Adam Attempts to Claim Eve: How the First Man and the First Woman Set the Tone for Society Today4/19/2020 The word ‘claim’ has a plethora of different definitions. It is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “an assertion of a right to something” and “a demand for something as due.” One of the examples the OED gives of something that can be claimed is a tract of land. While the definitions of the word clearly convey that an object or thing can be claimed, they say nothing about the claiming of a human being, or more specifically, the claiming of a woman. In Book Four of Paradise Lost, Milton presents the perspectives of Eve and Adam on their own creation. During his account of his creation, Adam declares “Part of my Soul I seek thee, and thee claim/My other half” (4.387-388). With this single phrase, Adam claims Eve as his. This is arguably one of the most important moments in the entirety of Paradise Lost, as it is the first of many, many times a man would transform a woman into an object; a thing to be had, kept, or claimed.
Did Adam ask Eve if she’d like to be his? Did he say, “Eve, I’m thinking of claiming you, how do you feel about that?” Indeed, he did not. In fact, Eve recounts her creation before Adam even speaks in Book Four, and in her narrative, we see a young woman beginning to fashion herself. As Eve awakens in the shade lying atop a bed of flowers and wonders where and who she is, she is without Adam. She makes her first observation of her new world without Adam, stating that the bodies of water, caves, and rolling plains flourishing in front of her eyes are “pure as th’ expanse of heav’n” (4.456). It is not until Eve sees her reflection and “pine[s] with vain desire” into her own eyes that a voice appears, leading her to Adam (4.66). The moment Eve sees herself for the first time, the moment she begins to form her identity and opinions of the world, she is guided away from her solitude and towards Adam, who immediately states that she is “part of [his] soul.” Any semblance of her own soul that Eve had has now been merged with Adam’s before she has even had an opportunity to cultivate her sense of self. When Eve first sees Adam, she runs away from him, as she believes him to be “less fair” than she is (4.477). It is only when Adam calls her back, stating that she is “his flesh, his bone” that Eve “yielded” to Adam (4.488). In the Oxford English Dictionary, yield is defined as “to hand over, give up, relinquish possession of, surrender, resign.” In this moment, Eve considered submitting to Adam. She almost became his after having only minutes of her own independent life and acknowledged that her beauty could only be “excelled by manly grace/and wisdom” (4.490-491). It is interesting that it is only when Adam implies that Eve owes him something (he did give her life from his rib, after all) that she stayed. Adam leveraged the fact that Eve came from him in order to try to force her into submission. It was then easier for him to attempt to claim her. Eve listens when Satan persuades her to eat from the tree of knowledge, and she convinces Adam to do so with her. One could assert that Eve is more vulnerable to Satan than Adam throughout Paradise Lost, which was no mistake on Milton’s part. Was Milton trying to frame Eve as weak? It is a possibility, but in doing so, he consequently gave Eve an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Each time Satan whispers to Eve, it allows her to dream of knowing more. Adam has this longing for knowledge as well, as he practically demands more information from Raphael in Book Eight, but unlike Eve, Adam is not willing to break the rules in his pursuit. When Satan persuaded Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge, reminding her to assert her independence and allow her eyes to be opened by the knowledge she will gain was all Satan needed to do in order to get Eve to break the rules and take a bite of the forbidden fruit. Eve’s quest for knowledge and independence can not be stifled. The dynamic that exists between Adam and Eve is one that exists in storybooks and in history. As women, we begin to see ourselves, to look into our own eyes and gain a sense of belonging in this world, and immediately afterward, if not sooner, someone tries to claim us. This is the way we have been raised, this is what we are taught, and this is what has been programmed into society. We can look to the first woman, Eve, for guidance as we dismantle this constructed paradigm that exists in all of our lives. No matter who tried to tame Eve, she thought for herself. She made the decision to eat the forbidden fruit on her own. She longed for the independence and knowledge that Satan presented to her, and she went after it, despite the consequences that ensued. Even with all of the messages Adam tries to send her, Eve never loses sight of herself, and she is all she really needs to never be claimed.
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