Summary
With Raphael gone back to Heaven, the story must now turn tragic, Milton writes. The night after Raphael's visit, Satan returned to the Garden of Eden and snuck in over the wall, away from Gabriel and the other guards. He considers what disguise he should assume, and chooses the "wily snake" (IX.91). Before he can continue, though, the Archfiend again hesitates--not because of doubt this time, but because of his grief at not being able to enjoy this wondrous new world. He gripes, "the more I see / Pleasures about me, so much more I feel / Torment within me" (IX.119- 121). Moving on, he finds a sleeping serpent, and enters its form. The next morning, Adam and Eve prepare for their morning labors, and Eve suggests that they work separately, so that they might get more work done. Adam is not keen on this idea; he fears that they will be more susceptible to Satan's temptation if they are alone. Eve, however, is eager to have her strength tested. After much resistance, Adam concedes, and they go off to do their gardening independently.
Satan, who (in the form of the serpent) was searching for the couple, is delighted to find Eve alone. Coiling up, he gets her attention, and begins flattering her beauty, grace, and godliness. Eve is amazed to see a creature of the Garden speak. He tells her in enticing language that he gained the gifts of speech and intellect by eating the savory fruit of one of the trees in the garden.
Curious to know which tree has these special powers, Eve follows Satan until he brings her to the Tree of Knowledge. She recoils, telling him that God has forbidden them to eat from that tree, but he persists. He argues that God actually wants them to eat from the tree; He forbade it because He wants them to show their independence. Eve is now tempted. The flattery has made her desire to know more. God claimed that eating from this tree meant death, but the serpent ate (or so he claims) and not only does he still live, but he can speak and think! God would have no reason to forbid the fruit unless it were powerful, Eve thinks, and seeing it right before her eyes makes all of the warnings seem exaggerated. It looks so perfect. The deed is done: Milton writes, "forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate: / Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat / Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe, / That all was lost" (IX.781-784).
Eve's first fallen thought is to find Adam and to have him eat, too, so that they might be equal. She finds him nearby, and in hurried words tells him that she has eaten the fruit, and that her eyes have been opened. Adam is horrified; he knows that they are now doomed, but immediately decides that he cannot possibly live without Eve. If she is to be doomed, then he must follow. He eats the fruit. He too feels invigorated at first; then he turns a lustful eye on Eve, and they run off into the woods for sexual play.
They fall asleep briefly, but upon awakening find their eyes opened in a new way: they recognize their sin, and realize that they are lost. Moreover, they now see each other's nakedness, and are filled with shame. They cover themselves with leaves. Angry, they fall to blaming each other for the sin, and their shameful argument continues for hours.
Commentary
Milton begins Book IX as he began Book I: with a comparison to the great Greek and Roman epics, the Iliad and the Aeneid. Though the event that occurs in this Book (the Fall) is tragic, Milton says that the "argument" of the poem in its entirety is heroic, just like the arguments of Homer and Virgil. The Fall will pave the way for man's redemption and salvation, in a heroic triumph over Satan. And like before, Milton claims that his poem surpasses the earlier two, because it pertains to all of mankind instead of just one man. The poet also mocks the knightly romances of the Middle Ages, which applauded superficial heroism. Again, though, Milton voices some doubts; he is not sure whether his society still appreciates a real Christian hero, or whether he is still skilled enough or young enough to complete the task. This is the required modesty of a poet who is fairly confident in his own abilities, but must show the humility that Christianity demands.
Before the temptation of Eve, we see Satan go through another bit of "soul-searching." This time, however, he does not actually waver in his determination to ruin mankind. Rather, he makes a cold expression of regret for things that might have been. Milton notes, "thus he resolved, but first from inward grief / His bursting passion into plaints thus poured" (IX.97-98). It's clear now that Satan's decision on the mountaintop in Book IV was final. And yet he still thinks about how he would have enjoyed the beauty of Earth, if he had not rebelled. Milton is displaying the internal agony that results from the sin of despair: Satan can clearly see that, despite all his previous arguments, it would have been better to remain good. However, he has forbidden himself from even considering the possibility of repentance. Milton has given absolute power to the reason and free will of both men and Satan, only to now show that the mind can defeat itself--it can reason something unreasonable. In an ironic way, this proves the truth of Satan's earlier statement, that the mind can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven. Satan intended to make a heaven out of Hell, where he would be an evil version of God. Instead, he has brought his torture with him, and made a hell out of the earth that, but for him, would be heavenly.
Satan's successful temptation of Eve seems surprisingly easy; she falters after only a few arguments. This fits in with Milton's continued portrayal of women as the weaker sex. On the other hand, Satan does make a persuasive argument: what is wrong with knowledge? The forbidden tree contains knowledge of both good and evil, and it is often taken for granted that the pursuit of knowledge is a noble pursuit for man. As Satan argues (and Eve accepts), knowing what is good and evil will make it easier to do what is good. The flaw in his argument is the theological thrust of this Book: though the intellect is powerful and god- like, it is not in itself good. Since knowledge is a gift from God, obeying God is a higher priority than feeding the intellect. One cannot first obey reason and then obey God; it only works the other way around. Thus the knowledge that Adam and Eve gained was only of the good that they had lost, and the evil that they had brought upon themselves.
Book IX:
Twilight falls on the Garden of Eden. Then darkness. Satan slips into the garden in the form of mist. He then hides himself in the snake.
While going though Eden, Satan again laments his loss of heaven when he sees how beautiful a creation paradise is. "Revenge, at first though sweet, bitter ere long back on itself recoils.""
Morning comes and Adam and Eve go out to tend the garden of Eden. Eve suggests they split up and divide the work to get more of it done. Adam doesn't think this is a good idea, but relents when Eve implies that he doesn't trust her.
Satan, of course, finds Eve alone and, for a moment overcome by her beauty, finds himself "stupidly good."
In the form of a serpent, then, Satan flatters her, telling her how beautiful she is. Eve is amazed that the serpent knows how to speak and asks how this is possible. Satan replies that it is because he ate from a tree in the garden. He brings her to the Tree of Knowledge to show her.
Eve, at first, says she cannot eat from the tree, but Satan tells her that God doesn't want her to eat because knowledge of good and evil will make her equal to a god.
Eve takes an apple and devours it. She then decides, because of her love, to involve Adam. They meet in front of the tree.
Adam is upset, but decides he cannot live without Eve, so he takes the apple as well. When he eats the apple, the two are seized with lust, and Adam leads Eve back to the bank where they first lay together.
They sleep and arise, "destitute and bare of all their virtue." They realize for the first time that they are naked. Adam sews together fig leaves to cover themselves.
Adam blames Eve for their torment. Eve blames Adam for letting her work in the garden alone. Adam blames Eve for being angry about that, and they spend the afternoon blaming on another.
Analysis:
Milton is writing at the cusp of the Renaissance. The emerging sciences, arts, and literature point to a different sense of the individual than that of the dark ages. Milton was straddling the heavy hand of the church and religion of the Middle Ages and the humanism and individualism of the future, both in his personal philosophy and in his historical context. Milton was, in many ways, a humanist and believed in the value of human life as well as the rights and freedoms which are inherent in that life. However, Milton continually balanced this with the idea that true freedom can only be had if it is in line with the ordered, rational will of God.
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. A true humanist 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.
William Blake said that "Milton was of the devil's party without knowing it." He was referring to what we have described before, namely, the rather sympathetic nature in which Milton seems to treat Satan. Indeed, Satan's rebelling against the all seeing tyranny of God would appear to be right in line with Milton's own political views that tyranny was wrong. However, just as with Adam in good works done in disobedience, Satan is wrong because he is acting outside the will of God, no matter his courage, bravery, or justification in rebelling against tyranny. Despite his humanism, therefore, Milton believes that no acts can be considered good if they are against God's law.
It is quite clear in this book that right after Adam took a bite of the apple, Adam and Eve had lustful, passionate sex. Referring back to Book IV, where it is inferred that they were having sex all along, one can see the difference in sex in pre-fall uncorrupted mankind and post-Fall irrational man. Pre-Fall Adam and Eve were guided by reason and order and so therefore all acts, even acts of love, brought him closer to God. Post-Fall Adam and Eve are using his animal appetites which brought him closer to animals than God. One can see in the language where post-Fall Adam grabs Eve's hand and pulls her to their bed, where before it was Eve who gently took Adam's hand.
Continuing on Milton's use of numerology, we go a little deeper this time with the interesting fact that the pause before nature itself shudders in revulsion from Adam eating the apple occurs exactly on line 999 of Chapter IX. Line 10000 actually begins the storm. Although we may be unsure what Milton had in mind by these numbers matched with events, we can be sure that it was not incidental (and probably has something to do with numerology of ancient Mesopotamian religions).
Once again, Milton is showing the physical, macro results of a internal, micro moral decision. The earth, i.e., nature itself, shutters when Adam takes a bite of the apple. In this chapter and the next, the natural elements of earth will crumble and become corrupted in the sense in the sense that natural disasters, and violence between species, will become the norm. Earth will then become a mixture of the types of nature seen in both heaven and hell. It will, at times, be spectacularly beautiful, full of light and blooming in colors. It will also, however, have its dark times, be engulfed in floods and flames, and look more like an unordered hell.
The physical descriptions of Adam and Eve have changed as well. They no longer glow with joy, they are less angelic in their nature, and, within hours of eating the apple, they are prone to new, irrational emotions ranging from anger to deep depression. As well, they see each other differently as well. Specifically, they are more interested, and worried, about their genetalia than ever before. The reproductive organs suddenly take on a value (they are evil in that they lead to lust) which was hereto unheard of when Adam and Eve lacked knowledge. For Milton, the interior state of the soul is displayed visibly in the physical. Sin is always visible.
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