Gender Roles In Paradise Lost, By John Milton

Enlightenment thinking trusts a new era of thought into 17th century England. Development of all branches of society began to emerge due to changes in thought that brought forth the betterment of daily life. Paradise Lost by John “Blindman” Milton slaps this new idea right in the face by returning to his idea of orthodoxy: gender roles that suppress women. Milton uses Satan as an early feminist who is striving for equality against the hierarchal structure. Adam and Eve are forced into traditional gender roles to emphasize Milton’s distaste for Enlightenment thought. Adam the father of mankind becomes an almost pompous educated man whose wife Eve follows him like a mindless lamb as women follow their husbands for generations. Milton uses Satan, Adam and Eve’s actions to exhibit effects of acting against
Female subservience plagued society through with history suppressing the voices of women to create “...silence in the public sphere and give unstinting obedience to father and husband…”(Norton) to father a patriarchal dominance that limits the abilities of women. Enlightenment thinks like Mary Wollstonecraft and Name Of Otherfeminst planted the seed for early feminism changing the idea that “Wife and servant are the same…” (Chudleigh) but are equal to man. Wollstonecraft Milton ignores Enlightenment ideas pressing Eve back into the model of traditional gender roles. Milton emphasizes Eve’s lower status by proclaiming that “G-d set thee[Adam] above her[Eve]”(Milton 9. 149) showing that women are meant to below men. Milton made sure that Eve never spoke directly to G-d only to Adam, creating a commentary on the holiness of women. Paradise Lost is Milton’s way of showing his readers that women should stay in their place which is away from knowledge and most likely in the kitchen. Milton is a misogynistic pig that is also blind and writes awful books