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Eve's Destiny

John Milton’s Paradise Lost is detailing story of the creation and fall of Adam and Eve, as well as the origin and temptation of Satan. Milton uses Genesis as a foundation and details the events starting with Satan’s fall, moving to the creation of the world, Adam, and Eve, and ending with Adam and Eve being sent away from Paradise. In Book IV, lines 440-504, Milton portrays Eve as an inferior, submissive being through both her words and actions. 

Milton characterizes Eve as submissive and thoughtless. Shortly after Eve’s birth, she hears a voice which tells her to come meet Adam. At this time, Eve knows nothing of herself and because this she exemplifies inferiority and submission, which come naturally to Eve because she believes that, the only normal reaction to the voice’s request is blind obedience. By asking question, “what”, Eve reveals that she cannot consider of any other possible alternative, so it is obvious that she is unable to reason. Eve did not know that the voice was God, her creator, who she owed her existence to. The voice could have been an evil being such as Satan. She obeys blindly without thinking or asking anything. 

While reflecting on the first time she met Adam, Eve confesses that she wanted to run away, but rather than doing what she wants to do, Eve automatically gives in to Adam without thinking about it at all. 

Eve not only passively obeys all types of authority, she does not even ask questions or tries to understand herself or her situation. She does not make any decisions; she merely does whatever God and Adam tell her to do. Because Eve does not think for herself or try to learn anything, she is portrayed as inferior, passive, and incapable. 

Milton continually refers to the fact that Eve was made for Adam from his own body. This repetition stresses the importance of Eve being thankful and repaying Adam. Milton marginalizes Eve by saying that the only reason she was created was for Adam. This makes Eve a possession of Adam rather than an equal and separate person. Rather than being an individual, she is merely an image of Adam. As soon as Eve meets Adam, he informs her that she represents his flesh and bone. Eve wants to run away from him, but Adam emphasizes his sacrifice to give Eve life, making her obligated to him. Eve does not run away, but instead yields to Adam because she feels that she must show Adam gratitude for giving her life. If Eve was created for Adam, then it is her duty to do as he wishes without questioning him. By emphasizing Eve’s debt and gratitude to Adam, Milton undercuts her as an individual, lowering her status to that of a servant. Both God and Adam continually remind Eve that it is her job to be grateful and subservient.

Eve admits and accepts her inferior status which is seen through her dialogue. The first time that Eve speaks, she addresses Adam as something similar to her leader, suggesting that she is incapable of leading or thinking for herself. Eve tells Adam that she owes more praise to God than he does because she enjoys If Adam is distinguished by so many odds and Eve is not his partner, then obviously Eve is inferior to him. The only good quality that Eve possesses is her beauty. When she compares Adam to the image of herself in the water, she confesses and she quickly learns that outshined by manly graces. Through Eve’s actions, Milton reveals that Adam not only thinks for Eve, but even her most astounding trait, beauty, is trivial when compared to Adam’s qualities of grace and wisdom. 

In conclusion, Milton portrays Eve as inferior by emphasizing her submission and lack of thought, stressing her debt to God and Adam, and creating her acceptance of her situation and position through her own words. By characterizing Eve as inferior, Milton is implying that she is not as important as Adam. Throughout history, people have blamed Eve for the fall of humankind, and this depiction of Eve reinforces many theories about how woman’s weaknesses and lack of reason led to the original sin and the removal from Paradise. In Book IV, lines 440-504, of Paradise Lost Milton renders Eve a substandard person, emphasizing her acceptance of her inferior status.

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Nietzsche or Kierkegaard: Who poses a better conception of the self?

I. Nietzsche and Kierkegaard are two very well-known philosophers, with strong views on how to be an individual. Although both philosophers had religious up bringing’s their views on religion and how to be an individual could not be more different. Both philosophers found great fault in religion but their methods of confronting this issue are polar opposite. Through the rejection of religion Nietzsche poses a better conception of the self, while Kierkegaard states that only through religion will one find them self. 

II. Nietzsche purposes in order to be an authentic individual ones morals and values must come from within you, and not from some higher institution, in this case God. To Nietzsche you can never really be an individual if you believe in religion. Nietzsche finds that finding your morals in religion leads to what he calls the “herd mentality”. Nietzsche states “By means of morality, individuals are led to be functions of the herd and to attribute value to themselves merely as functions” (EBW 138). By getting our morals from religion we follow a preset standard of what is right and wrong, when those standards should really come from within us and not the ideas of others. In doing so one becomes a superman, someone who has the will power to reject traditional values and trust what they know to be true inside them. 

III. Contrary to Nietzsche’s belief Kierkegaard believes that to be an individual one must find their self through religion. Kierkegaard says “To become a Christian in Christendom means either to become what one is (the inwardness of reflection or to become inward through reflection)” (EDS 87). One must make the conscious decision to believe in religion, and make a leap of faith. God created us so therefore God is a part of us. In order to ever really know ourselves we must first know God. Such devotion allows one’s self-identity to remain firm and without this external pillar of faith man would be in despair with no basis for the construction of self-identity. Although Kierkegaard strongly believes in this he does not mean religion now in days, but rather religion of the Old Testament, that is not clouded with propaganda of religion, but focuses on one’s relationship and faith in God. 

IV. Instead of living your life for religion Nietzsche says one must live their life for themselves. The self is created through our experiences and our actions. In order to be a complete self we must accept everything we have done and be willing “to live it once more and countless times more. And there will be nothing new about it, but every pain and every pleasure, and every thought and sigh and everything unspeakably small and great in your life must come back to you, and all in the same series and sequence”(EBS 148). It is in this concept of the eternal reoccurrence of the same that we find the solution to the “death of God”. This idea of living your life continuously as you have lived it provides a solution for lack of morals and values one traditionally finds in religion. By living your life as if you must live it again and again you must live in the present and make all decisions as if they are willed for eternity. 

V. In conclusion Nietzsche poses a better conception of the self than Kierkegaard because he focuses solely on finding yourself within you as opposed to through religion. To Nietzsche one can only come from themselves and not form preset morals and values. Kierkegaard on the other hand believes one can only find themselves through faith and religion and must up hold the morals and values brought about from this faith. Nietzsche argues that this is not needed through the eternal reoccurrence of the same, saying that one must make choices as they will have to relive those choices over and over again. I agreed so with Nietzsche because I feel through his philosophical views one has more accountability for themselves and their actions, and can truly become an individual for themselves and from themselves.

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Hunting the Edge of Space

The new age of space exploration begins with the invention of the telescope. It’s the year 1990 and NASA launches the Hubble Space Telescope. What makes this special is that only I it the first of a new telescope technology, but NASA is certain it will unlock the secrets of the cosmos. Over the course of the video it covers three subjects: What matter our universe is composed of, how it came to be, and whether or not our universe is evolving.

Telescopes are important because they take us back in time, and let us know everything we need to know about the universe around us. The most important quality regarding the evolution of telescopes is that every time when decide to look at the universe through a new design of telescope we discover something about our universe. In others words now can see some as stunning as star exploding or observe black holes and all their destruction. We are getting closer to discovering the secrets of the universe. It’s now 2010 and 20 years after the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. Now scientists all around the world are pushing even harder to discover the secrets of the cosmos. 

It important to look back to where it all began. When did the race to discover the secrets of the universe begin? This video covers the 400 years of discoveries made because of the telescope. The importance of the telescope since its invention is that it’s helped us to somewhat understand our origin in the universe. And every time we invent a new telescope we gain the potential to learn something knew from the universe around us. Now that we have much more powerful telescopes such as the Binocular Telescope, it won’t be long until we discover our origins. Standing at a whopping eight stories tall the Binocular telescope is one of the most powerful telescopes on the planet. Brandishing 28 ft. mirrors this telescope can collect light that is a million times fainter than any human eye can detect.

This was all made possible by a mathematician with a goal. In the year 1609 Galileo began building his own version of a device known as the telescope. It was discovered that using a combination of concave and convex lenses held at the right distance had an intense magnifying effect. This discovery sparked the birth of the telescope. This new invention spread all across Europe and when the news reaches Galileo he sees potential in the new invention. After working on the telescope for a while Galileo finally increases the magnification of the telescope to up eight times its original power. Eventually Galileo seeks to make military use of his enhanced version of the telescope. Eventually the Venetian government buys Galileo’s telescope and used his invention for spotting enemy ships long before they could be seen by the naked eye. It wasn’t until Galileo began looking at the sky did everything change.

Before Galileo began using his telescope to view the heavens all that was known was what could be seen with the naked eye. So in contrast all the world knew to exist was the moon, the sun, and billions of stars. Galileo’s fist discovery was that of the moon. Looking at the moon he discovered the moon wasn’t perfect as had been suggested by old cosmology. Instead the moon was riddled with craters and valleys. In conclusion Galileo discovered the moon and Earth weren’t as different as everyone thought. Next Galileo focuses his attention on the planet Jupiter. This leads to the discovery of Jupiter’s satellites. Based on his discoveries Galileo writes and publishes The Starry Messenger listing all of his findings. But this isn’t the end what Galileo will discover next will change the world as we know it. Galileo begins observing Venus and forms the conclusion that Venus revolves around the sun based on Venus’s phases. At the time it was believed that the Earth was the center of the solar system. Galileo challenges not only the Roman Church, but the belief that God put Earth in the very center of all creation. The Roman Church had trouble accepting Galileo’s newfound discovery as it contradicted the interpretation of the bible. 

400 years later with help of the telescope we have discovered things that have dramatically changed the world of astronomy. But one mystery that still continues to elude us is the planet Saturn. A mission named after Giovanni Cassini is investigating Saturn’s rings. The rocket will use Jupiter’s gravitational pull to sling its way towards Jupiter. Reaching speeds of 70,000 miles per hour it will still take the Cassini seven years to reach Saturn. The significance of the Cassini mission is that we discover than the rings of Saturn are not solid but in fact made up of millions of chunks of ice and rock. NASA also concludes that the plumes erupting from Enceladus’s are also the source of Saturn’s rings. 

Back in the 1650’s the race for the most effective telescope begins. The problem with early telescopes was their fuzzy images purely because of the shape of their lenses. The two focal points of light didn’t add up when using the lenses so some of the color made it through and distorted the image. The only way to minimize the color and maximize the output was to use thinner lenses with a much shallower curve. Later Sir Isaac Newton begins studying light and discoveries white light is composed of all of the colors of the rainbow. Newton realizes that lenses act as a prism so he abandons lenses altogether. He instead uses curved mirrors in the lenses place. This rids the telescope of its color problem. Today mirrors are used in essentially all telescopes. The telescopes are made by melting glass blocks at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The result is a 20 ton glass disk is ground to only 100 nanometers thick. 

William Herschel comes along and once again the evolution of telescopes begins. He realizes that a wider aperture will allow him to collect more light. Using an alloy called speculum William makes lenses that will serve as his mirrors. His new telescope allows him to discover a new planet we know as Uranus. Today many astronomers around the world are on a hunt for habitable worlds. NASA launched Kepler for its three year mission to search for other planets. Kepler’s range is only 100,000 stars but NASA remains hopeful for the discovery of exoplanets. William Herschel begins wondering what the shape of our galaxy is and a strip of stars son gives him the answer. William notices that the Milky Way is a band of stars and from this conclusion draws a map of what he perceives the Milky Way to look like. Using the Hershel Space Telescope we’ve discovered a gas and dust that make up the majority of our universe. We now know these objects as nebulae. It is later discovered that these nebulae are actually their own galaxies! We have much more evolving to do before we truly understand the secrets of space. But as the years go on im sure we’ll discover the secrets of the universe.

Reference: https://jgdb.com/essays