The Notorious E.V.E.: A Feminist Perspective on Eve

Joanna Habacon 

1st Illustration: "Garden to Graveyard"

2nd Illustration: "Mother of Creation, Seeker of Wisdom" 

Medium: Digital Art 

Artist Statement: 

My body of work contains flat digital illustrations that explore contrasting narratives about the more contentious of the two characters in the Garden of Eden, Eve. Are feminist interpretations able to overcome traditional arguments attributed to her in the story of creation that has spanned thousands of years?

The first of two illustrations, titled "Garden to Graveyard," displays the traditional talking points about Eve. This version of biblical hermeneutics—interpretations—can often become misogynistic. The simplified story of creation often goes that Eve ate an apple from the Tree of Knowledge after being swayed by a serpent and offered the apple to Adam, all of which was against the direction of God. As a consequence, they were banished from the Garden of Eden. One can assume that the person in this first woman is Eve, but it is unnecessary. In Deborah Sawyer's "Resurrecting Eve," she illuminates that Eve is uniquely situated in a position where she is the "representative and type of all women," an enormous task forced upon her (274).

An aspect not seen in the feminine figure is a face. I take testy inspiration from St. Augustine's perpetuation of a sexual hierarchy; boiled down, hist argument entails that procreation and being a man's helper constitute the reasons for the creation of a woman. In the artwork, without facial features, including eyes (the windows to the soul), the woman becomes secondary to man, only seen in her downfall of eating from the tree and in her physical attributes. Another aspect of the illustration is the fruit the woman is biting. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible never stated that Adam and Eve ate an apple, but it often comes up in conversation about the story of creation; just as the woman is misconstrued so is the piece of fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Early Christian author Tertullian describes Eve and her actions as encompassing the "Devil's gateway," which became the inspiration for the serpent, the skull engraved within the apple, and the simplified tombstones in the background of the illustration that display symbols of death and evil (280). Through a traditional lens of Eve's actions, what once was a promising garden becomes a graveyard that buries feminist interpretations six feet under.

I take more creative liberties in the second digital illustration by receiving inspiration from my Filipino roots titled "Mother of Creation, Seeker of Wisdom." Eve is clothed under the command of God as a punishment, but at my discretion, her outfit takes the silhouette of a traditional Filipino dress called a Filipiniana and has a flower in her hair called a Sampaguita, the national flower of the Philippines. The abstract crown around the top of the woman's head symbolizes the creation of woman as the "crowning glory of the whole," as stated by Lillie Devereux Blake in Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible (15). I did not want to put emphasis on the act of eating; instead, I wanted to attract attention to the consequences by using feminist biblical hermeneutics. A leading voice in feminist interpretations, Phyllis Trible paints Eve as a go-getter in her re-reading of Genesis 2-3. Instead of seeing her actions as a sign of failure, the mark of the fall of humanity, Trible focuses on the intrinsic matters of Eve's contemplation, desiring a fruit that nourishes, satisfies, and "above all…is coveted as the source of wisdom" (Trible 79). The illustrated serpent does not speak to the man but rather to the human being "with greater sensibilities" (Trible 79).

Where is Adam in the illustrations? He is purposefully left out of the two pieces for two distinct reasons. In the more traditional illustration, Adam is not there, so he is not culpable for "Eve's mistake." Julie Parker's article "Blaming Eve Alone" signifies the importance of עמה, which translates to "with her" (Parker 729). Scholar John Calvin and Anglican author H.D.M. Spence assert that Adam was not in proximity to Eve when she ate the fruit, and the use of the word correlates with a marital bond. With the second illustration, I use Trible's argument for Adam's absence in the other illustration. She does not say whether he is beside Eve, but he is emotionally unavailable. He becomes a "silent, passive, and bland recipient" of the fruit, contrasting with Eve's independence and search for wisdom (Trible 79).

In totality, Eve can be reimagined in various ways, even with conflicting viewpoints. However, feminist interpretations allow Eve an opportunity to transcend the confines of her story. If one goes along with the stance that Sawyer puts out in regards to Eve representing womankind, women and anyone who has felt subjugated by patriarchy can overcome such a long-standing obstacle.   

Works Cited 

Blake, Lillie Devereux, and Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. "The Book of Genesis: Chapter 1." The Woman's Bible, edited by Maud Wood Park, vol. 1, European Publishing Company, 1895, pp. 1-15.

Morris, Paul, and Deborah Sawyer. "Resurrecting Eve? Feminist Critique of the Garden of Eden." A Walk in the Garden, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1992, pp. 273-289.

Parker, Julie Faith. "Blaming Eve Alone: Translation, Omission, and Implications of עמה in Genesis 3:6b." Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 132, no. 4, 2013, pp. 729–47, https://doi.org/10.1353/jbl.2013.0050. 

Trible, Phyllis. "Eve and Adam: Genesis 2–3 Reread," in Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, ed. Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), pp. 74–83.