Milton’s depiction of Eve in Paradise Lost, particularly in Book 9, continues to fascinate. Attitudes to Eve and the part she played in
the fall of man vary considerably; Milton’s intentions remain unclear. Today, Eve
is seen by many as an existential rebel and a martyr to the oppressed. In an
age more secular and less tolerant of discrimination her assertively defiant
behaviour displaying resistance to patriarchal subjugation has, for some, come
to represent nothing short of heroism. Indeed,
many late 20th century readings can be unequivocal; Paradise
Lost is now often seen as “an epic in which a male God…continually warn(s)
a male human being not to be deceived by the outward charms of a not very
bright female” (Gilbert, 1978). The
accusation that Milton’s epic expresses “institutional and often elaborately
metaphorical misogyny” (ibid.) has now become an accepted response to the Milton’s
portrayal of Eve.
There are counter-readings, of course; Adam’s identity, for
example, presents much ambiguity and confusion.
It might be argued that Eve’s virtues are different to Adam’s without necessarily
being inferior; that her “subordination”
to Adam does not necessarily mean that Milton sees all women as
subordinate. Following this line, Adam is
seen to be more of a parent and less of a partner to Eve, replicating his relationship
with God; “Eve’s subordination indicates…that of the daughter to her parent”
(Tanimoto, 2011). As a parent, his
control over her is intuitively more dutiful; Eve’s obedience in this sense
might not necessitate giving up her identity as a woman. Adam’s advice to stay, then, is the warning
of a father who, needs must, has authority over his “child”. Yet, according to Tanimoto, Professor of Gender
Studies at the University of Nagoya , to “deny Eve her free will means to go
against God, who created Eve as an autonomous being…Adam does not have the
right to violate Eve’s authority” (ibid.); yet as a parent, surely Adam DOES
have that right.
Another ambiguity arises if we feel that Adam is censured by
God far more than Eve, leading us to the possibilty that Milton intends Adam,
“consumed with self-love”, to take responsibility for the fall (see Gallagher,
1978). Whether as an over-permissive parent or a husband unwilling to be seen
as overbearing, Adam’s attitudes are complex.
But, according to Tanimoto many readers ultimately still find it
difficult to come to terms with Eve’s treatment by Milton who has “deprived her
of her autonomous identity and trained (her) to be obedient to men by male
power.” ( ibid.)
The catalyst for this modern opprobrium for Milton can be
traced back to the phrase “Milton’s Bogey”- this was Virginia Woolf’s term, from
“A Room of One’s Own” (1929). She
left this expression unexplained, suggesting that her meaning was obvious; that Milton’s negative depiction of women is
largely offensive, making it difficult for her to enjoy the poet’s work. While Sandra Gilbert explores a range of more
ambiguous possible meanings- arguing that Woolf’s intent might not have been quite
so cut and dried- she leaves us in no doubt that Milton’s depiction of Eve has
left many readers, particularly “literary women…confused and intimidated”.
Accusations of misogyny and “patriarchal aetiology” have
been levelled at Milton through the ages by commentators. In a
seventeenth century culture where, typically, a husband’s “rule” over his wife was
seen as an analogous to a king’s paternal sovereignty over his people (“a
manifestation
of a hierarchy constituted by God” (Brabcova) we might explain Milton’s
inherent beliefs- without pardoning him.
Was
Milton was even more rabidly patriarchal and hierarchical than his peers? And
if so, to what extent did this prejudice influence, consciously or otherwise,
his portrayal of Eve in Paradise Lost?
Milton’s views in his epic may be
unacceptable by any standards, but, as Le Comte claims in 1947, he was, for
1660, “more moderate than many.” The debate
seems to be more about the extent to which Milton’s Chauvinism- his prejudiced belief in the superiority of his own gender- influenced his depiction of Eve, and if so, to what degree.
Accusations of overt Chauvinism can be traced back well before
Paradise Lost. Readings of Milton’s History
of Britain (published 1670, but written much earlier) suggest that “the
consistent whole is that any manifestations of female ambition stirs, in
Milton, disdain” (Le Comte, 1947). In History he claims that under the female
queen Boadicea, Britons became “Barbarians”, as there was “nothing more awry”
than the notion of having a Queen on the throne. We are led to believe that
Milton’s is “the voice that
speaks out on the inferiority and proper subjection of women” ( Le Comte, ibid.).
The fact
of his attitude, when it is related to a seventeenth century Puritan, or, more
broadly, to a man of the Renaissance, calls for no apology. In common with the
men of his time and those of preceding periods, and more moderately than many,
he did believe that women had their "not equal" place- and should
keep it. (Le COMTE, ibid.)
The tone of Samuel Johnson’s 1779 unflattering biography, “Life of Milton”, advances the theory
that Milton’s relationships with women were unsuccessful; Johnson reports as typical
an “obscure” remark made by Milton to his third wife: “You, like other
women, want to ride in your coach; my wish is to live and die an honest man.”
Johnson, later in The Life, states
that Milton was “severe and arbitrary…(with a) Turkish contempt for
females…” and, possibly referring to his
depiction of Eve, “thought women only made …for obedience”. Edward Le Comte’s summary seems conclusive: “to heap up discredit upon what John Knox
called ‘the monstrous regiment of women’, he will go out of his way.” (Le
Comte, ibid.)
Yet by the time he immersed himself in Paradise Lost (suggests Le Comte) this bitterness against
“presuming womankind” was gone, “all passion spent” (ibid). In Divorce
(1643) while his criticism of forced marriage as “savage inhumanity” is
hardly revolutionary, Milton does insist upon equality in terms of divorce on
the grounds of and that both men and women should be equal in this; “husband and wife stand on the same level of
privilege.” But a searching cross examination might set this against comments
such as “…who can be ignorant that woman was created
for man, and not man for woman? “(Milton, ibid.). And of course it is
dangerous to assume that Milton was incapable of divorcing his personal beliefs
from his work. Le Comte’s point is a
fair one: “the poet in the angry outbursts of Adam…..was not ostensibly speaking in
his own person but rather writing as a dramatist” (Le Comte, ibid).
In the early part of the last century, the view that “Milton's biographers have not studied his
treatment of women so thoroughly and critically that their conclusions can be
relied upon” (A.Gilbert, 1920), was challenged by those such as Virginia
Woolf. We might decide that “Milton’s
bogey” was coined by Woolf on the one hand in acknowledgement of the poet’s
stature, but on the other to state that Milton’s position on women- as
evidenced by his attitude to Eve over the fall in Book 9- prevented her from
ever really embracing him.
It is in this context, then, that Milton’s Eve might be best
examined. As we have seen, much of the
debate seems to suggest that Milton did not play fair and square with her. Indeed,
not much of this discussion reflects well upon the poet, particularly concerning
the period just after the fall, where Milton is apparently unequivocal:
Thus
it shall befall
Him who to worth in women overtrusting Lets
her will rule; restraint she will not brook,
And left to herself, if evil thence ensue,
Shee first his weak indulgence will accuse. (Book IX, lines 1181-85)
Milton gives Eve the
blame, not only for selfishly seeking independence, unnaturally invading the
male province of logic & reason (and being tricked easily by a talking
snake!), but also for trying to pass the blame off onto Adam.
By and large, critical analysis over the years has agreed
that Eve shouldn’t take ALL the blame for the fall; yet any reprieves for Eve are
only usually granted at the cost of her accepting a plea for diminished responsibility. A successful defence of Eve, clearing her of the major charge, seems to necessitate
accepting Milton’s suggestions that, well, if she’s not guilty of a Machiavellian, premeditated
rebellion, she must be gullible, naïve,
self-obsessed, over-trusting, headstrong, capricious, manipulative…the
list goes on. To avoid blame here, she
might have to take the blame for other, more minor offences, but in the end it
seems that she can’t escape shouldering a hefty burden of guilt, one way or
another.
So what of the text
of Book 9 itself? At line214, ostensibly
in her desire to serve God better, Eve asks Adam if they might “divide our
labours”. Is her request genuine or does
it come from some deeply held desire- felt perhaps subconsciously- to seek some
personal freedom?
If we now explain
Eve’s behaviour as an intuitively female and subconscious response to the
restraints of her patriarchal context, traditional views imply the very opposite. Tillyard’s ‘masculinist’ reading confidently
states that Eve’s request is “not sincere”. Rejecting any possibilty that she
and Adam are to be seen as anything other than lovers, with Adam naturally
adopting the dominant role, Tillyard believes Eve responds in the role of a
submissive wife, and that her request to work alone is a teasing and coquettish
example of perversity, that being “still in the honeymoon stage…the last thing
that Eve wanted was to be separated” (1930).
Eve’s game leads to trouble, for Adam clearly disappoints in his
response….whether we see him as husband or father.
The debate will, of
course go on. Most aspects of Paradise Lost provoke a wide range of
responses, all of which taunt and tempt the reader into trying to clear the fog
of ambiguity from the text. Yet
uncertainties over Eve’s guilt, Adam’s shortcomings, Satan’s guile and Milton’s
motives tend to render that an impossibility.
“Milton’s Eve in Paradise Lost” Chikako Tanimoto, University
of Nagayo, 2011
“Milton's Attitude Towards Women in the History of Britain”
Edward S. Le Comte PMLA, Vol. 62, No. 4
(Dec., 1947), pp. 977-983
“ Milton on the Position of Woman” Allan H. Gilbert The Modern Language Review,
Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan., 1920), pp. 7-27
“Marriage in
Seventeenth-Century England: The Woman’s Story” Alice Brabcová
University of West Bohemia, Plzeň
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