What About Eve?
If the purpose of this class is to see the various ways that women are depicted in literature (either a reflection of the attitudes toward women in the wider culture or a comment on that attitude), how would you define Milton's attitude toward women? What does his creation of the character of Eve in Paradise Lost suggest about women--and men's attitude's toward them? Remember that Eve is the only female in the poem.
posted by Dr. Battles at 9:41 AM
7 Comments:
I believe that Milton does not hold a very high view of women as was depicted in the character of Eve in Paradise lost.
Milton portrays Eve as shallow (seeing her reflection and thinking herself beautiful), not having good judgement (eating the apple knowing full well that God had prohibited eating from the Tree of Knowledge, and also easily fooled (believing the serpent when he told her that the Apple was good for her and that she would not die, since he ate the apple and was still living and also that god didn't want her to eat the apple and become just like as god herself.
His creation of Eve suggests that his and all men's attitudes about women coinside together. He believes that men think women as as dumb, shallow and not to be trusted, like himself. Otherwise he would have portrayed Eve in a slightly different light.
Women are manipulative, seductive, and vain, at least according to Milton. Even when Eve was supposed to be an innocent, he still described her as wanton and she loved her own image more than she did Adam. When Satan first sees Adam and Eve, he comments on Adam’s intelligence, but he keeps his comments about Eve to the superficial, stating she is beautiful.
With a few remarks on her beauty, Milton has Eve following after the serpent and she is swayed to eat of the forbidden fruit. True, Milton shows that Eve does possess some reason and logic because Satan must give her several reasons why it’s okay to eat the fruit, but he seems to imply that Adam wouldn’t have eaten if he were given the same reasons.
And then, when she does eat, she shows a conniving spirit because she debates whether or not to share with Adam. Adam, on the other hand, knows immediately he will eat so that he can remain with Eve, no matter what the consequences.
Milton does not seem to have a very high view of women. As we discussed in class the words he chose to use to describe Eve even when she was suppose to be innocent were words that made her somewhat seductive. He makes her as though she only cares about herself although she "acts" as though she cares about Adam when they are together or it could be taken that she completely dependent on Adam inorder to behave the way she is suppose to. He dipicts her as though women are bad and we can not function with out men to guide us. She is not kept in the know on some things although she over hears them anyways its like she is a child in some aspects and not as "smart" as adam.
I think that Milton's opinion of women is following the trend we have seen thus far from other authors. He depicts her as being prideful and vain. It could also be argued that Milton believes women to be easily swayed and manipulated since she was so willing to eat the fruit although it was forbidden.
Milton certainly doen't have many good things to say when describing Eve. The only good thing he says is about her beauty, and he won't even completely give her that; he makes her vain. It also could be said that she is depicted as selfish; she would rather give into her temptation than think about how it would effect Adam.
Also, Eve is obviously not conveyed as the more intelligent of the two. When the serpent decides that Eve will be the one he will try to sway it means that she will be the likely one to fall. Therefore, it could be said that with Milton's portayal of Eve being the person responsible for pain and suffering, he is clearly making a point that women are the weaker sex.
Cicely,
I agree with you on the fact that Milton presents Eve as being headstrong appearing to lack wisdom. The voice he gives her shows that she is unable to make the correct decisions without Adam having the voice of reason. He really never portrays Eve in any other light than by her beauty. And with that, I agree with you on her reckless behavior and not really having a clue about life.
I don't agree with your comparison on Lysistrata and Eve. Throughout the text, Eve wasn't controlling through sex as much as with her beauty. Lysistrata definately controlled the situation with sex to obtain an end to the war, not her beauty.
His views on women are subtle and again I agree with you that if they weren't, then he would have given Eve more wisdom and less arrogance.
Several of you have commented on Eve’s lack of intelligence, but Milton does make her somewhat intelligent. She doesn’t simply go along with the Serpent; he must first give her valid reasons on why eating the fruit wouldn’t be a bad thing. He tells her 1) look at the wisdom I have gained, 2) I haven’t died from eating the fruit like God said, so you won’t either and 3) if you gain knowledge, you will be able to tell what good and evil are so that you can better stay away from evil. She made a rational and logical conclusion once given hard data; it was not a whim on her part. Granted, she should have listened to God, but she was presented with hard evidence that nothing bad would happen. Many scientists today do the same thing.
So yes, Milton does portray Eve as the weaker of the two, both physically and intellectually, but she isn’t stupid. Milton may not have had a high regard for women, but he didn’t ride them off as complete imbeciles, only around to look pretty.
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