Seduction Flashcards
Introduction
-John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) retells the Fall of Man through a theological, poetic, and philosophical lens, aiming “to justify the ways of God to men”. Book 9, the dramatic centre of the epic, charts the seduction of Eve and Adam, culminating in mankind’s spiritual collapse.
-in Milton’s Augustinian-Puritan theology, seduction is not merely sexual or rhetorical- it is the distortion of truth, the manipulation of reason, and the corruptive application of free will
-rooted in Satan’s meditated guile, seduction reveals the deceptive potential of language to subvert divine order and exploit human autonomy.
-Satan’s rhetorical campaign against Eve, the symbolic allure of the forbidden fruit and Eve’s psychological seduction of Adam comprise three major seductions in the poem. These moments dramatise temptation not as a brute force but as internal negotiation and rationalisation, echoing Augustine’s definition of evil as the privation of good, not an equal opposing force.
-Milton’s own political writing, particularly Areopagitica (1644), lends the seduction added complexity: evil must be permitted so that good can be freely chosen. Seduction, then, becomes the test of virtue. But virtue fails- free will falters- and the Fall becomes an act of mental disobedience before it is a physical transgression.
1: Satan’s seduction of Eve- the politics of persuasion and sexualisation
Quotes and analysis
-Milton presents Satan’s seduction of Eve as a conscious performance, where every movement and word is meticulously crafted to mislead. ”Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve, to lure her eye”. This image is overtly erotic and performative- Satan manipulates Eve through her sensitivity to beauty and her aesthetic devotion to order, weaponising her virtues against her. The verb “lure” positions Satan as a predator; his curling motions echo the coils of rhetoric, seductive but constricting.
-”Mark his play”. This theatrical language reduces her to an object of spectacle, and Satan to a performer of temptation, aligning the seduction with sexualised spectatorship.
-*”with serpent tongue/ Organic, or impulse of vocal air,/ His fraudulent temptation thus began”**. Here, Milton highlights the unnatural origin of Satan’s speech- it is not truly organic but a mechanical mimicry of reason, a simulacrum of truth. This links back to the invocation’s contrast between “unpremeditated verse” and Satan’s “meditated guile”- dichotomy between divine inspiration and calculated deceit.
-”And gaze and worship thee of right declared/ Sovereign of creatures universal dame”. This line constitutes an idolatrous inversion: Eve is exalted to divine status, a goddess deserving of worship. Satan corrupts not only her image of herself but the cosmic hierarchy, placing her above adam, above God.
-”hovering and blazing with delusive light/ Misleads th’amazed wanderer from his way”. Satan is likened to will-o’-the-wisp- a flickering, seductive light that leads travellers astray. It is not enlightenment, but illusion. This metaphor aligns Satan’s rhetoric with false illumination, a parody of divine wisdom.
-”here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine/ fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,/ of virtue to make wise”. The alliterative appeal mirrors Genesis 3:6, but with key distortions. Eve intellectualises the temptation- she rationalises disobedience as growth. She no longer quotes God’s command but constructs a new logic, blending Satan’s flattery with her own ambition
-”in such abundance lies our choice”. This line celebrates autonomy, but in doing so, marks her departure from obedience. She seduces herself mentally before she ever eats- the rhetorical seduction becomes self-perpetuating.
1: Satan’s seduction of Eve- the politics of persuasion and sexualisation
CRITICS
CRITIC: Stanley Fish argues that “Milton means for us to be seduced by Satan”. Satan’s eloquence is deliberately powerful- he refers to Eve as “his purposed prey”. The reader, like Eve, is meant to feel the pull of persuasion before recognising the danger. Fish’s point is ethical as well as aesthetic- to read Paradise Lost is to undergo trial, to resist rhetorical seduction as Eve fails to.
But Milton layers Satan’s speech with markers of falsity “fraudulent”, “delusive”, “dark intent”- so the alert reader is equipped to reject the seduction. Thus, the poem models the moral responsibility of interpretation.
2: Eve’s seduction of Adam- from reason to emotional entanglement
Quotes and analysis
-following her fall, Eve becomes not only seduced but the seductress, enacting the final corruption of mankind through emotional rhetoric and shared disobedience. Before approaching Adam, Eve deliberates ”more equal” “superior”, “inferior”. These comparatives, echoing Satan’s speech patterns, signal her internalisation of his hierarchy-based logic. She now speaks the language of rebellion, seeking parity through shared sin, not through divine union.
-when she offers the fruit to Adam, she appeals to rational enlightenment. ”but of divine effect/ to open eyes, and make them gods who taste”. This mirrors Satan’s earlier pitch- she has fully absorbed his ideology and now recasts transgression as empowerment. Her phrasing is prophetic and deceptive, masking rebellion in theological language.
-”if death/ consort with thee, death is to me as life” ”our state cannot be severed; we are one/ one flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself”. These lines echo Genesis 2:24, but in Milton’s hands, they become tragedy not celebration. Adam chooses love over divine obedience, elevating eve to the position god once held. The phrase ”consort with thee” likens death to marriage- a powerful inversion.
2: Eve’s seduction of Adam- from reason to emotional entanglement
CRITICS and CONTEXT
CONTEXT: this paradox captures Adam’s fallen logic- he values union with Eve over spiritual survival. His language reflects marital absolutism, but Milton complicates this with his views in The Divorce Tracts, where he claims that failed marriages should be dissolvable if they impede the soul. Adam’s inability to “sever” from Eve becomes a form of spiritual self-destruction.
CRITIC: C.S Lewis provocatively claimed that Eve, in offering the fruit was “committing murder”. Her seduction of Adam, then, is not just loving but lethal. Yet, voltaire, contrastingly, asserts that Paradise Lost is unique in making love a virtue not a vice. Milton’s Adam is torn between these poles- his love both ennobles and ruins him.
Adam is not seduced blindly. The narrative affirms he “freely taste”. This sin is not deception but emotional over reliance- Milton critiques even love when it replaces agape with eros.
3: the forbidden fruit- symbol of seduction, site of disobedience
Quotes and analysis
-the fruit itself is less a source of temptation and a more a symbol test- a trial of obedience rendered in physical form. ”the strict forbiddance, how to violate/ the sacredFruit forbidden”. The verb “violate” frames the act in sacrilegious terms- the Fall is not merely moral, but cosmic. This is no arbitrary act; it is spiritual trespass
-eve initially echoes scripture ”But of this tree we may not taste nor touch; God so commanded”. This near-verbatim repetition of Genesis 3.3 shows her original clarity. But as she falls, the fruit becomes reimagined not as taboo, but as transcendent.
-”here grows the cure of all”. This phrase casts Eden itself as lacking- a radical reevaluation of paradise as incomplete. Milton dramatises the danger of rationalising sin as progress.
-the animals’s reaction underscores Satan;s separation. ”all other beasts that saw, with like desire/ Longing and envying stood, but could not reach”. Satan is physically and metaphorically elevate- he climbs the tree, placing himself above the natural world. This ascent is a blasphemous parody of heavenly elevation, reinforcing Milton’s concern with hierarchy and spiritual place.
-”the threatener […] but to keep ye low and ignorant/ his worshippers”. Satan reframes God as tyrannical, casting obedience as suppression. His logic mimics political anti-monarchal rhetoric, connecting to Eikonoklastes and Milton’s opposition to divine right kingship. The seduction is not just moral but ideological.
3: the forbidden fruit- symbol of seduction, site of disobedience
CRITICS AND CONTEXT
CRITIC: Noam Reisner argues that the fruit is “an arbitrary sign of mankind’s trial and obedience”. It is not what the fruit is, but what it represents- a test of choice.
Milton’s theology does not blame the fruit, the serpent of even ignorance- it blames the will. Seduction only succeeds because Eve and Adam are willing to be seduced
David Reid:”Error is a lapse of mind and like nonsense that cannot be understood”. Sin is a failure of coherence- not illogical, but morally incoherent.
CONTEXT: areopagitica (1644) asserts that evil must exist for good to be freely chosen. Eve and Adam fail not because the temptation is too great, but because they choose to interpret fruit through selfish optics.
Conclusion
-in Paradise Lost, seduction is the medium through which sin enters the world- not through brute force, put through persuasive speech, distorted logic and reimagined hierarchies. Whether it be Satan’s flattery and rhetorical traps, the symbolic allure of the fruit, or eve’s tragic appeal to Adam’s love, the Fall is predicated on a failure to resist internal temptation
-all the fallen characters share a key trait: they are already mentally fallen before they act. The eating is symbolic- a formality. Their language betrays their fallenness: full of satanic comparatives, epistemological doubt, and the intrusion of “death” into their moral vocabulary.
-yet Milton leaves us with Felix culpa- the fortunate fall. Because of seduction and sin, mankind is given the opportunity for redemption, growth and moral agency. Jesus’s sacrifice restores the possibility of salvation, but only if we, like Eve and Adam, can learn to resist the seduction s of illusion and choose freely the good
