Eve As Society in Milton's Essay

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At the Tree of Knowledge, in a last impassioned speech designed (successfully to convince Eve to taste the fruit, Satan (in the guise of the serpent) extols the virtues of the fruit in high apostrophe: "O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant, / Mother of Science" (Paradise Lost 9 679-80). This is a clear indication of what the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge represented, both to Eve in Milton's tale and to the seventeenth century readers of Milton's telling. That is, Milton quite purposefully equated knowledge with science, and not just the moral knowledge of good and evil that is explicitly referenced in the Bible, and later on in Milton's own version of the tale. Paradise Lost is not meant to simply be a modern retelling of the story of Adam and Eve, the casting out of Satan and the other fallen angels, and other portions of the Christian mythology. Instead, it is a direct commentary on Milton's times, and the dangers that the seductions of science could lead to.

Eve's plea for forgiveness following their banishment from the Garden of Eden and their subjection to labor, pain, and death can be seen as symbolic of Milton's hope for society, or perhaps a final admonition of the progression of science and the eventual sorrowful state of society. The idea that she is society and Adam is the Church makes an interpretation of her tone to Adam especially significant.

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Eve begins with scientific-sounding words of measurement, saying "I know / How little weight my words with thee can finde," but quickly progresses to language of religious devotion: "nevertheless, / Restor'd by thee, vile as I am, to place / Of new acceptance, hopeful to regaine / Thy Love, the sole contentment of my heart (Paradise Lost 10 967-8; 970-3). Milton predicts that the world of science, which "society" has turned to at this point in his tale, will come pleading back to the Church in its destitution. This could be taken as an amazingly prescient view, as many would claim that humanity does indeed place too much faith in science, at the cost of losing a deeper connection with the spiritual world -- be it explicitly Christian or otherwise.

All literature necessarily comments on its time, but John Milton did this almost explicitly -- though symbolically -- in paradise Lost. Casting the character of Eve as a veiled symbol for society, he demonstrates how the seduction of knowledge and science will lead humanity from the path of righteousness and the enjoyment of Paradise -- or at least a better world than the one to come. This is, of course, only one interpretation of this complex work, but it is one that holds….....

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