Forbidden fruit
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The term "forbidden fruit" is a popular metaphor that describes any object of desire whose appeal is a direct result of the knowledge that cannot or should not be obtained or something that someone may want but cannot have. The phrase 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. As a result of eating this fruit, Adam and Eve lost their innocence, began to know good and evil, and were exiled from the garden where they were forced to adopt agriculture under less than desirable circumstances for a living. The concept of "knowing" good and evil can be best understood as being emotionally entangled with the struggle of determining the difference.
Popularly, the fruit has been identified as an apple (perhaps as a Latin pun of 'malus' sounding like 'evil' and 'apple'), although the Bible does not identify the fruit as an apple. Judaism teaches that the fruit may have been either grape, fig, wheat, or citron. In recent years, some researchers are supporting the fact that the forbidden fruit is actually a pomegranate, from the supposed location of the Garden of Eden. However, as man was given permission to eat all the fruits of the garden, it has been proposed that the forbidden fruit was animal flesh, since this act introduced death into the Garden and, more importantly, breaks the second commandment given to Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, that is, to be vegetarian.
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 hunter-gatherer culture to an agriculture-based society.
The term most generally refers to any indulgence or pleasure that is considered illegal or immoral and potentially dangerous or harmful, particularly relating to such things as human sexuality (underage, extramarital, or otherwise), recreational drug use, and underage alcoholic beverage consumption.
In some biblical interpretations, the 'apple' was a metaphor for sexuality, 'the first sin' and so forth. This is heavily disputed, especially since the first commandment<ref>Old Testament, Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply."</ref> given to Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis was to "be fruitful and multiply".
