Dylan Madden Word Count: 421
Genesis B and Eve’s IQ Response
25 October 2017
The Genesis B poem relives the events the Milton’s Paradise Lost that lead to the creation of Adam and Eve and to Eve traveling down the road to a sinful figure as she is seduced by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree. Alain Renoir reading on Eve and her IQ appears to be criticism towards Eve and her actions from the creation story and how she is “held responsible for the supposed medieval attitude towards women,…” (Renoir 264), that “all women were as dumb as eve,…” (262). When I first read Milton’s story about Adam and Eve, I understood the fact that she was an original representation of women and how her actions make men in most of our history’s tales and adventures lead to the mistreatment of women through the coming ages to our present day. I believe that is why Renoir titled her essay Eve’s IQ; to question Eve’s intelligence and to show how sexiest both males and females can be in reaction toward the Genesis poem.
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She even tempted Adam at some point in the story to try and eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge thus showing the sexist views on how men are to be considered as more powerful than women. Of course, her actions did get her and Adam into trouble and into an unfriendly confrontation with their creator and even though they tried begging for forgiveness, they still were forced leave their
Towards the end of ‘On the Equality of the Sexes’, Murray specifically invokes the story of Adam and Eve, a story used for centuries to depict women as the sinners, to turn the argument against itself and argue that Adam, or the men, are the real sinners in the Bible, as Adam knowingly breaks the rules while Eve was innocently deceived by the serpent. “Adam could not plead the same deception,” says Murray, “nor ought we to admire his superiour strength, or wonder at his sagacity”, implying that people overestimate the skills of men while dismissing the intellect of women as commonplace. The bigger takeaway from Murray’s invocation of Adam and Eve is that it shows the audience that she is trying to make her argument more relatable by putting gender equality in the framework of the Bible, a piece of work that was not only a religious text, but a way of life for most people in Murray’s time. By analyzing the Bible through a feminist lens and swapping the roles of Adam and Eve, Murray saved women’s reputation as the repenting sinners, but in mentioning the Bible to justify her point, Murray ultimately retreats back to the practice of relying on others’ words to make her ideas worthy of public consumption.
actions of Eve God placed a special curse on the female race, “Unto the woman he said, I
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
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).
In the Hebrew Bible, a significant section where this idea can be seen is in the beginning with the story of Adam and Eve, specifically in Genesis 4. When Eve is manipulated to eat the forbidden fruit, it poses the idea that the suffering of humankind was caused by a woman, showing the idea that woman react without consideration or senselessly, when really Eve was only acting on a very human trait, curiosity. When Eve convinces Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, one of gods punishment to Eve is “Your man shall be your longing, and rule over you” (p.97). Or when God describes Eve as “his woman”, God is essentially saying she is not her own independent person and is meant to be owned by men. This passage alone shows that women are viewed as people that were meant to be controlled; that men were always meant to be above them.
According to Hutchins, Bradstreet’s view of Eve shifts in her poem “In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth, of Most Happy Memory” when she expresses her approval of Queen Elizabeth (48). He states that Queen Elizabeth displays great scientia when she governs, a quality that is said for women to lack (48), and Queen Elizabeth achieved what Eve failed to regarding wisdom. By showcasing how true can wisdom can be achieved, Hutchins argues, Bradstreet’s view of Eve turns to a view of a woman who simply took the wrong approach to gaining wisdom who should be remembered for the error in the Fall of Man (48).
For the past two-thousand years, the Book of Genesis has served as work of literature to the western civilization. Whether people believed in the Bible or not, the Book of Genesis tell stories they talk about having good morals, teaching live-learned lessons and overall it gives a glimpse of how the first human being acted when the world was developing and how they handle problems and situations. However, even though the book of Genesis shows a tone of life long morals, Genesis also shows the different sides of humans. Genesis shows how human can be deceitful, evil, and disobedient to authority figures. But these traits with humans were rarely displayed by man, but mostly by woman. In
The stories told about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Although the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates love and devotion women had for Him. The stories of the bible describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.
Dated back to the 10th century B.C., the story of Adam and Eve is told in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 of the Christian Bible. The creation is the main focus of chapter 2 and their fall and punishment is the main focus in chapter 3. God creates Adam in his image from mud, he blows to his face and gives him life. God presents all of the animals of the land to Adam and he is not satisfied, so God created Eve out of Adams rib as a companion and helper for him, and he is satisfied with Gods work. God commands Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But, the serpent persuades Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and she persuades Adam to do so as well. After they eat the forbidden fruit they realize they are naked
To study Genesis in terms of its literary and historical content is not to say that we are in any way being irreverent in our reading of this part of the Old Testament. In other words, it is possible to read Genesis in both a spirit of appreciation for its position as the opening exegetical narrative of the Bible and as a document that reflects literary and historical realities and influences during the time when it was being written down. This paper examines some of the contemporary sources that influenced the two sets of writers who recorded the events of Genesis.
Throughout centuries there have been stories, or myth, told among the people of this world. A lot of those stories include women. Women are usually viewed as weak, unintelligent, and insignificant back in the late ages. There are some men who wrote myths that even hate women all together, such as Hesiod. In all of the myths there seems to be a goddess of great paramount to the myth somewhere in the story. So, even those women were looked down upon and viewed unequal to man they played a great role in the importance to the hero. That being said, women or goddess are just as important as men in each of these stories and they play important roles in each of the myths.
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
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 beings (Roman 5:18). Immediately, they
The intellect argument also comes into play when critics talk about Eve and her dreams, particularly the difference in which Adam and Eve receive information after the fall. Adam goes on his journey with Michael while Eve sleeps. Many see this as supporting the gender hierarchy because Adam’s journey is considered a high form of prophecy because an angel is involved whereas dreams are often considered a low form (McGrath79). Also, there is the fact that dreams used in previous points of the poem were Satanic and therefore already given a negative connotation. The difference in which the two are treated in terms of information is concerning, especially because the difference in which they are treated is so wide, one traveling with an angel
Milton’s Paradise Lost has been praised as being the greatest English epic of all time, most stunningly in its author's depiction of the parents of humanity, Adam and Eve. How Milton chose to portray the original mother and father has been a focus of much criticism with contemporary readers. One of the main subjects of these comments is in reference to Eve, who, according to many, is a trivial character that is most definitely inferior to her mate. Nonetheless, many do not recognize that, after the fateful Fall, she becomes a much more evolved character. When Eve is introduced to the storyline of the epic, her character is shallow and extremely undeveloped, meant simply for display. She is quite firmly set as being inferior to her mate