In Miltons Paradise Lost 9, Eve makes a comment that. Satan being such a proud foe wouldn’t bother to tempt her because she’s the weaker sex. Later in the text we read that when Satan first sees her he is stuned and forgets what he is there to accomplish for a short period of time. What do you think is the signifigance of Milton displaying Eve and the weaker sex, then displaying her with such power through beauty that she stuns the powerful Satan?
[posted for Autumn Martin]
Milton could most definitely be referring to how women at that time (and to an extent–still to this day) are insignificant and powerless and that is how God created them. But also, there is also a great power that lies within the woman that Men downplay, and when it is utilized, it comes unexpectedly and deeply affects them, just as Satan was affected by Eve’s beauty.
I believe that Milton’s demonstration of Satan forgetting what he was there to originally do because he sees Eve and is stunned by her, is showing social ideas of the time. Women are definitely viewed as the weaker sense in any other way, yet her beauty is the only thing that gives her power. Milton shows her as the stereotypical beautiful woman who doesn’t have necessarily anything else to back it up with. I believe that her beauty reminded her of heaven and what he lost when he fell from grace, so it makes him hesitate.
Since Milton introduces Eve, she is described as being somewhat simple minded and extremely vain. It is obvious that in comparison to Adam, Eve is the lesser being. Just as Adam is inferior to God, Eve is inferior to Adam. Perhaps with this, Milton is tryring to show that men truly are the greater sex however, like Satan, they can be easily distracted by woman’s beauty. Therefore, men may be superior, but can brought down by women and their beauty. Therefore, women must be strong to not be completely distracted by their own beatuy.
I like how you say that Eve is inferior to Adam, just as Adam is inferior to God. Women were designed to be the weaker sex, in laymen’s terms. they are intended to submit to their male counterparts and take on a somewhat of an obeying role. However, just as my classmates mentioned above me, they do have a slight upper hand, and that upper hand is their beauty. A woman’s beauty can be so intense at times that it can cause any man, or Satan for that matter, to stumble or become distract. I personally feel that Milton included this point to simply show that a woman does have some power, despite the way she was intended to be. And if said power (her beauty) is used correctly, it can accomplish great things, such as distracting Satan from his intended task.
Eve is described as a weaker character because that is how women were thought of at the time that Milton wrote this. She, as well as other women during Milton’s time, is known only for her beauty and her simple-mindedness. By showing that Satan is distracted by her beauty for a moment, Milton is illustrating that men may be distracted by women but women will never be a serious threat to the power of men. It is clear from this text that if Satan had tried to tempt Adam to sin, he would have not been successful because Adam is too intelligent and close to God. I feel that Eve does not have true power through her beauty. It is true that this is the only way that she can affect anything, but her vanity and her simple-mindedness will always ruin any power that she may have.
I agree with Kaya’s interpretation of the portrayal of Eve. I don’t think Milton means to shed any positive light on Eve of the female sex. In other tales and poems that we have read, unlike this one, women are portrayed in terms of their beauty and grace, however, they have had sharp wit to match. Take the women from Sir Gawain and Lanval. They both had exquisite beauty, but they were also able to control and trick men not only through their looks, but through their wit and tongue. Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton constantly portrays Eve not only as the weaker sex, but incredibly dull and pretty much unable to think for herself. She lives to serve Adam and can’t even worship God on her own, since she is seemingly incapable of that as well. Her beauty is not meant to be seen as power, I think it is meant to be seen as a weakness and almost as a sin. If beauty is enough to capture Satan’s attention, then there is no way it can be a good thing. I believe this may be a way for Milton to call out beauty as a sin and completely strip women of having anything to offer God or society.
I also had the same feelings that Julia and Kaya expressed. Milton was clearly not trying to show us that beauty held any sort of power, but was instead a mere, temporary distraction in life that men could overcome. I, like Julia, felt that Milton was stripping away all of women’s power, especially in the scene of Adam finding Eve after eating the fruit and he’s so disappointed. Who’s to say that if he had been in that situation he wouldn’t have been tempted? It’s mildly frustrating reading about Eve as the slow, incompetent and aloof character, clearly, as most have mentioned, emphasizing Milton’s ideas on women in general. In short, I agree with the above comments as do not believe that Milton was making any real effort to try to connect his audience to the power of women, but instead further shower the power gap between genders.
I agree with Mimi that Eve is inferior to Adam in the same way that Adam is inferior to God. Milton displays Eve to be the weaker sex, yet also powerful through her physical beauty in order to show that each creation is powerful in their own right. Just as Adam is inferior to God, yet is still powerful himself over other beings. The fact that Milton shows Eve yielding power over Satan through her looks emphasizes her beauty and the fact that women should not be underestimated simply because their power is different than that of men.
Like Eve, women in general at this time were depicted as the weaker sex. Men were thought to be inferior to women. Eve is portrayed to be rather naive on behalf of her beauty; she is exceedingly vain. Through Eve, Milton is expressing that men are the greater sex. However, although men may be superior, they can be easily distracted by woman’s beauty, like Satan. In Eve’s case, women can also be distracted by their own beauty. Milton shows that women may not be the possessor of power, but their beauty benefits them.
Though Eve is portrayed as the weaker sex her weakness is comparable to Satan’s fatal flaw. Both are not as close to God as Adam and the angels, thus much of His divine presence is not apparent in them. I believe that Milton is showing his audience that Eve’s “power” isn’t all that powerful at all. Satan is a prideful creature concerned with appearances. He was God’s most beautiful angel so in his mind that meant he had to be better than God. He loathes Hell because it is dark and (presumed) ugly, while he marvels at the beauty of the Earth. Milton also continues to refer to the fact that he (as the narrator) is blind to Earthly beauty which makes him the perfect messenger for this tale. Along with his misogynistic views Milton is trying to bring home that fact that what mortals (and Satan) see as beautiful is nothing compared to God’s Light. Eve in this sense has no true “power” but is merely a reflection of the “less than”.
While I generally agree with the previous posts, I think that the passage also has to do with a picture of the world before the fall. The moment that Satan sees her and pauses serves as a last look at the beauty of mankind and of creation before the fall of man. The description of her beauty is not one of seductive beauty but rather the beauty of innocence. Milton uses phrases such as “her graceful innocence” (line 459), “fair virgin” (line 452), and “her heav’nly form Angelic” (line 457-8) to show that her beauty is based on her purity. Perhaps she has power over Satan because she reflects all that he has lost: his own beauty, innocence, and heavenly status. Her intense beauty awakens some part of his original nature if only for a moment.
Milton presents Eve as clearly the weaker sex in comparison to Adam. Just as God is superior to Adam, so is Adam to Eve. The power that Milton gives Eve is not presented as having any really substance; it is just merely a distraction. I would agree with the other posts in that it seems Milton is warning men that they may often get distracted by a female’s beauty, but it also seems that he is saying that men have more substance and are therefore superior. Eve’s power is only wrapped up in physical beauty and she is also presented as someone who only cares about her appearance and who’s only purpose is to serve Adam.
I also agree that Eve is the weaker sex compared to Adam because she is vain and incompetent in her choices and actions. She is inferior because Adam only serves God while she has to serve them both. It is a known fact that has been shown in literary works like the story of Helen of Troy whose beauty causes the fall of man’s honor because they became so lustful for her. This is the same instance with Satan getting distracted by Eve’s beauty. I think that Milton wants his readers to see that even if women were the weaker sex, they are powerful through their sexuality and beauty.
Satan presents his argument for Eve to eat the fruit as a possibility for her advancement. He flatters her not with terms of beauty but with terms of power. He repeatedly refers to her as empress, or “sov’reign of creatures, universal dame” on line 612. The snake gains human abilities, why not her those of a goddess? Satan promises advancement that, because of her awareness of her origins as one of Adam’s ribs, appeals to her. It is after she eats that she declares that “for inferior, who is free? (Line 825). And after Adam has eaten and accuses her of betraying them to sin, she declares herself to be “still a lifeless rib,” powerless and at the command of “the head,” Adam (Lines 1154-5). Although Satan hesitated for a moment at Eve’s beauty, he did not hesitate for long. Satan saw something of himself in Eve’s submission to Adam, as he once submitted to God. The idea of power appeals to her as it does to him.
Throughout the text, Eve is portrayed as positioned “after-the-Fall” meaning she has sinful and seductive traits. For example, her long hair is worn so as to cover her body, which contradicts Milton’s earlier description of the human body as shameless and beautiful. Here, Eve is again given traits that can lead to sinful behavior. She is distracting in her beauty and seems to know that, and therefore it can be argued that Milton is positioning women not as actors in society but as players that affect those more powerful and active men.