On Adam and Eve: E.M.W Tillyard- From Paradise Lost: The Conscious Meaning and The Unconscious Meaning

E. M. W. Tillyard responds somewhat bitterly in his article about Adam and Eve in Milton's Paradise Lost.  He claims that Milton's views are undeniably Adam's thoughts and that Milton's views on the subordination of women are evidently expressed in Paradise Lost.  After quoting Paradise Lost, Tillyard states, "It is of course Milton's own voice, unable through the urgency of personal experience to keep silent" (450).

Tillyard goes on to explain the sin of all humanity is the fear of being alone.  He claims gregariousness, meaning sociable according to Dictionary.com, is common in humanity as well, but this is only a sin for men, as women are not meant to stand alone.

Tillyard says, "uxoriousness is a purely masculine failing".  Here, uxoriousness is a means being "affectionately submissive towards one's wife" (Dictionary.com).  Clearly Tillyard recognizes Milton's obvious inequality of men and women in Paradise Lost, however, while Milton seems to have respect for mankind, Tillyard gives off the impression that he views men as unworthy in his description by stating that only men are sinning when they fear being alone.  Tillyard then criticizes Milton's depiction of Adam and Eve while stating that there was no way Milton could have described them accurately because no concrete visual of Adam and Eve exists.  Also discussed in this article is the idea that milton fully expresses his lifelong search for perfection in Paradise Lost.  This is the "unconscious" aspect of his epic poem, expressed in the relationship and events regarding Adam and Eve.

While Tillyard may be able to recognize some of what Milton is trying to convey, his article sheds somewhat of a negatively bitter attitude towards Milton's Paradise Lost in his description of what he believes to be the underlying theme of the poem: Paradise, not Paradise Lost.

Kellie M.