Gender hierarchy in Paradise Lost: "inferior who is free"

Abstract

For modern women so influenced by second-wave feminism, the splendor of Eden in Milton’s Paradise Lost is marred by the masculine diminishments of Eve throughout the epic. But, with insights and tools advanced by modern feminists, I believe female readers can make peace with Milton’s portrayal of Eve. Though she is diminished, silenced, and trivialized throughout the poem, she uses intuition—what the angel Raphael holds to be more the province of angels than humans—to look within and find dignity. By the time Eve leaves Eden, I believe she is listening to an inner voice, based on what the feminist Carol Gilligan calls an “ethics of care,” and this voice essentially mutes the background patriarchy. As modern feminist readers, I think we can smile and relate to an Eve who learns to live within the patriarchy, but not of it.