Paradise Lost
*note* this paper sucks-I wrote it 1 hour before I had to hand it in. Use w/ caution.In John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost , the issue of who is to blamefall of man is one that for the most part can be interpreted from areading of book IX. Based on the text, Eve played a larger role in theto eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Adam'smore passive in that he simply followed the wishes of Eve. Whensorted out later in the story, it becomes clear that Adam and Eve were After an extended visit from the angel Raphael at which time heexplained in great detail to Adam the dangers of falling into temptationdisobeying God's will, Adam is faced with a problem. The problem is thatwants to split up for the day and Adam knows that this is a bad idea,particularly after the dream that she has described to him. They argue
But God left free the will, for what obeysReason is free, and reason he made right,But bid her well, and still erect,Lest by some by fair appearing good surprised,She dictate false and misinform the willTo what God expressly hath forbid. It is his decision to yield to Eve that makeshim asmuch to blame for the fall as Eve is for trusting the serpent andfalling intotemptation. It is as though he is giving her a speach before he sends herout tobattle. (9,343-379) In this long speach Adam is pleading with Eve to see that is is aterribleidea for her to venture out into the garden alone in the mist of suchimpendingdanger. Adamknowsthat eating the apple is very wrong, but he does so anyway because hislove forEve is so strong will not let her suffer punishment alone. Go in thy native innocence; relyOn what thou hast of virtue, summon all;For God towards thee hath done his part: do thine. Not then mistrust, but tender love, enjoinsThat I should mind thee oft, and mind thou me. In his final plea for her to remain pious he says to Eve:O woman, best are all things as wellOf God ordained them; his creating handNothing imperfect of deficient leftOf all he had created, much less man,Or aught that might his happy state secure,Secure with outward force. She decides to convince him to eat the apple as well so thattheywill share what ever punishment that they will have coming to them. Within himselfThe danger lies, yet lies within his power;Against his will he can receive no harm. Wouldest thou approve thou constancy, approveFirst thy obedience, th'other who can know,Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?But if thou think trial unsought may findUs both securer than thus warned thou seemÕst,Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more. This beinghisdecision, he eats the apple and thus disobeys the word of God andcontradictsevery thing he has been telling Eve that they must believe in. After thedeedis done, they fall into a terrible argument of who is to blame, but therealityis that the two of the are equally at fault for the fall of man, becauseeithercould have prevented it if they had obeyed the will of God. This yielding is very similar to EveÕs yielding totheserpentÕs deception because Adam is aware of the probable outcome ofthisdecision. After Eve has been corrupted she is faced with a decision of what to doabout Adam.
Common topics in this essay:
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God's Adam,
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IX Based,
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Paradise Lost,
,
John Milton's,
blame fall,
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trial unsought,
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