Sexuality In Paradise Lost

Sex and sexuality between Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost is portrayed in two very different lights, before the fall, or prelapsarian, sex was seen as an intellectual act, a “mysterious law” (IV, 750) that was deemed pure by God. However, after the fall sex and sexuality between Adam and Eve, as well as their own personal views about themselves, each other, and God, is seen as a sinful and lustrous act. After the fall we can see clearly Milton’s views about love and lust, and how sex without an intellectual connection is seen as the path to hell, as he explains quite literally. With detailed and planned word use to describe Adam and Eve before and after the fall within Paradise Lost, we can see how Adam and Eve transition from “pure” and “innocent” (IV, 745) to “wantonly” and “lascivious” (IX, 1014-5) after they eat from the tree of knowledge.

In the beginning of book 4, when God made Eve from Adam, the description of their bodies is that of admiration and divinity: “Two of far nobler shape erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad in naked majesty… their glorious maker shone, truth, wisdom, sanctitude, severe and pure,” (IV, 288-93). Here Adam and Eve’s bodies are that of beauty, and meant to be shown and holy. Their bodies are described with positive and Godly synonyms, something that drastically changes postlapsarian. Adam has hair that does not fall below his shoulders, signifying that he was made for his mind and intelligence, he has “absolute rule.” Eve’s hair flows long and beautifully unkempt, accentuating her beautiful body, which is noticeably different from Adam’s. In this passage describing Adam and eve’s bodies, these different views on Adam and Eve are prevalent: “His fair large front and eye sublime declared absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks round from his parted forelock manly hung clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad; she as a veil down to the slender waist her unadorned golden tresses wore disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved as the vine curls her tendrils, which implied subjection, but required with gentle sway, and by her yielded, by him best received, yielded with coy submission, modest pride, and sweet reluctant amorous delay” (IV, 300-11).

We see that Adam is being described as “manly” which is associated with his hierarchy above Eve. Eve, here, has descriptive words such as “wanton” and “disheveled,” describing her mind set and outlook, one she sees right now as having no boundaries, she is the more open-minded of the two. Eve’s look is seen to be subservient; she is beautiful, but ultimately not as intelligent as Adam is portrayed. At this point in time their bodies, much like their lives are seen as “his happiest life, simplicity and spotless innocence,” (IV, 317-8). There is not reason for Adam and Eve to hide or be ashamed of their bodies, in fact, they had no idea they were even naked, this term or realization had not been created yet. This represents Milton’s monist thoughts, and how if their minds are deemed pure and innocent, then so are their physical bodies. They are depicted as beautiful and made in the image of God himself, something to be admired and appreciated, not ashamed and hidden. However, Adam is warned by Raphael the angel of his love for Eve, and admiration of her body:

“By attributing overmuch to things less excellent, as thou thy self perceav’st. For what admir’st thou, what transports thee so, an outside? Fair no doubt, and worthy well thy cherishing, thy honouring, and thy love, not thy subjection” (VIII, 564-70). Raphael explains to Adam that he should not let his love for Eve over take him, and not be obsessed with her, as much as he already is. Again mentioned is a hierarchy between Adam and Eve, the genders. This contradicts Adam’s request for a perfect and equal companion, and is where we first see the struggle Milton himself has with whether the genders were created equal or not, in Paradise Lost.

Eve is again and again referred to as “fair” the “fairest” and even “fair defect” (X, 891). In an analysis of the words fair and defect author Robert Jungan shed light to Milton’s antifeminist beliefs in his portrayal of Eve. A rarely used meaning for the word defect is “to fall away from; to be a rebel or a deserter.” This comes as no surprise when Eve ultimately decides to eat the apple and the postlapsarian time period begins. However, Jungan seeks to redeem Eve in his findings on the word fair, meaning with good intentions, and of good virtue. We see this struggle for Milton on whether or not to put down Eve because of her gender, or to applaud her for continually being able to think for herself and think logically.

At first sex between Adam and Eve was seen as lovemaking. When they were first together, “heavenly choir the hymenean sung,” (IV, 710). In their first encounter as man and wife, Adam and Eve adored God for making them as well as heaven and earth for which they both greatly admired. Here, Milton’s monist views arise again showing the connection of mind and body, and how there can not be all this “good” without the connection like Adam and Eve have here, a complete body and soul connection between each other and God, anything else is seen as merely evil. In this passage of Adam’s admiration for Eve, we see the bond that has inevitably been created between them by God:

“ This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled thy words, creator bounteous and benign, giver of all things fair, but fairest this of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself before me; woman is her name, of man extracted; for this cause he shall forego father and mother, and to his wife adhere; and they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul” (VIII, 491-99).

In this passage we see that Adam thinks on himself and Eve as one. This is the ideal marriage, one heart, one soul. Milton includes this reflection on the birth of Eve by God to create further distance and suspense between the beginning and the fall. Author Douglas Anderson describes this first encounter between man and wife as “the privacy of innocent love,” whereas post-fall, readers see a very different side of this love due to the advances made upon Eve by Adam, in their carnal desire. Words such as “purity,” and “innocence” are used to describe the connection Adam and Eve feel for each other, heaven and earth, and God. These words describing their lives on earth now are all of positive and Godly nature; their lives are blissful and free of evil and ill thought.

Pre-fall lovemaking to Milton is seen as “mysterious law” (IV, 750), which means that what is created from it is of God’s power, the “true source of human offspring” (IV, 750-1). This mysterious law is what separates human from the animals in hierarchal ranking, humans still under God. With lack of “adulterous lust” (IV, 753), Adam and Eve are said to be: “founded in reason, loyal, just and pure” (IV, 755). This is the only type of sexual act, as said by Milton, that God deems as best, and pure. Because Adam and Eve are having sex with this intellectual connectedness, they are allowed to have this “mutual love” and live blissfully, without this connection the act of sex to Milton immediately diminishes and is seen as impure and evil, an act only for animals, which merely live to eat and have sex and nothing beyond that. The connection to animals is repeated in this element of Paradise Lost, as when Adam discusses the different foods that humans and angels eat, with angel Raphael. This becomes a very important connection, made by Eve that ultimately convinces her to eat from the tree of knowledge, to become higher beings than that on earth.

In the fall of Adam and Eve, we see a change of language surrounding these two people, from beautiful and heavenly, to dark and evil. Milton describes their relations to each other as “carnal desire,” “lascivious,” and “wantonly” (IX, 1013-5). Lustfulness or “in lust they burn” (IX, 1015) to Milton is the root of all evil, and to him is seen as the gateway to hell, for sheer lack of intellect and disconnect from mind, body, and soul. After eating the forbidden fruit, both Adam and Eve see themselves as superior beings, and of having “native righteous” over the earth. Now, instead of lovemaking they are taking part in “play” (IX, 1027), where they see each other as merely sexual objects. Another distinction between the first sexual act and the post-fall sex scene, is that when they fall asleep they wake up quite differently: “As from unrest, and each other viewing, soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds how darkened; innocence, that as a veil had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone” (IX, 1053-6). After Adam and Eve awake, they are no longer in a state of ignorance and bliss, for they now know all of good and evil, the good they lost, and their newly gained evil. Their sexual acts are no longer seen as, “mysterious law,” and now are instead replaced with “breeding wings” (IX, 1010), positioning them as close to animals and their sexual habits. In an effort to become higher beings, Adam and Eve do the opposite and are now brought down, in the eyes of Milton, to a dark level where true happiness can no longer be achieved. True happiness, meaning, an intellectually and physically connected relationship.

Not only has the language surrounding Adam and Eve significantly changed, but also how they viewed their once God-like bodies has changed for the worst. Post-fall they are ashamed of being naked and try, “With what skill they had, together sewed, to gird their waist, vain covering if to hide their guilt and dreaded shame; O how unlike to that first naked glory,” (IX, 1112-4).

This is so much unlike their first admiration of their naked bodies, because they are now ashamed of themselves and see their naked bodies as soiled and impure. Adam even goes as far as to hide his body from the angel who first created him. In this sense, instead of gaining in spiritual being, they were now subjected to self-consciousness and insecurity of their bodies, making them feel as if they must cover themselves up in order to regain some dignity. “Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know, which leaves us naked thus, of honour void, of innocence, of faith, of purity, our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained, and in our faces evident the signs of foul concupiscence” (IX, 1074-76). Milton includes this, not only to be biblically correct, but to further his point that lustfulness only brings about the impurities in people, and in effect soils the soul as well. The passage describes the change in how Adam and Eve felt about their bodies before and how they feel about them, as attached to their conscience, now. They now look at themselves as impure, not just seen as impure by Milton the narrator; Adam and Eve see themselves and God differently. This creates barrier between mind and body, and that is something that Milton does not believe in. Perhaps Milton doesn’t believe that monism is the only possible belief, but rather thinks that above all other beliefs, it is inherently the best and most Godly.

Guilt ridden, Adam and Eve have now been stripped of their innocence and purity in the eyes of Milton. They share a mutual guilt for eating the forbidden fruit, however, now with their newly found “righteousness” (IX, 1056) they look to each other to put the blame, however Milton hints that it is Eve to blame, alluding to his antifeminist agenda in real life. Milton expresses that Adam “whose perfection far excelled hers [Eve],” (IX, 150-1), should have listened to the warning given to him by Raphael, when he says that eve is merely an “outside” (VIII, 568) and not above his intellectuality. There is a lot of back and fourth as to whether Milton sees genders as equal or unequal throughout Paradise Lost. It is possible that Milton was trying to express that woman are as mentally capable as men, but men were often more intellectual, as deemed by God.

The tree of knowledge itself is an emblem for Adam and Eve’s dependence on god, and a reminder of how easily it can be gone (Anderson). This vulnerability companied with the questions Adam and Eve both had about Paradise, although it was ultimately eve that acted on her thoughts to these questions, portrays the complexities of the inner working of the minds that God created. Their minds reach this hierarchy, only to fall from purity and innocence once given the knowledge of evil. Their views and revised descriptions of not only their bodies, but each other, and God drastically change because of the consumption of the forbidden fruit, and again because Milton is a true monist, Adam and Eve’s bodies were then viewed differently with the access to this new knowledge. The views that Milton has presented about marriage and sex in Paradise Lost are put forth in a very vivid manner. Both modern and classical readers’ are influenced to look at their situations they are in themselves and begin to think critically about the bonds of marriage and sexuality. It is worth noting that Paradise Lost is merely metaphorical and not to be taken as literally as the black and white text (Anderson). Milton is creating imagery through words so that readers’ can make distinctions between Heaven, Hell, and Paradise. Milton creates Paradise for readers that are not as literal as maybe Hell. In Paradise, there is room for interpretation, and I might even go as far to say there is room for error and corrections, as we have found in the final treatment of Adam and Eve.

Consequently, because Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they lost love and gained a multitude of evil as described by Milton: “Love was not in their looks, either to God or to each other, but apparent guilt, and shame, and perturbation, and despair, anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile,” (X, 111-4). Adam and Eve, because they had forsaken one of the two rules set by God upon their creation, were now in this life that contained the knowledge of good and evil, although it is clear by not only the tone but description of the two sexual acts, that Milton views this act of disobedience as their down fall, and are subsequently punished to the point that they can no longer enjoy the act of sex as it was truly meant to be. Milton cannot see a reason for sex without an intellectual connection between the two people, and with God. This connects with his religious beliefs, although not all who were puritans were necessarily monists. In modern day, and even back in Milton’s time, there was debate on what was the key puzzle piece that leads to the fall of the first created beings, Adam and Eve. However, through Milton’s portrayal and emphasis on gender and the act of sex, the argument for lustfulness being directly linked to evil, is a real and possible theory and articulately described by Milton himself. Milton used descriptiveness in this epic poem to make scenes and feelings about Adam and Eve become real to the reader, and question what they had previously thought before reading Paradise Lost by John Milton.

References:

Anderson, D. (1986). Unfallen Marriage and the Fallen Imagination in Paradise Lost. SEL: Studies In English Literature, 1500-1900, 26(1), 125-144. doi:10.2307/450699

Jungman, R. E. (2007). Eve as a 'Fair Defect' in Milton's Paradise Lost, Book 10. Explicator, 65(4), 204-206. doi:10.3200/EXPL.65.4.204-206

Milton, J. (2003). John Milton: The major works (S. Orgel & J. Goldberg, Eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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