Forbidden fruit

For other uses, see Forbidden fruit (disambiguation).

File:Adam-mange.jpg

Adam tasting the forbidden fruit. Fresco from the cloister of the monastery of Cantauque (Provence).

Forbidden fruit is any object of desire whose appeal is a direct result of the knowledge that it cannot or should not be obtained or something that someone may want but is forbidden to have.

The metaphorical phrase forbidden fruit refers to the Book of Genesis, where it is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Type of fruit

In Western Europe, the fruit was often depicted as an apple, because of a misunderstanding of, or perception of intentional dual meaning in, the Latin malus, which as an adjective means evil, but as a noun means apple. In the Vulgate, Genesis 2:17 describes the tree as "de ligno autem scientiae boni et mali/the wood, indeed, of good and evil knowledge" Genesis 2:17 ("mali" is the genitive of "malus"). The larynx in the human throat, noticeably more prominent in males, was consequently called an Adam's apple, from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in Adam's throat as he swallowed.

Some Slavonic texts state that the "forbidden fruit" was actually the grape, that was later changed in its nature and made into something good, much as the serpent was changed by losing its legs and speech. The Zohar (the text of Jewish Kabbalah) also claims the fruit was a grape.

Other Christians sometimes assert that the "forbidden fruit" was the fig, from the account of their using leaves of this tree to cover themselves (also the fig tree is the only fruit tree explicitly mentioned in the Genesis 3 context). Since the fig is a long-standing symbol of female sexuality, it enjoyed a run as a favorite understudy to the apple as the forbidden fruit during the Italian Renaissance. The most famous depiction of the fig as the forbidden fruit was painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti in his masterpiece fresco on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Some Rabbinic traditions regard the forbidden fruit as wheat : wheat is "khitah" in Hebrew and thus is a pun on khet, "sin". Still, many believe the quince, which pre-dates the apple and is native to Southwest Asia, was the forbidden fruit.

Other potential forbidden fruits of the Garden of Eden include the pomegranate, the carob, the etrog or citron, the pear, and, more recently, the datura.

Lastly, some Christians believe that the forbidden fruit was not meant to be a known species at all, but was a distinct plant that no longer exists.

As a metaphor

The term most generally refers to any indulgence or pleasure that is considered illegal or immoral and potentially dangerous or harmful, particularly relating to human sexuality.

In some interpretations, the 'apple' was a metaphor for sexuality, 'the first sin' and so forth. This is heavily disputed, especially since the first commandment given to Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis was to "be fruitful and multiply." Additionally, when the first woman was presented to the first man, God said in Genesis 2:24: "That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh", thereby implying sexuality (sub voce) and parenthood (father and mother).

In the philosophical novel Ishmael, the story of eating the forbidden fruit is described as a metaphor for the loss of quality of life caused by the change from a hunter-gatherer culture to an agriculturally based society.

Some believe the metaphor refers to a hallucinogen, possibly psilocybe cubensis or Amanita muscaria.

See also

• Grapefruit, originally named the "forbidden fruit" of Barbados.
• Apple (symbolism)