It takes two, baby. Or maybe four.

What an entertaining assignment. I've been talking with my roommate about it for two days straight.

Okay. Similarities between the characters and the descents of Eve and Satan.

One of the first things I considered in study of the two major downfalls of Sate-sate and Evey were the build-ups to the event. Eve's is my favorite, so I'll start with her first. At the beginning of the day, Adam and Eve get ready to go out and work until dinner. Eve, in my opinion the more rational of the two, suggests that they go their own ways and do their own work: "Let us divide our labors... For while so near each other thus all day/ Our task we chose what wonder if, so near,/ Looks intervene and smiles or object new/ Casual discourse draw on which intermits/ Our day's work brought to little, though begun/ Early, and th' hour of supper come unearned." Basically, Eve figures out that the flirting that goes on between them is hindering their productivity, so she does the responsible things and decides it would be best for them to go their separate ways, do their work, and then join one another after they'd done their duty. Logically, this makes a whole hell of a lot of sense. If Adam is all over Eve while they're trying to get their work done, nothing is going to get accomplished. Eve is the one who sees that. Eve, who is, for all intents and purposes, the other bad guy in the story, is the one who initially sets out to do the right thing. Adam, however, is a pain in the ass; he agrees with her, saying "nothing lovelier can be found/ In woman than to study household good/ And good works in her husband to promote." In simpler words, he's saying "Hey, honey, good idea. It's terrific having you around to make sure my affairs run smoothly and my work turns out right." From the get-go, Eve is a secondary; she is the more rational, harder-working version of Adam, and has already been weaseled into the ideal housewife's position (can't you just see the banana leaf apron?). Who could blame her for wanting to get out of a second-string mentality? This idea brings us into Satan's realm at the start of the text; playing second best not only to God, but to man as well. The idea that no matter what he did, Lucifer would never be as important to or beloved by God as humankind should drive even the humblest winged man crazy. Satan says in lines 256-259 of book one, "What matter where, if I be still the same/ And what I should be: all but less than He/ Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least/ We shall be free." Both Satan and Eve refuse to be novelties to their superiors; rather, they begin a spiritual and sometimes even literal descent towards the deliberacy of defiance, one that I can't help but find almost admirable. In both cases, the authority figure, God, has created a temptation and put it in front of them; in my opinoin, this God's kind of a jerk. "Hey man, I triple-dog-dare you to defy me!" or "Hey, Eeeeeve, Igot this really yummy fruit treeeeee..... but you can't have any 'cuz it makes you smart." Then, God takes out his slingshot, pops Eve in the butt with a Skittle, and runs off and hides behind a tree. The crossing of the scapegoats' paths seems fitting; both were set up to serve, resented it, and sought other, stronger paths, even if they were less honorable. In a sense, I think these two characters are the most understandable in the book.

Okay. That's about all for now. I'm going to go eat an apple.