John Milton's Paradise Lost is an epic that has influenced Christian perceptions of God, Satan, sin, and the origin of humanity for centuries. His poetic account of the creation story, however, clearly expands several aspects within the most fundamental Christian version of creation, the Genesis story. Milton's development of Genesis specifically addresses the questionable equality between Adam and Eve and the concept of free will versus that of predestination and their role in the ultimate fall from Eden. There is unprecedented attention placed on the nature of Adam and Eve and their inherent qualities in Paradise Lost and it is through this attention that Milton expands the Genesis narrative. As a result, he presents readers with an interpretation of the creation story that reflects the gender attitudes of his time. Furthermore, his emphasis on free will allows Milton to justify God's expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, while also pushing readers to recognize the presence of choice between good and evil in their lives. The epic is not simply a longer, more elaborate version of the origin of humankind, but a revision of Genesis that has ramifications involving the Christian doctrine of free will and the foundation of gender roles. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The question of equality between Adam and Eve in the creation story has always been debated, largely because it reflects the gender roles established by God for humanity. In Genesis there are numerous references to equality between the sexes: "God created man in his image... male and female he created them" (1.27). Both man and woman were created in the image of God, indicating equality in the eyes of God. Furthermore, there is a sign of equality in the creation of Eve from Adam's rib. It was not taken by his head, as if it were above him, nor was it taken by his feet, as if it were below him. Finally, God grants both Adam and Eve dominion over the earth: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them…replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over…every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” "(1:28). Faced with this biblical evidence regarding the equality of the sexes, Milton explicitly writes Paradise Lost with Adam and Eve as unequal guardians of Eden. First, he structurally alludes to the inequality between the two. In continuous discussion between Adam and Eve about whether or not to separate, Adam receives forty more lines of dialogue than Eve, although the number of responses they give towards each other is the same, while the Genesis calls attention to the equal creation of Adam and Eve in the image of God, Milton gives particular emphasis to the difference in nature of the two “Though both / Not equal, as their sex seemed not equal; / He and valor were formed by contemplation, / She by softness and sweet attractive grace, / He by God alone, she by God in him" (IV. 295-299). Here we see that God gave Adam a nature contemplative and a higher intellect than Eve, who is "inferior, in mind / And inward faculties" (VIII.541). In fact, Adam is placed so far above Eve in intellectual nature that Eve is incapable of hear or understand the dialogue between Adam and the divine Raphael: "not capable his ear / Of that which is high" (VIII. 49-50). God intended Adam to be more contemplative than Eve; knowledge and acquired it not by his own efforts, but through Adam. Such emphasis on the inequality of the intellect and the general.