ABSTRACT
In the seventies and eighties, feminist scholars critiquing Milton brought attention to the role of the woman reader, exploring the ways in which many women readers have experiences in reading Paradise Lost that differ significantly from men. The patriarchal backlash against these different perspectives demonstrates what is at stake when we examine Eve: the acknowledgement of women’s experiences and subjectivities. This chapter considers the work of feminist scholars Froula and Gilbert and the derisive responses to their work by Gallagher and Pechter, reworking this debate into twenty-first century queer studies of Milton’s epic. In this reading, rather than Eve existing merely as a symbol of patriarchal oppression in such a way that alienates women readers, Eve instead becomes a point of entry into a Milton that has become destabilized by the assertion of queer perspectives. Here, Eve is a figure of identification for Othered and structurally marginalized readers, as they identify with her struggles for knowledge and independence.
