ause prevails, and allows him to continue his appropriate plan. It is this same dedication that throughout Satan’s conversation with Eve, he does not allow her to retreat back to Adam in order to lose such an ideal situation.Initially, Satan’s actions with Eve involve little effort to convince her that he is not any evil demon that Adam told her to expect on her voyage. Simply, he uses his ability to flatter Eve in order to gain her attention and trust, an essential objective if he was willing to destroy mankind (p. 248-249 lines 540-548):‘…By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore,With ravishment beheld……who shouldst be seenA Goddess among Gods, adored and servedBy Angels numberless, thy daily train?’Using this flattery to compliment her beauty, and allowing her to recognize the fact that all of Eden’s animals adore her, he slyly inserts the proposition that will allow her to become greater in power and being, “A Goddess among Gods,” rivaling the omnipotent power possessed by God. Satan came in the form of a snake, the only reptile and animal that could have the ability to pluck the forbidden fruit from the tree. When questioned how he attained the ability to talk and interact, he simply answered that he ate the fruit of the tree, and received the knowledge equal to that of a human. Immediately, this inserts the subject of curiosity into the mind of Eve, whose free will allows her to wonder exactly why the fruit of the tree is forbidden. By pursuing Eve’s vanity, she falls subject to his irresistible flattery and forms a trust in the evil reptile, allowing Satan to easily conquer mankind.Satan’s only method that he used in order to convince Eve to actually eat the forbidden fruit is simply based upon the gifts that God bestowed on Eve and the rest of mankind: free will. Satan gives many reasons for Eve to eat the fruit, to become a god, to be beautiful, to ris...
