How does Milton show that love is possessive in Paradise Lost (books 9 and 10)?

Milton makes possible a reading of Eve, his main female character, as a femme fatale. This is a woman who through her power of seduction and female charm gains power over male characters. Milton thus develops a theory that his female character Eve seduces her husband, Adam, and in doing so manipulates his love in order to have a form of possessive power over him. This subverts the power between genders and subverts the traditional gender roles. In the case of Eve it can be argued that she is the archetypical and original femme fatale. C.S Edwards views Milton’s Eve ‘as the mother of all femme fatales.’ One of the readers first encounters with Eve in Book 9 of Paradise Lost occurs as she is ‘veiled in a cloud of fragrance’, fragrance carrying connotations of stereotypical feminine beauty whilst veiled suggests a duplicity, therefore from an audiences first encounter with Eve arguably Milton highlights a link between female charm and a form of deception that could be used to subvert and gain power over male characters. Furthermore, David Quaint argues that this idea of Eve as a femme fatale is strengthened by Milton’s form of an epic poem, as it allowed Milton to draw upon images of Epic and villainous characters. For example in book 5 it explicitly links Eve to the character of Narcissus as they are both enchanted by starring at the reflection of their image in a body of water. Highlighting how a character who is obsessed with and aware of the power of her beauty would be capable of manipulating her husband’s love in order to gain possession. Eve is even able to briefly hold possession over Satan, another male character, as he is ‘stunned’ by her beauty. This shows the power Eve has to manipulate love. The upper classes at the time would have especially seen the contextual link Milton was attempting to make as, like Milton, they would be a product of an education system that focused on the great Epics of Greek and Roman times. Kerrigan argues that it is Milton’s own experience of marriage that causes the extent of the negative portrayal of Eve. Indeed, Milton’s experience of marriage were not positive, being married three times and once having a recently married bride so unhappy that she ran away from him and returned to her family home. This was in part the reason for Milton’s such progressive views on the need for Divorce, even publishing a pamphlet in 1644 in which he alludes to Pandora to illuminate the Fall thus furthering the view of Eve as a femme fatale who is capable of manipulating love in order to gain possession. Adam presents a very possessive type of love which is hugely patronising. It is only with reluctance that Adam allows Eve to ‘divide thy labours’, stating that she would be ‘Safest and seemliest be her husband stays’. Furthermore, his description of her focuses heavily on Eve’s appearance, reducing her worth to her attractiveness and in doing so objectifying  her. Tanimoto points out that through Adam’s obsession with Eve’s appearance, Milton ‘places her on the same level as the animals, under Adams government’. Furthermore, the possessive love is further exemplified by Froula who states that ‘Eve is a patriarchal idea of womanhood deprived of her autonomous identify and trained to be obedient to men by male power.’ This seems evident when Milton explains that nothing lovelier can be found in woman than to study household good ‘and good works in her husband to promote'. In describing Eve in this way, Milton clearly shows the possession Adam has over her yet there is perhaps still love in this as he worships her appearance. Although this negatively focuses on her outward appearances. Therefore, Milton adheres to Robert Crowley's guide for women entitled, 'The Womans Lesson' and in doing so Eve is the perfect wife of the early modern period. It is possible that contextually this highlights the role of women at the time of Milton’s writing. Women were in a subservient position to their husbands and due to their marriage placing them under the power of their husbands, they became a possession to be controlled. This was likely to the readers at the time the very notion of love.