In the same drab brown used in the rest of the painting, Blake portrays the tree as a scraggly thorny plant with very few leaves. In Milton’s epic, the tree is a “sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving plant” (9.679). It is interesting, however, that when characters refer to the tree and fruit in Paradise Lost they usually mention the fruit. Most mentions of the tree are by Satan, as he describes winding “about the mossy trunk” (9.589) and eating “the fruit of this fair tree” (9.661). The focus of the Milton’s writing is not on the tree, so it is interesting that Blake made the tree so intriguing. Blake puts a lot of focus on the tree, directing Adam’s gaze onto it and the fruit and placing it in the center of the painting, between Adam and Eve. The tree takes up a large part of the canvas and has details that would not normally be necessary but add to Blake’s interpretation of this scene, such as thorns. The tree’s thorns are not described in Paradise Lost, and actually contradict the aforementioned moss covering the trunk. Instead of being soft, the tree is sharp and dangerous, but Adam and Eve do not even acknowledge the potential pain from the thorns in the painting, instead approaching and feasting off the tree. They are oblivious to the disgusting nature of the plant, only seeing the beautiful and delicious fruit hanging from it. The changes Blake makes in the tree’s nature insinuate that both tree and fruit are dangerous, not just the fruit. The tree symbolizes sin and knowledge, hidden behind the beauty of a single taste. God’s initial order to Adam in Genesis is “of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it” (2.17). God did not order Adam to not eat that type of fruit, but of that tree, something Milton does not appear to consider in his description of the fall. By contradicting Milton’s view of the tree’s softness and beauty, Blake symbolizes the true horrors of knowledge and of sin hidden beneath the initial appeal.
Blake on Milton: The Horrors of Knowledge Hidden Under Appealing Sin (Morgan M. Sample Assignment)8/18/2015 Blake’s use of color inside The Temptation and Fall of Eve draws attention to the inherent misery of the fall and the damage Eve’s actions did to the world. The world around the tree is dreary and gray, with a darkened sky and browning plants. This world contradicts with Milton’s garden, “goodliest trees loaded with fairest fruit” and “gay enameled colors” (4.148, 4.150). Unlike Milton’s descriptions, Blake’s world is lacking brightness. This is crucial to Blake’s interpretation because it differs so much from how Milton described the garden. This contrast shows how dark this single instance is to all of humanity, compared to the glory of the garden. Even paradise cannot be beautiful when humanity is falling, and in order to portray this, Blake casts it in muted browns and olives. The trees in the background are brown and have very few leaves, and the grass is a murky green. They are not the paradise of Milton’s epic, but instead the beginning of a dying world. At the same time, Blake gave color to two of the painting’s subjects: the fruit and Satan, although Satan’s color mixes with brown and is slightly faded. Both subjects are still orange, similar to the flesh-colored tones used for the rest of the painting. The color of the fruit also corresponds with Milton’s description, “fruit of fairest colors mixed / ruddy and gold” (9.577-8). While orange is not necessarily a ruddy red or bright gold, it is similar to the color and a mix of the two. This brightness draws the viewer’s attention to the fruit and snake, making them the focal point of the piece. Drawing attention to these two pieces, which are colored the same, connects the two and the significance they hold for each other. The fruit and serpent both tempt Adam and Eve, and are their ultimate downfall. Their triumph, gaining color, causes the rest of the world to fade and die. At the same time, Blake does an excellent job at keeping his color scheme to colors that work cohesively in a scene. The orange of the fruit and snake draw attention without being distracting, and focus the viewer’s gaze on important aspects of the scene while also allowing them to see the dreary brown that symbolizes the cataclysmic horror of the situation in which Adam and Eve find themselves.
In the same drab brown used in the rest of the painting, Blake portrays the tree as a scraggly thorny plant with very few leaves. In Milton’s epic, the tree is a “sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving plant” (9.679). It is interesting, however, that when characters refer to the tree and fruit in Paradise Lost they usually mention the fruit. Most mentions of the tree are by Satan, as he describes winding “about the mossy trunk” (9.589) and eating “the fruit of this fair tree” (9.661). The focus of the Milton’s writing is not on the tree, so it is interesting that Blake made the tree so intriguing. Blake puts a lot of focus on the tree, directing Adam’s gaze onto it and the fruit and placing it in the center of the painting, between Adam and Eve. The tree takes up a large part of the canvas and has details that would not normally be necessary but add to Blake’s interpretation of this scene, such as thorns. The tree’s thorns are not described in Paradise Lost, and actually contradict the aforementioned moss covering the trunk. Instead of being soft, the tree is sharp and dangerous, but Adam and Eve do not even acknowledge the potential pain from the thorns in the painting, instead approaching and feasting off the tree. They are oblivious to the disgusting nature of the plant, only seeing the beautiful and delicious fruit hanging from it. The changes Blake makes in the tree’s nature insinuate that both tree and fruit are dangerous, not just the fruit. The tree symbolizes sin and knowledge, hidden behind the beauty of a single taste. God’s initial order to Adam in Genesis is “of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it” (2.17). God did not order Adam to not eat that type of fruit, but of that tree, something Milton does not appear to consider in his description of the fall. By contradicting Milton’s view of the tree’s softness and beauty, Blake symbolizes the true horrors of knowledge and of sin hidden beneath the initial appeal.
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