Before the Fall, the relationship between Adam and Eve was ideal. There were no arguments and they worked as a team to care for the Garden of Eden. However, after the Fall, their relationship disintegrated and transformed into something much less perfect. When Adam and Eve received the knowledge of good and evil, they began to blame themselves and each other. It is the blame, in John Milton's Paradise Lost, that separates Adam and Eve. However, just as there is hope for the complete regeneration of Adam, Eve, and the rest of humanity, the love in their relationship can be regenerated with the help of the Son. I will argue that the Son prevents the collapse of the relationship between Adam and Eve by teaching them to communicate without reproach, thereby allowing them to remain united in the face of the post-lapsarian world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In this passage, Milton uses very simple and unambiguous language to explain his love. Unlike their fallen counterparts (i.e. the humanity they give birth to), post-lapsarian Adam and Eve do not have to worry about guilt or dishonesty. Furthermore, neither Adam nor Eve have the ability to make "honor dishonorable" with regard to their display of affection or nudity. In these lines, Milton also makes it clear that we, as readers, can rest assured that Adam and Eve's displays of love for each other are not "shows." Their inability to lie prevents them from showing their love in insincere ways. Milton's description of their love therefore leaves no doubt that after their creation, Adam and Eve had perfect love. Although Adam and Eve reside in Paradise and have perfect love, this does not mean that they are free from dependence. problems and obstacles. When Satan enters the Garden of Eden in the form of a toad, he breathes a dream into Eve's ear. Upon waking, she discusses the dream with Adam, being openly honest in the process. In this way, their communication allows for a dissection of Eve's dream and assurance that Eve is still free from blame. After Eve's explanation. Next, the narrator states "Thus all was made clear" (5.136), indicating that Eve had a clear conscience after the dream and her conversation with Adam. By telling Adam about the strange and bad dream she had, she got rid of her bad thoughts. Although there is some dramatic irony in Adam's comment that Eve would "never wake up" to eat the fruit, there is no reason to think that residual thoughts from the dream Eve contributed to her later actions when she was tempted by Satan at the time. the Tree of Knowledge. The narrator says she is free of all evil, and she herself appears repentant as she “silently lets a sweet tear fall” (5.130). As I mentioned earlier in this article, Adam and Eve are incapable of dishonesty (4:113-118). By this argument, Eve cannot deceive Adam into believing in a demonstration of repentance. Even though Adam and Eve had to confront and reconcile the dream that Satan had placed in Eve's mind, they remained pure and blameless by communicating openly and repenting. It is the model of the perfect relationship that was established before the Fall. Although Eve points out how ridiculous Adam's concern is, there is no cruel retort from Adam. Eve doesn't really criticize Adam for his unnecessary worry either. Instead, she reminds him of the food that is "ripe for eating" and the abundance of the gardenof Eden, which is so new to both of them. Eve even addresses Adam endearingly by beginning with "the sacred mold of the earth" rather than another less affectionate epithet. Again, although this epithet may seem insincere because it seems exaggerated or too mild, neither Adam nor Eve are capable of insincere displays of affection or sarcasm (4.113-118). Any artificiality we might see in these lines is based on an assumption we make based on our own fallen nature as readers. So even in times when their relationship may seem unstable, neither of them is vindictive. The times when their relationship really seems to deteriorate begin in book 9 as Eve tries to persuade Adam to allow her to work in the garden away from him. In fact, their conversation continues for many lines of the poem (5.205-384). However, even though this disagreement and its results ultimately lead to Eve's temptation and the Fall, the disagreement itself is not a fault. For example, in Adam's last argument with Eve before she leaves him, he says, "So be not distrustful, but tender love commands me, / Let me pay attention to you often, and take take care of me” (9.357-358). Although this is one of Adam's final statements, he does not try to force her to stay, nor does he become angry that she is somewhat stubborn in her desires. Instead, he tries to help her understand that her worry is based in worry and love. Additionally, Adam reminds Eve that they are supposed to take care of each other. Adam's statements, while not strong enough to stop Eve from leaving, do not indicate any blame on the part of Adam or Eve. Without Satan tempting Eve, the disagreement would likely have resolved since Adam was only concerned about Eve's well-being. If Eve had returned to him unharmed and unharmed, the very object of the disagreement would have been negated and would no longer be an issue. But because Adam and Eve do not have time before the Fall to reconcile this disagreement, it becomes a point of contention and blame after the Fall. Once Eve returned to Adam and convinced him to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. , a lot about their relationship changes. The knowledge the tree gives them includes the reason and logic that allows one to blame the other. Although Adam and Eve possessed some innate goodness and sense of justice, these qualities were removed after the Fall. The innocence they lose, which previously protected them from dishonesty, sarcasm, and blame, creates a new dynamic in their relationship. Adam and Eve must now speak and act without innocence and, because all of their communication is now fallen, their relationship becomes as fallen as they are as individuals. Upon waking up after eating the fruit, the first thing Adam does is accuse Eve of having tempted him. This is the first moment where blame enters their relationship. Adam says: “O Eve, in evil hours you gave ear to this false worm” (9.1067-1068), which is a moral judgment of Eve's actions. Eve does not respond at this point, but later Adam goes on to say: “Would you have listened to my words and stayed/With me, as I begged you…then we had remained always happy” ( 9.1134-1138). Saying that they would not have fallen if Eve had listened to him and stayed with him, Adam places all the blame on her. He also refers to the unreconciled disagreement at the beginning of Book 9 and believes that his concern was justified. By blaming Eve, Adam pushes their relationship towards a new degeneration. Because no one likes to be blamed, Eve also retorts and refers to the same disagreement by saying: “Being as I am,why weren't you the boss/Ordered me absolutely not to go,/I'm in such danger as you said? (9.1155-1157). Taking Adam as an example, she accuses him of neglecting his duties as “head” of their relationship. It's a failed argument because Eve insists that, if he had really wanted her to stay with him, he would have "absolutely" ordered her not to go. For Adam to absolutely command Eve, he would have to exercise a kind of tyrannical power over her, which did not exist before the Fall. We can affirm that this did not exist before the Fall by examining the punishment inflicted on Eve by the Son in book 10. As part of Eve's punishment, the Son tells Eve "at the will of your husband/The yours will submit, he will reign over you” (10.195-196). If this kind of tyrannical patriarchy existed in Heaven before, then it would not make sense to use it as a punishment. Therefore, Eve's accusation against Adam regarding his lack of absolute command is illogical and wrong. By blaming Adam in this illogical way, she also continues the degeneration of their relationship. If the Son had not intervened to stop Adam and Eve from completely destroying their relationship, it is reasonable to assume that Adam and Eve would have continued to illogically blame each other. . At the end of book 9, the narrator states: "Thus they spent in mutual accusation/ Fruitless hours, but without condemning themselves,/ And their vain fight seemed to have no end" ( 9.1187-1189). Because neither Adam nor Eve were willing to accept blame for their own actions, respectively, they had no chance of reconciling or regenerating their relationship on their own. If their relationship had been allowed to deteriorate, Adam and Eve could have died alone without giving birth to the rest of humanity. This could not happen, however, because, in book 3, God says “for [man] I spare/ [the Son] with my bosom and with my right hand, to save,/ In losing [the Son] for a moment the whole race lost” (3.278-280). Since God has already decreed that the Son would be the salvation of all humanity, the relationship between Adam and Eve must be regenerated in some way. Fittingly, the Son is the first to attempt to remedy the fallen relationship between Adam and Eve. Right after the Son finds Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Adam uses the same arguments with the Son that he had used earlier with Eve. However, instead of mitigating or absolving his guilt as Adam hopes, the arguments incriminate him further. Instead of taking responsibility for his own actions, Adam immediately begins blaming Eve for the fall, although he says that her failure is something he "should hide, and not expose to blame/by [her ] complaint. His own statement makes it clear that he knows blaming her is wrong. However, he convinces himself to abandon her for his own sake because he wants to avoid punishment as much as possible. Adam also assumes that the Son would realize that he was hiding Eve's sin even if he tried to hide it. This illustrates the illogical thought pattern that Adam based on fallen logic and blame. Even though Adam knows that the Son can sense what is hidden, he still believes that by blaming Eve, he can cover up his own sin and redirect the Son's anger and judgment toward Eve. Without the Son's rebuke, Adam would likely have continued with his illogical thought patterns, and there would be little or no chance of regeneration of the relationship between Adam and Eve. By saying that there was no need for Adam to listen to Eve and reminding Adam that God's word is superior to his wife's words, the Son takes away Adam's excuses so that he will have no one no one else to blame but himself. This is the first instance where Adam is drawn into blaming himself and in doing so he makes a.