Symptoms of Narcissism in Eve Using Paradise Lost

Hesiod’s versions of the Prometheus/Pandora story and the book of Genesis’s story of Eve’s act of eating the forbidden fruit both introduce a female figure whose actions are connected with the seeming introduction of evil into the world. At first glance, it appears that the Genesis story is more compelling than Hesiod’s account at explaining the origin of evil because its monotheistic structure makes the logic behind the evils far more clear and straightforward than Hesiod’s logic. The act of disobedience by Eve seems fully her own fault while God (Yahweh) is faultless. However, Genesis is too simple because the story of Prometheus/Pandora is far more complex. The Hesiod story of Prometheus/Pandora is more compelling than Genesis because the conflict allowed disputes between the gods in its polytheistic worldview rather than one god making Hesiod more compelling at explaining the evils of the world.

Paulo Coelho began with the tale of Narcissus to show the reader that when you are so caught up in your own life you do not realize the greater things like nature and friends. It differs because it leaves out how the lake was also too caught up in its own beauty to notice other people. The new myth focuses more on positive outcomes from unfortunate events while the original is negative. It portrays everything to be self-centered. This relates to the tale of the Alchemist because, in chasing his

Milton’s Paradise Lost has been praised as being the greatest English epic of all time, most stunningly in its author's depiction of the parents of humanity, Adam and Eve. How Milton chose to portray the original mother and father has been a focus of much criticism with contemporary readers. One of the main subjects of these comments is in reference to Eve, who, according to many, is a trivial character that is most definitely inferior to her mate. Nonetheless, many do not recognize that, after the fateful Fall, she becomes a much more evolved character. When Eve is introduced to the storyline of the epic, her character is shallow and extremely undeveloped, meant simply for display. She is quite firmly set as being inferior to her mate

Another criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder that Oedipus fulfills “Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.”(DSM-5 669) For example, Oedipus tells Creon that,

    The seventeenth century poet, John Milton, takes the attitude common to the time period while portraying Eve in Paradise Lost.  This epic, telling of Adam and Eve's fall from Paradise and the story of creation, constantly describes Eve as a weak individual, while Adam is often compared with God.  The idea of women's inferiority has been fixed through time, making Milton's characterization of Eve not surprising, but rather expected and accepted.  However, Milton shows a suggestion of women's inner strength while describing the control Eve has over Adam.  Nevertheless, except for this instance, Eve is depicted as subordinate to Adam.  This is evident through Adam and Raphael's treatment

From the story, “Flowers for Algernon” Fanny Girden said, ‘’’It was evil when Eve listened to the snake and ate from the tree of knowledge. It was evil when she saw that she was naked. If not for that none of us would grow old and die ‘’’(329).

and as man’s other. This is how Eve was seen as the fall of man. “Yet looking upon her as

Early Christian theologian and philosopher Augustine of Hippo once declared that “we ought to wish ours (teachings) to conform to that of sacred scripture.” In this essay, we will be analyzing theological perspectives of Saint Augustine and will discuss his ideas about the role of women in the Fall of Man, his views on intentionality and the nature of evil, and the ways in which his teachings influenced C.S. Lewis and his literally works in The Chronicles of Narnia. To begin, Saint Augustine had a utilitarian view of women, and his writings would influence the early Catholic and Protestant churches for centuries to come. In addressing the Fall of Man, Augustine believes that Adam and Eve had different motives for eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden and is forced to explain these different roles because of 1st Timothy 2:14, which states, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Augustine theorized that Eve ate the fruit because she saw it as pleasing to the eye, and when she was approached by the snake had neither the wisdom nor the prowess to avoid falling into temptation. She was, after all, only a companion to Adam and in the end, Adam chose her companionship over the will of the Lord. There is also an early Christian theology that supports the idea that beautiful women are temptresses, and modest beauty is much more pleasing to God. We see this idea in many of C.S. Lewis’ works, but we will draw on an example from The

For the past two-thousand years, the Book of Genesis has served as work of literature to the western civilization. Whether people believed in the Bible or not, the Book of Genesis tell stories they talk about having good morals, teaching live-learned lessons and overall it gives a glimpse of how the first human being acted when the world was developing and how they handle problems and situations. However, even though the book of Genesis shows a tone of life long morals, Genesis also shows the different sides of humans. Genesis shows how human can be deceitful, evil, and disobedient to authority figures. But these traits with humans were rarely displayed by man, but mostly by woman. In

Literary Analysis of Prometheus and the First PeopleGemma CaddellOne of many stories of how man was created, “Prometheus and the First People” is an interesting myth attempting to explain early mankind and the reason for its suffering, and how man’s resilience developed. Olivia E. Coolidge has written the story in a very direct way, seeming impartial as the purpose of the writing is simply to retell an old Greek myth. She describes the god-like characters as easy to relate to people who make mistakes, despite the blunders being of more critical nature. In this essay I will be further analyzing “Prometheus and the First people” by Olivia E. Coolidge in order to better understand the literary elements she’s used to retell this myth.Coolidge

The “male gaze” is a philosophical concept that implies that men use the eyes to communicate with females in a manner that is both critical, or can be described as “sensual” in nature. This is the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories, “Rappaccini’s Daughter” and “The birthmark.” In “The Birthmark” Aylmer’s gaze of the birthmark is not only an obsession, but an erotic feature that leads him to commit unethical practices to get rid of his wife’s imperfection. Rappaccini’s Daughter” makes Beatrice feel guilty for her sexual allure. In addition, both male characters feel the need to dominate and control the women in their lives for feared of being overpowered by their sexuality. The male characters regard the female character as a symbol of sin for simply being women. Both characters in Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s daughter and The Birthmark the male gaze is used to dominate women in the form that is use to influence and manipulate women in a

The construct of narcissism finds its origins in ancient Greece and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, with the proud and vain figure of Narcissus, cursed by the goddess, Nemesis, to fall in love with his own reflection. However, conceptualizations of pathological narcissism did not became a part of psychological theory until the late nineteenth century with Freud’s eminent essay: On Narcissism (Ronningstam, 2005). As Freud theorized on narcissism and, ironically, experimented with cocaine, the formal diagnosis of addiction was precipitously incorporated into the medical literature in response to increasing uncontrolled narcotic use and growing public health concern (Markel, 2012). Perhaps predictably, theorizing on the possible association between narcissism and addiction, particularly in the psychoanalytic tradition, has been addressed by theorists since. The term narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) was first introduced by Heinz Kohut in 1968, and saw inclusion in formal diagnostic literature in 1980 as a part of the significant revisions to personality disorders in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM; American Psychiatric Association, 1980).

Now I will talk about how milton portrayed eve in his writing. Milton sees Eve as Narcissus. For many hundreds of years, the female has been seen as the weaker sex the gentle sex, the docile sex, even the less intelligent sex. And this is because, for many hundreds of years, the societies that humanity lived in were based mainly on survival. Necessity of women remained in the home in order to further the mere survival of the species, while men were in charge of providing for this family unit. Through this situation, men developed an egocentric view of life, seeing themselves as the centers of their own microcosms. Humans always look for someone else on whom to place the blame any man would be pleased if he were able to place all of the evil of humanity on to a poor decision made by a woman. This view of Eve makes her a flat and undeveloped character. She is vain, falls in love with herself at first sight in the glimmering pool, and can barely stand to tear herself away from the water to be with Adam. As usual, this episode of her self-absorbed conceit only contributes to the already growing compassion for Adam,

Adam and Eve are tall and erect like the trees, pure and nude, uncovered like the rural landscape. Adam's hair cut short, almost as if the pair had pruned it. Eve's body seems to be supported by the garden, but her hair is described as wild, unadorned and wanton, not unlike the landscape outside of Eden: "Steep wilderness, whose hairy sides/ With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild..." (IV, 135-36).

“The truest characters of ignorance are pride and arrogance. This quote by Samuel Butler is truer than gold in the two greek myths Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus. The protagonists of both stories boastful,arrogant and prideful natures lead them to their agonizing deaths and downfall. The two myths would be lifeless and stale without the use of of literary elements like conflict,imagery,and and characterization. Conflict shapes the story,Imagery foreshadows and provides color,and characterization develops the characters personalities and behaviors. These elements are how the authors were able to teach the lesson in the theme. The two stories’ main characters, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus share the same moral theme of a prideful disregard from those elder and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences,existing thanks to these literary elements.