LE3 .A278 2007

2007

Cunningham, Richard

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

English

English & Theatre Studies

Many feminist arguments about John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' accuse the poet of misogyny, asserting that Eve's character is a negative reflection of women, even as an opposing camp of critics see Milton's Eve as a revolutionary depiction of equality between the sexes, and 'Paradise Lost' as a subversively feminist text. I will explain the polarity of criticism on Milton's Eve by suggesting that Milton writes two different sides to her character, and that the presentations depend upon a closer examination of knowledge and education in the poem. I will also consider early modern ideas about education and marriage, as Eve is portrayed, in many passages, as a paragon of seventeenth-century virtue and domesticity. Eve's conflicting speech and behavior during key scenes about knowledge, however, showcase a more ambitious side of Eve, one who ignores the domestic sphere in favor of a more masculine education.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2821