The felix culpa:
The Unfortunate Nature of the Fortunate Fall and Its Ties to Obedience
John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, discusses the Fall of humankind from Paradise. The Fall
occurs when Adam and Eve, after tempted by Satan, eat the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge. In doing so, Adam and Eve
show disobedience towards God and are, subsequently, expelled from Eden, or Paradise. The Fall described in the poem is often
referred to as a felix culpa, or
fortunate fall, meaning that although the expulsion is the direct result of
sin, the outcome of the Fall is essentially for the good of humankind. However, the Fall of humankind is not, in
fact, fortunate, for it does not create a better existence for humankind than
that which humankind enjoyed before the Fall.
Nor does the Fall benefit the majority of humans or provide humankind
with greater knowledge of God’s mercy.
This illustrates the idea that the Fall does not occur to ultimately
benefit humankind, but rather to display the necessity of humankind’s obedience
to God.
In John Milton’s poem, Paradise
Lost, he presents the story of humankind’s fall from Paradise. In the poem, Adam and Eve cause the Fall to
occur by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and, subsequently, by
disobeying the wishes of God. Through
his poem, many see the Fall as an essentially positive event, calling it a felix culpa, or fortunate fall. The felix
culpa idea suggests that the Fall of humankind was necessary in order to
allow for a greater good to occur. This
is to say that without the Fall, the salvation of humankind through the
sacrifice and resurrection of Christ would not have occurred and it is because
of this event that humankind is able to experience a higher sense of
happiness. Although humankind becomes
exposed to sin and death after they fall from Paradise,
they are also given the opportunity to experience the mercy and love of God
through their reestablished obedience towards Him. In other words, while God punishes those who
sin, those who remain obedient to Him are rewarded with salvation. Subsequently, many argue that the Fall of
humankind is indeed fortunate, for if this fall had not occurred, they feel humankind
would not have been given the opportunity to feel the true extent of God’s mercy
and love.
Although many consider humankind’s fall from Paradise to be fortunate, or a felix culpa, this view is dependant on what humankind’s situation
after the Fall is being compared to.
Those who believe that the Fall is ultimately fortunate seem to be
comparing the post-fall existence of humankind to Adam and Eve’s existence
directly after the Fall and not to
their existence pre-fall. When this is
done, it is easy to find the positive nature of the Fall: humankind has been
offered a chance at salvation rather than a life of eternal damnation. The archangel Michael says, “To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess / a paradise within thee
happier far”. Even Adam remarks:
O goodness infinite, goodness immense!
That all this good of evil shall produce,
And evil turn to good; more wonderful
Than that which by creation first brought forth
Light out of darkness! full of doubt I stand,
Whether I should repent now of sin
By me done and occasioned, or rejoice
Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring.
Here,
Adam displays his happiness over the prospect of humankind’s possible
salvation. However, Adam makes the
comparison between this prospective existence and his current existence, not to
his existence in Paradise before the Fall. When comparing
Adam and Eve’s existence pre-fall, the outlook does not seem as fortunate. In fact, although Adam is happy about the
prospect of salvation, given his current state, even he is hesitant in
describing the Fall as completely fortunate.
Adam is “full of doubt”
as to whether or not the Fall is truly fortunate. Adam’s happiness is the result of the fact
that he is looking forward at what he has to gain after he has fallen, as
opposed to looking back and examining what he once possessed, before the Fall. As John C. Ulreich, Jr. puts it:
It is quite reasonable to say that the good resulting from
the Fall far outweighs ‘all our woe,’ that the Incarnation completely
overbalances the consequences of original sin…But it is not reasonable to
suppose that the benefit will be greater than it could otherwise have been.
So, for
Adam and Eve, who are in a state of despair after the Fall, any improvement on
their state of being would be seen as something positive. However, to compare the sin of humankind to
the new prospect of salvation is not appropriate. One must compare the new state of humankind
to the state of humankind before the Fall.
Only when this is done can a true comparison be made. This illustrates that the post-fall existence
of humankind is more bleak than the pre-fall existence and that the Fall of
humankind is not fortunate.
The vision of humankind’s future
existence that Michael provides to Adam in Book XII allows one to recognize
that this post-fall existence is less beneficial than the existence that Adam
and Eve enjoyed in Paradise before the Fall.
William G. Madsen refers to this vision: “Indeed, there is very little to
rejoice at in Michael’s previous account of human sinfulness. In effect, all that he has said is that a few
men will regain the happiness that Adam lost, and that the far greater part of
mankind will suffer eternal damnation in Hell”. Those who obey God and are devoted to Him
will receive mercy and salvation.
However, far more will be forced to suffer for their sins and for the
sins of humankind: “To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward / His faithful,
and receive them into bliss”. However, this is not an improvement on Adam
and Eve’s original place in Paradise. In Paradise,
all are granted happiness, not just a select few. So, it does not seem fortunate to diminish
the number of humans who are able to experience this happiness: “If all could
originally have remained saved, why damn them in order to save only a
few?...Even the supposititious greater happiness of those few fit survivors
could never be held to justify such waste”. Walter G. Madsen also comments on this idea:
“It does not seem that much more good has sprung from Adam’s sin if all that
God can succeed in doing is salvage one or two men in every age and restore
them to the blissful seat that all men would have enjoyed had Adam remained
obedient”. So, although the Fall may turn out to be
fortunate for a select few, a far greater amount of people are forced to live a
life of eternal damnation. The Fall as a
whole cannot be considered fortunate as it is unfortunate for a greater amount
of people.
Often times, the Fall is thought to be fortunate because it
allows humankind to realize the mercy and love of God. However, this causes the Fall to appear unnecessary,
for Adam and Eve are already aware of God’s providence towards them before the
Fall occurs. The Fall provides no
further revelations in regards to this.
Hugh White notes:
It might be that they come to know, on surer evidence than
they had before they fell, the enormous depth and reach of God's goodness, but
since they knew already that God is all-loving and all-powerful, the force of
the Fall here is only really to give occasion for an essentially redundant
demonstration: there has never been any doubt that God's goodness is infinite
and immense, and it should be no surprise to find testimony of this….
So, if
after the Fall, Adam and Eve are made aware of God’s grace, it is a mere
confirmation of the awareness that they already possess. This ‘new’ knowledge is not, in fact,
providing any new information, but rather stands to regurgitate the knowledge
that Adam and Eve have possessed from the beginning. This, therefore, refutes the idea of the Fall
being productive and, consequently, that the Fall is a fortunate occurrence for
humankind.
The fact that the Fall is,
ultimately, unfortunate for humankind ties into the need for humankind’s
obedience to God. While many, including
God, try to justify the Fall by classifying it as fortunate, it remains nothing
more than a further test of humankind’s obedience to God. Throughout his poem, Milton stresses the idea of obedience. In fact, the entire poem is, “Of man’s first
disobedience…”. The Fall is used as a tool to illustrate the
importance of remaining obedient to God.
While Satan stands to show what will happen to those who do not obey God
after a fall, Adam and Eve stand to show what happens to those who do. Adam and Eve, in essence, contrast the
actions of Satan. After Satan is
expelled from Heaven, he continues his disobedience to God and goes as far as
leading a revolt against him. The
consequence of Satan’s actions is that he must face eternal damnation in
Hell. Contrastingly, upon their fall, Adam
and Eve express their renewed devotion to God.
They promise to once again obey God and, subsequently, are able to work
towards salvation. In this way, the Fall
of humankind is used as a tool to contrast the consequences of those who remain
obedient to God and those who do not.
The epic poem, Paradise
Lost, by John Milton describes the temptation of humankind and their
eventual fall from Paradise. In the poem, Milton portrays this fall as being
fundamentally fortunate, or a felix culpa. However, the Fall does not end up benefiting
mankind, as some would argue. This is
due to the fact that the Fall does not offer a better existence for humankind
when compared to the existence that humankind experiences before the Fall occurrs. Furthermore, the Fall does not provide a
positive outcome for the majority of humankind, nor does it heighten the
knowledge of humankind in terms of understanding the mercy of God. Subsequently, the Fall cannot be seen as
benefiting humankind, or being a felix
culpa, but rather serves as an example of the importance of staying
obedient towards God.
Bibliography
Duncan,
Joseph E. “Paradise as the Whole Earth.” Journal of the History of Ideas 30.2
(1969): 171-186.
Lovejoy,
Arthur O. “Milton
and the Paradox of the Fortunate Fall.” ELH
4.3 (1937): 161-179.
Madsen,
William G. “The Fortunate Fall in Paradise
Lost.” Modern Language Notes 74.2
(1959): 103-105.
Milton,
John. “Paradise Lost.” The Major Works
including Paradise Lost. Eds. Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1991.
355-618.
Ulreich,
Jr., John C. “A Paradise Within: The Fortunate Fall in Paradise
Lost.” Journal of the History of Ideas
32.3 (1971): 351-366.
White,
Hugh. “Langland, Milton,
and the felix culpa.” The Review of English Studies 45.179
(1994) : 17 March 2006 < http://www.geocities.com/magdamun/white.html>.