Matea Crljenić

Professor Boris Berić

Love, Sex and Marriage in Milton’s Paradise Lost

7 December 2019

Feministic reading of Milton’s Paradise Lost

In “Religion and Ideology: A Political Reading of Paradise Lost,” Frederic Jameson

expresses a critical attitude towards Milton’s representation of the “fairer sex” in the

following way: “At any rate, the marks of Milton’s sexism here and throughout [Paradise

Lost] are too obvious and too embarrassing … to document at any great length.” (quote

provided by professor Berić) But in the works of Edward Le Comte Milton & Sex and Anne

Ferry's "Milton's Creation of Eve”, Milton is portrayed as a man ahead of his time who

respects women and wants to see them as equal partners. This paper’s aim is to provide the

proof that Milton is not a misogynist, but a revolutionary and in some case a feminist.

The main disputes with Milton’s view on women are his portrayal of Eve in Paradise

Lost and his private life. Firstly, in Paradise Lost Eve is first seen through Satan’s eyes. Satan

sees two "of far nobler shape erect and tall/Godlike erect, with native Honor clad/In naked

Majesty seem'd Lords of all" (Milton 4. 288-290), and he regards Eve as an equal to Adam, he

sees no difference between them. There is no distinction between Eve and Adam, both of

them are portrayed as majestic and “Lords”(Ferry 118). However the line from Paradise Lost

"He for God only, she for God in him" (Milton 4. 299) supports the fact that Milton was a

misogynist. The best way to explain the line is that Milton used a Bible for reference and as

much as he changed some parts of the story of man’s first sin, he had to stay true to some

aspects of the story. Eve was made for Adam, but she was his equal in every regard. As

Edward Le Comte said in Milton & Sex, Milton portrayed Eve as more than a housewife, yes
she did took care of Adam, but she was capable of carrying an intellectual conversation with

Adam. Saying that Adam is a god compared to Eve is not correct, she was made to be his

equal and, if Adam can be considered as a godly creature, than so can Eve as she was made

from his rib.

Regarding his private life, Milton did indeed marry three times and he wanted to get a

divorce from his first wife, Marry Powell, however that does not mean that he did not respect

women. He wanted his wife to be his highbrow sparring partner and not just a housemaid. His

later wives, Katherine Woodcock and Elizabeth Minshull, helped him write and took care of

him physically and intellectually as they read to him and had cerebral discussions with him.

His experience in life created a demand for him to break the societies norms and demands

from his wives to be something more, to be someone, not just a servant. (Le Comte 33-35)

With that in mind, Milton created a story that pushed the reader to see the Fall and

Man’s first sin through the eyes of Satan, also one of God’s creations, and Satan does not

distinguish Adam from Eve at first, later on he chose Eve to take the blame for Man’s first

sin, but the reason for that can be interpreted in two ways. In first interpretation Satan, and

Milton, regard Eve, woman, as naïve and easily manipulated. He does not care that Eve will

be blamed and punished, which agrees with the point of Frederic Jameson that Milton does

not hold women in high regard. However the second interpretation shows Milton as a

protofeminist, as his portrayal of Eve shows that he is against the portrayal of women as

simple housemaids and that he considers them to be intelligent beings who need proper

guidance to greatness that is hidden by societies demands and roles. He portrayed Eve as

naïve in regards to Satan’s manipulations, but only to prove that the way of life in which

women are not educated and are only respected when courted and giving birth, is inherently

wrong.
To conclude, if all of the reading strategies discussed in this paper are employed the

conclusion that Milton was revolutionary in his time regarding his relationship to women rises

by itself.

Works Cited

Ferry, Anne. "Milton's Creation of Eve." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. 28. 1.

Winter 1988. pp. 113-132. 7 December 2019

Le Comte, Edward. “Milton & Sex.” Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014. Pp. 33 -35.

Milton, John. "Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books." Ed. Merritt Y. Hughes. John Milton:

Complete Poems and Major Prose. New York: The Odyssey Press, 1957. 207-469.