Eve Reimagined: Milton’s Undoing of Misogynistic Traditions

Abstract

How might John Milton’s depiction of Eve unintentionally reveal the uniquely feminine struggle for equality in a patriarchal power structure? In the epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), Milton “justifies the ways of God to men” by emphasizing the importance of obedience. However, Eve disregards Adam’s suggestion that they work together in Eden, and this separation results in her falling into temptation. Eve chooses to work independently because of her own desire, but is this decision a form of disobedience? Even though Paradise Lost establishes Eden to be a patriarchal structure, I believe that Eve’s decision might plausibly be interpreted as an attempt to gain equality. In this paper, I wish to claim that Milton attempted to minimize the assumption that Eve’s act was merely a selfish or impulsive one. Instead, he depicts his only female figure as a being who can equally make decisions just like the male figures in the Garden, and her independence allows her to attempt to escape a gendered hierarchy. Instead, the misogynistic environment of Eden may play a larger role than originally thought. While traditionally the interrogation of Eve in Judeo-Christian discourse has revolved around her act of disobedience against God, Milton shifts the narrative to focus on Eve’s interactions with Adam; with this modification, Milton creates the possibility for disrupting misogynistic traditions of interpreting Genesis.