The Temptation of Eve in a Dream and in Reality

Throughout John Milton's Paradise Lost, the reader feels a sense of foreboding. Because the reader knows that the fall of humankind is inevitable, the warnings and discussion of "free will" throughout the first eight books of the poem serve only to make Eve's transgression all the more tragic. The reader sees evidence of how the fall could have been avoided, and therefore feels as if it was unnecessary. If only Eve had heeded the warnings, if only she had listened, we might all be living in paradise. When Eve dreams of the fall, she is tempted by a very simple argument made by an angel--that if she eats the fruit from the tree, she will rise to heaven and become a God. In the actual temptation, however, the argument...