Paradise Lost Topic Tracking: Obedience & Disobedience Obedience
& Disobedience 1: Milton asks the muse to sing about man's first
disobedience: when man ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Rather
than ask the muse to sing of the fall of Adam and Eve, Milton
interestingly stresses "disobedience." Obedience & Disobedience
2: Sin agrees to unlock the gates for Satan and let him pass,
telling him "thou art my father, thou my author, thou my being
gav'st me; whom should I obey but thee, whom follow?" Book 2,
lines 864-5. Sin reasons that she must obey Satan since he is
her creator. Obedience & Disobedience 3: God predicts that Adam
will eat the fruit of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge, which is
the only rule Adam could break. The tree of knowledge is
established as the means by which Adam can obey or disobey.
Obedience & Disobedience 4: Satan hears Adam tell Eve that they
must not eat of the Tree of Knowledge, calling it "the only sign
of our obedience left" Book 4, line 428, or else God will kill
them. This is Adam's