Paradise Lost. Was Milton a Prophet?

[Razor]

Paradise Lost, by John Milton.

Paradise Lost is the first epic-length poem that was written in English and in Blank Verse, which is essentially a poem that doesn't rhyme. Pretty big deal, when all we had before then as The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri and Shakespeare's wimpy iambic pentameter.

For those of you not in the know, Paradise Lost is Milton's attempt to creatively extrapolate the first book of the Bible, Genesis. He opens with God talking to Jesus, saying essentially "I know they're going to sin and fall from Eden. I want that to happen. Because I must have a sinning populace to send you down to die for. It's how I have foretold the future, and how I will make the ultimate sacrifice for my creation."

He moves on to Satan's fall, blah blah blah blah. The action, and where I'm focused on for this thread, is Satan's tempting of Eve. After a rather long exposition in which Satan blames God for creating him in such a way to necessitate his fall (rather deep for a being who knows nothing but evil, huh?) Satan takes the form of a frog and stalks Eden. He sees Eve and Adam conversing.

Paraphrase-tastic:

Eve: We have so much work to do! Why don't we split up?

Adam: Sorry beautiful wife of mine. Archangel Michael told me that Satan is stalking us. He wants to make us blaspheme God. We must stick together, as to resist temptation.

Pause.

Adam is fulfilling the role of the Protector archetype. This is important. Males are usually the Protector. He is also the archetypal male, in that he is the head of the family and he is the boss of the family. He is strong, he is wise. Literarily speaking, this is where the man should be.

Eve is playing the role of the Subservient woman archetype. Before this she had actually gotten sidetracked after coming to life because she was too busy fawning over her own reflection in the water. She is straight up shown as ditsy and not as intelligent as Adam. By a long shot. The angels only speak with Adam, Adam built their home, Eve was made from Adam and she bequeaths her whole life to him when she first awakens.

Continue:

Eve: But Adam....(she rubs up against him)...I want to get work done so that we aren't so tired at night!

Adam: (Getting lustful)...alright. You can go.

Adam breaks the first rule of the male archetype. He went against all rational judgment and gave into his lustful urges. Paradise Lost makes no qualms about it. Adam let Eve on her own, and risked the fate of all Humanity, because he wanted some sex later in the day.

Eve uses her body to convince Adam to let her go and do her thang. Fully condoning the sin of Lust.

In this single exchange Eve has circumvented Adam's archetype. He has failed to protect the family, to use his wisdom to keep those he loves safe. He has failed miserably at doing his duty.

Not but a few hours later Eve finds herself at the tree of Knowledge. She hears a voice, that of Satan, whispering in her ear. Eve is taken over by the fear of Adam leaving her for another woman. She is convinced that eating this apple will give her the knowledge she needs to keep Adam from leaving her. She takes the apple and eats it.

Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat:
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe
That all was lost.

The Earth sighed in woe. Not good.

Eve takes the apple to Adam. Adam was making a pretty wreath of flowers for Eve, probably to give to her for some sex. Adam loved that sex.

Adam is horrified by what Eve has done. Eve repents to Adam and to God, asking God to only punish her. To only cast her out of Eden. Adam says "No, if you're going so am I." He bites the fruit.

Earth trembl'd from her entrails, as again
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Skie lowr'd, and muttering Thunder, som sad drops
Wept at compleating of the mortal Sin
Original;

Earth trembled from her entrails. Earthquakes, people. Thunder roared. Rain fell in torrents. All because Adam ate an apple. Compared to this, no one really gave a shit when Eve at the apple.

Blah blah blah, Jesus comes to Eden and passes judgement, Archangel Michael tells them that everything is going to be fine in the long run because Jesus Christ will come and save Humanity in the Second Coming just before he takes them away (holding their hands) as Eden begins to burn in a fiery torrent.

The Point:

Milton doesn't exactly make any bones about it. Everything was fine when Adam did his job as a man and protected the family. Adam was the wise man, the protector, the provider, the everything he had to be.

When he failed that position, Eden burned.

Some take solace in Milton's description of Humanity in Book 12. Milton shows Adam and Eve as a loving couple who band together to face this new unknown. Their love will fix all of this, essentially.

But what I'm focused more on is the archetypal questions Milton proposes. Is it that necessary for Man to protect his family? I mean, we see what happens when Eve becomes the intelligent one. The minute she becomes wise (and Adam reduced to the innocent female archetype) the whole of Eden is in for some tough shit.

We know of the Christian craziness in the Middle Ages. Women being beaten and killed over the blame of Original Sin, women being forced to dress in cloth that was barely more than a tent so that no one could see their figure, women being called skanky and of Satan if they don't smell horrid. They clearly blamed women, as an extension of Eve, for the fall of Man. Pretty shitty if you ask me.

But should the same apply today? Women are becoming more and more..powerful when it comes to family. More men are staying home while their wife goes out and makes a paycheck. While studies have shown that women hate this and it often leads to divorce, it happens. Women are, quite simply, becoming more powerful in today's society.

And while I'm one for not caring about a woman telling me what to do (if she's my boss, I do what she says. If she isn't, and it doesn't make sense, I don't do it. Same with men.), some people really do care. I would say a larger portion of people then we really care to admit.

Do those who don't respect women (at least enough to answer to them) have something to go on?

Or is all of this silly, and the true blame to be placed on Adam? That's where I place my blame. Bastard shoulda put his foot down. When Archangel Michael tells you Satan is going around fucking shit up, you listen to him. If you don't get the sex you don't get the sex.

Stake your claim.

 

[Xemmy]

Do those who don't respect women (at least enough to answer to them) have something to go on?
Absolutely not. It's a fairy tale and therefore irrelevant. Assuming it is all true, the blame goes to God, for purposely setting his children up for failure, before he even created them. Being all knowing in the situation makes you an asshole.

Or is all of this silly, and the true blame to be placed on Adam? That's where I place my blame. Bastard shoulda put his foot down. When Archangel Michael tells you Satan is going around fucking shit up, you listen to him. If you don't get the sex you don't get the sex.[/

Adam was only human. Humans are generally stupid- even if given warning to danger. Look at every horror movie where some idiot goes off alone, knowing it's dangerous. If your going to blame a guy for doing exactly what he was created to do- then you're not seeing the bigger picture. If God is all knowing, then he sees everyone's choices before they make them. If he is infalible, then those predictions cannot be wrong. Since he's not Alice from Twilight, all of his future predictions are perfect, and therefore Time is set in stone. If time is set in stone, free will does not exist, because no other choices can truly be made, otherwise it would prove God wrong. Therefore, once again- God is to blame for setting it up, knowing exactly what would happen. Not Adam, Not Eve, and Not the Morning Star.

 

[Tenta]

My God... Feminism in the Cigar Lounge? I thought we may never see the day.

Actually, that isn't exactly true, but nevertheless, it's a rarity to brandish this Women's Studies Degree from good ol' Fairfield U. Anyway, onto more important matters. It's funny, because when you look at it, 1667, Europe was supposedly going through a cultural revolution. Still, Women were pretty much forced into the same basic mundane house chores; they just, you know, had other shit to do. That is, if her husband would escort her outside.

Still, you've reached an interesting issue, good sir. Women in literature would portray as more or less stock characters until the Victorian Age. Milton was going off a basic reading of the Old Testament, which tragically doesn't give any sense of empowerment to women during this age. In truth, it always was a raw deal, something that wouldn't be rectified well into the 1900s, even when Kate Chopin was buried for her portrayal of Edna Pontellier in "The Awakening". Thus, I'd expect nothing less to be the case in Paradise Lost, as much as I do love reading it. And damn I do. John Milton; creating the first anti-hero since 1667.

As to whether or not they have something to go on, for placing women in a domestic position for years? Eh... I mean, no, but it still happened anyway. My true guess, realistically, is that is more of a biological matter. Women, no matter what will happen, are smaller than men. Now, however, we've come to an age where physical labor isn't nearly of the importance it used to be. Sure, that makes for further issues down the line, what with people getting fat and shit. That said, as the ages have gone, our muscles became less the focal point, and our brains the more. Granted, women weren't given a proper education for a while, but it was still seen that, at least from an intellectual level, man and woman are indeed equals. So in the origins of man, and eventually the origins of the Bible, sure they had something. Women couldn't partake in the physical labor (no, I'm not talking of child birth), and thus, could be seen as the "weaker species". Thus, Christianity was now entilted to cast this "weaker species" as the reason for our fall. The same pattern would be repeat itself until about the 1940s, when physical labor was important, but not nearly as, 'specially what with men going off to fight them damn Nazis over in Germany.

Say what you will, but over time, women have grown to become our equals, from a societal standpoint, in just about every facet except the physical. Of course, Milton could sure argue with me that sexual need is a physical depravity, something we know not to be completely true now. Still, this is where this concept of "You leave a woman away from the stove, and shit goes down" comes from. Unfair? Perhaps. Understandable? Given our lack of knowledge in science, probably