Decisions to Make, Roads to Take

                Eve is often victimized as leading man into sin, but through this passage we see that her mind worked in such a way that led her to rather form her own opinions and make her own decisions. While addressing Adam, Eve has no fear in admitting that she did not want to go with him at first. She boldly exclaims that when she first met him she thought he was “less fair, less winning soft, less amiably mild” (487-488) that the image she saw of herself. Not only that, but even the adjectives she uses are bland. Rather, when she describes her own image she says that she “pined with vain desire” (475) at the image that “returned as soon with answering looks of sympathy and love,” (473-474) all strong emotions that humans tend to share between one another rather than at images. She also realizes how daring she is to declare this, because she understands that the voice that leads her away from her reflection and to Adam “warned her” not to keep staring and rather find another human, as vanity is a trait that was for many years looked down upon in Milton’s lifetime.

The temporal order of the passage is equally important, as it reverses from the present moment in which she is happy and declares to Adam, “without whom am to no end, my guide and head” (442-443) and that for his presence she should thank God for “we to him indeed all praises owe, and daily thanks” (444-445) By beginning through establishing her current state of “the happier lot, enjoying thee” (446), the readers will have the image of their happiness before they discover that Eve was originally wary of being with Adam. However, two things are still slightly off in this beginning passage. First, she does not use the same evocative language to describe her situation with Adam as she did when she first saw her own reflection. Secondly, she later goes on to say that she is with Adam “while thou like consort to thyself canst no where find” (447-448). This leads the reader to wonder whether she is truly happy or just putting on a face until Adam can find another women like Eve. The situation also goes both ways, meaning Eve can’t find another companion like Adam, so if she does, would she leave him? The juxtaposition between the message of the temporal pattern versus Eve’s own language reaffirms to the reader that she does, in fact, have free will: while Eve may be happy now, she could readily leave if another opinion comes along.