Paradise Lost Lesson Plan

Does Adam and Eve's punishment seem fair or proportionate to you? Why or why not?

Whether or not students agree with God's punishment for Adam and Eve may depend in large part on their prevailing vision of ethics. Some students may agree with the anguished questions posed by Adam in these two books – if the wrongdoing belongs solely to him and Eve, then why must he and his descendants be punished for it? And why were they created by God, if this was to be the inevitable result? On the other hand, some students may subscribe to a kind of legalistic "contractualism" – Adam and Eve were told what the consequences of eating the fruit would be, and they proceeded to eat it...