Satan & Eve: Shadows Beneath the Black Holed Sun...

I personally feel that in many instances, Milton's misogyny
as well as his disdain for the sins of Eve and Satan become
equated with each other. We can see through Milton's
poetry that when God initially pulls away the Divine
light, Satan slowly begins to infect the world with his evil. This is
clear when Satan ponders his being cast out of Heaven for having
raised an army against God to create chaos. "What can be worse/
than to dwell here driv'n out from bliss, condemned/in this
abhorred deep to utter woe where the pain of unextinguishable
fire/must exercise us without hope of end..." (Book II, Lines 85-89).
It is interesting to note that within the text, Milton blatantly
equates Satan and Eve as differing shades of 'evil' that are guilty
of similar sins of perversion and temptation.
"He in the serpent had perverted Eve,/Her husband she, to taste
the fatal fruit..." (Book X, Lines 3-4). Both are depicted as
being unable to remedy their transgressions due to their excessive
pride. Although Satan is well aware that if he just repents his sins
and asks for forgiveness from God, he will be granted entrance into
Heaven once again, he is incapable of doing so due to his pride.
"And thou, profoundest Hell,/Receive they new possessor, one who
brings/A mind not to be changed by place or time!...Better to reign in
Hell than serve in Heaven!" (Book I, Lines 252-263). Satan's
stubbornness is also brought to the forefront when he resolutely
declares his decision to rebel, "To do aught good will never be our task/
But ever to do ill our sole delight/As being the contrary to His high
will/Whom we resist" (Book I, Lines 159-162).
It seems to me that in Milton's Paradise Lost, both Eve and
Satan are portrayed as shadowed reflections of each other.
To some extent, they both become social pariahs in their so
called Paradises as a result of their actions of which neither
of them realized the extent of the repercussions. Satan even admits his
dismay at having been cast out of Heaven when he says,
"too well I see and rue the dire event/that with sad overthrow
and foul defeat/Hath lost us Heav'n and all this mighty host/
In horrible destruction laid thus low/As far as gods and
Heav'nly essences/Can perish" (Book I, Lines 134-9).
Similarly, Eve eventually comes to rue her decision of eating
the apple from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge, but she
takes it a step further by blaming Adam for her behavior rather
than owning up to it herself like Satan did. "Being as I am, why
didst not thou, the head,/Command me absolutely not to go,/
Going into such danger as thou saidst?...Hadst thou been firm and
fixed in thy dissent/Neither had I transgressed nor thou with me"
(Book IX, Lines 1155-1161). In saying this, Eve essentially
acknowledges that she is an inferior being and reasserts her
dependence upon Adam in order to lead a life free of
transgressions. Given the overt misogyny that is pervasive
throughout the poem, it comes as no surprise to me that Eve is
depicted in an even darker light than Satan; however, as
Milton portrays them, they are still both shadows beneath
the black holed sun of a world which they have created for
themselves.