The Coming of Lilith Themes

The Coming of Lilith Themes

Divine nature

Lilith is unlike Eve in that she knows she is of equal worth to Adam. When the Lord creates Adam from the dirt and breath, he also creates Lilith in this mystical retelling. Divine nature is the thematic backbone of Lilith's argument against Adam; because of sexist prejudice against her, he has forgotten the sacred worth of her existence, falling into a delusion that she exists just to serve him and clean up his trash and make him happy and pleasured. Lilith stakes a claim about the divine value of female life.

Family and love

Adam starts humanity's existence with a failed first marriage. That is a commentary on his capacity for love, because he does not automatically have the courage and humility to respect others as much as he values his own self and desire. This means that his ability to form family is dependent on his relationship to his own desire. When he is in the mindset of Oedipal entitlement, he turns misogynistic and puts poison into his own family's well. Lilith and Eve represent the balanced response to that imbalance; one stays and serves, but then eats the forbidden fruit, and the other leaves and chooses freedom or death.

Humility and pride

This retelling is not uncommon to Jewish folklore; Lilith is an ancient character from extra-canonical writings, especially the writings of Jewish mysticism, like Zohar, for instance. In Plaskow's telling of this story, the whole moral reading of the text is that Adam will have to suffer through lengthy experiences before he realizes that he is solipsistic and inherently dismissive of women. The whole story is a summation of pride and humility with regard to gender. His journey toward humility is so difficult for him that God himself is amazed.

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