Since Adam is God’s favorite it’s implied that Eve is inferior to Adam. He’s smarter than she is. Her role is to do for him it’s never as an equal. Eve seems to be a prize for Adam. Her physical beauty is breathtaking and she knows it. God made Adam in his image and he’s perfect. Eve on the other hand has a huge flaw. She knows that she is beautiful which makes her vain, some what narssistic. Her vanity is what leads to her downfall. The fact that Eve posseses such a damaging flaw and Adam does not, makes her inferior. She doesn’t know herself the way Adam does, she’s vulnerable.
Eventually Satan is able to sabotage Adam and Eve’s exsistence in Eden. Satan disguises himself as a serpent and cleverly plays on Eve’s vulnerability and weakness. He is able to use her vanity against her, that how he reels her in. She believes whatever it is that he’s telling him about her beauty. Eventually she takes a bite of the forbidden fruit and falls from grace. Afterward she convinces Adam to do the same. But Adam chooses to fall for completely different reasons. He loves Eve and would do anything for her. Eve and the other hand choose to do it out of pure weakness and selfishness.
After the deed is done and God finds out, Eve is the first one to admit that she has done wrong. She understands that she has consciously made the decision to do wrong and later lied and conned Adam into doing the same. She has free will and she knows it. Adam at first begins to blame Eve but soon realizes that he too had free will and chose to do wrong. The fact that Eve admits to her wrong doing says something about her character. She has flaws and weaknesses but with the admission of guilt she’s owning up to her faults and accepting her defeats and the consequences that come with it.
The sin of Adam and Eve caused the rest of mankind to suffer. Women were burdened with painfull childbirth and menstrual cycle. Now that man has sinned Jesus will have to die in order to save man.
Eve’s role throughout “Paradise Lost” varies. In the beginning she’s domestic and seems to be submissisve. She fulfills the typical stereotype of a primitive, uneducated, submissive woman. As the story progresses Eve’s role shifts. The fact that she sins first indicates that she’s pulling away from her “role” in the garden of Eden. She’s tired of being oppressed and living in the shadow of Adam. The shift in Eve in true to life of the shift that modern women have seen. In modern day society the role of women isn’t what it used to be. These days women can have carrers, have children, and choose not to get married.
