Greedily she engorged without restraint
And knew not eating death. (9.791-792)
Innocence that as a veil
Had shadowed them from knowing ill was gone,
Just Confidence and Native Righteousness
And Honor from about them, naked left
To guilty Shame…(9.1054-1058)
Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind
They sat them down to weep. Nor only tears
Rained at their eyes but high winds worse within
Began to rise, high passions – anger, hate,
Mistrust, suspicion, discord – and shook sore
Their inward state of mind, now tossed and turbulent (9.1121-1126)
I portrayed Eve in despair after having sinned by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. In this drawing, she is now bashful and covers herself with her hands, having lost her innocence and purity. Disguised as a snake, Satan has corrupted Eve, and Adam in turn. The snake in my drawing is not physically there, and is meant to be a metaphor for Eve’s inability to escape from sin. The green color of the snake symbolizes greed, the first and foremost sinful emotion Eve felt by choosing to eat the forbidden fruit. I wanted to also represent the eternal effect Eve’s sin had on mankind (that we are all born out of sin), so I made the background a mix of dark red and black like the fires of Hell.
After completing my drawing, I was more certain that Eve was somehow tainted before she sinned…because the act of her eating the fruit was not the first sin – it was choosing to eat the fruit. In my adaption, I am not portraying Eve’s innocence, integrity, or independence from Adam. Instead, I focus on her being distraught over her choices.