The Female Image in Paradise Lost.
In Genesis chapter 3 verse 20 it states that Eve, in Hebrew Chava, is mother of all life. Here one can see that G-d charged women with the role of being the caretaker of all people. She has been given the responsibility of bearing the children. Women carry a child in their stomachs for nine months and develop an intense connection with this unborn child. After she gives birth to this child she continues to raise and nurture it. Mother's are responsible for their children. They shape them by teaching them morals and values. For this reason mothers are indispensable. They profoundly affect the future generations. Yet, Milton would like to suggest that there is something inherently evil about women. .
As the first woman ever created, and the mother of all mankind, Eve is representative of all future women. Her beauty and her inherent flaws come to define her femaleness. Milton seems through his play on words of Eve's name seems to suggest a truth about women is revealed. The word evil at least in Adam's mind, is linked to his wife's name. "O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear/ to false worm"(IX 1067) Eve's name is associated with the word evil as if her very essence is evil. The play on words of Eve's name leads to the conclusion that Eve causes the downward fall of man. Milton believes that it is not Satan that perverted the world but rather Adam and Eve. Adam proclaims that the word evil is derived from Eve and he continues to say what evil itself has its inception in her. In a sense the mother of all of us is also the mother of evil. Yet sexual difference is the best thing about this world. Eve's love for Adam is what leads her to beg for his forgiveness at the height of his fury. This reawakens his love for her and in turn leads to the regeneration of the world. The poem frequently demonstrates Eve's feelings of inequality. Eve feels like she is an afterthought.