Paradise Lost Response questions for handout # 2, which is also Book IX

Answer one question, as directed below, for each response paper due for Book IX of Paradise Lost. Use a 150 word minimum per response paper, and if you need to go over the limit, you may do so.

1. (Answer this question for the first response paper due over Book IX):

What proof does Satan offer to Eve that she can defy God, touch the fruit, and still live? (i.e., who else does the serpent claim has touched and tasted the fruit before her?) From lines 205-384, Eve and Adam debate whether or not to separate.

a) What arguments does Eve make for parting?

b) What arguments does Adam make for remaining together?

c) What is the attitude of each to the other at parting?

2. (Answer this question for the second response paper due over Book IX):

From lines 532-732, Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempts Eve. Follow Satan's rhetoric to its conclusion. What arguments does Satan use? What is his best argument or appeal?

3. (Answer this question for the third response paper due over Book IX):

Consider aspects of free will and Satan’s persuasive tactics, and explain whether or not Eve is at fault for eating the fruit of the tree and falling from grace. Are there mitigating factors that should color our judgment of Eve’s decision to eat the fruit?