Adam and Eve in Paradise
Adam Feels
In the bible we learn about Adam and Eve, in the book of Genesis, and we just read about when they are created and when they fall in temptation and then they are banished from heaven. We know this story very well, but John Milton in his epic poem, “Paradise Lost”, offers us another view of what might have happened in Paradise. Throughout the epic poem Milton invites us to enter his fantasy world and to experience in some way the epic journey of Satan, God, Christ, and Adam and Eve. During that journey we are taken to what happened after Adam and Eve ate from the “Tree of Knowledge” and Milton takes us to a scene where Adam and Eve are discussing how they are going to ask for forgiveness to God and how to best redeem their sins. Adam and Eve both for the first time feel what it is like to repent and feel the pain of sin.
Near the end of Book X Adam talks to Eve about the possible consequences that their sins can bring to them, and he predicts what will happen once they are out of Paradise. He tells Eve that their deeds will go punished and that they will suffer pain and despair. “We are by doom to pay: rather such acts Of contumacy will provoke the Highest” (2020), Adam has realized that the “Highest” is going to be upset with them and that it will carry consequences. He expects nothing but a doom future for their actions. I find it interesting how Adam suddenly changes from a positive man to a very negative man that seems doom in everything. His character is similar to that of Satan, when Satan rebels God he feels like hell is every place he goes. The hell for Adam in this case I think would be to be mortal and not be any more in the grace of God.
Milton through Adam’s soliloquy lets us inside the mind of Adam and shows us how he felt after he and Eve ate the apple. Adam shows signs of fear and of shame like that of a child when they disobey. I can imagine him as a big brother getting in trouble with his little sister, and planning in ways to face their angry mother. Adam speaks of the consequences they will face and one line that I find fascinating is “To make death in us live” (2020). Because Adam right there realizes that they are no longer the immortal beings they once were and that it is a consequence of their sinful acts. I can imagine that the concept of death must have been incredible hard to comprehend since, it is something foreign to them. Not only that but it also puts a time limit as to how much time they have to be together. Later on, this words are sort of mirror when Jesus comes to Earth and dies for our sins to “bring us back to life”, as a symbol to conquer death. Adam after this realization speaks of more foreshadowing consequences that humanity will endure and sort of visions how difficult it will be to live on Earth without God’s help.
Milton makes Adam to be like a prophet and a visionary of doom. I do not know if Adam when he was in such stress state of mind spoke unconsciously about how Jesus would come to be on Earth even before the Archangel came to speak to him and how he was going to suffer colds and the hardships of Earth. “Satan, who in the serpent hath contrived Against us this deceit: to crush his head Would be revenge indeed; which will be lost By death brought on ourselves” (2020) and he continues on talking about how Satan will end their days of being “childless” and about how the punishment also will be with them. I find this a little complicated to understand, as to why Milton wrote Adam saying those words like prophesies or I do not know it might be because of the poem structure and to relate it to what is written in the bible. But it is very interesting to see how he mirrors the words of Adam to that of the bible and how he is creating already a hell in the head of Adam; where humanity is punished for his deeds.
Adam describes how live on Earth will be like without the divine protection of God and the new reality of death; “Leave cold the night, how we his gathered beams Reflected, may with matter sere foment, or by collision of two bodies grind The air atrite to fire” (2021) The Norton Anthology notes suggest that Adam here is talking about the invention of fire and that he predicts that it will be the only way we will be warm without the protection of God. I find this interesting both as a technique to justify how Adam and Even were able to survive on Earth without first going through the process of evolution and with the knowledge already of how to manipulate the environment to shield them from cold nights. After weighting the outcomes of what might happen to them, Adam suggest to Eve that it will be better to just ask for forgiveness to God and that he might listen to their plead.
Adam talks to Eve about the mercifulness of God and that he might forgive them for what they did if they are truly repent. “What better can we do, than to place Repairing where he judg’d us, prostrate fall Before him reverent and there confess” (2021), here Adam begins to tell Eve how they should ask for forgiveness and that there is no other way for them to choose something else. He continues, “Humbly our faults and pardon beg, with tears Watering the ground and our sighs the Air Frequenting, sent from our hearts contrite, sin sign Of sorrow unfeign’d, and humiliation meek”(2021) I can imagine them like little children trying to come up with a technique to convince their parents that they are really sorry. I think this is the way Adam is picturing all of this action because they have never really experienced before and he thinks that’s the way of asking God for mercy. They relate their feelings to the physical world like the tears and the sighs. I think this is very intriguing since we see an Adam that is connecting physical to metal in a way that they never did before and thanks to the “Tree of Knowledge” they are now more human that are capable of having feelings and somewhat made them aware of what other people feel, in this case God.
Adam assures Eve that with their repentance they will be forgiven by God and that he will show mercy. I think Adam thinks that he will be forgiven that easily by God and that everything will be back to normal, but he at the end of Book X doubts if he is correct and questions of that’s how God is going to react to their plead. By doing this actions Adam decided to join the way of being obedient from now on and to try to be in God’s good side. I think this is important because they could have choose to be disobedient and ally with Satan that offered them an easier way to carry on with life without the feeling of regret or being forced to acknowledge the existence of God. Their repentance will allow Adam and Eve to be possibly forgiven and humanity as well and eventually reach salvation.
Milton concludes book X by repeating the words that Adam said and comments that they did as they had planned and asked God for forgiveness. I like how Milton repeats this again with same words and same structure as to point to us how important it was for Adam and Eve to ask for forgiveness. I think this demonstrates that Adam and Eve tried to repair our relationship with God and to save humanity from the evident doom. God listens to their plea and decides to tell them that he will send his son to be the salvation of the world from the sins they committed. But Adam and Eve will still be with hell in their heads just as Satan was, but in hope for a better future they leave paradise with the sense that they will be back there once again, unlike Satan.
Milton showed us how Adam connected his emotions to the physical world with tears and pain that he felt. He also showed us how we can be forgiven if we are truly repentant of what we did and that there is eventually salvation to those that do so.
--- Copyright Joaquine.com 2011. You may not Reproduce or Repost this Essay in any form. Just posted to show an analysis of Paradise Lost.---
Doomsday
Summary: Doomsday
Norman Podhoretz, in “Doomsday Fears and Modern Life”, writes about how the fear of the “End of Days” still plays an important part in our modern life. He compares both past and modern fears. He begins by giving an example about how fear people had about a possible nuclear war. But he argues that after sometime people stopped being fearful of the possibility of a nuclear war. Podhoretz points out, that fears of “End of Days” either appear or disappear when the people advocating it, the catastrophist, gain or loose power to convince people that the end is near. He argues that when the catastrophists lose power with one issue as in the example he is using about that of a possible nuclear war, they move to a new “End of Days” fear to exploit; in this case to the pollution movement. He summarizes their new theory by saying that; “technology…is destroying us all.” He critics how fast this new idea is gaining ground in every circle. Podhoretz points out that some theories that before were being ignored, now are the center of attention. Like those theories that say that the world is going to end either by flood or frost.
He introduces E.J. Mishan, as an example of a modern “catastrophist”, that believes the world is going to end by the use of pesticides and vaccines that we have developed. He argues that Mishan ignores the other theories of the past because they lack “rational basis” for them to be valid, and yet the modern theories, Podhoretz adds, that modern theories have almost the same concept of being guided by warning signs rather than in scientific proof. He continues on saying it does not make them any better than any people from the past using the warning signs to predict a possible outcome. He argues that they “are not speaking as scientist but as moralist and ideologues,” and that one does not need to be fooled by their claims.
Podheretz introduces Sir Peter that is at the other side of the issue that argues that the environment can be fixed by the creation of more technology that can fix the damage created by other technology. Podheretz points out that the price of technology is always high both for the environment and the impact that it has in our lives. He asserts that surely with technology we can “buy” our way out of problems, but it just creates problems in somewhere else. Podheretz gives some suggestions of how technology can be used to our advantage like installing devices in cars and airplanes to clean up the environment. Podheretz says that the damaging effects on the environment make the “End of the world” supporters more powerful, but he points out that their effort to “wake people up” is only “putting people to sleep,” is failing because people feel that they cannot do anything to stop the doomsday from happening. He also points out if we were to surrender to the claims of the catastrophist and declare a state of emergency our individual liberties would be taken away, and that’s why we should take what they say with the “greatest skepticism.” Finally he points out that there a third alternative is that is to accept modern life as it is; with “restless growth.” He concludes by saying that “to make a life is to strike a continuing series of bargains,” both with nature and with the past and future.
Belinda and her Beloved Lock
--Essay Draft---
Referenced Works: "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope
Sometimes it is difficult for us men to understand why women get attached or get so obsessed with something they have; especially when it comes to their physical appearance and most often than not their hair. In Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” he focused in just that questioning in a epic-mocking way why women during the 18th Century English society were obsessed with such thing as a piece of hair and even were willing to risk losing their “honour.” Pope in his poem mocks the lengths people would go to protect their honor, especially Belinda that can be contra productive in a moment of rage and despair.
The super natural come to warn Belinda in her dreams about a possible danger that she might be facing in the near future. Ariel the overseer of the sylphs comes to Belinda when she is dreaming and tells her that the heavens have told him to warn her and says, “Beware of all, but most beware of man!” (I, 27). Here Pope brings the super natural protection that “women” need to have in order to keep their honor and to be warned of any dangers they might face and he does it in a very symbolic form by presenting this in a dream like that of a vision that many Christians would have understood to be an allusion in the bible; when Joseph was having a dream with an Angel telling him that they were coming for them and Jesus to be killed and he took his family out of harm’s way right away. This is another example of Pope’s mocking of the beliefs and reasons behind things happening in order to protect the honor of a woman. Ariel also in the dream assured Belinda that the sylphs would protect her no matter what and that they were at her disposal if needed. Pope here points out that they would only protect her chastity and nothing more. I think this is another good topic to discuss as to why sylphs were so important and what their intentions really were, but for now I think they symbolized the moral concepts of the 18th Century English society and they were there to guard it. In Canto II Pope goes more in depth with sylphs and her role in Belinda’s life.
Ariel and his group of sylphs gather to plan the security measures that would ensure Belinda protection and care. Here we can imagine how the sylphs would gather around like an army and form in order to get ready for battle with their chief Ariel at hand explaining to them how important it was to protect Belinda, he says to them “This day, black omens threat the brightest fair That e’er deserved a watchful spirit’s care; Some dire disaster, or by force, or flight; But what, or where, the Fates have wapp’d in night” (II, 30). Ariel once again warns about the eminent danger but in this case to the group of sylphs that are ready to protect Belinda. This scene somehow reminds of the movie “300” when the oracle spoke of the upcoming dangers and everyone got prepared for the war and even knowing that they would lose. In Ariel’s speech we can also see the urgency for the care of Belinda and also the despair of not knowing when or how it is going to happen. Like the fate of many oracles that can just see the result of an event but not knowing how it is going to happen. Here Pope is once again mocking how ridiculous is to think that a group of super natural beings are all watching after us, especially to a naïve human like Belinda. Ariel assigns an extensive troop of bodyguards. Brillante is to guard her earrings, Momentilla her watch, and Crispissa her locks. Ariel himself will protect Shock, the lapdog. A band of fifty Sylphs will guard the all-important petticoat. We can see how the way Ariel assigns duties to the sylphs are as mundane and not really task for super natural beings that they are, and all for the protection of Belinda. We once again can see the references to the bible and other religious beliefs that try to put a super natural spin on how things are. For example people ask a Saint to protect their house from thieves or when mothers ask souls to watch over their daughters when they are late and have not come home yet. We can imagine that during Pope’s time this sort of practice was more predominant and he used that to mock their beliefs and how fruitless they were when it came to protect honor, in this case the honor of Belinda.
Belinda loses her honor and her loyal sylph at the fall of her lock. When Belinda is playing a game of “ombre” with Baron and other man she gets the upper hand and wins. Pope describes this scene as that of a war fought on the table as it was a war field and he gives very deep descriptions of how Baron is looking at Belinda’s hair lock all the time as if stalking his prey. The sylphs kind of feel it and rush to Belinda protection but it is too late, because as the maids are serving coffee Baron asks Clarissa for scissors… “The Peer now spreads the glittering Forfex wide, T' inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide. Ev'n then, before the fatal Engine clos'd, A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd; Fate urged the Sheers, and cut the Sylph in twain, (But Airy Substance soon unites again)” (iii, 35). Pope uses images like these to describe in a dramatic way how the scissors are cutting the lock and even with the “protection” of the sylphs they are unable to protect Belinda’s “honour.” Many of the sylphs were frustrated and did not understand what happened, but Ariel did when he tried to warn Belinda and saw inside her soul her desire to be “violated by the man” and decided that it was time to leave and the sylphs “with-drew right away” leaving Belinda to protect herself. Pope here shows that even with “super natural” or “divine” protection there is nothing to do when a woman loses her honor or chastity. When Baron cut the hair lock it was like a symbolic gesture to separate the super natural protections that Belinda had in order to give in to another super natural forces like that of passion, love, and hate.
Umbriel seeds passion and hate into Belinda’s soul that is already fertile for this and furthers more the breaking of her honor. After her lock was cut Belinda begins to rage all over and now that the sylphs have left there is no one to calm it. Umbriel after having returned from the “Cave Spleen” pours a bag of “sighs, sobs, and passions” that fuel her anger and despair. By her side is her friend Thalestris that encourages her to avenge the Baron and ask for the help of Sir Plume. All this in the name of protecting Belinda’s “fame” or honor as her friend Thalestris points out. When Sir Plume arrives to where Baron is and takes a look at the box where the hair lock is says, “My Lord, why, what the devil... damn lock! ’fore Gad, you must be civil!... Give her the hair” (IV, 39). Here Pope brings up morality once again with Sir Prime asking Baron to be civil as a gentleman should behave. But Sir Prime is unsuccessful with his request and last protection of Belinda is gone. When all the protections from Belinda are gone she falls into deeper despair and with the return of Umbriel once again does one of his tricks and breaks the vial of “sorrows” and “self-pity”. She cries and mourns the loss of her lock and her soul gets covered with hate and anxiety to get it back. Here Pope is mocking the whole notion that we as humans have evolved enough to not recur to the salvage methods that we had in the past, and points out that it is all a mask and when we are faced like in the case of Belinda to extreme circumstances everything will change even if it is for the sake of a hair lock.
Belinda loses it and goes after her perpetrator with fury and idiotic actions that end up breaking her honor once and for all. Clarissa steps in and tries to stop her from doing something she might regret and says, “But since, alas! frail Beauty must decay, Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to grey” (V, 41). Meaning that even she is going to get old and her curl will turn grey even if she goes after it. Clarissa seems to be the person with more moral in the poem since her words are much different than Belinda’s friend and that of the others around her. Pope used Clarissa to show in some way how ridiculous it is to fight for a piece of hair that sooner or later would be old and worthless, and even more over there is no way to “put it back” to where it was. Pope has a delightful scene when Belinda is confronting the Baron and how everything is quickly breaking what little “honour” Belinda had and it ends with the lock being lost. After everything and it was lost, he concludes that it might have been ascended to the heavens to make an allusion to Jesus. This was brilliantly written because he is able to mock everything all the way to the last word and making us the readers get out of it if it was really worth the trouble to get the lock and not to have it at the end.
The “honour” of Belinda that everyone fought so hard to protect was destroyed by her impulsive actions and her trust on the super natural to warm her of the dangers ahead and even when she was warned it all went out of the window when anger and self-pity overpowered her soul. Pope excellent mocking of the thinking that “honour” can be protected by just a few useless rules and social norms that are thrown aside when other interest come into play.
Joaquine 2011 Copyrighted. (You may use this essay to reference some stuff, but remember you can't use it as it is for class and it will probably get you in trouble. Good luck with your research and your journey of learning.)