psychology of temptation in Perelandra and Paradise Lost: What Lewis learned from Milton, The

A growing sense of the "alongside" is an even more conspicuous element in Eve's maturation. In an episode that surely influenced Lewis' characterization of the Green Lady, Milton describes Eve's first moments of self-consciousness in terms that recall the myth of Narcissus. Eve sees her reflected image in a pool, admires her beauty, and is tempted to prefer her "wat'ry image" over the companionship of Adam (PL 4.449 ff.). This episode recalls the mirror scene in Perelandra in which the Unman exploits the Lady's new-found ability to enjoy the "alongside" to tempt her to vanity. He offers her a mirror, and tempts her to indulge in self-love:

We call this thing a mirror. A man can love himself, and be together with himself. That is what it means to be a man or a woman-to walk alongside oneself as if one were a second person and to delight in one's own beauty. Mirrors are made to teach us this art. (137)

The mirror temptation is followed by the temptation to indulge in a "dramatic conception of the self'(139)-both episodes enact temptations made possible by our capacity for the "alongside." The Unman knows that if he can encourage theatrical self regard, he might be able to induce the Lady to think of herself as tragic figure. This, in turn, could be used to get her to disobey Maledil (God) out of a false sense of self-sacrifice, or out of an inflated view of injured merit. And in fact, the Lady begins to indulge in precisely such theatrical self-regard. She begins to relate to her own emotions histrionically; she begins to assume, "however slight," the hint "of a role: ' Like Eve at the pool, the Green Lady is not fallen, but her characterization is touched by the tincture of self-regard which has the potential of turning into vanity.

To engage "alongside" self-consciousness, whether by means of a mirror or by indulging in role-playing, is not per se evil. The Lady is not sinfully vain or hypocritical any more than is Milton's Eve. It is no sin to admire beauty or to be curious about one's appearance. But these are modes of self-reflection that can be exploited for baleful ends. We fear this outcome in Perelandra, and see it fulfilled in Paradise Lost when Milton's Eve at last succumbs to sin. At this moment, she acquires the sort of theatrical self that the Unman was trying to induce in the Lady. Eve's first speech after her transgression contains a newly theatrical mode of selfreflection: "But unto Adam, in what sort / Shall I appear?" (9.816-17). For the first time, her self-reflection is about masks and specifically borne of a desire to manipulate Adam's reactions. Similarly, Eve's fallen speeches are highly theatrical; the narrator signaled this by introducing them using the language of stage directions like "prologue," "apology," and "prompt" (PL 9.853-54). Furthermore, Eve conceives herself and Adam as noble victims caught up in a fateful tragedy-very much the way the Unman wanted the Green Lady to think of herself. In short, fallen Eve becomes a hypocrite-a word which etymologically derives from the notion of an actor's mask. In so presenting Eve, Milton reveals sinful possibilities of "the alongside," possibilities which Lewis recognizes pose a clear danger to the Lady, even though they define an aspect of human consciousness which separates rational beings from the beasts.