The Fall of Man: Andrew Henley

        Before the fall in Paradise Lost beautiful language is used to meticulously describe the perfection of life before the fall. Milton does his best to make the garden comfortable and at peace while all the rest of creation seems to be in chaos with the constant threat caused by Satans Betrayal. The Garden is a wonderful place, one that nearly everyone would love to live forever in, and when Adam and Eve betray God and get kicked out of the garden, we grieve the lost of what was. However in book 11 we see a different perspective to the betrayal other than our own. 
    While Eve is put to sleep Michael shows Adam what will become of the Earth. Adam sees his own son murdering another, then other ways of men dying: through disease, war and old age. Adam grieves deaths existence and asks for an alternative, which is an interesting parallel to Jesus in Gethsemane. Adam is shown other visions of Athiests, armies clashing, and Noahs flood. Although at the end of Adams visions there is an amount of hope provided, you can't help but see how Adam struggles with the curse that comes from Adam and Eve's disobeyment. It's easy to be angry at Adam and Eve after what they did, but they simply could not have known the consequences, and when the consequences are shown to them, its hard not to feel bad for them. They asked for knowledge and it was given to them. Sometimes ignorance is truly bliss.

Comments

  1. Ashlyn ScismSeptember 28, 2021 at 10:49 AM

    It is true that we as humans cannot help but lament at the tragady of the fall. We know first hand what it is to live in the aftermath of the fall. We are broken and have always been broken and I wonder how much more devastating it must have been for Adam and Eve, who were once unbroken. We have never known what it is to be perfect but they did and that itself is devastating.

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