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Paradise Lost - Marriage Before and After the Fall

 

            The purpose of this paper is to compare Adam and Eve's marriage before and after the Fall from Eden, as written by John Milton in Paradise Lost. Milton does not give Adam and Eve a child-like innocence, so they are not free from "imperfections" that religion says only came after they ate from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Instead, there are positive and negative aspects within their relationship while still in Paradise. They experience sex, lust, and negative thoughts and reactions towards each other, making their relationship three dimensional. In my perspective, Adam and Eve's marriage was better before the Fall.
             Some of the good things in Adam and Eve's marriage prior to eating the forbidden fruit is that they sincerely loved each other, especially Eve, whose pure love is frequently pointed out. There is also trust and respect between them as they take on the traditional roles of husband and wife and Adam does his best to protect Eve. Adam fell in love with Eve from the moment he saw her, however there is a struggle to understand where his intentions are coming from. "Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire/ Had a voice thus warned me, "What though seest,/ What there thou seest fair creature is thyself" (p. 2013, ll. 266-70). "And in her looks, which from that time infused/ Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,/ And into all things from her air inspired/ The spirit of love and amorous delight" (p. 2087, ll. 474-77). The last verses mention that he had never felt the love he had inside prior to Eve. It was the first time he realized that he could love someone, whether by physical or personal beauty. Eve also shows her love for Adam through her actions multiple times throughout the poem. "So spake our general mother, and with eyes/ Of conjugal attraction unreproved/ And meek surrender, half embracing leaned" (p. 2013, ll. 492-93). "Both of her beauty and submissive charms/ Smiled with superior love, as Jupiter/ On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds/ That shed May flowers; and pressed her matron lip/ With kisses pure: aside the Devil turned" (p.


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