In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Eve is compared to Pandora. Milton’s epic poem, first published in 1667, retells the biblical Fall of humanity and draws on classical mythology as well as Christian scripture.
The comparison links Eve’s role in the Fall with Pandora’s role in the Greek myth. Both figures are associated in later interpretations with the introduction of suffering into a previously protected human condition. Milton’s use of the comparison does not make the two stories identical; Eve belongs to the Genesis narrative, while Pandora belongs to Greek mythology.
Paradise Lost centers on Adam and Eve, Satan, the temptation in Eden, and humanity’s loss of innocence. Milton’s allusions assume that educated readers know classical stories such as Pandora’s.
The comparison also reflects a long tradition of connecting women, curiosity, temptation, and catastrophe. Modern readers often examine these associations critically rather than accepting the older moral framework without question.