The Paradise Lost Poem by John Milton - Essay Example

The Paradise Lost poem by John Milton The Paradise Lost poem done by Milton John in the 17th century was an epic poem in which its first publication was in 1667 where other editions followed. In this poem, the main focus is on the story of creation presented in the Bible concerning the fall of man from glory after being tempted by the fallen angel Lucifer. As per the poem, Adam and Eve were to eat all the fruits in the Garden of Eden except for one, which God called the fruit of the Tree that contained the knowledge of evil and good, to which the couple ate from and finally faced God’s wrath. In the poem, Milton’s asserts that Adam sinned out of his free will as Eve did not force him to eat the fruit meaning that Eve was not entirely to blame for them being banished from the garden by God. Based on this, this essay will examine the characters of Adam and Eve in order to ascertain whether Eve was entirely to blame for influencing Adam to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. Further, the essay will also delve into Milton’s portrayal of the relationship between Adam and Eve, so as to reflect his personal views on appropriate gender relations. Lastly, the focus will be on the respects of Milton’s portrayal regarding the fall of man to reveal his perspectives on the respective roles of free will and predestination within the epic. Examining the characters of Adam and Eve to determine whether Eve was to blame of Adam and Eve to sin against God a) Adam From the beginning, Adam was God’s friend as they used to walk together before he fell from grace because he was intelligent, and strong which fostered his a good relationship between him and God. According to Milton, Adam understood heavenly things and could converse freely with God and the angels when they visited the garden, which all changed when he ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Before his fall, Adam was rational and was considered the most perfect being but this later changed to anger after eating the fruit as he lost his pure reasoning and level of intellect. However, Adam became weak when Eve was created to help him in the garden, to which he confessed to Angel Raphael of his feelings for her (Milton & Stallard 305). His love for Eve makes him powerless even after being warned by Raphael to contain his feelings as they were likely to cloud his judgement and level of reasoning that would make him go against God’s will. As per Milton’s poem, Adam had no intention of eating the fruit, but he ate for the sole reason that Eve, his new found companion had eaten the forbidden fruit and because he felt that he could no longer live alone without her in the garden. Therefore, he chose to eat the fruit and face the consequences that would befall both him and Eve by disobeying God as he was not willing to part ways with his life companion who had sinned. Milton asserts in this epic poem that Adam also yearned for more knowledge based on the questions that he used to ask Raphael during the long conversations that they had when the angel visited them in the garden (Milton & Stallard 181). The poem intimates that Adam was also tempted to eat the fruit so that he could know more about the things that were not known to him about God’s creation . Remarkably, Adam contained the temptation to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge but his love for Eve makes him weak and eats it, hence choosing to lose the close relationship that he shared with God to the lustful one that he had with Eve. b) Eve As compared to Adam, Milton portrays Eve as not too strong as she was inferior to him, but her beauty made her stand out, which explains why this man could not resist her and lusted after her. Eve was also not as intelligent as Adam drawing from the fact that she did not show interest in engaging in any of the conversations that Adam had with Raphael. As per Milton’s poem, Eve was not concerned about adding knowledge on what she already knew as she chose to rely on Adam’s guidance as God had intended, making her level of intelligence not to grow. Eve fell in love with her image when she saw her reflection on water, which leads her to her greatest weakness, vanity. Essentially, when the serpent complemented her beauty, she became vulnerable and fell for the temptation that the devil had presented to her hence influencing her to eat the forbidden fruit (Milton & Stallard 309). Further, Milton’s poem asserts that Eve played a more passive role as she did not engage in the conversations that Adam had with Raphael as she opted to gain knowledge from her husband rather than seeking it first hand like he did. However, she plays an active role once when she influences Adam to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, which turns out to be catastrophic. Milton suggests through this epic poem that Eve’s charm on Adam and her beauty convinces the man to stay with her after he falls from grace. Later, Adam dissuades Eve from committing suicide and they begin to work together as one powerful unit. From the poem, Milton’s view is that women play a more positive and influential role in society because of the way that Eve influences Adam to stay with her even after their fall from grace. Additionally, this is through the way that Eve comforts Adam irrespective of the punishment that they were to receive from God. Therefore, Milton supports the coming together of a man and a woman through marriage as both of them can support and complement each other to be better and make life more bearable. Based on this, Adam’s weakness for lusting after Eve influenced him to eat the forbidden fruit meaning that he employed free will as he chose to commit the sin knowingly. Adam could not stand living by himself because the most applicable punishment that God could have handed to Eve if she could have eaten the fruit alone would have been to banish her from the garden. Therefore, Adam shares responsibility in his fall and that of the humankind because he knew that eating the forbidden fruit was against God’s will but he chose to end his relationship with God and stay by Eve’s side outside the garden. Eve also shares blame for the fall of man as per Milton’s poem because she allowed her weakness of vanity to be the gateway to sinning against God and also because she persuaded Adam to eat of the tree instead of dissuading him from sinning against his maker. Milton’s view is that both Adam and Eve shared blame for the fall of humankind because each of them allowed their weaknesses to influence their judgement that led them to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Ways in which Milton’s portrayal of Adam and Eve’s relationship reflects his views on proper gender relations Milton’s views are quite Victorian because he asserted that women were to be subject to their husbands, which does not resonate well with modern societies. Essentially, Milton portrays Adam to have had a close relationship with God hence making him to be supreme as compared to Eve based on this reason. The other portrayal of Milton is that Eve was created to serve both man and God while Adam only had the responsibility of serving God, meaning that he was not to serve the woman in any way because that was not his responsibility. In the poem, Milton portrays Eve as a weaker being because she was not as intelligent as compared to Adam based on the fact that she was not as curious about gaining more knowledge concerning God’s creation. This is shown through Eve accepting that she was Adam’s subordinate and could only learn from Adam and also explains to him that her sole reason for existence is him and for none other. Essentially, Milton was a puritan hence explaining his perspectives as he related most of his work from the readings in the bible. This to some extent influenced his dogmatic views about women’s place in society that they were to obey men unquestionably. In Milton’s view, man and woman are not equal to which both Adam and Eve in this poem understood their roles, which made them to have a happy union. This somehow communicates that in order for a union between a man and a woman to be successful, both of them have to understand their roles as man being superior while the woman the subordinate as this is the only way that God can love them equally. In what respects does Milton’s portrayal of the fall reveal his view on the respective roles of free will and predestination in the epic As per the poem, the fall of man did not result from the temptation brought by the devil in the form of a serpent, but it was as a result of Adam and Eve’s free will to go against God’s rule. For one, both of them were well aware that God had forbidden them from eating the fruit from the Tree of knowledge, but they chose to let their weaknesses guide them into what they saw fit. Therefore, this asserts Milton’s reflections on the fall of man as that which was predestined because in the poem the devil and his angels were eternally banished from heaven and could obtain no mercy from God but Adam and Eve experienced God’s mercy. Essentially, after Adam and Eve realized that they had sinned against God they repented and prayed to God and because God had ordained Adam, He forgave them. This could not have been the case for the devil and his followers meaning that God chooses who save and who not to save and condemned them to hell. Therefore, Milton’s portrayal of the fall of man in the epic reveals his view that God allowed for Adan and Eve to apply free will, which led them to sin against Him as part of the greater plan (Milton & Stallard 350). This is evident in Milton’s poem where Adam was shown a vision about what the future after they leaving the garden of Eden held for their lineage that included the victories of Moses, and the sacrifice of the Son for the redemption of the humankind (Milton & Stallard 395). The perspective here, is that there was hope even after them leaving the garden of Eden because part of his lineage was predestined for redemption meaning that all was not lost. Work cited Milton, John, and Stallard, Matthew. Paradise Lost: The Biblically Annotated Edition. Macon, Ga: Mercer University Press, 2011. Print. Read More