It is a common argument that what separates human beings from animals is our ability to reason. This is a concept that Milton mentions multiple times throughout his epic poem Paradise Lost in reference to the characters of Adam and Eve. Their free will is what is supposed to enable them to make the conscious decision to worship God, but their ignorance and lack of experience is what ultimately leads to their downfall. In Areopagitica, Milton argues that one must know evil to know good, and this rhetoric is supported by Comus, another work by Milton, when it is contrasted with the temptation scene in Paradise Lost. My argument is that despite God giving Adam and Eve “free will,” without giving them knowledge of what is good and what is evil, he sets them up to fail when their faith is tested by Satan.
