Paradise Lost-Satan And Eve Essay, Research Paper
Since the beginning of Paradise Lost, a reader can witness the dramatizing power possessed by Satan, and how he takes advantage of this very power in order to satisfy his own causes. One such property of Satan’s fantastic powers is his ability to manipulate any individual into a false belief of who he really is, and therefore prevent a habitant of paradise from discovering his true purpose that is hidden behind his actions. One such example of this, and one of the most major in the epic, are the events that occur in Book IX involving Satan and Eve around the forbidden tree. Here, Satan uses, what is to Eve, excellent reasoning to convince her to eat the forbidden fruit, thereby exploiting Eve’s weakness. These methods are very persuasive, and later lead to the downfall of Eve, Adam, and the future of mankind.
Before a reader may look upon the confrontation between Eve and Adam, we must look into the reasoning of Satan as he approaches his foes. Satan recognized that both Adam and Eve were not of equal superiority, and learning that Eve was born of Adam’s rib, quickly concluded that she was inferior to Adam, and easily the weakest religiously of the two. Since Eve was born from the body of Adam, she praises Adam as her own god, whereas Adam praises God as his. It is this reasoning that Satan was thankful, for upon entering Paradise in order to persuade the couple to commit the first sin; he hoped that he would encounter Eve alone, which would make it easier to benefit from her weakness and inferiority. As we learn, Satan is fortunate enough to have such and encounter, and successfully meets Eve alone (p. 246 lines 463-466):
That space the Evil One abstracted stood
From his own evil, and for the time remained
Stupidly good, of enmity disarmed,
Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge.
Even though her beauty momentarily stuns him and he, “for the time remained stupidly good,” his dedication to his vengeful cause prevails, and allows him to continue his appropriate plan. It is this same dedication that throughout Satan’s conversation with Eve, he does not allow her to retreat back to Adam in order to lose such an ideal situation.
Initially, Satan’s actions with Eve involve little effort to convince her that he is not any evil demon that Adam told her to expect on her voyage. Simply, he uses his ability to flatter Eve in order to gain her attention and trust, an essential objective if he was willing to destroy mankind (p. 248-249 lines 540-548):
‘…By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore,
With ravishment beheld…
…who shouldst be seen
A Goddess among Gods, adored and served
By Angels numberless, thy daily train?’
Using this flattery to compliment her beauty, and allowing her to recognize the fact that all of Eden’s animals adore her, he slyly inserts the proposition that will allow her to become greater in power and being, “A Goddess among Gods,” rivaling the omnipotent power possessed by God. Satan came in the form of a snake, the only reptile and animal that could have the ability to pluck the forbidden fruit from the tree. When questioned how he attained the ability to talk and interact, he simply answered that he ate the fruit of the tree, and received the knowledge equal to that of a human. Immediately, this inserts the subject of curiosity into the mind of Eve, whose free will allows her to wonder exactly why the fruit of the tree is forbidden. By pursuing Eve’s vanity, she falls subject to his irresistible flattery and forms a trust in the evil reptile, allowing Satan to easily conquer mankind.
Satan’s only method that he used in order to convince Eve to actually eat the forbidden fruit is simply based upon the gifts that God bestowed on Eve and the rest of mankind: free will. Satan gives many reasons for Eve to eat the fruit, to become a god, to be beautiful, to rise above Adam; but the only being that truly convinces her to eat the fruit is herself, and the free will which she believes she can use in any circumstance. Upon being led to the forbidden tree, Eve recognizes easily (p.251-252 lines 651-654):
‘…But of this tree we may not taste nor touch;
God so commanded, and left that command
Sole daughter of his voice: the rest, we live
Law to our selves; our reason is our law.’
Despite her knowledge that eating the fruit is wrong under the eyes of God, she sees her reason as her law, and her only law. Eve wants to become a God, and hold the power over Adam, the angels, and the other creatures of Paradise. Why does God refuse to give knowledge to a man through a fruit that a beast has already tasted and evolved from? It is this reasoning inserted into her mind by Satan that finally convinces Eve to engulf the forbidden fruit. Once again, as many times earlier in the epic, Satan’s cunning prevails over the weak mind of Eve.
Book IX of Paradise Lost can easily be considered the most suspenseful Book that appears this far into the epic. It portrays two innocent beings; the first of humankind, and how simple methods used by Satan convinces Eve to commit sin, and therefore Adam to do the same. However, it is Eve’s mind that can simply be blamed for this, for she allowed Satan to conquer her beliefs in Adam and God by using her own emotions against herself without sufficient reason to question the occurrence. Satan’s dedication to his vengeful cause and his cunning ability to do so are two of the most prominent powers of his, and using them wisely as he did with Eve, he can convince any being to commit any act appropriately.
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