English Language and Literature ETDs

Publication Date

7-12-1973

Abstract

Students inquiring into the literary tradition underlying Mil­ton's Eve in Paradise Lost find ready at hand a great body of interpretive works in the writings of the Church fathers and in the imaginative literature that develops into the hexameral tradition. Present also, however, is a second great artistic tradition, namely that of the visual arts. With the development of iconographical programs from the begin­ning of Christian history, Eve appears frequently and variously to re­flect the intE1rests and prejudices of each age. It becomes instructive, therefore, to compare the portrayal of Eve in the visual arts with Milton's depiction of Eve in Paradise Lost. The comparison shows where Milton's Eve conforms to the pictorial tradition and where Milton departs from convention to enhance his humanized, historical composite.

Eve first appears during the third century in early Christian wall paintings, and she figures frequently in the rudimentary iconograph­ical programs in the catacombs. Her portrayal develops in complexity as typological correspondences appear in Church decoration during the Carolingian and Romanesque periods. From a simple, symbolic figure that, with Adam, generally represents the Fall of Man, Eve becomes during the Carolingian period an actress in a story in the continuous narratives of Old Testament illustrations. With the narrative, her

Degree Name

English

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

English

First Committee Member (Chair)

Edith Buchanan

Second Committee Member

Mary Beth Whidden

Third Committee Member

Joseph Benedict Zavadil

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

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