Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part A
The reading for Adam and Eve part A was just a couple different stories about the biblical story, some directly from the bible itself. In my reading notes, I'm going to be focusing on the women in Adam's life, Lillith and Eve, and take note of how they're portrayed in this story.
In the story of Adam and Eve, Adam is made first, in God's image. It is only after Adam that a woman is made to compliment him. First, God made Lilith to be Adam's wife, so that the human race might develop. However because she demanded equality with her husband, she did not remain for long. She eventually flew away from Adam, leaving him. Adam then complained to his lord that his wife had deserted him. God sent three angels after her and they found her, telling her that she needs to come home or she would suffer the punishment of 100 of her demon children dying. She preferred this to living with Adam.
After this, God soon made Eve for Adam, to be his wife. It is through the creation of Eve that the real distinction between the creation of man and woman is developed by God. It is also worth taking note that Lillith was made in Adam's presence, thus he was repelled by her. He woke up from a slumber to find Eve in all her beauty, the mystery of it grabbed him and his heart. They had a marvelous wedding.
They soon went to the Garden of Eden, Paradise. It is there where God told them not to eat from the tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden. But the serpent convinced Eve, who convinced Adam, and it led to The Fall of Man. However while most of the blame originally falls to the tree, it was Adam who exaggerated the boundaries. God had only said not to eat the fruit from the tree, while Adam had forbidden Eve to touch the tree. Because the serpent was able to get Eve to touch the tree and she saw that she did not in fact die and that Adam lied to her. Due to this revelation, the serpent was able to convince her to eat from it, and she in turn convinced Adam to eat from it. They then discovered that they were both naked, and were sure to face death.
They received Punishment for disobeying God. When confronted by God, Adam tried to shed all of the blame onto Eve, even though he allowed himself to be persuaded by her over his very own God, which is pointed out to him. God is offended by his blaming of Eve, saying that he gave her to Adam and that blaming her would be an insult to him, he should have just disobeyed her instead. However, she is still given ten curses for her sinning, all of which are still noticeable today in the state of woman.
My main interest here is how the women of this story are used to complement Adam. I believe this is explicitly because they are women, not simply because Adam is the central part of the story. The women are made for Adam and they are the ones that should change, not him. The blame for everything gets shifted onto them because they are the ones feeding into the temptation. I feel like it would be quite unrealistic for the genders in this story to swap, which is why I'm considering that for my retelling of the story.
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