Paradise Lost Disobedience

Throughout history, disobedience has had many societal ramifications. For example, refusing to comply with rules and authority offers an open window for change. In fact, Oscar Wilde, an Irish author, once remarked, “ Disobedience in the eyes of anyone who has read history is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience and through rebellion.” In attribution to Wilde’s “ man’s original virtue,” Paradise Lost, authored by John Milton, can be beheld, for Milton illustrates the origin of disobedience through the infamous Adam and Eve who ignored the explicit instruction not to eat from the forbidden tree. Disregarding God’s given mandate, Adam and Eve ate from the tree, with the revelation of a serpent. Within the epic poem, the judgment of

Within Book X, Milton demonstrates God’s mercy and strident judgment towards Adam and Eve for the sake of their defiance to his commands. Adam and Eve’s refusal to abide by God’s law ponderously acted as the roots of the concepts of death, pain, fear and today’s many other calamities. As God delivers his punishment, he states, “ Between thee and the woman I will put enmity, and between thine and her Seed; Her Seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel”(10.95). Subsequently, God then casted farther punishments unto Adam and Eve. He later dictates that Adam and Eve shall return to dirt of which they were formed from. A comparable dilemma can be seen in throughout Greek mythology within Pandora’s Box. Zeus created a beautiful woman, Pandora, and presented her as a present to Epimetheus. Pandora was sent with a little box that had been sealed with a lock. Zeus imposed that the box was not to be open. He in fact gave the key to Epimetheus. Just as Eve, Pandora was tempted to ignore authority’s decree, Opening the box ultimately became irresistible to the eyes and hands of Pandora. She decided to steal the key and open the box. These actions omit Zeus’ rulings just as Adam and Eve’s did Jesus. As a result, forms of strife that had never been introduced to the world had

Experts agree that if one individual defies authority, peers of their surrounding will do the same. Together, not only they will both be disobedient, but, together, they will suffer the consequences and downfall. As God reprimanded Adam and Eve, God thus proclaims, “Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply by thy conception; children thou shalt bring in sorrow forth, and to thy husband’s will thine shall submit, hee over thee shall rule”(10.109). This justifies how an individual’s disobedience can lead to consequences and downfall. This can be seen throughout history in many slave rebellions. To be even more specific, the story of Kunta Kinte can be taken into consideration. Kunta Kinte boldly went against his master’s rule by learning to read and write, and even running away. This begin to work as a domino-effect. People of Kunta’s surroundings began to do the same, learning to read and write and attempting to run away. As a result, Kunta and his followers were all punished by the