Conjugal Rights in Flux in Medieval Poetry Page: 18
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commands, which she believes is articulating "God's bidding and counsel."50 Since she desires
to protect Adam from God's wrath, Eve falls into the messenger's rhetorical trap and allows his
"thinking...to seethe up inside her - the ordaining Lord had defined for her a frailer resolution -
so that she began to let her mind go along with those counsels."5' Eve's "frailer resolution"
confirms not only the reason why she fell victim to the messenger but also reveals her ability to
be empathetic, a capacity that is not depicted in Adam's characterization. Eve falls because she is
led to believe that Adam will be severely punished if she does not help him to atone for his
dismissal of the messenger. He tells her that she "can fend off punishment for the pair of [them],
as [he] shall show [her] ."52 When she pleads to Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, Eve not only
reiterates the counsels the messenger gives to her but also reshapes them into her own form of
argumentative expression. Her power to reshape the messenger's language reveals Eve's
rhetorical agency in the text. Much like Queen IElfthryth's positioning of her own advocacy in
terms of her marginal status in disputes, Eve highlights her subordinate position to Adam when
she advocates for the messenger to him, referring to Adam as her "virtuous master."53 The
messenger does not take this approach in either of his attempts to deceive the couple. Even
though Eve states that Adam is her "master," she does not dismiss her desire to convince Adam
to follow her pleas. Rather, Eve continues to endeavor to get Adam to eat the fruit by explaining
that they need the messenger to "intercede" for them with God since Adam quarreled with
Him.54 Her main objective is to convince Adam to repent his denial of the messenger, whom she
believes was sent by God. Although the messenger does not succeed in changing Adam's heart,
50 Ibid., 1. 573.
51 Ibid., 11. 589-590, p. 29.
52 Ibid., 11. 562-3, p. 28.
53 Ibid., 11. 669-70.
5 Ibid., 11. 672, p. 31.18
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Ward, Jessica D. Conjugal Rights in Flux in Medieval Poetry, thesis, May 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500176/m1/23/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .