Lacan’s “mirror stages’ reflecting on Eve’s evolution in John

Milton’s “Paradise Lost”

The aim of this paper is to apply Jacques Lacan’s concepts of the development of

the human psyche on Eve’s evolution in John Milton’s epic poem, “Paradise Lost”, in

order to prove that Eve’s development is similar to that of the awakening of a child’s

conscience. The means that have been used for reaching this objective are Jacques

Lacan’s concepts and textual analysis. Eve’s image in the primordial world can be

likened with that of a child’s existence in the earlier stages of life, the development of

both of their characters requiring a transition from total identification with a person

(usually the person who gave birth) to acquiring a personal identity. Eve undergoes an

active evolution during the poem, going from a complete and almost blind identification

with Adam, to questioning this position and, in the end, expressing her individuality. This

evolution parallels Lacan’s description of a child’s evolution, which consists of three

stages: the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic. However, despite the shift toward

individuality, Lacan’s work and “Paradise Lost” point to a condition where both the child

and Eve never fully break from an association with the existing society, but continue to

be certified and achieve legitimacy only in relation to it.

The first stage in Lacan’s theory is that of the Real, when the infant sets out as

something inseparable from the mother, nothing and nobody existing in this universe,

because all of one’s needs are fulfilled. The Real is a place (a psychic place, not a

physical one) where there is an original unity. Because there is no absence or loss, the

Real is all fullness and completeness, where there is no need that cannot be satisfied. And

because there is no absence or lack, there is no need of language or anything else in the

Real.

Eve’s existence is constructed in the same manner at the beginning. She was

created by God from Adam’s rib as his helpmeet. Therefore she was created for and from

Adam, being merely his mirror. The Garden of Eden is that place of perfect unity, when

Eve does not question her position as Adam’s image. When Satan observes them in book

IV, he states: “For contemplation he and valour formed/ For softness she and sweet

attractive grace, / He for God only, she for the God in him.” (IV. 297-299). Hence, Eve

has a dependent existence, not even being considered a creation of God and therefore

having him as the absolute point of reference, this role being carried out by Adam.

Accordingly, her experience is filtered though Adam, Eve showing neither an

autonomous contentment with herself nor any tendency towards independent actions or

self-improving. An example would be the moment of Adam’s conversation with Raphael

when she chooses to walk away when the discussion reaches more abstract questions,

Milton noting: “Yet went she not, as not with such discourse/ Delighted, or not capable of

her ear/ Of what was high: such pleasures she reserv’d,/ Adam relating , she sole

Auditress.”(VIII, 48-51). A parallel with the lack of linguistic representations in this

stage, present in Lacan’s theory, may be the fact that Adam expresses his superiority by

naming things, having, as Marcia Landy says, “the masculine priority over the language”

(7). Thus, Eve does not show any initiative not even through language.

The second stage of the Lacanian theory is the Imaginary one. In this stage, the

infant goes from having only needs, to having demands; demands are not satisfied by

objects; a demand is always a demand for recognition from another, for love from

another. The process works like this: the child starts to become aware that it is separate

from the mother, and that there exist things that are not part of it; thus the idea of "other"

is created. However, the dichotomy self/other does not exist yet because the baby does

not have a coherent sense of “self”. Lacan says that, at some point in this period, the

baby will see itself in a mirror (that is why this phase is also called “the mirror stage”)

and identify with that image. Nevertheless, this is a misrecognition because he/she does

not realize the fact that it is just an image, not the true self. For that, there should be

another person (usually the mother) there to reinforce that misrecognition, guaranteeing

the “reality” between the baby and the mirrored image.

In Eve’s evolution, the stage of the Imaginary begins when she sees her reflection

in the water. Eve’s first reaction to seeing her reflection is a startling one (just like a

child’s), but she soon welcomes her own image and is “pleased” by “its answering looks/

Of sympathy and love” (IV. 464-465). Eve’s reaction to her own image locates her desire

for an identity, one in which she can claim with “vain desire”. This would have been the

moment when another person had reinforced this image. However, in “Paradise Lost”, a

voice came and denied Eve the right to this mirrored image, claiming that her sole and

true reflection was that of Adam:

“What there thou seest fair creature is thyself,

With thee it came and goes: but follow me,

And I will bring thee where no shadow stays

Thy coming, and thy soft embrace, he

Whose image thou art, him thou shall enjoy

Inseparably thine,” (IV. 468-473)

Yet, Eve starts to inquire certain things that before did not seem to interest her,

displaying a preoccupation for autonomy. Although she still cannot perceive the fact that

it is an existence beyond Adam, she starts putting questions: “But wherefore all night

long shine these, for whom/ This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes? (IV.

654-658). On this background of doubt and inquiry, Satan’s intervention filled in the

position of reinforcer. He makes Eve appreciate her beauty and brings her in direct

contact with nature, so that she is not merely an image but also an independent entity that

is capable of being the one that constructs an image. She is no longer a shadow or an

image but an autonomous being permitted to have its own desires.

Fairest resemblance of thy maker fair,

Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine

By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore

With ravishment beheld, there best beheld

Where universally admired; but here

In this enclosure wild, these beasts among,

Beholders rude, and shallow to discern

Half what in thee is fair, one man except,

Who sees thee? (And what is one?) Who shouldst be seen

A goddess among gods, adored and served

By angels numberless, thy daily train. (IX.538-548)

Satan reconstructs Eve’s identity and brings her into immediate contact with the

universe she had been previously been instructed to experience though Adam’s

perception only. She is presented with the concept of other/s that must validate her in

order for her to attain total independence. Nevertheless, Satan, using sophistry, reinforces

not her true individuality but her image in the mirror, reducing Eve to her exteriority and

thus presenting her the only aspect in which she is superior to Adam. In this way, he is

sure that Eve would want to extend this superiority in all aspects, the fruit of knowledge

being presented as the perfect means of attaining it.

The third and the last stage presented by Lacan is that of the Symbolic. When the

child has formulated some idea of Otherness and of a self identified with its own "other",

its own mirror image, the child begins to enter the Symbolic realm. The Symbolic and the

Imaginary are generally overlapping because there's no clear marker or division between

the two, and in some respects they always coexist. This sense of self, and its relation to

others and to Other, sets one up to take up a position in the Symbolic order. Such a

position allows one to say "I", to be a speaking subject. "I" has a stable meaning because

they are fixed, or anchored, by the Other/Name-of-the-Father/Law, which is the center of

the Symbolic, the center of language. The Name-of-the-Father or the Law represents the

rules of the society/language that one must obey in order to become an adult.

For Eve, this comes with the desire of separating herself from Adam. In the end,

although he does not see the validity of this request, Adam accepts this, saying: “thy stay,

not free, absents thee more” (IX. 372), acting as the real reinforcer of Eve’s individuality.

He does not have the right to violate Eve’s autonomy and shows respect for her decision

of going alone. When she tastes the fruit of knowledge, Eve immediately changes. She

had deviated from her passive role and began thinking of ways of becoming Adam’s

equal or perhaps his superior. However, the thought of losing Adam to another woman

makes her acknowledge the fact that she cannot conceive life without him. “Confirmed

then I resolve, / Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe: / So dear I love him, that with

him all deaths / I could endure, without him live no life” (IX. 830-833). When he eats the

fruit also, the pair becomes united in sin. After the fall, Eve is depressed and tries to

commit suicide. Lacan states that this is normal in every case when the imago (the image

that is assumed by the subject) is formed. The moment when the mirror-stage comes to an

end is associated with primordial jealousy and violence and, in some way, denial.

However, Eve accepts her new identity and learns to define herself in relation with

otherness and to obey the rules of God/society. Hence, she repents, and her love gives

Adam the trust that they can face the future together, being glorified by being told that

her seed will eventually destroy Satan.

Taking all the points into consideration, “Paradise Lost” represents the pursuit of

a singular identity, Eve being then defined by her disobedience to God because of her

desire to have an active and singular identity, separate from Adam and thus God. This

becoming may be perfectly illustrated by Jacques Lacan’s concepts about the

development of the human psyche. The poem offers a large number of images that can

exemplify each stage of evolution, making this poem to be most suited to illustrate the

ideas of psychoanalytical criticism.

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