Lilith - The Female Demon in Beloved, by Toni Morrison

Lilith is a poignant character in Jewish, Christian, and Greek Mythology, who is generally perceived as a female demon. Theologians believe Lilith to be an evil demon that controls a certain number of animals, and it wasn't until nearly 100 A.D. that visual depictions appear of her and her animals. Lilith is also related to motherhood because Lilith represents the power that women draw from giving birth. In short, Lilith is a demon that is deceitful in every manner: socially, physically, and mentally. In Shirley A. Stave's criticism, Toni Morrison's Beloved and the Vindication of Lilith, Stave explains Toni Morrison's use of the myth Lilith in her novel, Beloved, and how Morrison explores the artifacts of motherhood in Beloved with great ebullience. Stave correctly identifies instances when Morrison employs Biblical allusions, adulthood, and parallelisms between the legend and the novel itself. Stave makes her point clear; the role of motherhood in Beloved is represented by the female demon, Lilith. Although Stave makes this argument with much support from other criticisms and Biblical references, she doesn't divulge Morrison's true function of having Lilith be present in Beloved: Lilith is Beloved. One must see that Beloved is the literal representation of Lilith to fully comprehend the deceitful acts of Beloved. Throughout Morrison's novel, Beloved, is put in different situations that make her portray Lilith. The mentality of Beloved comes from Lilith. Most of Beloved's actions directly mirror the Bible's text when describing what Lilith is. In the Bible, Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and are banished from the Garden of Eden because Lilith played a role in the decision of Eve. For this to be portrayed in Beloved, Morrison uses Paul D and Beloved, Beloved of course being Lilith. Beloved approaches Paul D when he is vulnerable and asks him to, "[T]ouch me on the inside part" (Morrison 137). P...