3-4 page paper on paradise lost

BRL 2630 - Milton

[Formatting from original document has been lost]

Fallen Angel, Forbidden Fruit, Lost Paradise

Satan and Eve in Paradise Lost are two characters that are similar in a sense that they are both lesser

individuals in the hierarchy presented in their world and they both fall from a higher state of being to a

lesser state of being. Satan was at the highest state of being, which is immortality in the form of an

angel. Eve was unfallen, immortal and on her way to becoming an angel, but she disobeyed God which

lead to her fallen mortal state. God smote Satan from Heaven through a painful abyss of darkness and

fire into the deepest part of the earth. Though both had fallen, Satan was well aware and knew of the

consequences for his actions, but did Eve know she would have fallen for eating from the Tree of

Knowledge? Satan's motive in Eden is based on revenge. Eve's motive in Eden is to do as thy Creator

said, but without what Eve believes is knowledge she beings to struggle when confronted with the

decision to take and eat from the "forbidden tree." The allowing of both Satan and Adam and Eve to

fall in Paradise Lost brings in the question of free will. Since God is omniscient as well as omnipotent

why would he have not stopped the three beings from their fall? Everything may be predetermined or

predestined, but it is up to the individual to decide through free will what will occur. Free will plays a

major part in Eve's decision as well as Satan's decision, but it can be seen that Adam's decision to

follow Eve is based on pure love.

The description of Eve's hair can be compared to the description of Satan in the form of the serpent.

"Her unadorned golden tresses wore/Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved/As the vine curled hertendrils" (IV. 305-07). Her hair was flowing loose and curly. A delicate twist or coil like that of the body of a serpent. It could just be a coincident that Eve's hair is similar to that of a serpent, but it could also be a metaphor that Eve is convincing and sly like a serpent. Eden in Book IV is in its unfallen state and is described through a fallen and vengeful Satan. Satan with all his hatred towards God sees Eden and is filled with envy and jealousy. "Aside the Devil turned/For envy, yet with jealous leer malign" (IV. 501- 02). Eve also becomes envious in Book IX when she sees the serpent has eaten from the Tree of

Knowledge and has not died. "For us alone/was death invented? Or to us denied/This intellectual food,

for beasts reserved?" (IX. 766-68). Eve sounds envious because she has been told not to eat from the

tree, but if a beast has eaten and lives she feels she shall also live afterwards.

When Raphael is telling of the great battle in Heaven lead by Satan and the rebel angels, he mentions

that until Satan's armor had been pierced by the sword of Michael, he felt no pain, nor fear. "Then first

with fear surprised and sense of pain/Fled ignominious, to such evil brought/By sin of disobedience, till

that hour/Not liable to fear or flight of pain" (VI. 394-97). This is both a metaphor and it foreshadows

the fall in Eden. A metaphor for when Eve eats the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Before she had

indulged in the forbidden fruit she had not known what pain or fear had felt like. Now that she ate

form the tree, she fears what will happen to her. This line also foreshadows that evil will be brought

about by disobedience. Satan is convincing, as seen from his leading of thousands of rebel angels.

"Subtle he needs must be, who could seduce/Angels, nor think superfluous others' aid" (IX. 307-08).

This line is Adam warning Eve that if Satan could convince Angels to go to war he can easily convince

you to disobey God. Eve is a follower. "What could I do,/But follow straight, invisibly thus led?" (IV.

475-76). Eve says she can only follow because she is blind to knowing. Eve is blind to knowing which is

why she follows the serpent to the tree and eats the fruit. Like Satan, Eve is also convincing, but in a

different way. Satan is conniving and is able to persuade Eve by speech. Eve is convincing through love.

Adam's only weakness is the charm of Eve's beauty and her love. "Here only weak/Against the charm

of beauty's powerful glance" (VIII.532-33). Eve's beauty and Adam's love for her will be convincing

enough to get Adam to do as Eve asks.

Satan being sent into the eternal darkness abyss known as Hell can be considered Satan's freedom.

Satan chose to rise up and try to overthrow God from the thrown in Heaven, but in the end he was

defeated and possibly freed. Freedom is being able to do what an individual wants whenever and

wherever. In Heaven Satan was unable to do this, but in Hell Satan is king, ruler, the highest in the

hierarchy of all the fallen angels. This freedom allows Satan to ultimately get revenge on God by

convincing Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Free will and freedom play major roles in Eve's

ultimate decision to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Eve is free to do whatever she pleases in Eden,

except eat from the trees God said not to touch. "But if death/Bind us with after-bands, what profits

then/Our inward freedom?" (IX. 760-62). This is Eve questioning why God even put the tree in Eden. If

the tree gives us knowledge of good and evil, why then will we die if we eat from it? This is Eve's

ultimate questioning of freedom. We are not free if god has restricted us from one tree among many

of trees and plants.

The question of free will and freedom leads into whether or not both Satan and Eve truly knew the

consequences of their disobeying God. Satan knew fully what would happen if he kept fighting after he

began to feel pain. Eve was told that if she ate from the tree she would die and live in a mortal world of

woe and sorrow. Although Satan knew of his consequences, he feels that his miserable state was done

to him by God. "Me miserable! Which way shall I fly/Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?" (IV. 73-74).

Satan believes that god has mad him infinitely miserable and infinitely angry. This is Satan's motive for

seeking revenge. Although, Satan knew of what would happen to him, he still blames God for the

actions he made. Satan had the free will to do as he pleased, but Heaven never saw Pandemonium

until Satan chose to start a war. This can later be related to Eve when she pins the blame on the

serpent for her choice to pluck and eat the forbidden fruit. "And put not forth my goodness, which is

free/To act or not, necessity and chance/Approach not me, and what I will is fate" (VII. 171-73). This is

proof from God to Raphael that fate may have nothing to do with God. Fate is based on the character

of the individual, thus Satan will have nothing to do with the fall of Eden. Therefore, Eve should not

blame Satan, nor God, nor Adam, but she should blame herself for freely choosing to disobey God.

Right before Satan slithers down as the serpent to tempt Eve he is reminded of the grandeur of all the

beauty he gave up by rebelling. "Though in mid-Heav'n, soon ended his delight,/And tortures him now

more, the more he sees/Of pleasure not for him ordained: then soon fierce hate he recollects" (IX. 468-

71). Satan is ready to unleash his revenge and lead Eve to her fall from paradise.

Adam and Eve had to create a world where they chose based on free will what would happen. They did

not sit around in Eden abiding by what God told them to do every day. The one thing they had to do

was obey God's order to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Satan was in Heaven and also had to

obey God, but chose not to. Satan was banished from Heaven and when he saw the Heaven-like quality

of Eden he became jealous and envious and wanted to have its inhabitants feel what he felt. The fall of

Adam and Eve leaves them in shame. Before the fall Eden was shameless. "Of honor void,/Of

innocence, of faith, of purity,/Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained" (IX. 1074-76). This

describes Adam and Eve's nakedness which is now shameful. Did Eve really know what she was doing

before she ate the forbidden fruit? One answer is that she did know because she had been warned

previously by Raphael, Adam, and indirectly by God through both Raphael and Adam. Eve was capable

of knowing because she knew she loved Adam and she knew where and what the Tree of Knowledge

was. The other answer to the question is that Eve did not know what she was going to cause by eating

the fruit. The serpent said he had eaten the fruit and it gave him the ability to speak like a human. Eve

believing, began to question if God said she would die, why has the serpent not died? Eve would die of

her immortality and then gain knowledge if fear and sorrow. Satan and Eve are more alike than

different that they both fell from God's fortune and they both were lower in a hierarchical paradise. In

the end Eve's freedom is not the same as Satan's freedom. Satan was freed by being sent to Hell,

where he could be ruler. Eve did not seek immortality, she only sought knowledge, but to gain

knowledge she had to become immortal.