Mother of Mankind: Milton\u27s Treatment of Eve in Paradise Lost

Although many critics have dealt with their general impressions of the character of Eve or have traced specific passages concerning her to the Bible or to rabbinical tradition, no one critic has made a detailed study of the way in which Milton portrays Eve from prelapsarian innocence through the fall to her ultimate reconciliation with Adam and with God. This study is concerned with Milton\u27s complete portrait of Eve and with the way in which he uses the themes of women\u27s inferiority, of the hierarchy of nature, and of the virtue of reason over passion to explain the fall of man. These three themes are reflected in certain images with which Milton consistently surrounds Eve and which are used with variations to illustrate her weaknesses and to foreshadow the fall and its aftermath. The method of this study has been to trace Milton\u27s use of these images and themes throughout Paradise Lost and to support observations with contemporary scholarship