This scene is iconic: it is the beginning of the end for Adam and Eve. I decided to take some artistic liberty within the painting itself, because I wanted to show my interpretation of the lines I chose.
Satan is curling around Eve’s outstretched hand. Here, I wanted to show Satan's manipulation in pushing her to breaking the one rule God set upon her. He is a simple garden snake, not very harmful, but in the painting, he has an air of menace as he seemingly guides Eve’s hand to the forbidden fruit. While I was planning out what sort of scene I wanted to paint, I came across this quote on Satan, describing him "As when of old some Orator renound / In Athens or free Rome, where Eloquence / Flourishd" (9.670-672). I wanted to have that air about the snake I painted, so I decided to have him twist around Eve's arm, similar to an accomplished orator's firm grip upon the minds of his listeners.
However, she is still the one outstretched towards the fruit, and her entire body leans towards the tree. When all is said and done, Satan is not the one who "plucked" and ate the fruit from the tree — Eve was. Satan and Eve’s hand are in the center of the painting so as to be focus, and while all of heaven is very light and inviting, the forbidden tree is well into the foreground, and is mostly in shadow. Eve is reaching for the glowing fruit, but she also reaches for the darkness that accompanies it, turning her back on all of Heaven.