Please read the following segments of the ninth book, as it is vital to the poem and to our discussion of exile in literary character. Once you've finished reading, then complete the journal entry.
Book IX
- 1-13 (Milton announces a change in his theme)
- 13-47 (Milton states his epic is more important in subject than the traditional warfare which was the subject of those epics before; cf. line 42 especially)
- 53-57 *(Satan returns to Eden, improved in fraud and malice)
- 82-97 (Satan roams, looking for the "fittest imp of fraud;" deems the snake the "subtlest beast of all the field")
- 180-191 (Satan finds his target and possesses the serpent by entering the mouth!)
- 212-219 (Eve proposes that they divide their labors; cf. note)
- 232-234 (Adam's call for domesticity; cf. line 318)
- 265-269 (Adam's worry about parting)
- 322-341 *(Eve's argument)
- 370-375 (Adam's final words of strength)
- 385-386 *(their hands withdraw from one another [VIP])
- 463-493 (Satan's thoughts upon first witnessing Eve, and his monologue of rebuke)
- 531f (Satan begins his temptation)
- 546-561 ("a goddess;" Eve's response to the snake's language)
- 579-612 (hunger and thirst drive Satan to eat; he claims upon eating that he gained reason and speech; cf. note on "apple")
- 679-701 *(his guileful argument against death by the fruit)
- 708-715 *("ye shall be as gods")
- 732 ("freely taste")
- 745-833 *(Eve's rational after the serpent's speech; her transgression; the earth "felt the wound;" her "heightened" thoughts thereafter)
- 856-916 *(Eve greets Adam, persuades him; lamenting her loss he nevertheless resolves he cannot without her live)
- 955-959 (unity of man and woman)
- 960-989 (Eve's final plea to Adam [compare to the language of Satan!])
- 997-1039 *(Adam's transgression; his "enflamed" thoughts thereafter)
- 1034-1045 *(they consummate their sin with sexual intercourse, they fall asleep)
- 1053-1059 (our parents awaken with minds darkened by "guilty shame")
- 1066-1690 (Adam laments that the are not only externally naked; he is concerned only with himself in this passage; his wish to hide)
- 1119-1167 *(the internal torment of our fallen parents; they fight verbally, blaming one another; cf. line 1164 especially)
- 1179-1189 (Adam speaks cruelly of women; "neither self-condemning" they continue to argue)
Journal #9 will be due on Monday 5/3. As with previous journals, I would like you to simply react to this last segment of reading; that is, Book IX. Think of all the themes that we have been investigating thus far in the class with regards to Milton's text. How do we see those themes playing out or completing themselves by the close of the ninth book? Is there a resolution? Are you frustrated at the outcome of things, with Satan, with Fate? Are you disappointed with mankind, or do you embrace the condition that has befallen us? This reaction needs to include at least one citation in order to receive full credit.
Wonder not, sovereign mistress, if perhaps
ReplyDeleteThou canst, who art sole wonder, much less arm
Thy looks, the heaven of mildness, with disdain,
Displead that I approach thee thus and gaze
Insatiate, I thus single, nor have feared
Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.
Fairest resemblance of thy maker fair,
Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
With ravishment beheld, there best beheld
Where universally admired; but here
In this enclosure wild, these beasts among,
Beholders rude and shallow to discern
Half what in thee is fair, one man except,
Who see thee (and what is one?), who shouldst be seen
A goddess among gods, adored and served
By angels, numberless, thy daily train?" (PL.IX.531-548)
This quote is really important in Book IX. I think this is because it adds the depth of Satan's character and how he is able to "sweet-talk" Eve with all these wonderful words. Satan begins talking about her beauty, grace and godliness. The key words in this quote are "goddess", "admired", "heaven", "all things living gaze on." All these flattering terms really gets into Eve's mind and that shows how gullible she really is to believe such a beast such as Satan, who is disguised as a snake. Another collaboration is that you can also compare that Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" series, because when we first meet Snape. Snape is compared to Slithering, an adjective that is used to compare a snake.
Throughout the text, usually Milton paints an undeniable fact that women are the weaker sex, choosing to tempt Eve instead of Adam. In the next line, in line 549, Satan is labeled as a "tempter." Temptation is getting to Eve and she wants to know more. This is almost similar to the scene when Satan disguises himself a cherub to gain access into Heaven. The beautiful and lovely, almost heavenly, words have made Satan into a round character, the "anti-hero" of the text.
In Book IX we come across Satan once again disguising himself in order to torment others. He decides to resort to the low level of a snake, a creature whom generally would not have any human-like abilities. He finds Eve and uses his persuasive nature to tempt her and convince her to defy G-d's word.
ReplyDeleteSatan tells Eve he attained the ability to talk from the tree of knowledge. He states:
To happier life: knowledge of good and evil?/ of good, how just? Of evil, if what is evil/ […] G-d, therefore, cannot hurt ye and be just;/ Not just, not G-d; not feared then, nor obeyed/ your fear itself of death removes the fear/ why then was this forbid? Why but to awe/ why but to keep ye low and ignorant/ his worshippers. He knows that in the day/ ye eat thereof your eyes, that seem so clear/ yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then/ opened and cleared, and ye shall be as G-ds/ knowing both good and evil as they know/ that ye should be as G-ds since I as man. [IX. 697-709]
He explains how humans would gain g-dly abilities much like he--the snake-- attained human-like capabiltiies. All of this brings us back to the theme of Satan's character being one of evil persuasion.
One line that I really found to apply to the theme of the class was found in this section of Paradise Lost. Adam says, "solitude sometimes is best society, and short retirement urges sweet return." [9.249-50]. The mention of solitude directly interlinks with the theme of self exile and journey.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in terms of the theme of inequality within Milton's text a particular section caught my eye and really helped relay the theme further.
But to Adam in what sort
Shall I appeer? shall I to him make known
As yet my change, and give him to partake
Full happiness with mee, or rather not,
But keep the odds of Knowledge in my power
Without Copartner? so to add what wants
In Femal Sex, the more to draw his Love,
And render me more equal, and perhaps,
A thing not undesireable, somtime
Superior: for inferior who is free?
This may be well: but what if God have seen
And Death ensue? then I shall be no more,
And Adam wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
A death to think. Confirm'd then I resolve,
Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life. (9.816-33]
Eve questions whether she should share her new "knowledge" with Adam. She is oblivious to what had actually occurred and questions whether she should let Adam partake in it or keep it to herself so that they can become more "equal". Even Eve herself is aware of the differences amongst Adam and her. However, love conquers all, as it does in all stories, and Eve chooses to involved Adam in her doing so that she does not lose him. Jealousy is evoked with the thought that Adam would find himself another woman, playing further into the stereotypes of women.
In Book IX, there are two themes that caught my attention,Infidelity and Disobedience.
ReplyDeleteFirst to himself he inward silenced broke:
"O fairest of creation, last and best
Of all God's works, creature in whom excelled
Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,
Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote?
Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress
The strict forbiddance, how to violate
The sacred fruit forbidden? Some cursèd fraud
Of enemy hath beguilded thee, yet unknown,
And me with thee hath ruined, for with thee
Certain my resolution is to die.
How can I live without thee, how forgo
Thy sweet converse and love to dearly joined
To live again in these wild woods forlorn?
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from y hear; no no, I feel
The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh,
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy stat
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe." (IX.895-916)
Adam betrays God by siding with Eve and eating the forbidden fruit. Thus we have infidelity.
Adam loves Eve and so, by joining her in eating the apple, sacrifices his own happiness for love. This, in itself is good act, motivated by love. I would say that Adam is acting freely and he has done a good thing. Milton, however, shows that even good acts are evil and corrupt if not done in line with God's will. Adam is disobeying God and no matter what he does outside of obedience, it will be bad.
I wonder...If we have other plans that are good but isn't in God's will, does Milton consider it disobedience?
In Book IX, the theme of jealousy and persuasion comes up. Satan goes back to earth to make Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree, like he had done 8 days prior. But during this journey up he finally looks around and sees the world that God has created. He is in love with it, saying it is better than Heaven.
ReplyDelete"..Man he made, and for him built magnificent this World, and Earth his seat, Him Lord pronounced, and, O indignity! Subjected to his service Angel-wings And flaming ministers, to watch and tend Their earthly charge. Of these the vigilance I dread, and to elude, thus wrapt in mist Of midnight vapor, glide obscure, and pry In every bush and brake, where hap may find The Serpent sleeping, in whose mazy folds To hide me, and the dark intent I bring."
Satan is saying how he is jealous of this new world that god created for man, and jealous of the angels that are here to guard it from any evil spirits. I think that this was the defining moment of the book. Everything else really leads up to this. It was a interesting how Milton has Satan loving the work of God on earth, but still doing his job in betraying him and making Adam and Eve eat from this tree. I am not dissapointed in Mankind because it was supposed to happen, and there was nothing they could do about it. Satan is a strong and powerful being, and they have nothing that could've stopped them from eating that fruit. God was the only thing, but he was testing them and saw that even humankind can be persuaded by these evil spirits.
My favorite part of Book IX is when Satan returns to earth, but this time around looking to disguise himself into the lowest of human quality. Before Satan becomes a snake, he looks around and is upset that he cannot enjoy the earth. He plans a plot against Adam and Eve because he does not want them to live in Paradise and the Fall occurs.
ReplyDeleteBook IX was very interesting. To me it was like a scene in the movie where you know what will happen and you want to stop it but you know you cant so you have to just watch something you dont want to happen. Here we can see Satan's true evileness very clearly. On page 267 he states:
ReplyDelete"All good to me becomes bane, and in Heaven much worse would be my state. But neither here seek I, no, nor in Heaven to dwell, unless by mastering Heaven's supreme, Nor hope to be myself less miserable by what I seek but others to make such as I, though thereby worse to me rebound: For only destroying I find ease to my relentless thoughts. (123-130)
In this passage Satan basically says that there is no real reason for him to do what he is going to do. The only insparation for his evil deeds is the fact that they are evil and commiting evil things makes him "happier". Later on we can also see some jealousy and envy towards Adam and Eve. Satan was sent to Hell while they had received this blissful land so he wants to take away something that he himself lost before.
I felt one of the major themes in book XI was disobedience. Eve turns Adam against God. She is the one that destroys the bliss they have. The passage that stood out to me the most was "the serpent wise, or not restrained as we or not obeying, hath eaten of the fruit and is become not dead, as we are threatened" (864-870). Eve is pretty much telling Adam if the serpent can eat the fruit so can you. After all you are human and that creature is beneath you. She wants Adam to go against God and challenge the power of God.
ReplyDeleteI found that this quote relates to how Satin tries to get revenge against god.
ReplyDelete“I question it, for this fair earth I see,
Them nothing. If they all things, who enclosed
Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
That whoso eats thereof forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? And wherein lies
The offense that man should thus attain to know?
What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
Impart against his will if all be his?
Or is it envy, and can envy dwell” (9. 720-729)
The serpent (satin) tells Eve that since she now has knowledge she will be happier. He tries to convince her that she can be goddess like. He says that he has eaten from the tree and it has done nothing to him. This goes back to the beginning when satin decides to get back at god for sending him to hell. He knows that god told Adam and Eve not to eat form the tree of knowledge. With that knowledge he knows that he will piss of god if he makes eve eat from the tree. This relates to the theme of who is really stronger. Satin has a way to manipulate which can cause damage if people listen to him. He will go beyond what is mortal to get revenge knowing that god has more power.
Eve's plea to Adam to consume the forbidden fruit reminded me of the theme of good vs. evil. While paying close attention to Eve's remarks, she is asking him to be faithful to her, and not God. Eve is trying to persuade Adam to commit a sin on the bases of compassion. While, Adam is hesitant at first but gives in eventually. Eve, in this moment represents evil. While, Adam represents good.
ReplyDelete"To undergo with me one guilt, one crime,
If any be, of tasting this fruit,
Whose virtue(for of good still good proceeds,
Direct or by occasion) hayth presented
This happy trial of love, which else
So eminently never had been known."
"So faithful, love unequaled; but I feel
Far otherwise the event: not death, but life
Augmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new hoys,
Taste so divine, that what of sweet before
Hath touched my sense flat seems to this harsh.
On my experience, Adam, freely taste
And fear of death deliver to the winds"
There is one question that is unanswered and might be blasphemous but I have to ask. Are angels capable of lusting after a human? In Book IX lines 454-456 "She most, and in her look sums all delight,/ such pleasure took the serpent to behold / this flower plot, the sweet recess of Eve". It seems that Satan is lusting after Eve or is it just a highly descriptive passage? Are angels capable of even making love to humans? The only thing that I have seen that touched upon this subject was in dogma. The angels in dogma had no genitalia but they didn't have free will. This would be quite a curious subject in class to discuss.
ReplyDeleteThe passage that really jumped out at me was Satan's return and his search for a suitable disguise.
ReplyDelete"Satan involved in rising mist, then sought
Where to lie hid. Sea he had searched and land
From Eden over Pontus and the pool
Maeotis up beyond the river Ob,
Downward as far Antartic, and in length" (9.75-79)
It is just amazing to imagine Satan coming out of the mist like a dark figure and taking flight. The scale on which he searches for a disguise is no pun intended, ungodly. The fact that he scoured the Earth as we would go aisle to aisle in a store just shows the power these beings posses. It also shows Satan's thirst for retribution and his resolve; He does not care if he has to go to the edge of the world and back, he will have his day against God.
There is no resolution in the end of book IX. I am aggravated at the outcome of things, with Satan and I am disappointed with mankind. It is the free will that we have, which caused the fall of men.
ReplyDelete"Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress
The strict forbiddance, how to violate
The sacred fruit forbidden? Some cursèd fraud
Of enemy hath beguilded thee, yet unknown,
And me with thee hath ruined, for with thee
Certain my resolution is to die" (IX. 901-906).
Adam is acting freely. Milton shows that humans must acts in line with God's will. Adam is disobeying God and out of the boundary of obedience.
All others beasts that saw,with like desire/
ReplyDeleteLonging and envying, stood but could not reach./
I love this quote from book IX, especially since Eve is so keen to find out how the serpent got his human attribution of reason and speech. What I find most interesting is the effect of the serpents sophistry in tempting Eve to eat of the apple. Satan played on Eve's weakest side, a lack of independence, since she proposed they work seperately. Eve's transgressive act seems to, in my opinion, come from a lack of understanding about the world around her. She embodies reason, while Adam faith:
"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.
"Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve, / Easy to me it is to tell thee all / What thou command'st, and right thou shouldst be obeyed. / I was at first as other beasts that graze / The trodden herb: of abject thoughts and low, / As was my food, nor aught but food discerned / Or sex, and apprehended nothing high, / Till, on a day roving the field, I chanced / A goodly tree far distant to behold, / Loaden with fruit of fairest colors mixed, / Ruddy and gold. I nearer drew to gaze, / When from the boughs a savory odor blown, /[...] / Powerful persuaders, quickened at the scent / Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen"(IX.568-588)
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how Satan is known to be a horrible character with bad intentions but is so convincing in his words when he speaks to Eve about eating the fruit. Though he does hold bad intentions in his words, he is so persuasive. He makes sin seem like a good thing and it is what catches Eve because she cant resist.
In book IX to agree what swieck said Satan decides to transform his self in to one of the lowest form of life to try and deceive Eve, a snake. With his return to earth I see the theme of jealousy occurring here with Satan. This sense of jealously with him and knowing that he cannot live her I believe is the sole reason for the fall of mandkind. As far as the disappointment of mandkind I think an important thing to think about here is that there could exist no such thing as perfection.
ReplyDelete“Adam took no thought eating his fill nor eve to iterate her former trespass feared, the more to soothe him with her loved society; that now, as with new wine intoxicated both … But that false fruit far other operation first displayed carnal desire inflaming.”
I think that the purpose of this is to show the separation between God and mankind. Also to show that the desires of humankind far exceed our ability to control ourselves and our emotions.
One theme that caught my attention in Book IX is inequality between man and women. Eve persisted upon going to do her chores alone and ended up meeting Satan. Satan was able to manipulate her by complimenting her beauty and referring to her as a "goddess". He said :
ReplyDelete"Fairest resemblance of thy maker fair,
Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore
With ravishment beheld, there best beheld
Where universally admired...
A Goddess among gods, adored and served"(IX 538-557)
By Satan being able to convince Eve into eating the forbidden fruit simply by complimenting her he is portraying women as a weaker sex. Milton is implying that females can be tempted into sin because they are superficial about their looks. That Eve ate the fruit because her love for her own self overpowered her obedience to God.
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ReplyDeleteI find book ix to be really interesting and can almost relate it to the present. after eve is tricked by Satan to eat the fruit of knowledge eve come to the decision that "Adam shall share with me this bliss or woe" (9.832) this sentence is interesting because since eve commit a sin she is starting a chain of sin by getting Adam to sin and she does not care if it will be good or bad for them she is going to make him do it regardless for what will happen to them.
ReplyDeleteThus he resolved, but first from inward grief
ReplyDeleteHis bursting passion into plaints this poured...
Revenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.
Let it; I reck not, so it light well-aimed,
Since higher I fall short, on him who next
Provokes my envy, this new favorite
Of Heaven, this man of clay, son of despite,
Whom, us the more to spite, his maker raised
From Dust; spite then with spite is best repaid.
I feel like this passage relates back to the idea of Milton having created a human like Satan. Satan displays many emotions (anger, regret, grief, sadness, and jealousy to name just a few) throughout Paradise Lost and this passage is no different from the rest of the text. I also found it interesting that he mentions revenge recoiling much like a snake/serpent would.
In contrast to what David Tran had to say about Eve's gullibility, I believe that the words that Satan used to seduce Eve are extremely flattering, and Eve's belief in those words do not show that she is gullible at all. In contrast, Satan is bringing Ever closer to self awareness about her sexuality. Case and point of words of flattery that Satan uses to seduce Eve are: "By celestial beauty adore with ravishment beheld, there best beheld" because she is reminded of how beautiful she is. This does not make her gullible at all, rather is enhances her Knowledge (PL. XI ln.540-541). Hence, I argue that Satan tempting Eve with words of flattery foreshadows the apple being eaten from the Tree of Knowledge. In other words, Eve's temptation does not suggest that she is gullible, rather that she is becoming more self aware.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure if I understood Barbera's point about infidelity. How is Adam being unfaithful? Unless, he is being unfaithful to Eve, I don't see him as being unfaithful. Though Adam and Eve do disobey G-d, they don't commit adultery.
Upon re reading the text, I am beginning to agree with prof d's point in class today about Eve being jealous (sorry I posted late). The text says
"And Adam wedded to another Eve, shall live with her enjoying, I extinct: A death to think, Confirmed then I resolve Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe. So dear I love him that with him all deaths I could endure, without him no life" (PL 828-833).
While Eve became knowledgeable of her sexuality upon eating the fruit, she also became aware about the concept of death. According to the passage, living without Adam mean is the equivalent of dying to Eve. She cannot bear the thought of being without him and therefore she is afraid of loosing him. Thus we see Eve's knowledge both helping her feel good about herself upon bringing her to full awareness of her sexuality, and later in the text harming her when being forced to face the realities of obtaining this knowledge.
The word Fate is, in my view, a backward looking perspective concluding what happened and try to rationalize the reason behind what occurred. No one, except God knows what Fate is going ahead; otherwise Fate is called another name “Oracle” or “Premonition”. There’s one quality that persistently plays an important role in the fall of Eve, arrogance. It is similar to Satan’s original sin pride and both result in the disobedience to God. Eve insists to work separately regardless Raphael’s repeated warning of the danger that Satan might be lurking around which eventually proved to be a fatal decision. Even after the their transgression, neither of Adam and Eve recognizes their own fault but blaming one other as if they did not commit wrongdoing but it is others’ responsibility “Thus they in mutual accusation spent/The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning,/And of their vain contest appeared no end” (9.1187-89). This arrogance influences heavily on their fate if not actually making it certain of their eventual transgression. Through their free choices, they decide their fate. Thus the tendency toward certain direction and outcome driven by built-in qualities, manifested through free will, decide fate.
ReplyDelete