Shapes of Things Divine: Eve and Myth in Paradise Lost

Author(s): Diane McColley

Source: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4, Central Renaissance Conference
(Winter, 1978), pp. 46-55
Published by: The Sixteenth Century Journal
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46

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le__

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SixteenthCenturyJournal
IX,4 (1978)

ShapesofThingsDivine: Eve and Myth

inParadiseLost
Diane McColley
University
ofIllinois

On thelast morningof theirunfallenlives, accordingto JohnMilton,

Eve says to Adam, "Letus divideour labours,"for
tillmorehands
Aid us, theworkunderour labourgrows,
whatwe by day
Luxuriousby restraint;
Lop overgrown,or prune,or prop,or bind,
One nightor twowithwantongrowthderides,
Tendingto wilde.
(IX.205-12)
Aftera livelydiscussionof therisksof separationand therelationsbetween
obedienceand freedom,Adam agrees:
Go in thynativeinnocence,relie
On whatthouhastofvertue,summonall,
ForGod towardstheehathdone his part,do thine.
(IX.373-75)
No known literaryanalogue explains Eve's separationfromAdam at the
and
timeof hertemptationby endowingherwitha sense of responsibility;
no visual representationthat I can find shows Eve obeying the commandmentto dressand keep theGarden,or doinganythingelse, beforethe
Fall.I Eve is typicallyportrayedas eithervacuouslyinnocentor attractively
'Literaryand expositoryaccountsof theFall have been investigatedby HarrisFletcher,
Milton's Rabbinical Readings (Urbana, 1930); Arnold Williams, The Common Expositor
(Chapel Hill, 1948); GrantMcColley, "ParadiseLost": An Account of Its Growthand Major
Origins... (Chicago, 1940); SisterMary Corcoran,Milton'sParadise withReferenceto the
HexameralBackground(Washington,D.C., 1945); Watson Kirkconnell,The CelestialCycle
(Toronto,1952); J.M. Evans, "ParadiseLost"and theGenesisTradition(Oxford,1968); Diane
McColley, "Daughterof God and Man: The Callings of Eve in Paradise Lost," Diss. Illinois
1974. Studies of the iconographictraditioninclude FrancoisBucher, The Pamplona Bibles
(New Haven and London, 1970); Jean-DominiqueRey, Andree Mazure, and Jean-Marie
Lacroix, Le Theme dAdam et Eve dans LArt (Paris, 1967); Sigrid Esche, Adam und Eva:
Sundenfallund Erlosung(Dusseldorf,1957); JoanneLewisCockelreas,"Much Deceiv'd, Much
Failing,Hapless Eve: Iconographyand Eve in Milton's Paradise Lost," Diss. New Mexico,
1973; J.B. Trapp, "The Iconographyof theFall ofMan," in C. A. Patrides,ed., Approachesto
"Paradise Lost": The York TercentenaryLectures(London, 1968); Roland Mushat Frye,
Milton'sImageryand the VisualArts(Princeton,1978). The onlypictureearlierthanMilton's

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wicked; in eithercase, herprimaryfunctionis to temptAdam. So greatis

tradition,in fact,thatfewreadersof Paradise
the weightof anti-feminine
Lost have agreedwithAdam thatGod has done his part.2 This paperis part
of an effortto extricateEve froma reductivecriticaltradition,as I believe
Milton sought to redeem her from a reductiveliteraryand pictorial
readingof Eve's role: thatis, one
tradition,and to establisha regenerative
of her,exceptthe
in Milton'scharacterization
whichshows thateverything
menand women.3
Fall itself,is applicableto thelivesofregenerate
The problemI wish to examineis Milton's habit of comparingEve,
as Circe,Pandora, and
even beforetheFall, to such archetypaltemptresses
Venus on Ida. Most criticsassumethatMiltonis followingthetraditionof
the tainted lady and that these allusions confirmAdam's fallen and
complaintthatEve is "crookedby nature."4The implication
unregenerate
of such a readingis thateitherGod's providenceis unreliableor thathe
created Eve to effecta "fortunatefall." Since Milton set out to "assert
Eternal Providence" and thought blaming God for sin the primal
blasphemy,it will repay us to examinethesemythicalallusionsfor their
connotations.
regenerative
to
poem thatI have seenof Eve doinganythingin theGardenbeforetheFall is thefrontispiece
JohnParkinson'sParadisi in Sole, 1629 (reproducedin Frye,plate 168), whereshe is pickinga
strawberry.
2For representativebibliographysee Stella P. Revard, "Eve and the Doctrine of
in ParadiseLost," PMLA, 72 (1973), 69-78,and Diane McColley, "Freewill and
responsibility
in theSeparationSceneofParadiseLost,"SEL, 12 (1972), pp. 103-120.
Responsibility
-ArthurE. Barkermakes thecase fortheapplicabilityof theprelapsarianscenesto the
and DoctrinalPatternin Milton'sLaterPoems,"in Miller
in "Structural
processofregeneration
MacLure and F. W. Watts, eds., Essays in EnglishLiteraturefromthe Renaissanceto the
VictorianAge Presentedto A. S. P. Woodhouse (Toronto,1964), and suggeststheneed for
in
of Eve's desireto workalone in "The Relevanceof Regeneration,"
such an in interpretation
Balachandra Rajan, ed., "Paradise Lost": A TercentenaryTribute(Toronto, 1969). I have
pointedout someofEve's legitimatereasonsfortheseparationin theSEL articlecitedabove.
Probably themostlearnedexpositionof thispointof view is thatof A. B. Giamattiin
The EarthlyParadise and theRenaissanceEpic (Princeton,1966). WilliamEmpsonthinksthat
themythsshow that"all thebeautyof nature,throughEve, is a covering,likehers,formoral
in Some VersionsofPastoral(New York,1968), p. 177. JonathanColletfindsthat
deformity,"
they"implicateEve by aligningherwithSatan," and that"Eve maynotbe includedin thebond
of natureand grace," in "Milton'sUse of Classical Mythologyin Paradise Lost," PMLA, 85
(1970), pp. 88-96. On the "crooked rib" traditionsee KesterSvendsen,Milton and Science
(Cambridge,Mass., 1956), pp. 183-85.On Adam's diatribessee Diane McColley, "The Voice
of theDestroyerin Adam's Diatribes,"MP, 75 (1977), pp. 18-28.
"In additionto beinga consistentthemeof thepoem, theprinciplethatGod is not the
authorof sin is a majorpremiseofthedivorcetractsand De DoctrinaChristiana,especiallythe
chapterson freedomofthewill. Fora discussionof therelationsof Scriptureand mythand the
see Anne BowersLong, "The RelationsBetween
relevanceof theserelationsto regeneration
Classical and BiblicalAllusionin Milton'sLaterPoems,"Diss. Illinois1967.

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Shapes of ThingsDivine

49

JustbeforeEve entersthepoem, an allusionto Proserpinaraisesdoubts

to stand.This garden,thenarratorsays,is fairerthan
about hersufficiency
thatfairfield
Of Enna,whereProserpingathring
flours
Her selfa fairerFlourby gloomieDis
Was gatherd,whichcost Ceresall thatpain
To seekherthroughtheworld...
(IV.269-73)
Justbeforeherfall,thepassage is echoed when Satan findsEve amongher
roses,
oftstoopingto support
Each flowerofslenderstalk. . . themshe upstaies
GentlywithMirtleband, mindlessthewhile,
Her self,thoughfairestunsupportedFlour,
Fromherbestprop so farr,and stormso nigh.
(IX.427-33)
Whenwe come to thesecondpassage, we shouldbothhear theecho and be
alert to the difference:
Proserpinais gatheringflowers,while Eve is supportingthem.
The significanceof this differenceis both literal, stressingEve's
obedience to the commandmentto dress and keep the Garden, and
metaphorical,involving all the figurativemeanings the commandment
implies.Milton'sParadise,as manyscholarshave observed, is not a place
of staticperfectionbut one of growthand accomplishment.In this new
creation,as Raphael sings,all thingshave "theirseeds withinthemselves;"
and this universalprocreativityapplies to man the microcosmin all his
faculties."God gaue vntoman," as Raleghexplains,"all kindsof Seeds and
Graftsof life . . . whereofwhich soeuer he tooke pleasure to plant and
culture, the same should futurelygrow in him, and bring forthfruit,
agreeable to his own choice and plantation.",This process manifeststhe
sSee especiallythetwo articlesby ArthurE. Barkercitedin note3 above; IreneSamuel,
"Paradise Lost," in R. M. Lumianskyand HerschelBaker, eds., CriticalApproaches to Six
Major EnglishWorks(Philadelphia,1968); Barbara Lewalski,"Innocenceand Experiencein
Milton's Eden," in Thomas Kranidas, ed., New Essays on "Paradise Lost" (Berkeley,Los
Angeles,and London,1967); Thomas H. Blackburn,"'UncloisteredVirtue':Adam and Eve in
1971); 0. B.
Milton'sParadise,"in JamesD. Simmonds,ed., Milton Studies,III (Pittsburgh,
Hardison,Jr.," 'Shee for God in Him,' or All about Eve" (lecturedeliveredat the Folger
ShakespeareLibrary,November,1975); WayneShumaker,"The FallacyoftheFall in Paradise
Lost," PMLA, 70 (1955),pp. 1185-87and 1197-1202.
7WalterRalegh,The HistoryoftheWorld(1617), p. 27.

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relationof providenceand freewill: God the "Sovran Planter"gives the

seeds of all thingsand continuallyempowersthose made in his image to
cultivatethemcreativelyand providently.Men and women are freeto
nurture(or neglect)the seeds and graftsof lifewithinthemselvesby nurturing(or neglecting)themin therestof thecreation.Adam and Eve have
withinthemselvesseeds of thought,art,moralwisdom,worship,and love.
especiallythat
of theGarden,thesepotentials--and
Like thesurgingfertility
and
as
Eve
recognizes
classical
myth--need,
in
sensuousvitalityrepresented
says, to be lopped, pruned, propped, and bound in order to bear
wholesomefruit.The contrastbetweenEve and Proserpinaboth stresses
forher fall. And
Eve's active virtueand assignsher greaterresponsibility
although the comparison prefiguresthe Fall, it doubly prefiguresthe
processes of resurrectionand regeneration:Proserpinaand harvestwill
theseedsoflifewillbe restored.
return,and Eve's talentsfornurturing
in Milton'sthought."Not
This complexuse of mythrecursfrequently
withso muchlabour," he wroteto CharlesDiodati, "is Ceres said to have
soughtherdaughterProserpina,as it is myhabitday and nightto seek for
thisidea of thebeautiful. . . throughall theformsand facesof things(for
manyare theshapes of thingsdivine)and to followit as it leads me on by
some suretraceswhichI seemto recognize." He uses pagan mythnot only
to contrastwithChristiantruthbut forthetracesof truthin mythitself,for
processin humanlives,and in orderto
its implicationsfortheregenerative
for
the remnantsof truthand beauty
in
the
search
involve the reader
of
all
forms
and
faces
things."
the
"through
A secondperplexity
is thedescriptionof Eve at hermarriageas
More lovelythenPandora,whomtheGods
Endowedwithall theirgifts,and 0 too like
In sad event,whento theunwiserSon
Of Japhetbroughtby Hermes,she ensnar'd
Mankindwithherfairlooks, to be aveng'd
On himwho had stoleloves authenticfire.
(IV. 714-19)
Miltondoes not say thatEve is likePandora now, nor thatthe"sad event"is
inevitable.Rather,by calling Eve "too little"Pandora "in sad event" he
foretellsthewrongchoice to come but impliesthatEve mighthave chosen
better. After the pivotal "when," where we mightexpect him to say
somethingdisagreeableabout Eve, he develops the Pandora side of the
'Letterto Charles Diodati, dated London, 1637, in FrankAllen Patterson,ed., The
Student'sMilton (New York, 1933), p. 1080. All otherquotationsare fromPatterson,gen.
ed., The WorksofJohnMilton(New York,1931).

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Shapes of ThingsDivine

51

simileand thusinvitesus to distinguish

betweenthetracesof truthand the
parodiesof truthin themyth.The truthis thatthefirstwoman was gifted
by God. The parodyis thenotionthatJovesentPandora forrevenge.Ifwe
were to read the passage as a straightforward,
ratherthan a parodic,
prolepsisof the Fall, we would have to conclude thatEve was made by a
capriciouslymaliciousGod both to cause the Fall and punish Adam for
falling.In otherwords,Miltonelicitsfromus hereany lurkingsuspicionwe
mayhave thatGod is thesourceof sin. Ifwe believe,however,thatMilton
.was writingto "assertEternalProvidence,"we will look forways in which
thestoryof Pandora is a distortedversionof thestoryof Eve, or thestory
of Eve is a rectified
versionof thestoryofPandora.
In one of his marriagetracts,Milton provides a gloss in a passage
whichaddressesexactlythequestionbeforeus, whetherGod is theauthor
of sin. Milton, of course, is arguing that he is not. Even the pagan
philosophers,he says, were "able to justifiethe counsels of God" by attributingsin to "mans own freewillself-corrupted,"
even though they
"knew not what a consummatand most adorned Pandora was bestow'd
upon Adam to be the nurseand guide of his arbitraryhappinessand perseverance,I mean, his native innocenceand perfection,whichmighthave
That is, thephilosophersknew
kepthimfrombeingour trueEpimetheus."9
enoughnot to thinkGod theauthorof sineven thoughtheycould notknow
fromthestoryof Pandora whatwe shouldknowfromthestoryof Eve, that
God made woman not to temptman but to be thenurseand guide of the
voluntaryvirtue on which his happiness depends. The blasphemy of
supposingthatGod caused sin by makingwoman vain is implicitin most
of Eve and indeedin mostinterpretations
of Paradise Lost;
representations
but Milton so protraysEve that she mighthave preventedAdam from
becoming"our trueEpimetheus"ifshehad continuedin hercalling.
fromthe
Miltonagain testsour abilityto distinguishtheregenerative
degenerativeimplicationsof mythin a superficially
even more damning
comparison,thatof Eve withCirce. Obviously, thecomparisonprefigures
the effectsof the Fall, sinceboth-Adamand Eve will sinkinto thekind of
sensualityCirce traditionallyrepresents.But nothingin the passage explicitlytaintsunfallenEve. As she works among her roses, Satan in the
Serpenttriesto "lureherEye"by "manya wantonwreath;"
shebusiedheardthesound
Of rustingLeaves,butmindednot,as us'd
To suchdisportbeforeherthroughtheField,
FromeveryBeast,moreduteousat hercall,
Then at Circeancall theHerddisguis'd.
(IX.517-23)
9TheDoctrineand DisciplineofDivorce,in Works,III, pp. 440-41.

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Again, the passage not only declaresEve superiorbut invitesus to make

distinctions.The beasts of Eden are not only more obedientthan Circe's;
theyobey in theonly way God's creaturescan obey in an unfallenworld-voluntarily.Circe's beasts are bewitchedand debased men; Eve's are real
beasts, those "Innumerouslivingcreatures"God has called forthfromthe
earth, has blessed, and has pronouncedgood. They disportthemselves
beforeEve out of sheerdesireto please, a naturalresponseto a guardian
whose dominion is gracious, temperate,and just. Further,while the
situationsare analogous, therolesare reversed.This timeit is the tempter
who is disguisedas a beast and the lady who will be bewitched.Circe's
beasts obey heronly aftertheyhave fallen;Eve's obey-heronly beforeshe
falls. Figuratively,
theappetitesof thesenses,whichtheanimalsrepresent
in standardallegory,toare good giftsin thosewho obey God; aftertheFall
theywillbe enthralledby sin.
But again, while the contrasts between Circe and unfallen Eve
predominate,even thesimilarities
have implicationsfortheregenerate
life.
Circeis not congenitallyevil,but a perversionof good. She is, accordingto
Homer,Vergil,Ovid, Boccaccio, and Alciati,a daughterof theSun. II She
derivesherpharmaceuticaltalentslegitimately,
then,fromApollo Medicus.
But,accordingto theinfluential
mythographer
knownas Albricus,she has
been prostituted
by the fallenVenus of theadulterousepisode withMars,
whichhe interprets
as lustdishonoringvirtue:"WhentheSun unveilstheir
guiltylove, Venus revengesherselfby leadingastraythe daughtersof the
Sun--thatis to say, the five senses: Pasiphae, the sense of sight;Medea,
hearing;Circe,touch;Phaedra,smell;Dirce,taste."
In Paradise, of course, the senses are not yet fallen,and even in the
fallen world Milton believes themredeemable."Wherefore,"he asks in
Areopagitica,did God "createpassionswithinus, pleasuresroundabout us,
but thattheserightlytemperedare the veryingredients
of vertue?"'3 The
2

1597), p. 84, and MichaelJ.

'oSee forexampleEmblemataAndreaeAlciati(Francoforte,
B. Allen,ed. and transl.,MarsilioFicino: The "Philebus"Commentary(Berkeley,Los Angeles,
and London,1975),p. 448.
Homer, The Odyssey, X.138; Vergil, The Aeneid, VII.11; Ovid, Metamorphoses,
XIV; Boccaccio, La Geneologiade gli Dei Gentili,trans.Gioseppe Betusida Baasano (Venice,
1569), p. 63; Omnia AndreaeAlciate ... Emblemata(Antwerp,1581), pp. 284-87.For other
discussionsof the allegoricaland emblematicalcomplexitiesof the Circe myth,see Leonora
1975), pp.
Leet Brodwin,"Miltonand theRenaissanceCirce,"MiltonStudies,VI (Pittsburgh,
21-83,and JoanLarsenKlein,"FromErrorto Acrasia,"HLQ (Spring,1978).
2"Albricus"(AlexanderNeckham?),Albriciphilosophiliberymaginumdeorum(cod.
Vat. 3413), paraphrasedby JeanSeznec in The Survivalof thePagan Gods, transl.BarbaraF.
Sessions(New York, 1961), p. 172. Accordingto Seznec, thistreatise"exerteda profoundand
lastinginfluenceon theiconographyofthegods" (p. 170).
'Areopagitica,in Works,IV, p. 319.

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Shapes of ThingsDivine

53

pleasure of touch,however,is the one Adam findsit hardestto temper.

DescribingEve to Raphael,he says, "I . . . mustconfessto findIn all things
else delightindeed,but such . .. As us'd not, worksin themindno change,
Nor vehementdesire . . . but here Farr otherwise,transportedI behold,
by theway, is one of the
Transportedtouch"(VIII.524-30). This difficulty,
reasons Eve decides later on to leave Adam alone for a while. Raphael
regarding
replieswithdue concern,but witha certainangelicimpercipience
the human condition, "But if the sense of touch wherebymankind Is
propatedseemsuchdear delightBeyondall other,thinkthesame voutsaf'd
To cattel and each Beast" (VIII.579-85): a clear warningof the Circean
potentialof sexual passion should Adam and Eve cease to temperthat
of virtue.Adam responds,however,by restoringthe
particularingredient
sense of touch to its proper place: he esteemsthe "genial bed" with a
reverence,yetsubordinatesitsdelightsto "thosegracefulacts,
"mysterious
Those thousanddecenciesthatdaily flowFromall herwords and actions,
mixtwithLove" (VIII.600-02)and adds thateven these"subjectnot,"forhe
is "stillfree"to "Approvethebest,and followwhatI approve"(VII.607-11).
Then, rightlyassuming a continuitybetween earthlyand celestial
pleasures,Adam courteouslyasks whetherangelsalso expresstheirlove by
touch,and Raphaelrepliesglowingly,thoughin a rathertactlessway,
Whateverpurethouin thebody enjoy'st
(and purethouwertcreated)we enjoy
In eminence,and obstaclefindnone
Of membrane,joynt,or lim,exclusivebarrs:
EasierthenAirwithAir,ifSpiritsembrace,
Total theymix,UnionofPurewithPure
Desiring;norrestrain'dconveyanceneed
As fleshto mixwithflesh,or Soul withSoul.
(VIII.622-29)
Raphael'swordsecho Adam's exclamationthathusbandand wife"shallbe
one Flesh,one Heart,one Soule" (VIII.499). But angelicembraces,though
morethoroughthanhumanones, are not procreative.Adam and Eve have
"theirseedswithinthemselves,"and thepleasureof touchencouragesthem
to "increaseand multiply."
Circe, then, representsone of those natural pleasures we see in
but whichforMiltonwere good ifriskygiftsof
retrospectas temptations,
God thatnurturevirtuewhen rightlyused and, if corrupted,need to be
purgedand restored.
The finaldisreputablegoddessI wishto investigateis Venus. Of course
thereare many Venuses, representing
everythingfromheavenlylove to
lust. Milton does not contrast a transcendent,heavenly Venus to a

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dangerous earthlyone beforethe Fall, since then therewas no discord

betweenheavenand earthor charityand eroticlove. Instead--andhere'sthe
rub--hespecificallycomparesand contrastsEve with the divisive Venus
who bribedParis and precipitatedtheTrojan War. Eve as she risesto greet
Raphael is fairerthan "thefairestGoddess feign'dOf threethatin Mount
Ida Naked strove."Eve is naked,however,because "No veile Shee needed,
Vertue-proof,no thoughtinfirmeAltered her cheek;" and she is immediatelycomparedwiththeVirginof theAnnunciation:
On whomtheAngelHaile
Bestowd,theholysalutationus'd
Long afterto blestMarie, secondEve.
conflatedor
Renaissancesculptorsand paintersregularlyand intentionally
juxtaposedEve and Venus,Venus and Mary, or Mary and Eve, in orderto
compareEve withVenus and contrastherwithMary.14Milton, I believe,is
theonlyartistwho does thereverse.Since Eve is almostalways represented
as a temptress,
comparingherwithVenusin a passage on unlubidinouslove
("no thoughtinfirm")is highlyirregular.The narratorstressesthis differencewhen he concludes the passage with an Olympian descriptionof
Raphaeland Adam feastingwhileEve "Ministerednaked"and exclaims,"O
innocence deservingParadise! if ever, then Then had the Sons of God
excuse to have bin Enamour'd at the sight; but in those hearts Love
unlibidinousreign'd"(V.444-48). By showing that the same beauty that
temptsfallenheartsis an innocentjoy to virtuousones, thecomparisonof
for temptationwhereit belongs and
Eve and Venus places responsibility
directsattentionto thestateof our own heartsas we respondto nakedEve.
On the otherhand, by comparingunfallenEve withMary, Miltonfocuses
attentionon Eve's virtues:ifshehad continuedin obedience,he implies,Eve
mighthave done herpartin thegenerationof souls as fullyas Mary was to
do herpartin theregeneration
of souls. Althoughthepassage hintsthatEve
could becomeas divisiveas Venus on Ida, it stressesthatshe mightbecome
as responsiveto hercallingas Mary; and at thispointin thenarrativeshe is
stillfreeto choose well.
But Milton does not simplycontrastVenus with Eve. He compares
them,too, in orderto bringout thosepotentialsof Venus whichare in fact
4Forexample, Antonio Rizzi's statueof Eve clearlyimitatesthe "Capitoline" Venus;
Cranach's Eve assumes thepositionof AphroditeCombingHer Hair; Albertinelli'sVirginof
the Annunciationechoes the Venus Pudenda motif;and paintingsfrequentlyemployedthe
topos of The Annunciationwith the Expulsion.That thesevisual comparisonswere not accidentalis substantiated
by Durer'sstatementthat"justas they thepagan people represented
Venus as themostbeautifulwoman we shallchastelydisplaythesame featuresin theimageof
the Holy Virgin,Motherof God;" K. Lange and F. Fuhse, "Durersschriftlicher
Nachlass auf
Grund der Originalhandschriften
und theilweiseneu entdeckeralterAbschriften
(Halle a.S.,
1893), p. 316; transl.in ErwinPanofsky,StudiesinIconology(New York,1962),p. 70.

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- Shapes

of ThingsDivine

55

applicable to unfallenEve and to thelives of theregenerate,and in orderto

challenge us to re-integratein our view of primordialwoman potentials
whichcenturiesof dualismhave led us to fragment.
In neo-Platonic allegory, the Judgmentof Paris signifiesthe choice
among theAmorous Life,and ActiveLife,and theContemplativeLife,or in
Ficino's words, voluptas, imperium,and sapientia?5, the contemplativelife
or wisdom being preferred.In Milton's Paradise, however, Adam and Eve
are learningto cultivateall three:theirlove foreach other,or theamorous
life; theircare of the Garden, or theactive life; and the love of God, or the
contemplativelife. Indeed, Milton so portraysthese callings that theyare
reciprocal and indivisible. Afterthe Fall, the threeways diverge and are
pervertedinto lust,faction,and folly.But Eve does not falluntilshe triesto
snatch the contemplativelifeby choosing a false Minerva--byeating what
she erroneously calls "this intellectualfood . . . of operation blest to
Sapience" (IX.768, 796-97), ratherthan continuingto cultivatewisdom by
cultivatingtheGarden and themarriage.
For Milton, then, the Judgmentof Paris is a false dilemma. As he
another
argues in his tractson domestic,civil,and religiousliberty--perhaps
version of the threegoddesses--weneed to be freenot to choose one and
repudiatethe othersbut to choose all three.The need forharmonyamong
the sensuous, the active, and the contemplativeingredientsof virtue,and
for freedomto cultivateall the seeds of life in all possible ways is one of
many reasons why Eve declines to have her liberty"straitn'dby a Foe."
When she goes offalone to do her work, and to temperthe amorous life
which Adam is in some danger of pursuingto excess, she is keeping the
active lifein balance with the rest. It is not until she accepts the apple of
discord that she divorces the threekinds of virtue,leaving her sons and
daughtersto choose among them,like baffledParises, and bringruin,or to
followherexampleand seek renewedconcord.
All of these thornyallusions to classical mythinvolve difficulty
and
choice: choice forthereaderand choice forEve. As long as Eve obeys God
and Adam--whethertheywork togetheror apart--sheis freeto choose: not
between Venus Pandemos and Venus Urania but between the union of
divine and human love and the loss of both. If we read the drama in this
way, the "sad event"remainssuspendedas long as Eve continuesto choose
well. Even though we know the outcome, Eve is so characterizedthat it
need not have happened--ourforeknowledgedoes not touch thefreedomof
her will. As temptress,Eve becomes what the mythicalfiguraerepresentin
the fallenworld. Untilthen,she is stilldevelopinggifts,graces, and virtues
fromwhich they also fell; and in the process of regenerationall of these
ingredientsof virtuecan resume development,though now throughpain
and woe, and "notwithoutdustand heat."
I5A1len, pp. 448 and 482.

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