Hannah Stevens

British Literature
November 30th, 2012

Nature Before and After the Eating of the Forbidden Fruit

In book nine of John Miltons epic poem Paradise Lost, the story takes a turn and Milton
focuses directly on Adam and Eves actual sin committed. Before the initial act of disobedience,
Milton spends a lot of this time describing the beauty of the garden in which they reside, with a
lot of spiritual words representing the lack of evil in the world they live, leading up to the scene
in which Eve convinces Adam to work apart from each other. After much discussion on the
matter, Adam reluctantly agrees with Eve and they go their separate ways and continue on with
their gardening of the spiritual place, to get the most work done in the time they have. When Eve
eats from the Tree of Knowledge, at the word of Satan, the description of the Garden becomes
evil, and faded instead of powerful, spiritual, and bright as the descriptions are before Eve eats
from the tree. The nature around Adam and Eve may still be beautiful, but because of their
disobedience, Milton describes their setting differently as he does earlier in book nine. Adam and
Eve lose their Paradise because of their sins and they lose the beautiful world around them that
Milton provides through his text, and just as easily, takes away from them.
The literal descriptions of Paradise are changed and altered to reflect the severity of the
sin, but while Adam and Eve eat the fruit, the scenes around them stay the same, if not brighten.
Eve sees with a new clarity that she did not have before and for a few moments Adam no longer
regrets his decision. Together they lust for each other and are blind to what they have just done.
Both of them feel a divinity inside of them as they eat the fruit and Milton describes this feeling
saying, that now as with new wine intoxicated both they swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel
Divinity within them breeding wings (Milton, 1994). Both only have eyes for each other at that

moment and their eyes are clouded to what nature is telling them through its trembling and
groaning.
The spiritual garden that Adam and Eve reside in is a beautiful place of perfection that is
due to the work that they put in, along with the power of God that keeps it heavenly and in order.
The sunrise, that happens every morning, is described as being sacred light (Milton, 1978) and
given a higher power over any normal sunrise on earth, with just one word. The flowers in the
early dawn are described as smelling of incense, when all things that breathe from th earths
great altar send up silent praise to the Creator, and his nostrils fill with grateful smell (Milton,
1978) showing that even God is pleased with what is going on in the garden and holds the
flowers up to their highest potential on the earth. Everything is beautiful, and everything is
peaceful; the world is surrounded with the sweetest scents and airs and all Adam and Eve have
to complain about is how much work it is to keep Paradise the way that it is.
After Eve eats from the glorious Tree of Knowledge, the scenes around her change
drastically. Milton begins by saying that Earth felt the wound as the apple was eaten and nature
gave signs of woe(Milton, 1990) as the apple reached the lips of this sinner. Even the apple
that Eve is eating is described as death, and Eve is said to be unknowingly eating death. The trees
around her become dangerous and she rushes to tell Adam what has happened and the amazing
feelings the fruit instills in her when she eats it. As Adam reluctantly eats from the forbidden
fruit, the earth once again trembles and nature lets out a sigh and it begins to rain, and the sky
literally cries for the sins committed. Eve and Adam are rocked with desire for one another, and
they proceed to a silent place. They are reminded of their sin and as Gods people, who are as
equally part of nature, they begin to feel intense emotions that are foreign to them, high
passions, anger, hate, mistrust, suspicion, discord (Milton, 1997). The world around Adam

and Eve is forever changed because of their sins, and Milton reflects on this both in the nature
scenes and the emotions that are new and once unseen in Adam and Eve, foreshadowing the life
they have created for themselves with their disobedience, that is anything but paradise.
Milton describes the beautiful scenes of Paradise with a simple and divine type of
imagery that turns dark when Eve first commits the worst sin. She is blind with the pleasure of
the fruit, but the scenes around her are slowly changing. When Adam commits the same sin, he is
blinded by his lust for Eve, and he too ignores the groans and trembles that the Earth is providing
him with. The beauty of the Earth slowly changes as these two commit their sins, and these
changes reinforce the evil that is sure to come. Milton uses his changing descriptions as a type of
foreshadowing for whats to come for the couple, and with the dark images given, and the new
feelings these two are feeling, whatever is next to come will not be pleasant for these two.

Works Cited
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Eighth Edition,
Volume 1. New York: Norton & Company, 2006. Pages 1973-1998. Print.