Final Overview

Throughout the semester, the dichotomy of gender has caught my attention and has led to me reexamine the treatment of women as compared to male counterparts either in the same text or in comparative literary pieces. As we finished our readings with Paradise Lost, I felt slightly unsatisfied by the placement of the text itself. Eve is set up as a reasonable human creation while Adam remains the emotional one of the pair. However, in Biblical and common knowledge Eve appears to be the one whose driven by emotions with an insatiable appetite. While Milton wrote this text late into the Renaissance, I believe it may be best interpreted as early as Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.

By viewing women as tempting and subservient, it confines them to their domesticity. However, by understanding Eve's desire for more than frolicking and blissful ignorance I believe that women may be striving for what it appears only men accomplish. By keeping women confined it would appear that women rebel from these roles in order to satisfy an intellectual desire. In terms of Doctor Faustus, Faustus longs for the ultimate knowledge, much like Eve longs for more intellectual capability. Eve's capacity to manipulate language resembles Faustus, and while both of their desires lead to their ultimate downfall it allows Eve the capability to understand her curiosity beyond what some may label a sinful downfall. Women don't rebel from their domestic constraints or subservient roles simply because they are bored or monstrous; they do so in order to attain the intellectual capacity that they were created with.

In terms of lustful natures, I believe that women suffer from the constraints of the subservient role they place as lessers to their husbands. While Eve challenges these set parameters early in book nine of Paradise Lost, readers of other Renaissance texts such as Arden of Faversham, Faerie Queen, and The Duchess of Malfi see similarities. Although Alice Arden did have a monstrous ending, I believe that by being forced into matrimony which may be considered a type of slavery, she began her love affair out of rebellion and desire for free choice in who she marries and chooses to be devoted to. While many marriages regardless of choice are not guaranteed to be successful, I believe that if Alice were given a choice Thomas Arden may not have suffered such a tragic fate. With regards to the Duchess she was allowed to choose her husband, but was confined to secrecy and shadows much like Alice was. Her fate was sealed by the tragic perceptions of those around her to believe her to being a harlot instead of a woman in love with a man below her station. While on the other hand, the Renaissance audience forgives men with the same shortcomings such as Frank Thorney, which the members of the audience and the play itself deem him as a lost soul with a chance at redemption. With only the Biblical framework to judge Eve based on her decision, there lacks any hope for women to be considered for the same redemption pompous, lustful men receive upon falling short of the good Christian persona. Perceptions of women as well as the binding expectations placed on them may be better understood after reading Milton's depiction of Eve's decision and her character analysis.

By giving commentary to what would otherwise be seen as the end all hope for women, Milton establishes Eve as an intelligent being created to be a lesser but longing to be independently ruled away from her husband who was ruled by God. While Adam came from God's own image, it would be safe to suggest that because Eve came from Adam's existence she too may be qualified to rule the kingdoms of Earth even though she lacks certain biological "superiority".