Misogyny and Eve in Paradise Lost
Misogyny is evident from the beginning of Paradise Lost. Eve was always made to look inferior mentally, physically and spiritually. In her quest to go off alone in the garden she wanted to prove that she was capable of being alone by herself without Adam; had she not been made to feel inferior she would not have felt the need to eat from the apple to equal Adam's intellect. Eve is not less in intelligence, she is curious and resourceful at times. What may have held her back is lack of self-esteem and experience. Knowledge was kept back from Eve and her company was limited to Adam who being the only one who could inform her repressed some of his knowledge. She was not able to fully enjoy conversation with any celestial being or feel that she had a significant role in the garden because of this. Eve was more prone to eat the apple to compensate for the lack of knowledge that she acquired once eating the fruit. Adam had to follow Eve because the fall was tailored to their flaws; hers was not just vanity but lack of wisdom and esteem and she was tempted with knowledge and she ate to be equal to Adam. Adam was more attached to Eve and could not bear the loss of living without her so he then ate from the apple to be with her
safest and seemliest by her husband stays" He eventually agrees to let her go off by herself but again we see that she has a lack of intellectual self esteem she admits it when she goes, assuring Adam that their proud foe would not seek her first, since she is the weaker one and he'd be ashamed to go after the easy target. She also sees that he is not dead although I don't think that she fully understands the concept of death. She is then immediately lead to Adam from which she gets all information passed down through him. Raphael orders Adam to, "warn thy weaker" (VI 908). Interestingly, Eve's inferiority becomes both the reason she transgressed God's rule, and the reason she should be forgiven. This shows that Eve is willing to have more responsibilities and independence. In Adam's ideology, Eve is excused since she was too weak to defend herself from the serpent. She shows excitement to see that an animal is praising her so highly. Eve's rank in the created world is enforced when a voice removes her from the reflection and leads her to "he whose image thou art" (PL: BK IV, L472). In addition, when she eats the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, she does so in hope of gaining intelligence equal to Adam's and perhaps even God's. From the moment of her creation she is flawed with narcissism. Had Eve felt compatible with Adam's intelligence she would not have eaten the fruit. In addition, Milton describes her as, "not capable her ear of what was high" (VIII 49-50).
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