SOURCE: McColley, Diane Kelsey. “Shapes of Things Divine: Eve, Myth, and Dream.” In Milton's Eve, pp. 63-109. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.

In this excerpt, Colley examines the scene in which Eve observes herself in the pool after her creation. Colley disputes interpretations that view Eve's actions as a narcissistic impulse, instead maintaining that the scene asserts Eve's free will.

“answering Looks”

The allusion to pagan fable that most haunts views of Milton's Eve is her Narcissus-like behavior when, fresh from her Creator's hand, she pauses at the verge of the mirror lake attracted by her own reflection and has to be called twice: first by God, who leads her to Adam, and then, as she starts back toward the softer beauty of the face in the lake, by Adam himself. Scholars have often noted echoes from Ovid's tale of Narcissus and attributed to Eve a native vanity...