Paradise Lost

Book 8 exposes fundamental differences between Adam and Eve as man and woman, yet another layer to the challenge the humans face in Paradise. Adam’s position as the direct communicator with God and his angels demonstrates Adam’s superiority to Eve, at least in the eyes of God. The male characters have a deeply intellectual conversation in which Eve says nothing. In fact, the text clarifies that Eve prefers to hear these discussions recounted by Adam, for “he, she knew, would intermix / Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute / With conjugal caresses; from his lip” (419). Her role as Adam’s companion seems decorative rather than integral to the experience in Paradise. Adam is closer in creation to God in that Eve was created out of Adam, placing her a rung further away from God. God had not planned on making women, but he grants Adam’s wish for a companion, further highlighting how insignificant women are to God.

Eve’s inferiority becomes a major topic of conversation between Adam and Raphael, when Adam admits how enamored he is by Eve. Raphael seems disappointed in this love and warns Adam not to love Eve above God. Adam agrees that his deep love for Eve’s beauty and charm must seem strange. Milton writes this exchange between Adam and Raphael to foreshadow the fall that lies ahead. Adam is so in love that he will, in fact, betray God to be closer with Eve. The conversation between Adam and Raphael also highlights how unnatural it is for Adam to go against God. Adam is essentially disrupting the natural order by putting Eve on such a pedestal, so much so that Raphael is disturbed by Adam’s adoration of his companion. Indeed, even the use of the word “companion” is telling; Eve is not referred to as a “partner” because she is inherently unequal to Adam. Milton seems to suggest that women cannot understand all that a man can and that women are responsible for the decline of man. And yet, the framing of Eve as inferior helps further Milton’s argument about the complicated relationships between God and his creations. Just as readers can sympathize with Satan’s desire to be self-actualized, they can also understand why Eve would eat from the Tree of Knowledge, given that she is excluded from Adam’s conversations with God and the angels.

Indeed, Adam’s thirst for knowledge is more concerning to Raphael than Eve’s bad dream. Here, Adam acts as a true representative of the human race; the more we know, the more we want to know. The human brain is wired for curiosity and intellectual stimulation, which is a characteristic God clearly understands. Milton therefore questions why God would make Adam smart and curious yet fault him for craving more knowledge. Raphael invites Adam to ask more questions but grows concerned when Adam demonstrates too much curiosity. How are humans expected to understand the line between knowing enough and knowing too much? Why dangle the stimulation of knowledge before them, expecting them to fail? Raphael’s encounter with Adam, who is loving and kind and interested in the world around him, shows the reader how controlling God is, and how unrealistic his expectations of Adam and Eve are. Raphael relates Adam’s desire for knowledge to a maze, a major symbol that recurs throughout Milton’s epic. The idea of knowledge as a maze, something that will catch the pursuer in traps, emphasizes the danger inherent in learning. But it is an interesting parallel because mazes can be solved with time and patience. Perhaps Raphael is suggesting that Adam will learn more with time and so he must be patient, or, alternatively, that Adam is not able to figure out the maze and should therefore avoid the pursuit of knowledge completely. Or perhaps the maze reflects God’s purpose as implied in Book 2, that life on Earth is a journey humanity must undertake, proving their faith and devotion to God and avoiding the trap of sin, so they may enter Heaven—or else be cast into Hell.

The question of how much knowledge is too much knowledge is very much a reflection from Milton’s actual society and life. In the 1650s and 1660s, as Milton was living and writing, scientific discoveries were a controversial new challenge to the church. Milton even spent some time with Galileo, who inspired many questions about the universe. Milton was not anti-science and was in fact very interested in the scientific discoveries being made at the time. This interest, however, does not preclude Milton from wondering how far humans can take science when so much about Heaven and God is not meant for human understanding.