The Fallacy of the Fall in Paradise Lost

Abstract

The old question: Why did Milton's Adam and Eve disobey the Divine Commandment? continues to provoke conflicting answers and consequently diverse accounts of the meaning of Paradiae Lost. That Milton's epic is, like King Laar, or Faust, or Moby Dick, a work able to sustain many seemingly-contrary interpretations—that in fact it contains them all to some degree—is clear to anyone who will reread the poem at intervals, following the lead first of one and then another critical guide. But this richness of implication has obscured the real logical handicap assumed by anyone who attempts to find the ultimate origins of the narrative action in what is familiar to us as occasion or motivation—in a word, in cause.

“With Such Joy Surcharg'd”: The Predicament of Satiety in Patristic Theology andParadiseLost

“…In a classic article, Millicent Bell wrote, “Adam and Eve do not sin simply because they aspire above their limitations—Milton could not imagine a God who would curse the yearning for greater wisdom and goodness. But they had to learn how to make this upward progress” (879) .…”

“…Bell frequently describes Paradise Lost in terms that are strikingly Origenist, although she seems unaware of this influence; see 867, 876, 878‐79.…”