Creative License
By this point in the story, it is clear that Milton has definitely changed our perception on the creation story that we all know. However, as we venture into the main event itself - the Fall of Man - one has to ask, how much editing is too much? When adapting anything, the adaptor in question has a lot of free range. In visual mediums, we see this work well for biblical stories through Michelangelo's iconic Sistine Chapel paintings and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. But, there are also major misfires, such as Darren Aronofsky's Noah. I bring these up because I was not that big of a fan of Milton changing such an important part of the Fall: that Adam and Eve were together when the serpent tempted Eve. Now, narratively, this makes sense. It allows Eve to ponder her thoughts before and after tasting the fruit and is a chance for Milton to give Eve some character development. However, Genesis 3:6 states clearly that Eve "also gave some to her husband who was with her" (ESV). A big thought when reading this book was to separate our known theology with Milton's perception of theology at the time, but this point really irked me while reading it. When most adaptations change major plot points for dramatic reasons, the author or original creator probably will speak out against it, stating that goes against the original vision of the story and affects future events in the story. The "blame game" that Adam and Eve go through after tasting the fruit has a different feel because man was not present when woman ate the fruit. Suddenly, man is held less accountable for what happened, rather than the real-life Adam, who could have stopped the whole thing but was also tempted. I actually find it funny that Eve states this possibility in book nine, lines 1148-1149, "Hadst thou been there, // Or here th' attempt," as if Milton purposefully got it wrong and knows that we all know what actually happened. It is honestly one of the most pointless changes that Milton made to the story, and it makes it seem like it was all Eve's fault.
EDIT: I commented on Abigail and Sophia's posts.
EDIT: I commented on Abigail and Sophia's posts.
My theory is that Milton had to write it so that Adam was not with Eve because Adam was already prewarned. Raphael had previously come down on God's command and warned Adam of Satan's intent to corrupt. Maybe he thought that if Adam was with Eve when she was tempted, having also included Raphael's warning, he actually would have stopped her and the story would be completely wrong and could go nowhere. However, that also brings up the question of why Milton added in Adam's conversation with Raphael because that clearly did not happen in the original story either.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think Adam has to be held more accountable in Milton's account. He has the warning fresh in his mind and blatantly chooses to ignore it. He could have easily chosen to leave Eve in her sin and have God create a new wife for him, but he eats the fruit wholeheartedly instead. While Milton does not follow Genesis word for word, he does not take away from the fact that both Adam and Eve are completely responsible for their own sin.
ReplyDeleteI can't for the life of me remember where this quote came from, but someone once said "Eve was deceived into eating the fruit. Adam was not and knew exactly what he was doing, as 1 Timothy 2:14 tells us. Who do you think deserves more blame?" Of course all sin is equally sin, but you can see how people could easily look on Adam as more accountable. The Bible doesn't really explain why Adam, not being deceived, just sat there and watched while Satan tricked Eve into eating the fruit. Maybe the phrase "who was with her" just means he was with her after she was tempted; I'd have to look into the Hebrew behind that.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, Milton needed an explanation to help the plot flow. While certainly toeing the line with this, he keeps the Bible's original message of sin and the Fall; that's where Aronofsky failed, turning Noah's story of sin's consequences into a bid for eco-extremists and their agenda of saving nature via human genocide.
Think about it from the perspective of Milton's view of the sexes. Milton throughout all of PL shows that he finds women to be the far lesser of the two sexes and that they are borderline incapable of making a wise decision without the aid of a male. Hence, in Milton's mind, in order for Eve to have made that unwise decision, Adam couldn't have been there since he is wise.
ReplyDelete