For the Pleasure of Mankind

We are to believe that Eve and Satan are the way they are, end of story. Satan is just bad. He doesn’t play nice with the other angels, he talks back to his Father, and he gets put in time out, a very dark and fiery time out. Eve is the stereotypical girl whose role is to just sit there and look pretty. For the most part these characters live up to their roles but sometimes we are shown their hidden complexities that help us connect their thoughts and actions with our own lives.

All of us have entertained a wicked thought from time to time that may have, intentionally or not, harmed someone else. And there seems to be a process imbedded in our human nature following such acts. We may use our cunning to get what we want and hurt as we so planned then “back to the thicket slunk” (218) secretly relishing in our heinous glory. Or we may struggle with reasoning through the excuses of our crimes, “not foll’wing thee, I had remained in ignorance,” and the punishment that may result, “But what if God have seen and death ensue?” (218-219). While Satan may be the former and pretty damn proud of his trickery, his actions are a direct result of his longing to be loved by his Father. He’s got an extreme case of the middle-child syndrome and is totally jealous of the younger child(ren) who always gets all the good toys. Eve is just plain sick of the role she is forced to play everyday for all of eternity. Why is the Man always keeping her down insinuating she isn’t worthy of anything greater than to be obedient and know her role. “Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?” (217) I think not, says Eve.

While both Satan and Eve may have been initiators of disobedience they were not the only ones to stray. It wasn’t a mere handful of angels that stood by Lucifer’s side in protest; it was 33% of all of heaven! With numbers like that it was easy for Lucifer to be confident of his worthy cause. Eve was not alone either. Adam with all of his great sensibility as a man (hahaha) pondered but a little while until he followed suit and passionately enjoyed his feast and his wife. Let’s face it; it’s always easier to push blame onto someone else. Satan paved the way for the kids are brats stereotype and Eve gave men the idea that women are foolish. But if God knew this would happen from the beginning, He knew that everyone, man, woman, and child, would be capable of harmful behavior. The dead white men that dominated the literary realm just tailored the truth to make for interesting stories.