Book IX
Satan, disguised as a serpent, tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; Adam chooses to fall with her.
9 argumentative units
- 01Milton announces the tragic turn of his argument
Milton's invocation signals a change from pastoral to tragic: the fall of Man through disobedience now becomes his subject—more heroic than any tale of war or tournament.
- 02Satan returns, finds the serpent, and enters it
Satan, driven by envy and hatred, circles the Earth and re-enters Paradise by night; he chooses the serpent as his vessel and pours himself inside while it sleeps.
- 03Adam and Eve debate separation; Eve departs alone
Eve proposes they work separately; Adam warns of Satan's nearby threat, but Eve insists on her independence; reluctantly Adam lets her go, trusting her virtue.
- 04The serpent approaches and flatters Eve
Satan in the serpent finds Eve alone among her roses and approaches with elaborate flattery, praising her beauty and sovereignty, drawing her attention and curiosity.
- 05The serpent claims the fruit gave it the power of speech
Eve marvels at a speaking serpent; it claims the forbidden tree's fruit conferred reason and speech upon it, then leads Eve to the tree while she questions the prohibition.
- 06The serpent challenges the death penalty and urges Eve to eat
Satan through the serpent argues that God's threat of death is false and envious, that the fruit confers divine knowledge, and that the gods themselves fear man's becoming equal with them.
- 07Eve eats the fruit; earth groans; Satan retreats
Eve convinces herself and reaches for the fruit; the moment she eats, Earth feels the wound and nature groans; Eve, intoxicated, decides she must share the fruit with Adam.
- 08Adam learns of Eve's fall and chooses to share her fate
Eve returns and tells Adam she has eaten the fruit; Adam, though horrified, resolves from love not to be separated from her, and eats the fruit himself—not deceived, but overcome.
- 09Shame, lust, and mutual recrimination follow the fall
After lovemaking, Adam and Eve wake to shame and guilt; they fashion fig-leaf coverings, then dissolve into bitter mutual recrimination, each blaming the other for their ruin.