The story of Adam and Eve is one of, if not the first, crime story and punishment in the West. John Milton's Paradise Lost retells the age-old fable, adding depth and emotion to the story, revealing the very important, sometimes overlooked, implications of the legend's outcome. Eve, having dreamed the prophetic dream of the fall of humanity in Book V, is created to be read as the character responsible for the tragic loss of paradise. While God gives Adam and Eve the ability to exercise free will, Eve is the only one who has the opportunity to do so and is therefore designated to be the “original” sinner. The punishment Eve faces for eating this fruit reveals the unfortunate consequences of acting on free will - especially when it directly opposes God's word - and raises the question of how much her actions actually were. “free”. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The punishment of Adam and Eve is explained in Genesis, and although they are both subject to consequences for exercising their free will and eating the fruit, the penance that Eve owes the wages is well worse than Adam's, even though they committed the same act of disobedience. This reveals a logical framework that implicitly places Eve as responsible for the fall of Paradise Lost. After the loss of paradise, Genesis states that God revisits the couple and describes the fate of Adam and Eve by proclaiming: "To the woman he said: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and their conception, though in sorrow, they will bear children; and you will desire your husband, and he will rule over you. And he said to Adam, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee, saying, Though thou shalt not eat of it, the ground is cursed because of you; but in sorrow you shall eat of it all the days of your life (3:16-17). This passage reveals the subconscious workings of the heart of the story. Not only is Adam punished just for listening to his wife, but his long-term consequence is that he must eat from cursed land. Eve, on the contrary, must not only herself, but also all future women, punished and placed in a clearly lesser position in relation to her husband. This harsh punishment, inflicted unequally, therefore unfairly sets the stage for Milton's story. It is written that Eve in Paradise Lost is the one who started the fall – by having the dream – and therefore, the one who was created to take all the blame. Free will most certainly exists in Eden, but the fact that God punishes Eve, along with all women to come, into a life of eternal subordination to her husband, rings alarm bells for the reader - if Adam also eats the apple, committing the same “deviant”. act like Eve, why is he not punished in the same way and to the same degree? Eve is the character in Genesis who most feels a sense of having defied God, even though both were equally at fault, creating a pattern of blame that seeps into Milton's story. Here, Eve's "free will" is masquerading as such, but given the outcome of her actions, it's clear that she was always written to be the scapegoat, calling into question her ability to act freely. Adam and Eve live their first days. in heaven in absolute bliss - never fearing, never suffering, never feeling any emotion other than joy and appreciation - until the night Eve had a terribly frightening dream of succumbing to the manipulative methods of Satan, marking thefirst negative experience of paradise and the beginning of the world. autumn. Adam wakes Eve so they can begin their day of gardening and work, and is surprised to see Eve tossing and turning in her sleep. When she wakes up, Eve explains the cause of her distress: “On such a night until now, I have…/I dreamed,/If I dreamed, not as I am often accustomed, of you ,/Works of the past day, or tomorrow's next design,/But offenses and troubles, which my spirit/never knew until this dull night” (5.30-34). In the paradise where God places Adam and Eve, the preservation of innocence and goodness is vital to maintaining the purity of the world. This moment when Eve recognizes the first negative thoughts ever entertained is crucial in marking the moment when the slow decline of paradise begins. This is the moment when Eden ceases to be paradise, and it all begins with Eve. While it is Satan who offers the fruit to Eve, tempting and manipulating her into taking a bite, it is she who has the premonition before the situation even presents itself. The narrator explains that Satan is attracted to Eve because of her vulnerability, but perhaps he is attracted to her not because of her supposed naivety, but because something about the fact that she is the one, rather that Adam, who broke the bubble of perfection of Paradise attracted him towards his. If Adam and Eve had had the dream, the outcome might have been different, but the important choice Milton made for Eve to be the one to have the dream and then be the one to be severely blamed for that choice, as shown Genesis, demonstrates an unavoidable line of thinking that inevitably results in Eve becoming the “original” sinner. Eve's punishment for biting the forbidden apple reveals the fundamental moral of the story; Free will is neither admirable nor acceptable if it disobeys God. Eve's dream comes true when one day Adam and Eve decide to split up and work independently in the garden so they can do more faster. It is then that Satan, disguised in the garden as a serpent perched on the Tree of Knowledge, approaches Eve for the first time. He explains to her the magic that resides in the fruit, tells her that it brings wisdom and goodness and that for this reason she must disobey God's word and act on her own, in other words, eat the fruit. She does so, and Adam follows suit soon after, neither of them realizing that God sees everything. He looks. God explains that He "did not prevent Satan from attacking the spirit/of man, with full force and armed free will,/completely for having discovered and repelled/all the wiles of the apparent enemy or friend” (10). .8-11). God's view of the concept of free will, as Milton wrote it, is complicated. Although he gives them both the ability to make their own choices, he does not exempt or allow them to perform "free" actions that directly oppose him. Free will then becomes less of a gift that God bestows on protagonists, and more of an expectation that freedom of choice always reflects God's wishes and commands. To what extent, then, did either really stand a chance against Satan? This quote and its implications force the audience to consider how free actions can truly be if they are constantly judged, and then punished if deemed contrary by a force as powerful as God. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a Custom EssayAssuming, as is the case in Paradise Lost, that everything happens for a reason and that all events and actions are part of God's larger plan ,.