The epic poem Paradise Lost was written by Milton to justify the ways of God to man, yet the "hero" of the piece is considered to be Satan, the most powerful figure in the poem and the central intelligence for most of it. Adam and Eve are pawns in his challenge to the power of God, and the subject of the Fall is a central issue in the poem. Eve has long been considered the dupe whom Satan seduced into eating of the tree of knowledge in direct contravention of God's orders, and this original sin would doom their ancestors to death and to expiation for that sin for all time. Yet, it is possible still to see Eve as one of the major ethical protagonists in the poem even though she succumbs to this particular moral lapse, and an examination of her role can be one way to approach the poem and explicate its meaning.
The elevation of Satan to the position of hero creates a certain balance between God and Satan that critics feel illustrates two aspects of Milton's own character, authoritarianism and rebelliousness. Milton's purpose was to discover the truth about God, pleasant or otherwise, and Milton had noted some of the puzzling things God did, such as punishing innocent children for the sins of their parents. Milton did not shy from showing both sides of these issues:
. . . beauty, he knew, was not truth. When God turns Adam and Eve out of the garden, Milton does not shrink from figuring their expulsion in brutal icons of swooping eagle and preying lion (xi, 185-90).
Even must be considered in relation to Adam, for she was formed from Adam and is inextricably bound with him in the garden. Her form differs from his and is in every way inferior as described by Milton. She represents imagination and fancy, while Adam represents reason. Eve is body, the physical, while Adam is mind. She is everything that pulls the soul toward the earth, while Adam is everything that helps it rise toward heaven. In the garden, though, th...