Learner Resource 5
Eve’s Temptation and fall
Key concepts: PreLapsarian, PostLapsarian
Look at lines 733-838
Lines 733-744: How does Milton use language to suggest the sinful nature of Eve’s desires?
Lines 745- 779: Explore the progression of Eve’s thoughts here.
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What arguments does she use to convince herself that she should eat the fruit?
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In particular explore her attitude to God and authority. How far do you find her rebellion
courageous or do you find it foolish?
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Do you feel Milton is guilty of gender stereotyping here?
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Lines 780-794: This is the moment of Eve’s fall. Explore the way Milton uses language to convey
the moment’s significance.
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Lines 795-834: In what ways does post lapsarian (after the fall) Eve seem different to
prelapsarian (before the fall) Eve?
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What do you think about her attitude to God and Adam in these lines?
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Do you find her a more interesting character in her fallen state?
Lines 834-838: What is significant about Eve’s behaviour here?

How does it further emphasise her fallen state?
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Extension work, A level: Compare the way Eve is presented here with the way a female
character is presented in your drama text.
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How far do you feel the writers are sympathetic to their female characters?
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Are they presented as intelligent thinking characters or characters driven by desires?

Is their behaviour presented more positively or negatively than the male characters in
your texts?
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Extension work, A level: Compare the way innocence and sin are presented here and in a
scene of your choice from your drama text.

What poetic and dramatic methods are used to convey these states?
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Extension work, A level: What do you feel that your two texts reveal about attitudes held
towards sin and wrong doing in the contexts in which they were produced?
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