Through all of its twists and turns, Milton’s Paradise Lost helps us discover many things about its characters from a different perspective than we are used to. Watching the world from Satan's eyes, we see the world "for what it is", helping us to better understand the Fall of Mankind. Even more interesting, however, is that gender bias makes up so much of that story. Milton's depiction of gender roles in Paradise Lost highly influenced the plot, characterization, and major themes of the poem.
You would not think so, but it turns out that without gender roles/bias in Paradise Lost, there would not really be a plot. The whole reason why Eve ends up being tempted is to prove that she is smart enough and strong enough NOT TO BE TEMPTED. How is …show more content…
Gender roles play a huge part in creating the characterization of Adam and Eve. In fact, if Adam and Eve were not characterized by these gender roles, the Fall would have never happened. For example, if Milton did not imply that women are not as smart as men (which they are, of course), Eve would never have made the decision to seek out temptation, and she would not have been tempted to eat the fruit, which means she would not have convinced Adam to eat the fruit, essentially just meaning that the cause of the Fall can be blamed on Eve's extreme ignorance.
Surprisingly, Eve seems to do, say, or think all sorts of things that make us want to blame her for the fall. Like the fact that she easily succumbs to flattery, which makes her an easy target for Satan, because not only is he the king of temptation, he is also pretty good at flattery. Yeah. So it probably was not the best idea to go out looking for temptation. Unfortunately, Eve also happens to be prideful, full of herself, gullible, and naive. Those qualities obviously worked out in the end for her. At least she was beautiful, but I think that is the only positive quality Milton gave …show more content…
I mean, do I really need to go into detail for this one? Clearly, you know where I am going with this. But, if you have a brain like Eve (see what I did there?), I will go into a little more detail for you. Let's start with Adam. He really surprises me, because his intellect, along with every other characteristic and trait he has, seems to be pretty sound, implying that men will be very smart. He has enough brain power not to: look for temptation; worship giant, evil trees; beleive random talking snakes that tell you elaborate stories, especially when snakes did not talk until today; and so on and so forth. According to Milton, Adam didn't even get tempted to partake of the fruit; he simply ate it because he wanted to be with Eve. Essentially, Adam is a very sound, smart, and amazing human
You would not think so, but it turns out that without gender roles/bias in Paradise Lost, there would not really be a plot. The whole reason why Eve ends up being tempted is to prove that she is smart enough and strong enough NOT TO BE TEMPTED. How is …show more content…
Gender roles play a huge part in creating the characterization of Adam and Eve. In fact, if Adam and Eve were not characterized by these gender roles, the Fall would have never happened. For example, if Milton did not imply that women are not as smart as men (which they are, of course), Eve would never have made the decision to seek out temptation, and she would not have been tempted to eat the fruit, which means she would not have convinced Adam to eat the fruit, essentially just meaning that the cause of the Fall can be blamed on Eve's extreme ignorance.
Surprisingly, Eve seems to do, say, or think all sorts of things that make us want to blame her for the fall. Like the fact that she easily succumbs to flattery, which makes her an easy target for Satan, because not only is he the king of temptation, he is also pretty good at flattery. Yeah. So it probably was not the best idea to go out looking for temptation. Unfortunately, Eve also happens to be prideful, full of herself, gullible, and naive. Those qualities obviously worked out in the end for her. At least she was beautiful, but I think that is the only positive quality Milton gave …show more content…
I mean, do I really need to go into detail for this one? Clearly, you know where I am going with this. But, if you have a brain like Eve (see what I did there?), I will go into a little more detail for you. Let's start with Adam. He really surprises me, because his intellect, along with every other characteristic and trait he has, seems to be pretty sound, implying that men will be very smart. He has enough brain power not to: look for temptation; worship giant, evil trees; beleive random talking snakes that tell you elaborate stories, especially when snakes did not talk until today; and so on and so forth. According to Milton, Adam didn't even get tempted to partake of the fruit; he simply ate it because he wanted to be with Eve. Essentially, Adam is a very sound, smart, and amazing human