Milton Part 1: Resemblances

Billy Schraufnagel

English 125-8, Fayen

January 25, 2000

Short Milton Paper

“Resemblances” in Paradise Lost

Eve’s dream in Book V of Paradise Lost is remarkable in that it presents Eve’s first taste of “offense and trouble” (V. 34), the first interaction between Satan and the humans, and the first hint to the reader that man’s time in Eden is limited. Satan’s decisive act, the temptation of Eve, and Eve’s decisive act, the subsequent temptation of Adam, are both outlined and foreshadowed, like any good literary introduction. Furthermore, Milton gives us tools with which to analyze (250 years pre-Freud) the dream by providing Adam’s reaction immediately following. His lecture on physiology / comfort of his wife are just as integral to our understanding of the dream as the actual dream itself. The most revealing example of Milton’s literary clues is Adam’s seemingly irrelevant musing: “Some such resemblances methinks I find / Of our last evening’s talk, in this thy dream, / But with addition strange” (V. 114-116). The words “resemblances” and “addition” are the most intriguing and a key focal point for discussion of Eve’s dream. On one level, Eve’s dream “resembles” the night before because Satan had been spying on them, using their words as a starting point to formulate his plan of attack. Naturally, his initial foray should manpiulate their weaknesses (via “addition strange”) as he understands them from listening the night before. On a larger thematic level (but only discovered through closer reading), Milton uses “resemblance” and “addition strange” to build upon his already established sense of imitation. Dreams imitate life, hell imitates heaven, the fall of man imitates the fall of Satan; these are only a few of the imitations that Milton suggests.

The first task should be an investigation into which “resemblances” Adam as a character actually sees between the previous night’s conversation (as told in Book IV) and Eve’s recounting of the dream. The very beginning of the dream immediately sounds familiar– Eve is called by a mysterious voice. In Book IV, she eventually discovers Adam as the source of that voice. In order to instill trust within Eve, Satan lures her with Adam’s voice using an experience he knows (from overhearing Eve’s “creation story”) is familiar to her. Adam’s first words to Eve– “‘Return fair Eve, whom fli’st thou?’” (IV. 481-482)– are echoed eerily by Satan, his imitator: “‘Why sleep’st thou Eve?’” (V. 38).

Satan’s next words play upon a curiosity that we already know Eve possesses, curiosity about night. In Book IV she naively asks Adam, “‘But wherefore all night long shine these [the stars], for whom / This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?’” (IV. 657-658). Adam assures her that the stars pay tribute to God when the Sun does no longer, reminding her of the natural order to work during the day and sleep at night. However, Satan tells her a different story: “now is the pleasant time” (V. 38). He launches a very mysterious, wonderful description of the night before leading Eve through garden with his voice (as Adam had) to the Tree of Knowledge.

Satan by this time knows that the only weakness in man is the possibility of his eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Of course, he resolves to manipulate this weakness to bring about their fall: “O fair foundation laid whereon to build / Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds / With more desire to know” (IV. 521-523). This is exactly what he does, promising Eve that she will rise, become happier, and even become a goddess. He holds the fruit to her mouth, she tastes, and they fly up to the clouds. And although it is merely a dream, Satan has planted the seed of curiosity and wonder about the Tree of Knowledge in Eve.

Thus we see that in a narrative sense Eve’s dream resembles Adam and Eve’s previous conversation because Satan, observing the entire thing, capitalizes on the weaknesses they reveal through that conversation. But Milton uses the idea of resemblance, or imitating, in a broader sense as well. First of all, Satan himself is an imitator We have seen how he imitates Adam in an effort to secure Eve’s trust. Later in the dream he imitates an angel, “like on of those from heav’n” (V. 55).

In addition, Satan’s urging of Eve towards ambition imitates his own ambition. To emphasize this linguistically, Milton several times restates adjectives in progressively increasing order. For example the “fruit divine” is “sweet” but would be “more sweet” if eaten (V. 67-68). Almost immediately following, Milton uses a rapid repetition of the word “more,” in “more Communicated, more abundant,” and “honoured more” (V. 71-73). Finally Satan, offers Eve the most compelling reason for ambition: “happy though thou art, / Happier thou may’st be” (V. 75-76). These choices of words by Milton through Satan serve to plant the idea of rising and/or improvement to both Eve and the reader. This tone echos, in a contradictory way, a phrase uttered by the narrator in Book IV: “O yet happiest if ye seek / No happier state, and know to know no more” (IV. 774-775) Notice here a downward regression from “happiest to happier” and negation of the word “more.” Thus Milton has already established his view of ambition and rising as evil, setting the stage for Satan’s trickery. Through imitating in an opposing fashion, Satan distorts Milton’s own views on ambition.

Adam’s response to Eve includes an almost lecture-like description on the nature of dreams, which we can safely assume is close to Milton’s own view. According to Adam, the human psyche is comprised of reason and fancy, which he personifies as male and female, respectively. Fancy forms imaginations “Which reason joining or disjoining, frames” (V. 106). However, at night when fancy “retires” and “rests,” “mimic fancy wakes / To imitate her; but misjoining shapes, Wild work produces oft” (V. 108-112). Obviously, mimic fancy is the dream imitating reality in a distorting manner, “misjoining” that which reason “joins” or “disjoins.” Notice also the emphasis on resting and retiring, as at night. Satan, the great imitator, comes at night. The reality he presents is a distorted image of the day, where everything is reversed, much like hell is a distorted version of heaven. Adam says to Even, “what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream, / Waking thou never wilt consent to do” (V. 120-121). In the same manner, Satan says to himself that his sense of revenge “compels me now / To do what else though damned I should abhor” (IV. 391-392). In Eve and Satan, then, sleep and damnation are a reversed imitation of waking and heaven.

At this point, several different imitations have emerged. Satan imitates Adam and the angel, night imitates day, hell imitates heaven, dreams imitate reality. Through this blend of conflicting images, Milton creates a space for a dynamic struggle. Although we are certain that he is in favor of God, goodness, and heaven, he gives a tremendous amount of subtlety and power of persuasion to the opposing side. Milton portrays Satan as the most human character in the narrative, driven by some uncontrollable force yet wracked with internal struggles. His arguments to Eve for tasting from the Tree of Knowledge are especially convincing, especially to those of us with a modern perspective; “why else set here?” (V. 63), Satan asks Eve of the Tree of Knowledge, but for to taste? Perhaps Milton felt strong pulls from both sides as he wrote the poem, which would account for the strength of Satan’s character. Or perhaps, in the more likely event, he felt that the only being that could foil the human race and its God must have been as cunning and strong-willed as the creature portrayed in Paradise Lost.