[Milton-L] Query: Adam's 'Heroic' Self-Sacrifice for Love?

[Horace Jeffery Hodges]

What traditions does Milton draw upon for his picture of Adam sacrificing himself 'heroically' out of 'love' for Eve?
   
  I'm thinking of the passage in Book 9 where the fallen Eve confronts Adam with her 'confession' and offers him the fruit:
   
  9.896-999 (cf. esp. 9.970, 975)
   
  See also "The Argument" to Book 9:
   
  "Adam at first amaz'd, but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence of love to perish with her"
   
  Now, I realize that Milton thinks that there is nothing truly 'heroic' about this and that Adam's 'sacrificial love' is a form of self-deception (i.e., 'fondly overcome with Femal charm"), albeit not being truly deceived in the manner that Eve was.
   
  But is Milton following tradition here (Christian, Jewish, or other) about Adam's 'love' and 'sacrifice,' or is he being original?
   
  I'm especially interested in two points that Milton brings together: love (even if lust) and self-sacrifice.
   
  Both of these serve as parallels between Adam and Christ, but with Adam's act of 'loving self-sacrifice' presented as more like a parody of Christ's.
   
  Since Milton's time, other biblical commentors seem to have picked up on Milton's portrayal, and I'd also be interested in knowing more about that.
   
  Jeffery Hodges


University Degrees:

Ph.D., History, U.C. Berkeley
(Doctoral Thesis: "Food as Synecdoche in John's Gospel and Gnostic Texts")
M.A., History of Science, U.C. Berkeley
B.A., English Language and Literature, Baylor University

Email Address:

jefferyhodges at yahoo.com

Blog:

http://gypsyscholarship.blogspot.com/

Office Address:

Assistant Professor Horace Jeffery Hodges
School of English, Kyung Hee University
1 Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu
Seoul, 130-701
South Korea

Home Address:

Dr. Sun-Ae Hwang and Dr. Horace Jeffery Hodges
Gunyoung Apt. 102-204
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Seoul 131-771
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