“If I were inclined to joke, I should say, How much this seems like Paradise!” he remarked whimsically, looking at her with an inclined head.“What do you say?” she weakly asked.“A jester might say this is just like Paradise. You are Eve, and I am the old Other One come to tempt you in the disguise of an inferior animal. I used to be quite up in that scene of Milton’s when I was theological. Some of it goes—
When Tess, the protagonist of Thomas Hardy's novel, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, is working one day, she mindlessly notices a man working next to her, but pays no direct attention to him. Upon his approach, she is horrified to see Alec, the man who raped her years ago and brought existential dread to her life. He makes these claims that he is now a man of God, who has finally recognized his sins and is ready for redemption. However, it is clear through his joking, yet overbearing demeanor towards her that he is still the same terrible man that will never truly see the error of his ways. What supports this idea is the fact that he never apologizes or begs for her forgiveness, he just tries to sink his claws in her all over again by eventually suggesting that she marries him. Referencing Eve towards the end of this passage is an ironic way to bring religion into this issue. Alec makes the references to Eve as a way to almost put the blame on Tess for his actions because Tess is being compared to Eve as a temptress or a perpetrator. Alec continuously acts blind to his own role in taking joy and intimacy out of Tess' life.