Adam - Characters Sketch, Paradise Lost | Paradise Lost - Summary, Themes & Characters - Novels PDF Download

Adam is an incredibly important man, but not for what he actually does in the poem. He's important because of what he's destined to do. You see, he's God's first-born human – the "First man, of men innumerable ordained" (8.297) – and so he's the root from which a magnificent family tree (if we do say so ourselves) known as the human race will develop. In Milton's words: "Out of one man a race/ Of men innumerable" (7.155-156).

Now we know Adam isn't the most exciting character. He's kind of dull and he puts too much stock in Eve's beauty. Yeah, she's really, really, REALLY beautiful and hot, but his love for her is partly the cause of his ruin. Near the end of Book 8, he and Raphael are discussing this very issue, and Adam says all kinds of stuff about how astonishingly gorgeous Eve is. Adam gets so carried away that Raphael tells him to chill out and not let her beauty cause him to make bad decisions. It's almost like Raphael has to tell him not to think with his you-know-what. Now, this becomes really important later because Adam ends up doing what his wife encourages him to do (dividing their labor; eating the Forbidden fruit) because he can't refuse her beauty.

The fact of the matter is, we all see aspects of ourselves in Adam. You know how hard it can be to resist the pleadings of your super-hot boyfriend/girlfriend? Surely we can be just a little sympathetic. And Milton is somewhat unclear as well; after the Fall, he says that Adam was not "deceived," but rather "fondly overcome with female charm" (9.998-999). Is Milton saying that Adam wasn't tricked because he's too smart for that? Or is he saying that Adam is so weak that he fell prey to his wife's "charm[s]"?

Either way, Adam (and Eve) pays the price; he has to leave Paradise, and on top of that he has to learn about the horrible events (narrated in Books 11-12) that will happen as a result of his and Eve's behavior. In some respects, then, he resembles other literary characters entrusted with the burden of painful knowledge (Jonas from The Giver comes to mind; head over to our guide for more!). Notice how Adam doesn't tell Eve about all this stuff; we don't know if he ever does. In some respects he's like a parent or older brother that knows lots and lots of bad things that he doesn't necessarily want to share with his younger, more innocent siblings. Just think of him as someone who has to watch horrible war footage that the public isn't allowed to see. Would you want him to tell you about it?

But not all knowledge in this poem is bad, however, and Adam is also the figure through whom Milton reveals his own theories about what God was really up to with that whole Tree of Knowledge business. People have often complained that, because the tree was forbidden, knowledge was forbidden. The Bible doesn't really say anything about this, so Milton fills in the blanks with his own theory. In Paradise Lost he argues that Adam and Eve will eventually acquire the knowledge they don't yet possess. This is the whole point of Raphael and Adam's conversation in Books 5-8. In Book 5 Raphael tells him flat out that eventually, he will know everything he wants to know and then some. The real sin that Adam ends up committing, then, is not the knowledge he gains, but rather the proleptic (i.e., before the proper time) knowledge that he gains. In other words, he tries to walk before he's learned to crawl. Or, better, he takes his daddy's truck out before he's even gotten his learner's permit. Why do you think Adam's premature education is such a bad thing? What role does time play here ?

Adam Timeline

• Adam and Eve are observed eating a meal by Satan.
• Adam addresses Eve, saying God must be infinitely good and that they should praise him.
• Adam tells Eve that it's bedtime as night falls in Paradise. He and Eve praise God before going into their bower and having sex.
• Adam wakes Eve with his whispers before leading her forth to pray to God.
• He discerns Raphael walking towards them, and asks Eve to prepare a meal fit to entertain him (Raphael).
• He greets Raphael, invites him back to his place, eats with him, and then asks him a bunch of questions.
• He learns about how to attain knowledge and become all spirit; he also learns about how Satan's revolt got started in Heaven, how it fared, and how the world was created.
• He tells Raphael about his first memories in the garden, about how he woke up, heard a voice, and wandered over to a hill.
• He repeats his conversation with God, in which he asked God for a partner.
• Eventually, Raphael has to leave and he and Adam say their goodbyes.
• He consents to spend time laboring away from Eve on the day of the Fall.
• While waiting for Eve, he makes a little garland for her hair. When he goes to meet Eve, he sees she has some of that evil fruit with her.
• She eventually persuades him to eat, after which they engage in some really lusty sex. After they wake up, they argue for a while.
• He hides from the Son, who has come to execute justice. Adam says he's hiding because he's embarrassed because he is naked.
• Eventually, he admits what he's done, and learns his punishment.
• Later, when he sees the animals fighting, he delivers a huge lament about his circumstances.
• The angel Michael comes down from Heaven and leads him to the top of the highest mountain in Paradise.
• There Michael does something to his eyes and allows him to see all kinds of future events.
• Afterwards, Michael leads him down the mountain, where he rejoins Eve.
• They leave the garden together, holding hands.