Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

The Virgin in the Garden: Milton's Ovidian Eve

Green, Mandy

The Virgin in the Garden: Milton's Ovidian Eve Thumbnail


Authors



Abstract

Milton appropriates narrative structures from the Metamorphoses to amplify the elliptical account of Eve's creation in Genesis and to convey her sense of self or sexuality. Through the controlled use of such mythological patterning, Milton engages the reader in making complex responses to Eve. He deliberately fails to fix the meaning of such allusions, which thereby become a way of holding in solution unresolved, even contradictory, emphases in a situation where alternatives are not yet exclusive. In Paradise the apparently dissonant values of virginity and sexual love are held together in a harmony of exceptional grace and intensity, but Milton makes the reader aware that the threat of discord is always present.

Citation

Green, M. (2005). The Virgin in the Garden: Milton's Ovidian Eve. Modern Language Review, 100(4), 903-922

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2005-10
Deposit Date May 30, 2008
Publicly Available Date May 30, 2008
Journal Modern Language Review
Print ISSN 0026-7937
Publisher Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 100
Issue 4
Pages 903-922
Keywords Metamorphoses, Eve's creation, Genesis, Self, Sexuality, Virginity, Sexual love.
Publisher URL http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mhra/mlr/2005/00000100/00000004/art00002

Files







You might also like



Downloadable Citations