Falls Of Miltons Eve And Doctor Faustus Religion Essay

Falls Of Miltons Eve And concern Faustus Religion EssayIn this essay I am going to be comparing the falls of Eve in John Miltons Paradise Lost, initial published in 1667 and Doctor Faustus in Christopher Marlowes The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, first published in 1604The notion of the Fall of man originates in the Bible where it is put down in the book of generation. It has been interpreted both literally, as a description of historical events and symbolically as a spiritual truth. The Fall refers to the transition of the first created humans, Adam and Eve from their original state of perfection, to a state of guilt and disobedience to theology. The notion of Adam and Eves perfection comes from Genesis 131 where we atomic number 18 told that God saw eachthing that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. This notion was also reinforced by St. Augustine, who believed that Mans nature indeed, was created at first faultless and without any sin.In Ge nesis 216-17, God forbids Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evilAnd the sea captainGod commanded the man, You may freely eat of every tree of the gardenbut of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the daytime that you eat of it you shall die.This is essentially the beginning of the series of events that conk to the Fall, because it is shortly after this that Eve is deceived by the snake into eating from that tree, and shares it with Adam. We are told that the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made (Gen 31) and later, in the book of Revelations, we are led to believe that the serpent was in fact Satan in disguiseThe spacious dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan. (Rev 129)Adam and Eve are consequently banished from the Garden of Eden by God and as penalisation for their sin, sent to live on Earth. They are also banned from eating from the Tree of Life again, which is how Christians believe death entered the world. This is known as the Fall of Man.The biblical story of Adam and Eve forms the basis for Miltons Paradise Lost, and he too seems to adopt the Augustinian view that Adam and Eve are two perfect and amply developed humans. This is shown whenAdam soon repealedThe doubts that in his heart arose and nowLed on, yet sinlessUnlike the Biblical Adam and Eve however, Milton gives us the pestle that Eve is inferior to Adam since Adam was created to mirror Gods divine authority and Eve was created merely to satisfy Adams desire for a companion. Throughout the poem we net that Eve never experiences God directly Adam experiences God and Eve experiences Adam, who appears to act as an intermediary between her and GodFor contemplation hee and valour formd,For womanishness shee and sweet attractive Grace,Hee for God only, shee for God in him.It is this sense of divine hierarchy that seems to make Eve more susceptible to Sata ns temptation, because during the series of events which contribute towards the eventual(prenominal) Fall, Satan plays on Eves desire for autonomy and a connection to the universe outside of Adams shadow.The sequence of event leading to Eves fall begins when she is asleep one shadow and Satan attempts to plant his tempting thoughts in her mind. Satans effect is reflected in her dream when an angel tempts her to eat from the Tree of KnowledgeTaste this, and be henceforth among the GodsThy self-importance a Goddess, not to Earth confind.This plays on Eves desire to achieve a direct relationship with God.The second significant factor is her determination to spend magazine alone on the fateful day she wakes up in an independent mood and insists that her and Adam attend to the garden separately, despite Adams attempts at dissuading her. It is at this point, when she is delight with herself for achieving some autonomy that she comes across the serpent.In order to be successful in leadin g Eve astray, the serpent attempts to eliminate her fear of disobeying God. He begins by making her doubt the existence of death and evilThose rigid threats of Death ye shall not DieHow should ye? by the Fruit? it gives you LifeTo Knowledge? By the Threatner, musical note on mee,Mee who feel touchd and tasted, yet both live,And life more perfet have attaind then FateMeant mee, by ventring higher then my Lot.The serpent then continues to attack and make her doubt God himself by suggesting that God has only forbidden her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge so as to keep her ignorant, rather than neat powerful and knowledgeableOf good, how just? of evil, if what is evilBe real, why not known, since easier shunnd?God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be justNot just, not God not feard then, nor obeidYour feare it self of Death removes the feare.Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,His worshippers he knows that in the dayYe Eate thereof, your Eyes th at seem so cleere,Yet are but dim, shall perfetly be thenOpnd and cleerd, and ye shall be as Gods,Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.Here Satan is playing on Eves perception of the divine hierarchy and her feelings of inferiority to both Adam and God, by offering her an opportunity to do what she believes give lead to a direct relationship with God.It is at this point that we begin to see Eves final error as intellectual rather than moral. In the hour before she eats from the tree, she pauses and thinks. She still allows her reason to guide her, but Satans deception of her mind misinforms her will. Her reasoning is quite sound, however it is based on the belief that the serpent is telling the truth. This, one of the main premises in her decision, is in fact false.After eating from the tree of knowledge, her nature and attitude towards her relationship towards Adam have been changed by sin. Having imagined an existence outside of Adams perception during her conversation with t he serpent, she now finds herself consumed with a selfish desire to share her fate with Adam, because she can no longer bear of separation from him.