and can barely stand to tear herself away from the water to be with Adam. As usual, this episode of her self-absorbed conceit only contributes to the already growing compassion for Adam,

Throughout time, John Milton's Paradise Lost has been studied by many people and comprehended in many different fashions, developing all kinds of new interpretations of the great epic. There have been many different interpretations of this great epic. Milton's purpose in writing the epic was to explain the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Although the epic is similar to the Bible story in many ways, Milton's character structure differs from that of the Bible's version. All through out the epic Milton describes the characters in the way he believes they are. In book II of Paradise Lost, Milton portrays Satan as a rebel who exhibits certain heroic qualities, but who turns out not to be a hero.

During Michael and Adam’s conversation, Eve is asleep the entire time. In previous books, Eve has always been subservient and inferior to Adam and the knowledge he has and receives. In this concluding book, Milton clearly expresses his less than eager view for women. Michael puts Eve to sleep and only shows Adam visions of the future. Though it seems like Adam is blamed for the fall because of his lack of guidance, Eve directly suffers for the fall and is also still left behind in the attainment of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

“...chronicle and drama before and during Milton’s time regularly put Eve on Satan’s side before the temptation,” (McColley 28). So it was revolutionary when Paradise Lost presented an innocent Eve. Milton, however, was limited in his endeavors to question his contemporaries exegeses because of the looming threat of the powerful churches at the time and his personal faith in God and the Bible.

Even though the situation seems hopeless, Eve is persistent and she believes that Adam would eventually get lonely and seek her out. She thinks this way because that is what she feels when she is lonely. Adam eventually allows Eve be a constant companion and accepts Eve’s insistence in giving everything a name because he acknowledges that she is trying to be useful to him. Adam starts to use the word “we” instead of “I” because Eve has been using it meaning that although he doesn’t particularly like her, he is still being influenced by her. Despite her discovery of fire, Adam is still unappreciative of her findings because he still sees no practical use for any of it even though Eve notices that the fire cooked the apples and made them taste better. Adam believes he has authority over Eve and it is evident when Eve tries to stop his dangerous adventures with the waterfall. Instead of listening to reason Adam ignores the scolding and continues his dangerous practice and Eve becomes resentful. In Adam’s extract he finds that although Eve’s enthusiasm for the beauty in the world useless it still opens his own eyes to it “She is all girlish enthusiasm over the color of the sunset and similar phenomena, which he finds quite useless. But he is reduced to the prose-poem type of description she gives to the dawn and sunset in regard to her beauty.”(Derda) He realizes how beautiful Eve is in the sunset because her actions make him aware of trivial things such as

Adam was the image and glory of God, Eve the glory of a man. While Eve may have been created inferior, she is well developed within the poem. When Eve is created, her first action is to follow a stream and “...to look into the clear/Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky” (4.458-59). This action has been interpreted as vanity, but it is perhaps more of an innocent action. It is not unreasonable to assume that looking at a reflection of yourself for the first time would be captivating. Eve had no way of knowing that the figure was herself so it is less of a vain action.

In John Milton’s poem, Paradise Lost, written out were twelve books that mainly focused on Adam and Eve. The plot essentially focuses on the defiance that Adam and Eve have created due to Satan’s persuasive manner to destroy humankind. In book four, Milton introduces the creation of man. The Bible states, “the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground” (The Holy Bible (ESV), Genesis. 2.7). The name of God’s creation is Adam. After contemplation, God realizes man shall not be alone. This is how the creation of Eve came about. It is stated, “The LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh” (Genesis. 2.21). God is good; however, he allows one to live through experience. The focus of this essay is in regards to Eve’s realization of her identity. Her desires, her sighting of a creature and the reflection of water convey a larger message about the meaning of life.

Eve is initially portrayed in John Milton’s Paradise Lost as a docile and submissive figure; however, in her soliloquy in Book IX, she exhibits her innate desire for independence and her ambition for freedom. Ultimately, Satan exploits Eve’s desires by tempting her, resulting in her consumption of the forbidden apples. Eve’s decision, formulated by her musings in this soliloquy, to sway Adam to consume the apples with her causes the Fall of Mankind. Not only does Paradise Lost depict a biblical narrative, but it also includes numerous references to Milton’s own poetic, political, and theological beliefs. Eve’s soliloquy in Book IX, through the portrayal of Eve’s character and the nature of temptation, conveys Milton’s poetic, political, and