The story of Adam and Eve is one of, if not the first, story of crime and punishment in West. John Milton's Paradise Lost retells the ancient tale, adding depth and emotion to the story, thereby revealing the very important, sometimes overlooked, implications of the legend's outcome. Eve, after dreaming the prophetic dream of humanity's fall in Book V, is created to be read as the character responsible for the tragic loss of Paradise. While God gives both Adam and Eve the ability to exercise free will, Eve is the only one who encounters the opportunity to do so, and is therefore set up to be the “original” sinner. The punishment Eve faces for eating the fruit reveals the unfortunate consequences of acting on free will, especially when it directly opposes God's word, and raises a question about how “free” her actions truly were. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The punishment of Adam and Eve is explained in Genesis, and although both are subject to consequences for exercising free will and eating the fruit, the penance Eve owes is much worse than Adam's, regardless of fact that they committed the same act of disobedience. This reveals a logical framework that implicitly attributes responsibility for the fall into Paradise Lost to Eve. After the loss of paradise occurs, Genesis states that God revisits the couple and outlines the fate of both Adam and Eve by proclaiming: To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and their conception, though in sorrow you shall bear children; and your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. And unto Adam he said, For though thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, saying, Though thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of thee; but with pain you will eat it all the days of your life (3:16-17). This passage reveals the subconscious workings of the core of the story. Not only is Adam punished just for listening to his wife, but its long-term consequence is that he has to eat from a cursed land. Eve, in contrast, not only herself, but also all future women, is punished and ordered into a position of evidently less importance than her husband. This unequally and therefore unfairly distributed severe punishment sets the stage for Milton's story. In Paradise Lost it is written that Eve will be the one who begins the fall - having the dream - and therefore the one created to take all the blame. Free will certainly exists in Eden, but the fact that God punishes Eve, as well as all women to come, into a life of eternal subservience to her husband sounds an alarm to the reader: if Adam also eats the apple, committing the same "deviant" to behave like Eve, why is he not punished in the same way and to the same extent? Eve is the character in Genesis who feels the most defiance of God, even though the two were equally guilty, creating a pattern of guilt that seeps into Milton's story. There, Eva's "free will" is disguised as such, but given the outcome of her actions, it's clear that she was written to be the scapegoat from the beginning, calling into question her ability to actually act freely. Adam and Eve live out their first days in paradise in absolute bliss, never fearing, never hurting, never feeling any emotion other than joy and appreciation, until the night Eve dreams the terribly frightening dream of succumbing to the waysmanipulative actions of Satan, marking the first negative experience of heaven and the beginning of autumn. Adam wakes Eva so they can start their day of gardening and work, and is surprised to see Eva tossing and turning in her sleep. Upon her awakening, Eva explains the cause of her anguish: “From this night until this I.../I have dreamed,/If I have dreamed, not as I often do, of you,/The works of the day”.past, or tomorrow's next plan, / But of offenses and woes, which my mind / Never knew till this troublesome night” (5:30-34). In the paradise where God places Adam and Eve, preserving innocence and goodness is vital to upholding the purity of the world, making this moment when Eve recognizes the first negative thoughts she ever entertained crucial in marking the moment when the slow decline of paradise begins. This is the moment when Eden stops being paradise and everything begins with Eve. While it is Satan who offers Eve the fruit, tempting and manipulating her into taking a bite, it is she who has the premonition before the situation arises. The narrator explains that Satan is attracted to Eve because of her vulnerability, but perhaps he is attracted to her not because of her supposed naivety, but because something about the fact that she is the one, rather than Adam, to break the bubble of perfection of Paradise attracted him to its. If both Adam and Eve had the dream, the outcome might have been different, but the important choice that Milton made for Eve to be the one to have the dream and subsequently be the only one harshly accused of that choice, as shown in Genesis, demonstrates a non-ignorable line of thought that inevitably leads Eve to become the "original" sinner. Eve's punishment for biting the forbidden apple reveals the basic moral of the story; free will is not admirable or acceptable if it disobeys God. Eve's dream comes true when one day Adam and Eve decide to separate and work independently in the garden so they can get more done faster. It is then that Satan, disguised in the garden as a serpent perched on the Tree of Knowledge, approaches Eve for the first time. He explains to her the magic that lives in the fruit, tells her that with it comes wisdom and goodness and, for this reason, she should disobey God's word and act on her own accord, in other words, eat the fruit. So he does, and Adam follows suit soon after, neither of them realizing that God sees everything. He's watching. God explains that He: "Has not prevented Satan from tempting the mind/of man, with full strength and armed free will,/complete with having discovered and rejected/any deception of the enemy or apparent friend" (10 8- 11). God's view of the concept of free will, as Milton wrote it, is complicated. Although He grants both of them the ability to make their own choices, He does not exempt them or allow them to perform “free” actions that directly oppose Him. Free will, therefore, becomes less of a gift that God grants to the protagonists and more of a expectation that freedom of choice always reflects God's desires and commands. How far, then, did they really stand a chance against Satan? This quote and its implications force the audience to determine how free actions can truly be if they are constantly judged and subsequently punished if deemed oppositional by a force as powerful as God. Please note: this is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay If we assume, as in Paradise Lost, that everything happens for a reason and that all events and actions are part of God's greater plan, then we must also assume that Eve's choice to eat the apple follows the same logic; It's no coincidence that Eva is the one who had the dream long before.