New research has revealed a hitherto overlooked connection between one of Jane Austen's iconic heroines and the figure of Eve in John Milton's Paradise Lost.
The new study, written by a Milton expert from the University of Exeter, shows that Austen was not only familiar with the 17th-century epic poem but boldly and critically drew upon its ideas of morality and power in her third novel, Mansfield Park (1814).
Dr Philippa Earle, of Exeter's Department of English and Creative Writing, authored the new paper published in the journal Milton Studies. Both Eve and Mansfield Park's heroine, Fanny Price, are described as "stooping among the roses," which, according to Dr Earle, should be read as an act of humility that Milton gives particular Christian significance and which Austen recognises.
In Paradise Lost, Milton describes Eve tending a garden of roses, repeatedly bending down to support their fragile stems. While literature scholars have long focused on the beauty and symbolism of the flowers, Dr Earle says Eve's physical action-her "stooping"-is key to a deeper understanding of the scene.
This moment, she argues, reflects an older, Christian meaning of "condescension," or the act of lowering oneself to help others. Eve's gesture isn't merely a physical one, but is also a spiritual one, expressing humility, vulnerability, and openness to divine grace.
Dr Earle said Mansfield Park contains several clues to Austen's Miltonic interest, such as Fanny Price twice being described as "stooping" among the roses, and another character quoting Paradise Lost. "The parallel is deliberate," Dr Earle explained. "Austen is inviting us to read Fanny in relation to Eve, and to bring Milton's ideas about Eve, humility, and grace into Mansfield Park."
But Dr Earle's paper goes on to argue that while Milton asserts the importance of Eve's Christian "condescension", that is, her embodying humility and divine grace, Austen places Milton's representation of the idea within her own complicated social world.
Throughout the novel, Fanny is expected to serve others, often at the expense of her own well-being. Her "stooping," like Eve's (which is in the view of Satan), places Fanny in a position of vulnerability. However, in Mansfield Park, Fanny's humility is a personal virtue shaped by her position within a wealthy household tied to colonial power and plantation slavery.
"Austen invokes Milton's concept of 'condescension' to critique a society built on inequality," says Dr Earle. "Fanny's humility aligns her with Milton's Eve as an admirable Christian example whose grace has the potential to save others, but Austen also cleverly hints at how the original meaning of 'condescension' and the way Milton uses it has degraded into the kind of exploitation that many of her fellow Christians benefited from."
The study also offers a fresh interpretation of Milton's Eve, with Dr Earle arguing that she is presented as more than simply the cause of the Fall, but as central to Milton's understanding of human redemption. Her repeated acts of "stooping," both with the roses and later when she humbles herself before Adam, demonstrate a willingness to embrace vulnerability and have a transformative effect on Adam, which opens the way for forgiveness.
Dr Earle says Austen recognised Eve's saving role in Paradise Lost and imbued Fanny with similar qualities. But, Dr Earle adds, the consequences of Edmund's transformation undermine the Eve-like condescension that Austen has established. By the end of the book, while Fanny's position is more secure, it is tied to the exploitative structures of patronage and privilege that, through Austen's handling of Milton, the author has subtly critiqued.
"Austen didn't simply allude to characters or narrative elements of Paradise Lost, she was a brilliant, critical reader of Milton and his theology," said Dr Earle. "She understood one of the most important but overlooked details in Paradise Lost. Milton makes Eve partially responsible for the Fall of humankind by eating the forbidden fruit (as in Genesis), but he also gives Eve an indispensable role in the salvation of humankind through her humility and grace. Austen recognised this and used what she understood as the true, Miltonic meaning of condescension to critique the attitudes of her contemporaries with regard to profiting from slavery.
