Topic > Eve's vulnerability and suffering in Paradise Lost

Human beings have instincts. However, some are often suppressed and viewed by society as immoral and unnatural because not everyone has pure intentions. In John Milton's Paradise Lost, Milton tells the story of Adam and Eve and their fall from Eden, exploring the minds of each. As a result of her struggle between her strong desire for wisdom, her vanity, and her desire to obey, Eve experiences an internal torment that paints her as a flawed and, above all, human character, which Milton uses to comment on human vulnerability and character. human. sometimes irresistible and great temptation to sin. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Although forbidden to her, Eve craves knowledge, claiming that "...wisdom, which alone is truly right" (4.491) compared to "How beauty is surpassed by manly grace" (4.490). He immediately inflates the greatness and grandeur of wisdom by claiming that its allure and importance cannot be rivaled, not even that of Adam's appearance. Her open comments about the wisdom she is forbidden to obtain through the Tree of Knowledge illustrate this uncertainty plaguing Eve's mind regarding whether or not she should act on her instinctive desire to obtain something she cannot have. especially because she was told. His rationalization of his ambition for wisdom that "For the unknown good surely is not had, or had / And yet unknown, is like not having at all" (9.756-757), or that being "good" but not having the knowledge of what “good” is really like not having it at all, underlines his craving for wisdom. With this natural tendency to have strong curiosities and desire something unattainable, Eva's character is more realistic and humanistic because it is more relatable, as it is a universal instinct. Because it is more relatable, it creates a connection with Eve that, when tempted by Satan to act on her wisdom desires despite her restrictions, there is an empathetic response that emphasizes the strength of the temptation and exposes a vulnerability in humans to such temptation. While Eve's need to seek wisdom torments her with her doubts and second thoughts, her vanity proves that she is not a perfect, goddess-like figure. When he first wakes up, he first discovers his reflection in a lake, to which “Of sympathy and love; there [she] had fixed / [her] eyes until now, and pined with vain desire…” (4.465-466). Even when she discovers Adam, Eve finds him “…less amiably gentle, / Than that smooth watery image” (4.479-480). Her fixation with her own reflection and appearance and inability to create one for the man she is meant to be with indicates a flaw, and this flaw, once again, encourages a connection with her character, making her more like a human being and less a goddess. Since Satan uses this flaw against Eve as a way to persuade her to disobey by calling her “Goddess among the Gods, worshiped and served / By angels numberless, thy daily retinue” (9.547-548), he causes her to argue about her obedience, adding to the his conflicting thoughts and his desires for wisdom. This internal torment resulting from this flaw also helps create the understanding that Eve's fall from Paradise is unintentional and that her vulnerability is being exploited, based on the constant battle she has with herself. The debates that Eve has with herself would not exist without the initial desire to obey that she has. With Adam, in the case of sex, “...nor Eve refused the rites / Mysterious of conjugal love;...” (4.742-763), showing his.