The Temptation of Eve in Milton’s Paradise Lost Essay -- Paradise Lost

The lure of evening in Miltons heaven anomicDream not of other worlds, the angel Raphael warns Adam in Miltonss Paradise Lost (VIII.175). even, however, dreams of another world in which she will gain knowledge and power, a wish that is superficially fulfilled when she succumbs to Satans temptation and take from the Tree of Knowledge. Awakening in the Garden of Eden as though from a dream, Eve searches for her individuality and her place in Paradise. Satan provides Eve with a chance to gain knowledge and to become god-like. As Eve is not an equal companion for Adam, she seeks independence from her husband. Shifting her loyalty off from divinity fudge and Adam and towards Satan and the Tree of Knowledge, Eve strives to find her identity in the Garden of Eden, gain knowledge and godliness, and obtain independence from her unsymmetrical partnership with Adam. In Book IV, Eve recalls awakening to consciousness besides she is uncertain of her identity and of her place in the Garden of Eden. Eves first thoughts argon of where and what she was, whence thither brought, and how (Paradise Lost, IV.451-52), and it is this curiosity about her identity that leads Eve to decline God eventually. From the moment of her conception, Eve is already distant from God because she awakens in the shade and not in Gods light. Throughout Paradise Lost, Eve is identified with manifestations, shadows, and dreams. Representing the otherness of Eden, Eve is an outcast and she seeks to find kernel in her life. At the moment of her awakening, Eve is engrossed by her reflection in the water, which she thinks is another being. This watery, wavering image of Eve extends throughout Miltons poem, and this further puts Eve in a weak position, for Eve is merely a ref... ...to this seduction because she wishes for an alternate world, a world where she would understand her identity, vagabond her navet, and gain independence from Adam. God and Adam deliver to conquer Eve by impo sing rules and ownership upon her, but this does not work. The mother of all mankind falls from her state of grace and honor when she perceives that she will gain from her seduction by Satan and by disobeying God and Adam.Works and Sorces CitedFrye, Roland Mushat. God, Man, and Satan. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1960.Langford, Larry L. Adam and the subversion of paradise. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 34 1 (1994) 119-135.Milton, John. Paradise Lost. 1674. Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. 2 vols. New York Norton, 2000, 1 1817-2044.Wright, B.A. Miltons Paradise Lost. London Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1962.