The Rape of Proserpina and Eve's Fall in Milton's Paradise Lost
"She pluck'd, she eat" (PL IX.781). With these four monosyllables, Milton succinctly announces the Fall of Eve in Paradise Lost. Eve's Fall, however, is far more complex than a simple act of eating, for her disobedience represents a much greater loss of chastity. Indeed, Milton implies that the Fall is a violation not only of God's sole commandment but also of Eve herself, for Milton implicitly equates Dis's ravishment of Proserpina with Satan's seduction of Eve. Milton weaves the Proserpina myth, as told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, throughout Paradise Lost as a trope for rape and Eve's loss of virginity, and this culminates in a metaphorical construction of the Fall as a rape of Eve by Satan. Milton's depiction of Eve's ravishment, moreover, is ambivalently misogynistic, for Milton casts Eve as a seductress who has largely engendered her own rape.
Early in Book IV of Paradise Lost Milton compares Eden to beautiful landscapes of classical mythology, while insisting that his Christian Garden is "not" like such pagan settings. Milton's negative syntax implies the ineffability of Eden—this unfallen paradise cannot be described by a fallen poet to fallen readers and certainly cannot be evoked by pagan similes. Yet Milton's lush catalogue of classical landscapes forces an analogy, and as we amble through the myths, we conjure an image of Eden based on its classical precursors. Particularly salient is the first classical allusion, which compares Eden to Enna:
Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Proserpin gath'ring flow'rs
Herself a fairer Flow'r by gloomy Dis
Was gather'd, which cost Ceres all that pain
To seek her through the world
(PL IV.268-72) ...
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...ks to be the "greater Man." Later in his letter to Diodati, Milton quips: "You ask what I am thinking of? So may the good Deity help me, of immortality!" (Patterson 27). With his chaste epic ambition, Milton seeks to place himself in the role of savior, using his poetic brilliance to undo the Death engendered by the Fall.
Works Cited
Hughes, Merritt Y., ed. John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose . New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1957.
Milton, John, and Barbara Kiefer Lewalski. Paradise Lost. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007. Print.
- - -, Samson Agonistes. In John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. Merritt Y. Hughes. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1957. 550-93.
Ovid, Metamorphoses. Trans. and ed. D. E. Hill. Wiltshire: Aris & Phillips Ltd., 1992.
Patterson, Frank Allen, ed. The Works of John Milton, Volume XII. New York: Columbia UP, 1936.
* Wegs, Joyce M. "'Don't You Know Who I Am?' The Grotesque in Oates' 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'" Critical Essays on Joyce Carol Oates. Ed. Linda W. Wagner. Boston: G. K. Hall 1979.
Bible’s version and Milton’s of the fall from paradise by Adam and Eve. The directions from God about the tree, who caused Eve to disobey the directions, and her giving of the fruit to Adam are similar in both works. Differences between Milton’s epic poem and the Bible are apparent as the reason Satan seeks to destroy Adam and Eve is revenge in the poem and not mentioned in the Biblical text, and there is no mention of why Adam and Eve are not together when Satan seeks to trick her. Another difference is that in Milton’s work Adam makes a conscious decision to eat the fruit of the forbidden
The author Joyce Carol Oates was born on the 16th of June 1938 and struggled economically during the period of great depreciation. In her story ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ revolves around the 15th-year-old Connie who is more preoccupied with aspects related to her appearances. In most cases, she spends time admiring herself and comparing her face with others. Influenced by her mother, she is required to be neat just like the elder sister. She ends up avoiding her mother’s questions regarding the boys she meets. As the boys continue talking with Connie, she tries to avoid him claiming that she doesn’t know him. His name is Arnold Friend (Oates 1).
Milton establishes himself as the legitimate teller of the tale – and this tale will take us beyond the mythology of the Greeks’Aonian Mount and inoculate us against Hell’s prodigiousness. He is taking us beyond mythological or explanatory pictures of ourselves, to an area where we may bask in a greater comfort:
The decisions that you make throughout life can make or break you; you just have to make the right ones. In Joyce Carol Oates story “Where Are Your Going Where Have You Been?”, the main character is Connie. Connie had an older sister but she was nothing like her. Her older sister always pleased her mom, and Connie did not care. Connie and her friend hang out and go to the shopping center or the movies. One day they decided that instead of going to the mall they would go to the diner across the street. She met a boy named Arnold. After that night everything started to spiral down. “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” demonstrates a teenager who decided to cross the road and become a woman.
Oates, Joyce Carol. Where are You Going, Where Have You Been? N.p.: Epoch, 1966. N. pag. Print.
...to mankind in Paradise Lost - one of the fundamental concepts in Christianity and vital to Milton's objective to "justify the ways of God to men" (1, 26) - the gods in the Aeneid are continually reminding Aeneas that he cannot afford to be distractive by the temptresses that are women because the future of Rome lays in his hands. Milton's God, on the other hand, allows Eve to fall and her blatant transgression caused the loss of paradise and all of creation has to experience the consequences of original sin. In Paradise Lost Eve was expected to submit to her ultimate authority, Adam. Rather, it is Adam in Book IX who submits to Eve's unreasonable discourse on separation. Indeed, the implication of a man (as a superior being) succumbing to feminine wiles and passion is an intense concept which - for both Virgil and Milton - threatened the very basis of their society.
Man above woman, or woman above man? For the entirety of human civilization, this question of gender hierarchy has been divisive issue. Regardless, Milton does not hesitate to join the heat of the battle, and project his thoughts to the world. Since the publication of Paradise Lost, many of Milton’s readers have detected in his illustration of the prelapsarian couple, particularly of Adam, a powerful patriarchal sentiment: “he for God only, and she for God in him” (Milton, IV.299). In essence, this idea declares that Adam and Eve possess unequal roles – Adam is better than Eve, as men are better than women, in accordance to the deeply conventional reading of the relations between the sexes. Eve’s purpose for Adam makes her less spiritually pure and thus farther removed from God’s grace.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
In Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where Have You Been, Where are[a] You Going?,” Oates employs motifs, symbolism, and allegories to convey her holistic tone of disapproval towards the actions and outlook of the main character, Connie. Motifs are seen primarily in the references to music that channel Connie’s escape out of reality. Symbolism is also evident in the piece through the setting of Connie’s home which represents her only source of protection. The overall allegorical nature of the piece accentuates the ominous relationship between Connie and Arnold and foreshadows the ending. Through analyzing the active usage of motifs, symbolism, and allegory throughout the work, one can gain a clearer understanding of how these elements of fiction function together to produce Oates’ tone of dissatisfaction towards Connie.
In Joyce Carol Oates "where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" the reader is left with a chilling feeling as they read it 's haunting content. In this short story, the theme of fantasy vs. reality is explored through the protagonist Connie 's journey of self-realization as she leaves behind her naive self. Though the story follows Connie closely the third person omniscient point of view allows for developed story as Oates writes a warning to young girls everywhere.
Scholars have debated not only the nature of Iberian colonialism, but also the impact that independence had on the people of Latin America. Historian Jaime E. Rodriguez said that, “The emancipation of [Latin America] did not merely consist of separation from the mother country, as in the case of the United States. It also destroyed a vast and responsive social, political, and economic system that functioned well despite many imperfections.” I believe that when independence emerged in Latin America, it was a positive force. However, as time progressed, it indeed does cause conflict.
Williamson, George. ed. Milton: Formal Essays and Critical Asides. Cleveland: Case Western Reserve Univ. Press, 1970.
In the twentieth century, the avoidance of the using L1 in classrooms dominated teachers’ minds; as well it was implemented in many policies and guidelines of language teaching (Cook, 2001). Thornbury (2010) listed a set of arguments against using L1 in L2 classrooms mainly for that the translation of L2 into another language will play negative effects on students’ learning process. He pointed out that the use of L1 will result learners to have a cognitive dependence on their mother tongue at the expense of developing independence TL learning. Although the two language systems are not equivalent in many aspects, students may have an awareness of the notion of equivalence of the two languages if translation serves to convey meanings. Some argue that the use of translation to convey the meaning of the TL is more efficient and more memorable. However, Thornbury (2010) sees the opposite. He stated that the simple and direct way of translation will make L2 knowledge less memorable since the process lacks mental efforts in working out meanings.
Reichert, John. Milton's Wisdom: Nature and Scripture in Paradise Lost. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press. 1992