Explore how John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex reveal the construction of a subordinate identity and patriarchal hierarchy.
The mechanism of 'becoming' a woman is being taught to distrust your own eyes and instead rely on a 'higher' masculine authority to define your value.
Analyze John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' through the lens of patriarchy and Simone de Beauvoir's 'The Second Sex'.
The podcast connects John Milton’s 17th-century epic with Simone de Beauvoir’s famous argument that 'one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.' By examining Paradise Lost through the lens of The Second Sex, we see how the character of Eve is systematically built into a subordinate identity. This comparison highlights how literary narratives serve as a psychological laboratory for constructing gender roles and establishing a patriarchal hierarchy that persists in Western history.
The core paradox lies in Eve’s transition from an independent, intelligent being to a state of internalized submission. Initially described by Milton as 'wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best,' she eventually concludes that her 'happiest knowledge' is to know only what her husband tells her. This shift illustrates the process of 'imprinting' masculine authority onto a mind that begins as a blank slate, or tabula rasa, effectively turning an autonomous individual into 'the Other.'
The story of the Fall in Paradise Lost is analyzed not just as a religious myth, but as a detailed manual for constructing a subordinate identity. Milton uses language to establish a blueprint for the patriarchal hierarchy, where feminine identity is shaped to be secondary to masculine authority. By dissecting these literary techniques, the podcast explores how the most influential story in Western history has been used to justify and maintain gender-based social structures.
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