The mediation of paradox : Paradise Lost as myth and Eve as mythic archetype

Although John Milton would not have called Paradise Lost myth, he realized that myths convey essential truths which transcend the specific cultural manifestations through which such truths are revealed. As a poem based on the Judeo-Christian account of creation, Paradise Lost exhibits motifs and functions common to creation myths, the narrative accounts which express the beliefs of a culture concerning the creation of the universe and the basis of cosmic and human existence. As myth. Paradise Lost functions to answer ontological questions concerning the nature of existence and on a human level to explain why man lives as he does rather than as he was originally created. Yet, Paradise Lost involves questions that are paradoxical and unanswerable by normal means of explanation, and to answer these questions Paradise Lost functions as myth to mediate or resolve the paradoxical conflicts by demonstrating that the opposing halves of the paradoxes are complementary rather than antithetical. In Paradise Lost paradox is manifested on two levels. On the cosmic level, paradox arises from the co-existence of good and evil in a universe created by a God that is totally good. On the human level, paradox is inherent in the combination of life and death in man's fallen mode of existence, mortal life. Eve, in Paradise Lost, as a human manifestation of the Archetypal Female Principle, a three-fold archetype composed of two opposing parts, the Good Mother and the Terrible Mother, and a third part, the Great Mother, in which the two opposing parts are combined and their opposition resolved is both the source of the human level of paradox and the source of its resolution. Eve's archetypal nature in Paradise Lost is enhanced by-Milton's use of allusions to characters from classical mythology who represent various phases of the Female Archetype in his presentation of Eve. The paradox of life and death in Paradise Lost arises from Eve's correspondence to the two opposing parts of the Female Archetype. The unfallen Eve, as the Good Mother, is the source of unfallen fertility. In the Fall, however, Eve becomes the Terrible Mother, the means by which mortality enters man's mode of existence. Yet, in her reconciliation with God and Adam and in conjunction with Mary, the second Eve, Eve becomes the Great Mother, the source of the resolution of paradox. On a physical level. Eve's seed provides the means by which the human race will be continued. On a spiritual level, through Mary, the second Eve, Eve's womb becomes the eventual source of Christ, through whom death is transformed from the end of life into a means by which man can attain immortal life. Christ, born of the womb of Mary, the second Eve, provides an essential step in God's plan to allow man to overcome death-and attain immortal life. Milton's Paradise Lost, in its embodiment of myth and in its incorporation of mythic archetypes, transcends its cultural relevance as a narrative poem based on the Judeo-Christian account of creation and becomes universal in its application to all humanity. As an expression of human truth, Paradise Lost explains and resolves the paradox inherent in man's mortal mode of existence and, through Eve's archetypal nature, provides for man the hope of renewal and rebirth, a means for overcoming the death implicit in mortal life.