EN372: All About Eve

Spring Semester 2011

Second Essay Assignment

The second essay is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, April 20. The paper should be about 5-6 pages long.

In Eve: A Biography (New York University Press, 1998), Pamela Norris writes, "Milton uses the Genesis story of Adam and Eve to give new vigour to the idea that women are unreliable and mendacious, dangerously independent and self-involved, while it is their superiority to women that makes men vulnerable."

Do you agree or disagree with this assessment? Write an essay in which you analyze Milton’s depiction of Eve. Explain whether you think the Eve of Paradise Lost is ultimately a positive or negative representation of woman and what Milton’s characterization of her reveals about his views on sex, gender, men, women or marriage. Cite specific evidence from the poem to support your thesis.

I recognize that it can be daunting to write on a subject this broad in a work of this length and complexity. Feel free to focus your essay on an important portion of the poem, such as:

• Eve's memory of her creation in her first speech (4.440-491)
• Eve's dream (5.28-93)
• Adam's plea for a mate (8.357-520)
• the "separation colloquy" (9.205-384)
• Eve's temptation and fall (9.532-838)

You could use one of these passages to make an argument about Milton's Eve, with reference to themes and details in the work as a whole.

As noted on the course homepage, your paper should follow the MLA style for formatting and for quotation and citation.