Paradise Lost

Journal One: The Tree

Though the tree is only briefly mentioned at the very beginning of the book, it is obviously of primary importance. One of the explanations I have heard for the injunction not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is that this knowledge belonged to God alone. It could be argued that only God was able to fully understand such knowledge, and therefore the only being capable of rendering true justice. If man (that is, Adam and Eve) were to eat the fruit, they would form an imperfect notion of good and evil which would lead to injustice -- something human history has shown to be ever-present. At the same time, it would be encroaching on divine territory. This is part of what makes he fruit so enticing, and the Serpent is able to convince them that they will become equal to God and no longer subject to his rules if only they ate the fruit and gained the knowledge that its flesh bestowed -- and of course, they bought (and bit) it.

Journal Two: God's Will?

The issue of God's omniscience vs. The supposed free will of man has plagued theologians for millennia, and it is doubtful that I will solve it in this half page response. Milton's version of the tale does not really seem to support this reading, however. Though God was ultimately responsible for Satan's being in the right (or wrong) place at the wrong (or right) time, he clearly shows Adam making a conscious decision to eat the fruit despite the consequences. This seems to suggest that free will can operate regardless of God's desires, as long as He doesn't directly intervene. Whether or not He wanted them to eat the fruit is an unanswerable question, and largely pointless. It is certain that He didn't want to stop them from eating the fruit badly enough to intervene, despite his omniscience and omnipotence. The rest was up to Adam, Eve, and Satan.