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himself to the land, which is, as previously established, a feminine force.
But this is complicated, as the feminized earth itself is cursed (Milton X.
202), and Adam is simply forced to engage with a cursed entity, rather
than become a cursed entity himself. With Eve taking over the burden
of productivity, Adam is forced to toil with unproductive soil. Thus,
post-fall, reproduction is gendered as wholly feminine, while lack of
productivity is masculinized.
Thus, in a way, Adam and Eve are equalized in the sense that they are
both subject to their gendered opposite and equally physically separated
from God. Whereas pre-fall Adam had access to God directly and Eve
was mediated by Adam, post-fall both are equally expelled from God’s
presence and mediated only by Christ. In Book X, the son assumes the
role of mediator, as the narrator relates, “from wrath more cool, / came
the mild Judge and Intercessor both / to sentence Man” (Milton X.
95b-97a). Thus, when Adam blames Eve and God for the fall (Milton X.
135-145), it has already been established that Adam has been demoted
as a viable judge of Eve, and thus his power is reduced. The Son rebukes
Adam for “resign[ing] [his] manhood” (Milton X. 148), suggesting that
through the diminishing of his authority, he has become ungendered.
From this point on, Christ acts as the “Intercessor” between God, man
and woman, allowing equal access to God amongst all humankind. Of
course, Wittig would resist this reading, as Adam and Eve’s genders are
still defined by their social interaction, especially since Eve is the domestic
reproducer and Adam is the public laborer. However, while fallen, both
are at least equally fallen and have equally limited access to God, which is
a necessary step to reestablishing the perfect, genderless ideal, as promised
through Christ’s birth.
However, this equality shifts slightly, and temporarily, as through the
promise of Christ’s birth, wherein God directly interacts with a woman
alone, the hope of unity is restored, reestablishing the genderless, uniform
ideal by means of an unmediated woman. As Michael relates, Christ is
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promised “by the woman’s seed” (Milton XII. 601), through “Mary,
second Eve” (Milton X. 183), allowing a chance for redemption through
all-female reproduction. As previously established, reproduction that
results from God’s direct influence is positive and unifying. Additionally,
Christ’s birth allows for the possibility of a total restoration (XII. 623),
implying a return to an egalitarian state of being; since Christ’s ransom
allows people to go to heaven, a sphere inhabited by genderless spirits, his
restoration reinstates a perfect, genderless space as Eden was intended to
be, but failed on account of man’s mediatory role with woman.
As contemporaries, both Cavendish and Milton wrote at a time
of great dissention, turmoil and fragmentation on account of the Civil
Wars. If adhering to Murphy’s reading that the family is a microcosmic
site of larger social politics, than the fragmentation of the family via
reproduction and gender hierarchies can be read as representative of larger
social concerns about political divisions. Thus, both writers attempt to
recreate a space wherein the possibility for unification becomes a reality;
however, neither can believe this reality without destroying gender, for,
as Wittig astutely notes, with gender comes difference and division. Both
depict physical, gendered reproduction in a negative light, as physical
reproduction is an act that divides men from women, andcreates further
fragmentation through an increase in population. Therefore, in their
respective ways, they create worlds that praise ungendered reproduction
as means to establish unity and equality within society.
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