adam and eve
...t from that tree. He explained that all of God's creatures are very jealous of his newfound fortune, and because Eve is able to partake in the same fortune, she should take advantage of it. She began to reason that possibly God was wrong when he said she would die, because the serpent was still very much alive and full of knowledge and reason. This was the beginning of Eve's fall into the serpent's evil trap. Because God was Eve's as well as her husband Adam's creator, they of course were very faithful in their worship to him and believed everything he said to be valid and fair for their own well-being. Never had Eve questioned God's intentions until the snake implanted into her mind the possibility that God might not be as genuine as she believed. As in the Genesis version, the serpent told Eve that God was wrong, and she will not die if she eats from the tree. However, Milton elaborated on this idea, and had the serpent show Eve how not only will she live after she eats the fruit, but she will become godly, and for this very reason, God did not want her to eat from the tree. The snake says God's intention was to keep Adam and Eve below him, keep Himself superior to them, even though they themselves were supposedly the Gods of the Earth. The serpent says to Eve, "What can your knowledge hurt him, or this Tree Impart against his will if all be his? Or is it envie, and can envie dwell In heav'nly brests?" (Lines 727-730). He is saying that if the tree is a part of God's own creation, it would not hurt them, and it is just a trick to keep Adam and Eve below Him in status. This argument, as well as the above argument of the snake's well-being after eating from the tree, are both very reasonable, and may account for why Eve fell for the serpent's deception and ate from the tree. One last and very controversial addition by Milton to the story of Adam and Eve, is Adam's status during the temptation. In the Genesis version, Adam is with Eve while the serpent is trying to convince her to eat the apple, and in Milton's version, he was not there at all. In the genesis version, it is hard to decipher whose fault it was that they fell into the serpent's enticement, because both were present and were able to make judgments whether it was right or wrong. Though the serpent was directing his speech to Eve, if Adam was there, he would certainly be able to protest if he did not believe it was right, which he didn't, and therefore it is not fair to blame Eve alone for their downfall. However, in Milton's version, earlier in the day before Eve met the snake, she made the decision to work alone, apart from her husband that day, so she was by herself with the snake. After Eve told Adam what had occurred that day with the Tree and the serpent, an debate arose about whose fault it was that Eve ate from the Tree. Adam claims that if she had never been apart from him, she would not have fallen for the trick and they would not be doomed and miserable for eternity like they have become. He says that she should have known better, as he said "I also err'd in overmuch admiring What seemd in thee so perfect, that I thoug...