“sober certainty of waking bliss”

Since we didn’t really get to talk about book V in class today (which was fine, what a great class!) I thought I’d write a post about some of my thoughts. I liked this section a lot; Milton sort of gained some points back concerning Eve. She is referred to by Adam as “heaven’s last best gift” (19) and I like that description… I guess this is me embracing the difference between men and women, and appreciating the fact that Milton is too. Women are sort of like the icing on the cake; the cake is okay without icing, but i mean, seriously, it’s not that good. But then again, they are so much better than that; God’s final and best gift to the world is Eve. Well, even if my commentary is nonsense, I loved Milton’s phraseology there. And Milton made me chuckle and smile gladly when he calls Adam “our primitive great sire.” Even if his meaning did not recall “cave man” to his contemporaries, this twenty-first century gal really enjoyed it.

But anyway, I liked how Eve is characterized throughout this book. “For I this night, / Such night till this I never passed, have dreamed, / If dreamed, not as I oft am wont, of thee / Works of day past, or morrow’s next design” (30-33). I LOVE that she dreams. She dreams like all the time, about her love and her days and the future. Aw, she’s a lot like me! That’s just such an exquisite idea; they are in paradise, in want of nothing, and still she dreams. I also like the description of the dream (35-70+) which reminded me of her account of her creation. She thinks the voice calling her is Adam (because who else would it be? that’s who it was the first time) and she trusts it this time, because she was wrong at the very beginning. This dream just seemed like an echo of her first awakening, and maybe Satan did that on purpose (he’s good and evil like that).

The last section that really told me something about Eve occurs in the lines 129 to 131, when Eve cries after Adam comforts her. Even though she is comforted (”she was cheered”) she still cries, which indicates a deep emotion. She seems older and wiser than Adam to me in this moment. She has had this horrible, unexplainable dream and she knows it’s scary even though it’s gone. Her character just has more depth in this moment, and definitely more emotional depth than Adam has. I liked Milton’s Eve in book V.

AND, when I was looking up some things for this post, I reread Book IV, lines 460 to 475 and discovered Eve’s relationship with God, and she has it before she even sees Adam!

As I bent down to look, just opposite,
A shape within the watery gleam appeared
Bending to look on me, I started back,
It started back, but pleased I soon returned,
Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love; there I had fixed
Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warned me, What though seest,
What there though seest fair creature is thyself,
With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
Thy coming, and thy soft embraces, he
Whose image thou art, him thou shall enjoy
Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear
Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called
Mother of the human race: what could I do,
But follow strait, invisibly thus led?

What voice could Eve hear (my own emphasis) but God’s? Or perhaps an angel’s. But I would like to think of this voice that speaks to Eve as God’s, comforting her and explaining her purpose. So until I am told this is wrong, I feel a lot better about Eve’s relationship with God and to Adam. It’s still so complicated, but I am getting more satisfied with Paradise Lost’s treatment of Eve.