For Eve, the image on the left, I drew inspiration from the scene of Eve recounting her earliest memories to Adam, namely when Eve hears God saying that she “shalt bear multitude like thyself, and thence be called / Mother of human race,” and Eve listens by stating “What could I do / But follow straight, invisibly thus led?” (IV.474-476). Here, I interpret Eve’s narcissism as an expansion of herself that includes not only “[her]self” but also Adam, whom she encounters later in the scene, and, ultimately, the entire “human race.” In this way, Eve mimics the cliché claiming that one must oneself before one loves others. Thus, one could argue that Eve’s narcissism is not a sin, as her self-love ultimately serves as growth for herself and others, eventually leading to the genesis of all human life. In my artistic representation, I specifically wanted to emphasize Eve’s support of others’ growth through her creation of life. The hand I drew not only represents Eve reaching to grab the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, but can also represent God’s hand, rescuing Eve from doubling in the reflection scene. In this way, the hand has double signifiers as a hand sign, but its two signifieds are distinct from each other instead of exact reflections of the same person. Moreover, the woody texture of the hand and the flowers reaching from said hand represents Eve’s, and through hers, God’s ability to expand the growth of His creations.
On the other hand, my interpretation of Satan stems from his scene when meeting his progeny. I was specifically inspired by the lines where Satan’s initially reacts to them as “What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why,” claiming to his daughter Sin he has never seen a “Sight more detestable than him [their son Death] and thee” (II.741-745). I interpret this scene as Satan’s inability to recognize himself as a result of his narcissism: the fact that Satan cannot acknowledge, and even hates, his “double-formed” progeny suggests self-replication without reflection - the exact opposite of Eve, who reflects and gives life, but does not clone herself. Hence, in contrast to Eve’s narcissism as an expansion of herself, and through it, the Other, Satan’s narcissism exists within and for himself and himself alone, as indicated by his exact duplication: Sin is his clone, and Death is their child together. So, for my creative project, I wanted to highlight this distinction of Satan’s doubling of exact copies versus Eve’s ability to create new life. For instance, the bright color palette for Eve represents her ability of growth while Satan's black and white tone symbolizes his cyclic, deadly effects of replication. Moreover, I sought to emphasize the effects of Satan’s narcissism insofar as it causes him to not recognize himself in his progeny of exact duplication, as shown in the repeated blurred images of Satan’s face. Also, the fact that the images are set in a square suggests the closed circuit of Satan’s narcissism -- one of his faces will always lead to another, never a deeper meaning beyond the copy of the image itself. Hence, Satan loses any deeper significance he has in the original text, in order to fully bring the folly of his doubling to the surface.