Paradise Lost

But God left free the will, for what obeys

Reason 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 will

To what God expressly hath forbid. It is his decision to yield to Eve that makes

him as

much to blame for the fall as Eve is for trusting the serpent and

falling into

temptation. It is as though he is giving her a speach before he sends her

out to

battle. (9,343-379)

In this long speach Adam is pleading with Eve to see that is is a

terrible

idea for her to venture out into the garden alone in the mist of such

impending

danger. Adam

knows

that eating the apple is very wrong, but he does so anyway because his

love for

Eve is so strong will not let her suffer punishment alone.

Go in thy native innocence; rely

On what thou hast of virtue, summon all;

For God towards thee hath done his part: do thine.

Not then mistrust, but tender love, enjoins

That 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 well

Of God ordained them; his creating hand

Nothing imperfect of deficient left

Of 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 that

they

will share what ever punishment that they will have coming to them. Within himself

The danger lies, yet lies within his power;

Against his will he can receive no harm.

Wouldest thou approve thou constancy, approve

First thy obedience, th'other who can know,

Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?

But if thou think trial unsought may find

Us both securer than thus warned thou seemÕst,

Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more. This being

his

decision, he eats the apple and thus disobeys the word of God and

contradicts

every thing he has been telling Eve that they must believe in. After the

deed

is done, they fall into a terrible argument of who is to blame, but the

reality

is that the two of the are equally at fault for the fall of man, because

either

could have prevented it if they had obeyed the will of God. This yielding is very similar to EveÕs yielding to

the

serpentÕs deception because Adam is aware of the probable outcome of

this

decision.

After Eve has been corrupted she is faced with a decision of what to do

about Adam.