Gallery Four Life

Within popular Western interpretative traditions, as well as the majority of modern works on the reception history of Adam and Eve, the first woman’s role as a mother has ultimately been eclipsed by her action in the garden. Nonetheless, Eve is, according to the Bible, the first female to give birth to a child and begin the cycle of human procreation, thus representing a potent symbol of female creative power. Furthermore, some of the most poignant aspects of Eve’s story are bound up in her maternity; she is mother to all living but her children will know mortality because of her actions; she will suffer pain and anguish in order to bring about new life; and she will experience the death of her second son Abel at the hands of her firstborn, Cain. In this chapter, I explore the ways in which Eve’s motherhood is represented by a number of different trajectories growing out from the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish and Christian interpretations, visual art, and the work of pre-twentieth-century women writers. Each of these categories of interpretation offers their own unique insight into mother Eve, while also sharing considerable imagery and themes between them.