Knowledge is a Trap - Books 7-8 // Emma Dalgety

 Raphael the angel brings the warning to Adam and Eve to watch against Satan in Books 7-8, but he also brings a different warning I was not expecting. He speaks a rather specific warning directly to Adam: 

        Enough is left besides to search and know.

        But knowledge is as food, and needs no less

        Her temperance over appetite, to know

        In measure what the mind may well contain, 

        Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns

        Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind. (7.125-130)

This fascinated me, especially since Raphael repeats the warning in Book 8: "... joy thou / In what he gives to thee... heav'n is for thee too high / To know what passes there; be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being" (170-174). It is interesting to compare Eve's pursuits and inclinations to Adam's in this instant, because Eve is not concerned at all about the things Adam desires to know (she leaves the conversation to look after the garden!). In this way, their temptations will potentially be subtly different. Eve (potentially) desires power (or so her "fancy" - the one Satan planted - seems to suggest), but Adam desires knowledge. While this natural curiosity to know more about the world is good, as Raphael reassures Adam, it is also a potential danger. To know everything is to become omniscient, which is a characteristic reserved for God alone. If not watched carefully, Adam could fall into the same desire for characteristics of God that Satan experienced. 

This is a truth that was surprisingly acknowledged by Tolkien in Lord of the Rings (and a truth that is often forgotten by the scholars of this day and age). Saruman resided in Orthanc, which, in Tolkien's language, translates to "the Cunning Mind"; in a great moment of irony, Saruman becomes trapped in his fortress, after his pursuit of knowledge became corrupted and turned into a desire for power. Tolkien places great emphasis on how the greatest philosophers are also the most prone to corruption and the desire for power. 

I wonder if this is what will soon happen when Adam takes the fruit (aside from simply allowing reason to flee his mind when Eve speaks). The temptation of knowledge, which starts out as good, might end up being corrupted. Either way, he does not possess an advantage over Eve like I originally thought; the idea of becoming knowledgeable by eating the fruit is in his mind, and all it would take is for him to act upon it for sin to enter the world. Eve caves first, obviously, but Adam is currently in the same precarious situation of choice that she is in.

I commented on Raygan Boster and Haylee Lynd's posts.

Comments

  1. Justin JSeptember 21, 2021 at 9:21 AM

    I was definitely picking up on those messages as well. I'm not sure I agree with what Milton is actually trying to say here, but I get it. Often in the pursuit of knowledge people get so caught up in it that they miss the only knowledge we truly need: Knowing The LORD. Milton lived in an especially tumultuous time as far as the relationship between religion and scientific discovery went, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised to hear messages like this projected by him onto the Biblical narrative

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  2. Samantha TSeptember 21, 2021 at 9:38 AM

    Emma I really like your insight on these books. I found their pursuit of knowledge strange since they have everything they could want. But ultimately we see this will lead to their downfall in a much more dramatic way.

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