Let's Talk About Sex

By
It seems like the theme of Book VIII is sex--whether that be sex as in gender or sex as in intercourse. 

Book VIII Adam tells his version of Creation--waking up alone, naming the animals, realizing he has no mate, Eve being revealed, their marriage, and of course, their wedding night. Adam says of their wedding night in lines 530-533: "Here passion first I felt, / Commotion strange! In all enjoyments else / Superior and unmoved, here only weak / Against the charm of beauty's powerful glance." He says that even though he is not moved by other earthly pleasures, sex excites him. Raphael says that passion and excitement during sex is beastly (*cough cough foreshadowing sex after the Fall cough cough*). Although Adam's description of the wedding night is interesting, to me it's not as interesting as what is included--or rather not included--in the physical description of Eve. Lines 541-545 say: "of nature her th’ inferior in the mind / And inward faculties which most excel, / In outward also her resembling less / His image who made both and less expressing” So basically Adam is saying Eve is less of an image of God because she lacks a penis…Then the last discussion about sex in Book VIII comes when Adam is allowed to ask Raphael anything ANYTHING and he chooses to ask if angels have sex…I mean, come on Adam, you just spent the first half of the Book asking about the formation of the universe and you choose to ask THAT?


I guess all of questions this forms in my mind, the least-metaphysical/hypothetical question is:  What did Milton think the original purpose of sex was? I’d like to hear your thoughts, and yes, I’m rather enjoying the awkwardness of this post.

I commented on Ty and Trey's posts. 

Comments

  1. Zelda PeachSeptember 11, 2017 at 9:43 PM

    I will not lie, while reading that part of the book I was at times quite disturbed and angry, angry at the provocative statements Milton uses that seem to have no place in the Epic except for his own weird pleasure. As far as the gender equality in these lines, I can't even find the place to begin, but let's just say I am happy I wasn't around Milton when he was alive. I'm sorry that I don't have an answer to your question, but I'm glad you pointed this out because it would be a shame for such an interesting discussion point to be missed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Phillip VoSeptember 11, 2017 at 9:57 PM

    So yeah, your title is the ultimate clickbait. Just kidding, but in all honesty, you bring up an interesting question. One thing I can definitely gather is that while his speech may not be acceptable in any time period concerning gender equality, I think there is a poignant difference in the way he views Eve before and after the fall. Before, he appreciates her beauty and you can just sense his loving tenderness towards his partner. But after the fall, it is clear that he is filled with lust and desires just what we are talking about: the s word. So I think Milton is using this idea to illustrate further how sin manipulates the things that God intended to be good and holy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael TurnerSeptember 11, 2017 at 11:05 PM

    I think Milton does a grand job of showing the pure form of an act or thought before giving the corrupted form. I felt like a child listening to the birds and the bees talk. Like a Christian parent might do, Milton describes God's original design. Then after the fall he illustrates how it would appear apart from God's will. Laying aside the misogyny that Milton exhibits, sex in pure form, is the ultimate union for man and woman. Theologically, it is a fulfillment of God's "fruitful and multiply" commandment and a symbol of the unity that is to come between Christ and the church. From a human point of view, I think Adams curiosity about "angel sex" is perfectly justifiable; however awkward it may be.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownSeptember 11, 2017 at 11:48 PM

    Though Milton is all about Adam's innocence in begging God for a mate, we can read back and see him mention the lion and his lioness and the fact that all animals have a pair. Though I'm not saying Adam had fully sexual motives, I really think he was mostly lonely as the only human among all these animals, it's clear that he's picked up on the fact that there are male and female animals, while he is the only male human...I mean, read between the lines. Also, 17th century locker room talk? Pretty much. Adam, you're talking to an ANGEL and you feel the need to talk about your sex life? Dude, you haven't even sinned yet and you're already wandering off the path.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Honest Reaction to Reading "Honest to God"

By
Originally I said in my last blog post that I liked this book, but I have sort of changed my mind. It is not that I hate it or anything, it is just weird and I don’t really agree with what John Robinson is saying most of the time. I appreciate that he is trying to write something different and new, but my problem is that some of the ideas are just a little too radical for my taste, and I disagree with him a lot. In the seventh and last chapter of the book, Robinson himself acknowledges his radicalness and writes about how he knows that this type of thought on religion is controversial. He goes on to write how all great thinkers were seen as controversial when they first started and says, “Every new religious truth comes as the destroyer of some other god”. To further prove this point, he uses the example of how Socrates was condemned as an atheist for not believing in multiple gods, and while it is true that Socrates was a great philosopher who was not seen as so when he was alive, I ...
Read more

Raphael and a man walk into Eden...

By
I'll just start off by saying Raphael is one of the three named archangels in Scripture we hear the least about, and I thoroughly enjoy just reading and seeing his name pop up. Regardless, I want to touch on Adam's recounting of his own..."birth". Take that with a grain of salt as Adam was not physically born, but rather he simply became. In truth, we should all be able to give a similar account to their first memory of consciousness and fully aware. Adam was created, but he realized he could walk, talk, and speak without first learning. Imagine being able to think clear thoughts in your native language and be a functioning individual right out of the womb. It's an incredible thought, and Adam can give a recall of this like it were yesterday...which it might have been, who knows? Aside from that, Adam could even give an account to Eve's creation. The Bible says nothing pertaining to this matter so this is where Milton does a bit of adlibbing and writes around ...
Read more

Extra blog

By
OK so, honors project! Honestly I really loved it as a whole. I said this already in the video, but I feel like I personally could've done better. I just feel like I didn't have enough time to completely process some questions and be able to give my best responses. I really enjoyed reading the O'Connor piece, which I think was everyone's favorite anyway. I love narrative stories like that, but honestly I'm glad I got to be in the Russell group. I feel like that group was the easiest to argue and answer from, honestly. As a whole, I would love to do a project like this again in later semesters. It was a lot of fun and time FLEW by.
Read more