# Of Adam’s Title to Sovereignty, by the Subjection of Eve explained — Two Treatises of Government > Chapter companion for Two Treatises of Government by John Locke. ## What happens Locke critiques Filmer's claim that Genesis 3:16 grants Adam absolute monarchical power over Eve and all her descendants. He argues that the verse is a curse and punishment on Eve, not a grant of political authority, and that it only establishes conjugal, not political, subjection. Locke further challenges Filmer's interpretive methods, noting the absurdity of reading absolute monarchy into a text about husband-wife relations. ## Themes in this chapter ### Critique of Patriarchalism and Divine Right Locke directly refutes Filmer's claim that Adam's rule over Eve establishes a divine right to absolute monarchy, arguing that the text only describes conjugal relations. ### Limited Government and Rule of Law By denying that Genesis 3:16 grants political power, Locke implicitly supports the idea that governmental authority is limited and not derived from patriarchal or divine right. ## Character check-ins ### Adam Adam is discussed as the supposed recipient of monarchical power from Genesis 3:16, but Locke argues the verse is a curse, not a grant. ### Eve Eve is the direct subject of the curse in Genesis 3:16, which Filmer misinterprets as a grant of political power to Adam. ### Sir Robert Filmer Filmer is the target of Locke's critique, having claimed that Genesis 3:16 establishes Adam's absolute monarchy. ### Jacob Jacob is referenced in the context of God's prophecy that 'the elder shall serve the younger,' which Locke uses as an analogy to show that such statements are predictions, not grants of political power. ### Esau Esau is mentioned alongside Jacob to illustrate that prophetic statements about service do not confer political sovereignty. ### Noah Noah is referenced in a discussion about the interpretation of scripture, where Locke notes that God's words to Noah and his sons are sometimes misapplied to Noah alone. ## Key lines > The words are the curse of God upon the woman, for having been the first and forwardest in the disobedience; and if we will consider the occasion of what God says here to our first parents, that he was denouncing judgment, and declaring his wrath against them both for their disobedience, we cannot suppose that this was the time wherein God was granting Adam prerogatives and privileges, investing him with dignity and authority, elevating him to dominion and monarchy. Locke argues that the context of Genesis 3:16 is God's punishment for disobedience, not a moment for granting Adam political authority. _Locke emphasizes the punitive context of the verse to undermine Filmer's interpretation._ > If this be 'the original grant of government,' as our author tells us, and Adam was now made monarch, whatever Sir Robert would have him, it is plain, God made him but a very poor monarch, such an one, as our author himself would have counted it no great privilege to be. Locke sarcastically notes that if Adam became a monarch at the Fall, he was a poor one, condemned to labor. _Locke uses irony to highlight the absurdity of Filmer's claim._ > God, in this text, gives not, that I see, any authority to Adam over Eve, or to men over their wives, but only foretels what should be the woman's lot; how by his providence he would order it so, that she should be subject to her husband, as we see that generally the laws of mankind and customs of nations have ordered it so: and there is, I grant, a foundation in nature for it. Locke interprets the verse as a prophecy of natural subjection, not a divine command for political rule. _Locke distinguishes between natural or customary subjection and political authority._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_treatises_of_government_se/chapters/v-of-adam-s-title-to-sovereignty-by-the-subjection-of-eve - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_treatises_of_government_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_treatises_of_government_se/chapters