In this passage, Milton compares the birth of Eve (and Adam by default) with the birth of every subsequent human being in order to distinguish the circumstances that led to mankind's demise. What we really see is that God is a really awful parent.
In Eve's first moments of life she "[wonders] where and what [she] [is]." By contrast, we as humans are not capable of conscious thought and questioning until much later in our development. Yet, when she spots her own reflection in the water, she needs God to tell her, "What there thou seest, fair creature, is thyself." Even though she is already mature enough to question her circumstances, she still has some characteristics relatable to the average human baby. Because she is a women physically, but about half baby and half woman mentally, through intense mathematical calculation, I can assume that Eve is about 1/4 baby and 3/4 woman. As she follows God's voice in complete submission, she later reflects "What could I do, but follow straight, invisibly thus led." What Eve conveys is that, because 25% of her is helpless and looking for guidance, she is susceptible to anyone that beckons to her in the role of an authoritative figure. There is a very clear parallel between this blind submission to God and then when Eve later falls victim to Satan's temptation to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge.
Essentially, because of the way that God proportioned Eve between baby and woman, she is capable of making conscious decisions and taking action, yet looks for guiding figures of any kind. In essence, he made her absolutely perfect for eating the forbidden fruit.
Knowing this, he should have kept a slightly closer watch before Satan came and offered the same role that he did.
I think that God's control over Eve's "baby" side is actually the act of a good parent! If I was about to put my hand on a hot stove, I would surely hope that my parents would intervene and stop me from making that horrible mistake. Same with crossing the street without looking, drinking from the toilet bowl (I ran out of good examples quickly).
ReplyDeleteYour second claim is quite interesting. Perhaps if God hadn't given Eve that 25% baby side of her, she would not have listened to God in the first place. An interesting question to explore is when Eve would overcome that: When and how fast would that happen?
Haha I enjoy your "intense mathematical calculation", but I don't think we can be so sure that the voice Eve hears is that of God. It would be intuitive, of course, but the text only supplies us with the identifying words of "a voice." So how can we substantiate that the voice comes from someone with the role of an authoritative figure?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think it'd be interesting to reconcile the genderless baby characteristics you talk about with her physical feminine qualities.
Your voice in this post is great Jordan. I really enjoyed reading it. You make an interesting claim about how Eve in a sense is a baby but also a women at the same time. If 25% of her is helpless and looking for guidance, then where is that 75%? Can that womanly part of her help her make decisions for herself? Or do you think Eve throughout Paradise Lost merely follows what any authority figure (God, Satan, Adam?) tells her.
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