After reading the unfortunate fall of Adam and Eve, I thought that the language shift that Milton uses to signify a change in circumstance was unique and actually really telling of the new situation. Before Eve eats the forbidden fruit, the words Milton uses in every sense portray the satiety that Adam and Eve feel in every aspect of their living.
Eve says, "And what is faith, love, virtue, unassayed,
Alone, without exterior help sustained?
Let us not then suspect our happy state
Left so imperfect by the maker wise
As not secure to single or combined.
Frail is our happiness if this be so,
And Eden were no Eden thus exposed." (p. 274)
To me, it seems here that Eve is saying to Adam that they already are happy (pre-fall), and that nothing can disturb that happiness because, in the end, God is sustaining and guiding them. However, after Eve partakes of the fruit, her words reveal her feelings of being lost, and of wanting more. On 287 the serpent alludes to this want, asking her why she shouldn't want a happier life. Later, Eve starts referring to the guidance of god as a prohibition that "binds" her and Adam (289). It's almost as if she truly has come to believe that God is her enemy, and not the serpent, in justifying her actions.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
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