Paradise book 9 summary

Book 9 details the story of Adam and Eve, the rise and fall of man. The story
begins with Satan, who was hiding after being exiled from the Garden of Eden.
The devil hid in the garden in the disguised of a mist. Once inside the garden, he
turned into a snake. He sees one last moment of reluctance to deal with Adam
and Eve, but his anger at them signals that he will continue.

Adam and Eve get up in the morning and discuss whether to work together in the
garden or separately. Adam realizes the prophecy on Eve's advice that they act
separately, and believes that they are more likely to fall into temptation if they
are not together. However, Eve said that there is still a lot of work to be done and
the argument is that if she is always safe and her goodness is never really tested,
then she cannot be considered really good. So they parted, unaware that this
would be their last innocent experience together in the garden.

Satan finds Eve alone and speaks to her in the form of a serpent. Eve asks him if
he learns to speak, and Satan tells him to eat the fruit that gave him the power to
speak and understand everything. He offers to tell her where to find the fruit and
lead her to the tree of knowledge. Eve recognizes him as a tree from which God
forbade him and Adam to eat. Satan tried to convince her that the fruit gave her
the knowledge that Eve should disobey God so that she could show him that she
was capable of thinking for herself. The devil said that he ate from the tree and is
still alive. He assured Eve that God would never punish her for such a trivial
matter as eating fruit. Satan also pleases Eve, saying that if she eats fruit, she will
likely have the knowledge needed to become a goddess.

Eve considers Satan's argument and considers that the serpent ate him and did
not die. She was fascinated by the beauty and taste of the fruit, and, attracted by
the idea of maximum knowledge and intelligence, she finally took a bite. Satan
slipped into the forest, and Eve rejoiced over the fruit. Eve considers offering
some of the fruit to Adam because she believes that eating it has raised her level
and she cares to be equal to it. Eventually she decides to share her fruit because if
she has to die for her disobedience, she wants Adam to die with her. She looks for
Adam and tells him what happened and how she came to eat the fruit. Adam is
shocked and upset but also decides to eat the fruit because he does not want to
live without Eve. He eats fruit, and he and Eve gain new knowledge by having sex
out of physical lust rather than marital love. They wake up later only because they
regret what they did and feel ashamed. They start fighting, blaming each other for
what happened.
After sex, Adam and Eve fall into a deep sleep. They awake and are overcome
with shame and guilty knowledge. They both are weeping, and they launch into
arguments with each other. Adam says Eve is at fault; she replies in kind. Milton
describes them as spending "fruitless hours" (1188) in bitter accusation. Each is
willing to blame the other, but neither is willing to accept responsibility. Paradise
is gone and in its place guilt, blame, and shame. Milton says that both of them
have given way to "Appetite" (1129), and reason is lost. Paradise has ended; the
earth has begun.