The Rape of Proserpina and Eve's Fall in Milton's Paradise Lost

In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the parallelism between Satan and Eve’s fall is strong in that they were once both the highest before pure perfection. Lucifer is associated with evil, which stems from his free will leading to his rebellion against God and, ultimately, his great fall. He is known as the one who introduces sin to Adam and Eve – the first humans to ever exist. His plan to go against God is the beginning of a whole new world to the universe and a whole new significance of himself as the one known for human error and evil. Eve, “the mother of human race,” is Satan’s target to pull her down to his world of sin because she also wishes to become independent of Adam making her susceptible to anything that can separate her from

He does this because the scene happens in the past and therefore he uses her to discuss it rather than confusing the reader with a flashback type scene. He also has Eve relate what happened to prove that Eve must indeed be beautiful if she herself was taken by her looks as she discusses how she “pined with vain desire” (IV, 466) for the image of her reflection. In fact, Eve’s beauty is discussed repeatedly. For example, when Satan first sees the human couple, he is overtaken by Eve’s “beauty and submissive charms” (IV, 498). Milton even goes so far to stress her beauty and charms as to have her stun Satan himself with it. Actually, as Satan is on his mission to seduce Eve into eating the apple, her beauty overtakes him.

The remainder of her supposed downfalls lies in the mistaken ideas of Adam, Eve, and even the angel, Raphael.  For at the time of creation and throughout most of history, one was considered weak while possessing those characteristics common to a woman: submissiveness, meekness, docility, etc. Therefore, Milton says, "though both not equal, as their sex not equal seemed; For contemplation he and valour formed, For softness she and sweet attractive grace" (IV 296).  Her womanly attributes were determined by Milton to be inferior.  In another instance, she is considered weak because she is too gullible.  The serpent tricks her, and it is said, "his words, replete with guile, Into her heart too easy entrance won" (IX 733-4).  Simply acting sweet and trusting, she is thought to be of a lower rank.

From the story, “Flowers for Algernon” Fanny Girden said, ‘’’It was evil when Eve listened to the snake and ate from the tree of knowledge. It was evil when she saw that she was naked. If not for that none of us would grow old and die ‘’’(329).

He blessed man and woman, although biologically different, with characteristics that were passed down onto future generations: "Not equal, as thir sex not equal seem'd;/ For contemplation hee and valor form'd,/ For softness shee and sweet attractive Grace" (Book IV, lines 295-297). Men were blessed with philosophical reasoning whereas women were blessed with intuitive reasoning. According to Roberta Martin's article, Milton and the" Intelligible Flame": "Sweet Converse" in the poetry and prose, Adam and Eve's conversation "is a creative act producing higher states of mind and spirit on the abstract level, and progeny on the physical, and while conversation leads to degrees of intellectual, spiritual, and bodily union, it allows each of the First Parents to retain individual identity." Unlike married couples of today that war with the social roles and complications in a domestic lifestyle, Adam and Eve were created to work in peace and harmony with each other and their charges- the animals and plants. They compliment each other, holding no authority over each other's actions, treating each other with the utmost respect, returning each other's loving declarations with an equal show of affection by both parties, and the match between beauty and intuition, strength and intellect is simply sublime. Moreover, they share the responsibility of tending the garden without

     At this point, Adelman feels it necessary to "partly conceal and partly reveal" her own argument.  She employs of the analogy of Cain-and-Abel "version of the fall" from paradise; a version that excludes feminine presence.  Adelman

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).

The fall of Eve in the Garden of Eden condemned women and their bodies. Women’s bodies were created for sin and were easily seduced by temptation. Women’s bodies were weak and inferior to men’s bodies, for this reason they were viewed to have wanton and ravenous sexual appetites. Roper makes this point by discussing Kramer’s condemnation of women, “All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable” (Roper 136). The feebleness of their bodies and will caused them to make unwise decisions. One possible explanation for the divided depiction of women could be the Madonna-Whore dichotomy. Women were seen as either virginal Madonnas or evil whores. The

Milton draws his inspiration from these verses in describing Satans pride and his attempt to wage war in heaven. However, in his attempt to make Paradise Lost both a conversation and a narration, Milton decides to describe Satans descend from heaven in closer detail, even with the risk of committing sacrilege.

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

Milton's purpose in Paradise Lost is nothing less than to assert eternal providence and justify the ways of God to men - a most daunting task.  For Milton to succeed in his endeavour, he has to unravel a number of theologiccal thorns that have troubled christian philosophers for centuries.  Since his epic poem is, essentially, a twelve book argument building to a logical conclusion - the 'justification of the ways of God to men' - he will necessarily have to deal with these dogmatic problems, and, in doing so, reveal his own take on the Christian theology.

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,

     In Paradise Lost, the consequences of the fall and the change in relations between man and nature can best be discussed when we look at Milton's pre-fall descriptions of Eden and its inhabitants. Believing that fallen humans could never fully understand what life was like in Eden and the relationships purely innocent beings shared, Milton begins his depiction of Paradise and Adam and Eve through the fallen eyes of Satan: