Reading Milton through a Feminist Jungian Lens

Abstract

Abstract My article re-reads John Milton’s Paradise Lost through a feminist post-Jungian perspective; the study will observe the implications of contemporary Jungian critical approaches toward Milton’s portrayal of Eve, who helps Adam find ‘a paradise within …, happier far’ (PL 12. 587). I will first highlight the negative portrayal of an evil, intellectually inferior Eve in Paradise Lost, and ultimately re-reading the poem—and the role of Eve in it—from the perspective of a feminist Jung. The initial reading of Paradise Lost, in which Eve was regarded as inferior and complementary to Adam, reflects Jung’s criticized notion that the anima’s role is to complement a man’s psychology. This, however, can be read differently through a post-Jungian feminist perspective. From this new viewpoint, Eve can be regarded as Adam’s equal, rather than an inferior company, and a catalyst in their ‘coniunctio’, in which they both individuate (rather than Eve, the anima be subservient to Adam’s individuation) in Paradise Lost. Despite the vast differences between John Milton’s and Carl Jung’s cultural and historical backgrounds, this novel reading of Paradise Lost in context of revisions to Jung’s anima theory and theory of individuation offers a more positive view on the poet’s depiction of Eve in keeping with more recent developments in Milton scholarship, which have drawn attention to the way the text questions conventions of gender hierarchy and patriarchy.