Should+I+Not?

​ =The //Forbidden// Fruit? =

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The purpose of this project circled around creating a plausible yet fictional "conversation that never happened." The dialogue is based around two main characters from Genesis, where we created a dialogue surrounding an important incident that happened between them. I chose the characters of Eve and the Serpent, where I chose to create a dialogue around their sole encounter, involving the forbidden fruit. In their conversation, these two characters dispute over how Eve should "be​ adventurous" and the Serpent's controversial advice given to Eve on what she should do: take the fruit instructed by God not to be taken and have a little fun, or follow the rules and miss out on audacious opportunities.

Dialogue
(birds chirping) SERPENT: How are you today, Eve? Fine day, issssssn't it?

EVE: Definitely, I am loving the sunshine. It's great to just relax, but don't you find it sooo boring? Just sitting around doing nothing, what I do every...single...day....

SERPENT: Yesssss, but we can alwayssss make our livesss more interessting.

EVE: How can you possibly say that? There's nothing to do in this garden but sit around and stare off into space, or try to start a conversation with Adam. It'd be a miracle if we found something to do...

SERPENT: Why not play down by the treessss? Get active, get off you lazy butt and do sssssomething for a change; you are the only one that can make it fun for yoursssself.

EVE: Serpent, I'm not five. I wanna do something adventurous, something crazy. I wanna break free from this mundane life and feel what it's like to be free. I mean, there has to be a world outside of this garden.

pause

SERPENT (hushed tone): Well...there'ssss been sssome talk going around, I'm sssure you've heard...the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You know about it, right?

EVE (excited): Oh my god, yeah. Yes! (hesitantly) But where are you going with this? We all know that the tree is forbidden, God said so himself!! It gives me chills just looking at it!

SERPENT: Yessss, but do you know the reasonsss why you cannot eat the fruit, more or lessss go near it?

(pause)

SERPENT: Look, the fruit has a power. Jussst look at the name: The Fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It ssseems that we can acquire knowledge of good and evil. But don't you ssssee? God isss only blocking thissss off becausssse he issss sscared of the power we all can obtain from eating the fruit. We could be asss powerful asss him!!! We will be able to see the difference between good and evil! God issss being a coward; he fearsss his own creations gaining power. But what issss wrong with understanding right from wrong? We can make correct decisionsss, we can ssspeak for ourssselvesss....

EVE: But he will kill us!

SERPENT (louder): But nothing!!!! Look, God isss only sssaying that to ssscare ussss. Nothing bad will really happen. What issss ssso wrong with having a little power? He thinkssss we will overpower him and take over, but then why did he create the tree in the firssst place? and I mean, come on, we obviousssly cannot overpower him. We will not become equal with him. He'sss fricking God, creator of the world. He hassss SSSSOOO much power. One bite of one little fruit will do nothing. Okay, I'm not trying to force you to eat the fruit. I'm not trying to get you in trouble. You wanted a little adventure, well here you go. I'm jussst letting you know that you can have a little fun, feel a little freedom. And the eassiesst way I can think of doing ssso isss breaking sssome rulessss. Rulesss that do not have consssequencesss, am I right?

EVE: I still don't really know...I have to think about it. I mean, true. this is definitely adventurous, definitely waaaay out of my league. But how can I fully trust you? God specifically told me that I cannot eat the fruit. But it's true, I won't become as powerful as him if I eat it. Sooo...I'm not sure. I have to think.

SERPENT (voice fades away, leaving): Fine by me. But you asssked for adventure and well, here you go. I gave you an adventure...

(night time, crickets)

EVE (footsteps, pacing around, thinking to herself): Eve! What are you waiting for? This is your chance to rebel, be adventurous; get off your lazy butt and do something! You won't know until you've tried....But how can I completely trust the serpent? He could just want to get me in trouble....Jeez, it's really cold. Maybe that's a sign; maybe I should not do this. Maybe God is trying to tell me something...But this is my chance to do something. I have to do it. I have to....

(drifts in to a dream...music, snoring, moves around restlessly)

(birds chirping)

EVE: Oh, it's just a dream. But what an weird one...

SERPENT: Eve, have you made up your mind? It'ssss now or never.

EVE: I think so...but I had a dream about the fruit. God did not do anything when I took it. Now I'm scared; I mean will he do something? Or is he just waiting till I take the fruit and then he will punish me later on? I'm so confused, so lost.. .

SERPENT: Eve! Don't let your fearssss get in the way of your accomplisshmentsss, your dreamssss! You can't be passssive in a time like thissss. Take control, GROW UP !

EVE: You're right; I wanted adventure. I have to do this! I can't sit around, having wasted so much time thinking this over and not go anywhere. Tonight, tonight I will get it done.

(crickets chirping, crunching of leaves)

EVE (whispering): It's just behind those gates, just climb over. One, two, three jump!

(thud, running through leaves) EVE: Gotcha!

( pause; huge crashing sound, thunder, roar - sign that God is angry )

EVE: Serpent, Serpent where are you?!

SERPENT: What? What do you want? It's three in the morning!

EVE: How dare you?! How could you?! You told me nothing would happen; I took the fruit and I took the blame! You said nothing would happen and now I pissed God off! I will now, and future women, always be below men! I have to have children, which I have heard is not the most fun and comfortable thing! Why did you do it?! Why?

SERPENT: I did nothing wrong. I sssimply told you the good thingssss that come from eating the fruit. I did not force you to eat the fruit; I told you it would be a good thing and that you sssshouldn't be passsive about thingssss. I told you that you would not die. You look alive to me. I DID NOTHING WRONG.

EVE: Yes, that may be true, but you said that I would not suffer any consequences.

SERPENT: Okay, ssso ssssure. Men ruling over may ssssuck, but do you want to be the only humanssss on the planet? Do you not want to sstart a family? Keep the generationssss going?

EVE: But -

SERPENT: But nothing. I did not do anything wrong. Thisss dissscussion is over... (voice fades away)

EVE: But............how do I raise a baby? !

Character Analysis
As a result of Eve's credulousness, the serpent's story makes her determined to get what she wants, resulting in hasty decisions. Upon hearing the serpent's words about the benefits that arise from eating the forbidden fruit, Eve "...saw...the tree was good for food...tree was to be desired..." (Gen.3.6). The key word "desired" shows Eve's credulousness as she absorbs all of the serpent's words and believes what he says about the fruit, causing her to desire consuming the fruit and become wise like God, knowing right from wrong though there are consequences that follow her decisions. When people believe whatever they hear which cause them to make hasty decisions, they sometimes forget the consequences that could result and follow poorly thought out choices. Eve's quick believing of the serpent's story causes her to become determined to achieve her goals and get what she wants.

In William Blake's painting, "Eve Tempted By the Serpent," Blake depicts Eve standing below the tree of the fruit with her arm raised, as the serpent coils himself around behind her. In the painting, Eve's raised arm towards the fruit on the tree shows her determination to get the fruit into her hands in order to gain the power to distinguish the difference between good and evil, an ability that will make her feel more powerful. People are determined to achieve their goals and end things their own way, and Eve shows her determined self through powerfully raising her arm towards her goal: the forbidden fruit. Determination can lead to hastiness; people will be too determined and do things without thinking through what could happen as a result, creating negative feedback from not only determination but credulousness as well.

Due to the serpent's objectiveness through speaking with Eve, he appears deceitful when he does not stop Eve from making the wrong decision based off his information. In the garden of Eden, the serpent informs Eve of the benefits from eating the forbidden fruit and tells her that "'you will not die...eyes will be opened...be like God...'" (Gen.3.4-5). The keyword "be" refers to Eve becoming more like God by seeing the difference between good and evil, which shows the serpent's trait of objectiveness as he was only telling her what good things will come and what bad things will not. Objective people are there to inform others, and the serpent informs Eve of the pro's and con's of eating the fruit. Unfortunately, the serpent's objectiveness comes off as deception as he does not stop Eve from making a wrong and life-changing decision.

In Blake's painting, the serpent is hovering over Eve as she reaches up to grab the fruit of the forbidden tree, and he knows that there are consequences that would result from her eating the fruit, <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.8pt; line-height: 150%;"> but not death. His hovering and standing by shows his deceptiveness as he does not stop Eve from making a wrong choice while he knows that something negative will result. The serpent had informed her of the power that could result from eating the fruit, yet failed to tell her that there would be consequences. The serpent, like many people, use objectiveness as deception, where they tell others of all the good things and sweep away the bad things. The peoples' credulousness and eagerness to believe the deceptive lead them to their falls, as Eve discovered when she ate the fruit and had God punish her as well as Adam.

Script Analysis
I decided that Eve's two traits to convey would be determined and credulous. In my script, I showed Eve's determination through her making her final decision to take the forbidden fruit. The main line that I created to convey her determined thoughts was "'You're right; I wanted an adventure. I have to do this! I can't sit around, having wasted so much time thinking this over and not go anywhere. Tonight, tonight I will get it done.'" I wanted to show her determination by having her make her final decision, making Eve have no doubts, showing that she is determined to get the task done. For Eve's trait of credulousness, I conveyed this trait through Eve believing the Serpent's words and not following her own mind when she was told by God herself to not take the fruit: "'I took the fruit and I took the blame!'" This quote represents an example of Eve's credulousness; she followed what the serpent said, believing there would be no following consequences to taking the fruit but was proven wrong.

The Serpent's two traits I wanted to convey were objective yet deceitful. The Serpent appears objective because he "'simply told [Eve] the good things that come from eating the fruit...'" He does not force Eve to eat the fruit but informs her of the positive abilities that can result from taking the fruit, making the Serpent objective. I wanted to juxtapose the more positive trait of objective with the trait of deceitful, as the Serpent does appear deceiving in Genesis as well as my script. His deceptiveness shows when is informing Eve of the great things to come from eating the forbidden fruit, and he slips in the little fact that "'one little bite will do nothing.'" The Serpent did deceive Eve, as Eve was punished by God after obtaining the fruit. His deceitfulness showed through him claiming nothing would happen, only to trick Eve into following his ideas.

Background of Artwork/Artist: William Blake's "Eve Tempted by the Serpent"
William Blake's "Eve Tempted by the Serpent"

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 111%; text-align: left;">William Blake, a poet, painter and printmaker from London, England, was born on November 28, 1757. As a child, Blake showed a great talent in the arts, particularly painting, but began writing poetry in his teenage years. Blake's wife, Catherine, helped him publish his poetry for everyone to enjoy: the very poetry still appreciated today. Blake's main focus surrounded his forte, poetry, but he also created several paintings of his favored Biblical and religious subjects. Using tempera paints, Blake created "Eve Tempted by the Serpent," from drew inspirations such the obvious, the incident with Eve and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, but also from the epic poem "Paradise Lost" by John Milton.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 111%; text-align: left;"> This "Conversation that Never Happened" project was overall a challenge, primarily because it was based completely around technology and the Internet, which I personally find difficult at times. I think my strengths revolve around my dialogue and my artist/artwork background paragraph, primarily because my writing strengths fall under creative and research writing. Because of this, I believe that my weaknesses are the analytical aspects of this project: the analysis paragraphs, as well as my audio cast because I found that it was difficult to edit and fix around as another one of my weaknesses include working with technology. Going in to recording the audio cast, I chose Garage Band because I felt it would be easier since I own a Mac computer. But as I progressed on to editing, I realized I had not expected how difficult, for me personally, it was to edit and add sounds and so on. This part of the project was EXTREMELY frustrating and annoying, as I had no previous experience whatsoever with Garage Band. Luckily, I have been able to learn from this experience and I now have a better understanding of this difficult and frustratingly annoying program which I probably never want to use again.

Another obstacle I had was managing my time with this project. I had many projects, including some from physics and Pacific Rim, as well as massive amounts of work piled on top of this project. I felt I was crunched for time as the project deadline came closer and closer. Luckily, I had worked hard the weekend before, so I had most of the writing done for the project; all that was left was the recording and aesthetics. Now I know to not let the projects pile up, especially at the end of the year when they are more and more and worth many points.

Though this project challenged me, I was happy to work with technology, especially Garage Band and Wikispaces so I could improve on my skills in these programs. I am happy with my end result, and happy to finish everything on time.