Paradise Lost Sin

Before jumping into how Eve behaves in Paradise Lost, first let us examine the way Eve is regarded.

Original sin leads back to the first two humans put on the newly created planet Earth. These people were named Adam and Eve. God put them in a garden called Eden, and they had the right to eat anything in their inhabitancy, with one minor restriction. Adam and Eve were assigned one tree that bared its fruit, which they could not pleasure their hungry bellies from. Both of them were well aware of this rule set out in front of them, except there became a test before Adam and Eve one day. Eve was all alone in the garden of Eden when a snake appeared and started talking to her. This serpent convinced Eve to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, saying to her that she would gain god-like powers. God did not make talking snakes though, so it is easy to see that this was an

In 1741, during the period of the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards preached about what was the meaning of “sin”. He said that sinners are strictly disgusting to God because “Sin is an active force in the world that is ultimately controlled by the devil”. On Edwards’ eyes there was no

The book of Genesis records the creation of the world and everything in it, as well the early relationship between God and humanity. God creates man, Adam, “from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7) and places him in a paradise on Earth called the garden of Eden, where he also places the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From the man, God creates a woman and tells them that they “may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil [they] shall not eat, for in the day that [they] eat of it [they] shall die (Genesis 2:16). Despite this warning, the woman, Eve, is eventually tempted to eat the fruit of the treat and convinces Adam to do the same, causing them to be cast out of the garden. Although Adam and Eve do have free will to do what they

“O Hell!” Satan’s opening exclamation of frustration immediately alerts readers to Satan’s state of mind. As Satan gazes on Adam and Eve, he is struck by their blissful state, which sends him into a spiral of confusion as he slightly reconsiders his plan to destroy them. To himself, Satan addresses the pair; he begins regretful and with pity for Adam and Eve. He later shifts in tone to vengeful, envious, and angry. Further exemplifying Satan’s contrasting attitudes, Milton uses antonymous words of emotion throughout the passage. By the end of passage, Milton solidifies Satan’s hardening of heart and ends the struggle that has been festering inside Satan since his first act of rebellion against God. Milton successfully uses both the shift in tone and the emotional diction to reveal Satan’s stormy internal conflict.

However, evil soon entered the garden in the form of a serpent. One day when Eve was walking in the garden she encountered the evil serpent who encouraged her to take a fruit from one of God’s forbidden fruit trees. The serpent succeeded in deceiving Eve to take a fruit; she then ate the fruit and shared it with Adam. Then God became angry with Adam and Eve for betraying Him. To punish Adam and Eve, he ejected them from the garden and subjecting them to mortality, painful childbirth, sin and shame.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve encounters a crafty serpent who convinces her to eat of the tree’s forbidden fruit when it says, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Hebrew Bible, p. 15). In one way or another, the serpent’s temptation of Eve plays right into a deep desire of being “like God”. She disregards God’s command and is enticed with the idea of breaking out of her human nature. As both Adam and Eve fall into temptation, they confront their true selves. This confrontation happens when they eat of the fruit and immediately notice a significant change. “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.” (Hebrew Bible, p. 15). The fruit grants them knowledge and wisdom, and with it the realization that are not like God. As Adam and Eve become aware of their rooted humanity, they “sew fig leaves together to make loincloths for themselves”. This instinct to cover their genitalia, a symbol of their mortality, reveals the shame of their own transience. God uses this shame as punishment when he curses

“Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.” (Doren) Perhaps the foremost purpose of the novel is to illustrate the difference between shaming someone in public and allowing him or her to suffer the consequences of an unjust act privately. “Sin and knowledge are linked in the Judeo-Christian tradition.” (Lei) The Bible begins with the story of Adam and Eve, who were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As a result of their knowledge, Adam and Eve are made aware of their humanness, that which separates them from the divine and from other creatures. Once expelled from the Garden of Eden, they are forced to toil and to procreate—two

After taking a bite from the fruit Adam and Eve “Soon found thir Eyes how op'nd, and thir minds / How dark'nd; innocence, that as a veile / Had shadow'd them from knowing ill, was gon” (9.1053-1055). Adam and Eve’s eyes are now open to what is good and evil in the world and know that what they did is a sin. Even after eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve know that what they did was wrong and feel guilty of their actions because of the goodness inside of them. After Adam and Eve have finished lusting over each other and have had their fun their actions “Oppress'd [Adam and Eve], wearied with thir amorous play. / Soon as the force of that fallacious Fruit” (9.1045-1046).

An omnibenevolent God created a man with the capacity to sin; as Augustine has addressed, the evil in man resides from his will. Augustine, however, does not address how evil stems also from the human nature of temptation that was a consequence of the original fall from Eden. Augustine touches on this theme when accounting for the origins of his sin, but he never fully declares it. “I loved to excuse my soul,” Augustine begins, “and to accuse something else inside me (I knew not what) but which was not I. But, assuredly, it was I, and it was my impiety that had divided me against myself” (62). Here, Augustine admits to denying his own human nature to sin, and blames it on something beyond his will, such as a result of creation. Bonner,

Both Adam and Eve were tricked into believing that the fruit will present them with a more fulfilling existence, but instead it proved lacking and disappointing. Furthermore, the narrator soon after says, “ Thousands of greedy individuals abandoned their sweet native hexagons and rushed upstairs and downstairs, spurred by their vain desire to find their Vindication.” (Borges 115) The “greedy individuals” the narrator speaks of are a symbol of humankind’s dissatisfaction with its existence, and its constant need to search for something more divine. Thus, the narrator describes Adam and Eve’s fall from Grace, which was “spurred by their vain desire to find their Vindication.”

Upon entering the Garden of Eden, one will find a bountiful place where two naïve humans reside. Eden’s beauty surpasses the imaginable; it contains crystal rivers, friendly animals, and trees bearing wondrous fruit. Adam and Eve live under the care of God. Dwelling in this beautiful garden free from sin allows one to assume that Adam and Eve are created pure and good. However, free will prevents the pair from remaining sinless. Humans are not pure because of their ability to choose. Milton believes that humans naturally turn towards sin because of their free will; however, he says that through God one can correct this natural tendency towards sin.

In six days God created the universe, the earth, and every living thing on it. This includes human beings, who were made in Gods own image. God created Adam and Eve to have an unobstructed relationship with him, He placed them in a paradise called the Garden of Eden and gave them freedom to live in friendship and trust with him. God saw that everything he created was good and He rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2). God left Adam and Eve in the garden with specific instructions: they are NOT to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, they rebel and sin enters the world after a serpent tricks Eve into questioning God’s love and motives. In her gullible innocence, she ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3). Eve shared the fruit with Adam and they spiritually and physically die. This was catastrophic to Gods Order and led to the condemnation of all human

This notion of depravity is also seen within the bible resembling when Adam and Eve eat poison fruit from the tree. The curse begins to lift and the path of forgiveness emerges only after the Mariner’s thoughts transform from

Eve becomes cursed because she eats the forbidden fruit,