Temptation of Eve

Satan has made it his purpose in life to seek revenge on God for banishing him from heaven. The excerpt of The Temptation of Eve when Satan speaks to Eve is evidence of this. Throughout these lines Satan tricks Eve into disobeying God, tries to turn Eve against God, and attempts to show Eve that knowing good and evil will make her more like God.

The Tree of Knowledge is a very powerful tree that God has created. Lines 243-247 explain how God made this tree so powerful that it not only can’t be eating off of, but touched either. Satan lures Eve into eating the fruit from the tree by telling her that he has eaten the fruit once before and it made him have the ability to talk and think. So she is thinking at this point that if she eats from the tree as well maybe she will gain more knowledge just like the serpent did. Eve is unaware of the difference between right and wrong so she begins to believe Satan, but still questions him about God. Also Eve doesn’t realize that the serpent is really Satan so she slowly becomes more curious to what he has to say. Since Satan is seeking revenge on God, he is trying to destroying his most perfect creation which is Adam and Eve.

At this point Satan is trying to persuade Eve that she won’t die from eating the fruit of the tree. In the story Satan claims he has already eaten the fruit of this tree and when he did eat it, he supposedly gained the ability to think and talk. He also brings up a point to her that none of the other animals can think and talk and they didn’t eat from the tree, but he did, so that draws her in more into believing his lies. Satan says in line 270 from the reading that you can’t die from the tree because it gives you life. Which he is referring to when he ate of the fruit and it gave him more knowledge. So now Eve is beginning to lean more toward what Satan has to say because she thinks, well if he ate the fruit and now thinks and talks, then I wonder what I will gain from eating the fruit. Eve is taken in by Satan’s false assumptions because she is ignorant of common sense and doesn’t realize that she is being hoodwinked. She hasn’t developed the knowledge of good and evil yet so she has no clue that her and Adam’s lives are in danger within her grasp.

In line 271, Satan refers God as a “threatener”. He is trying to trick Eve into thinking that God has no power over anyone else and that she could be just as good as God. He is trying to convince her that God is no more powerful than any other creature. Once again she doesn’t have enough knowledge to know what evil is so she is slipping into what he is throwing at her. Some techniques that he uses on her are kindness by saying sweet things to her and staying calm with her, he gives her compliments and calls her a goddess. Eve is falling for his trickery because he is pretending to be a gentleman and because she is a gullible and vulnerable girl. She is gullible because she is so innocent toward bad and evil, that anything anyone tells her she believes. She doesn’t even know evil exists or what it is because God didn’t put it into the world and by her being defenseless with no help, Satan can easily get into her mind. Adam is a big part in Eve’s life and since he isn’t there when Satan shows up, she is helpless and exposed for Satan’s evil plan to come into action. Maybe if Adam was with Eve at the time of Satan’s arrival, Satan probably wouldn’t of tried tricking Eve because she had Adam there to protect her.

Satan is trying to peruse Eve that he has eaten from this tree and when he did he gained knowledge and the ability to speak. He claims that life is more perfect now that he has eaten from this tree and that he has touched and tasted from the tree and lived. In lines 272-276, he explained how fate has given him a better chance to live now that he has eaten off this tree. Also he explains to Eve in those lines that God has must of put that tree there for a reason because when he ate from it nothing happened. He also was saying that if only good comes from eating off the tree, then why would God tell you not to eat from it? It also says in those lines that if its shut for humans, then why not for beats? Satan tells Eve that God didn’t get mad at me for eating from the tree, so why would he be angry at you? By saying all these lies to Eve, she begins to question God’s authority and wonder why nothing has happened to the serpent when he has eaten from it. Eve also once again doesn’t know what evil is so that draws her in more into Satan’s plan. At this point into Satan’s scheme, Adam still isn’t there for Eve to protect her and make sure she isn’t eating from the tree. Now that Eve knows that the serpent didn’t get punished for eating the bad fruit, she has second guesses about whether or not God will see her eat the fruit and punish her.

In lines 273 and 274 Satan says, “And life more perfect have attained than Fate/Meant me, by venturing higher than my lot.” I believe Satan was trying to say that he has a more perfect life now than fate has intended and volunteering higher than he could go. He was explaining to Eve that he exceed and went beyond the level of his expectation and it turns out that when he took the risk he got something positive out of it. Satan tried to tell Eve that he took the risk of going against fate and he found something good out of it, so this is showing her that if she does the same, maybe fate will grant her something good as well as the serpent. His “new knowledge” has brought Eve to believe that her fate could bring her something positive for her life and she could gain the understanding and power of God. Eve just continues to listen to what the serpent has to say and she is so unaware and naïve that everything she hears from him is right to her. No creature like the serpent has ever came up to Eve and started complimenting her, bowed to her and done the things the serpent has done, so her experience of this evil and trickery doesn’t apply to her wellbeing.

Satan has not giving up on trying to lure Eve into eating the fruit. He now begins to tell her in lines 277 and 278, that “For such a petty trespass and not praise/Rather your dauntless virtue,” In Satan’s words, “petty trespass”, is referring to Eve’s insignificant invasion of the garden. He is trying to say, why God would be angry at Eve if she is just harmlessly walking through the garden, unaware and unarmed. He’s trying to get her to understand that she isn’t doing any harm by walking near the tree. According to Satan, “dauntless virtue”, means Eve is fearless and has goodness. At this point Satan is trying to butter up Eve some more and begin to give her compliments, so she will become more comfortable with him. The more nice things he says to her, the more she is going to believe what he is saying is the truth. He is still trying to get Eve to be more on his side, than God’s side so he can put his plan into action. Eve is taken in by these words because she realizes that he is complimenting her and saying things to her that make her feel better about herself. In this way she is falling for Satan’s tricks and is getting more comfortable with him and getting closer to him, so she will feel safe with Satan and become friends with him. Eve as being a girl also has a disadvantage because to Satan girls are more weaker than boys because they are easily fooled with by compliments.

Satan tries to get Eve to understand that she could be a “better subject of God’s”. He says this because if Eve eats from the tree she will have a happier life knowing the difference from good and evil. He explains this in lines 280-283 and continues to say that if evil is known, and then won’t it be good for you to know what evil is so you can avoid it and be a better servant of God. So if she knows what evil is, it will be easier to avoid and not do so God will be happy that she didn’t choose to do the wrong thing. Satan is saying by eating from this tree you will then know what good and evil is so not only you will have a better life, but God as well. Now Eve is being taken in by this point by what Satan is saying is making complete sense to her and knowing that eating the fruit will be okay because she will know the difference between doing good and evil. Yet again Adam still is not with Eve, so it makes it easier for Satan to continue with his plan to get revenge on God for kicking him out of heaven. By Satan telling Eve that she will live a better life for herself and God, takes a lot of pressure off her if she eats it.

Eve is certain by Satan saying that God “cannot hurt ye, and be just”. Satan is trying to tell Eve that God can’t hurt one of them and think it’s okay to do it. Also he is saying that your fear of death takes away the fear of God. Satan is trying to get Eve to understand that she shouldn’t be afraid of God even if she eats from the tree. He is getting acrossed Eve’s attention by convincing her not to fear God because if he were to punish you, why would he create you to be ignorant and low? In lines 284-293, Satan is explaining to Eve that she shouldn’t live in fear of God and the day you eat the fruit God will open his eyes and realize that her and Adam are gods. Satan at this point is good at perusing Eve because he is now talking to her about God and how if she eats from the tree God will realize that they are gods. Also he is making Eve feel good about herself and telling her if she eats from the tree she will then gain the knowledge of good and evil. Satan is trying to get Eve to apprehend that God won’t get upset if she eats from the tree and she won’t get killed. Eve is being drawn by Satan at this part of the story because he continues to give her positive feedback and he tells her she won’t need to worry about God killing her for eating off the tree. Eve also doesn’t have Adam there again to help her through Satan’s trickery. The reason Satan goes for Eve in the first place because he knows that girls are easier to lure in and they can be influenced very quickly and easily.

Toward the end of this story, Satan begins to ask Eve a number of questions such as: “if they all things who enclosed knowledge of good and evil in this tree, that who so eats thereof forth with attains wisdom without their leave?”

Throughout this whole selection Satan has used many techniques and ways to trick Eve into eating the fruit from the tree. These techniques also had a big effect as well. Some ways Satan used to trick Eve is flattering her and giving her compliments. He uses these because for women it’s easier to get what you want from them, just by being kind and letting them hear what they want. In the story he also kissed her feet and licked the grounded she walked on. To Eve this is a big effect because he is showing her respect and showing how important he is to her. Satan uses compliments by calling her beautiful, pretty, and a goddess. Satan also affects her self-esteem by making her feel good about herself and by giving her the pleasure of feeling like a queen. The effects of his techniques are getting Eve to believe all the lies he told her and how she fell for his tricks, when in the end she did fain the knowledge of good and evil, but her life got worse instead of better. It also affected her by now she fears life even more because how will she know who to trust.