Samson Agonistes

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1671

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Authorial Context: John Milton and Samson Agonistes

John Milton’s dramatic poem often invites autobiographical readings. As the 20th-century Milton scholar Douglas Bush writes in his introduction to The Portable Milton (Penguin, 1988), “And then, eyeless in London, under a Stuart king, he was reliving his own career as a great deliver now in subjection the Philistines” (22). There are many similarities between Milton and Samson: Both are blind, and each is fighting against what they see as oppression, Milton on the side of the Commonwealth opposing the absolutist monarchy of Charles I, and Samson defending the Israelites from the oppressive occupation of the Philistines.

Yet this kind of autobiographical comparison is overly grandiose. In Milton’s Peculiar Grace, the contemporary Milton scholar Stephen M. Fallon describes Milton’s flattering representation of himself in his work. He’s “[S]houlder to shoulder with God and Moses” and “a superhuman benefactor” (Cornell UP, 2007, p. 118). Like Samson, Milton arguably thought of himself as special, or, as Samson puts it, “[A] person separate to God” (Line 31). In the play, Samson says he behaved “like a petty God” (Line 529) and was “swoll’n with pride” (Line 532). Milton, too, might have been rather full of himself. Though Milton was a prolific writer, he was not the crucial lynchpin of Cromwell’s government in the same that Samson’s extraordinary physical strength made him a key part of the Israelite army. The Restoration led to Milton being briefly imprisoned, but the returning Stuart dynasty didn’t cause his blindness, nor did the wives and daughters he often baselessly complained about lead to his arrest. The comparison most falters in the play’s resolution: While Samson obliterates the Philistines, nothing Milton could do would dethrone the Stuarts.

Biblical Context: Samson Agonistes Versus Samson in the Book of Judges 13-16

Milton bases his literary work on a biblical myth. Judges 13-16 in the Old Testament tells Samson’s story. Samson, a member of the Tribe of Dan—one of the 12 Hebrew tribes—is a superhuman warrior gifted with magical hair that is the source of his strength. Samson is caught up in the conflict between the Israelites and the invading forces of the Philistines; aside from the dispute over territory, the war is about religious practice. The Jewish people are monotheists who believe in a solitary deity, while the Philistines are polytheists who worship Dagon.

Milton’s version of the story keeps most of what happens in the Book of Judges. Samson is God’s gift to the childless Manoa and his wife, a boy who grows up to perform incredible feats of strength because of his supernatural hair. Samson believes that marrying a Philistine woman is part of God’s plan, but his first marriage to Timnah falls through. At this point, however, the two versions diverge. In the Old Testament, Delilah is presented as a seductive Philistine woman with whom Samson falls in love. When she asks him about his strength, Samson challenges her to test him—if he can’t complete her tests, he’ll tell her his secret—but he explains the power of his hair even after he successfully passes her tests. However, in the poem, Samson and Dalila are married; it is not playful flirtation, but Dalila’s constant pressure that propels him to spill his secret of his strength. Then, the two versions again converge: Samson performs at the Dagon feast and destroys the temple and the Philistines.

By making Dalila Samson’s wife, Milton changes the context of their relationship: Her betrayal is now a much greater violation. This alternation allows Milton to dwell on a subject that appears often in his work—his misogynist attitudes toward women in general. Unlike the biblical Delilah, whose loyalty to her people could be seen as virtuous, Milton’s Dalila breaks a vow to be one with her husband. Again, it is tempting to see in this, Milton’s own resentment of his wife Mary, who chose not to stand by him during Cromwell’s revolution.

Literary Context: Samson Agonistes and Paradise Lost

Milton’s two most famous poems have several motifs and themes in common. In his introduction to The Portable Milton, Douglas Bush writes, “Apart from Satan, who belongs to another category, Samson is the most completely human of Milton’s characters” (Penguin, 1988, p. 22). Though Satan symbolizes ungodliness and evil, and Samson painstakingly obeys God, the characters have much in common. They’re both outcasts: God banished Satan from Heaven, and the Philistines have put Samson in a hellish prison. Neither is quiet about his troubled state, speaking fluently about his tortured suffering. Satan announces, “The mind is its own place, and in it self / Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n” (Book 1, Lines 254-55). Samson compares his “restless thoughts” to a “deadly swarm / Of hornets (Lines 19-20). However, Satan loses his war with God, but Samson wins his battle against the Philistines. Samson succeeds because Samson is on God’s side.

Samson Agonistes and Paradise Lost center on two married couples: Samson and Dalila, and Adam and Eve. Each couple experiences dramatic turbulence due to trickery: Satan transforms into a snake and persuades Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge; the Philistines similarly manipulate Dalila into extracting Samson’s secret. Milton resolves the betrayal within each marriage differently: While Dalila’s transgression leads to a hateful split between her and Samson, Adam sticks by Eve, declaring, “Our states cannot be severed; we are one, / One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself” (Book 9, Lines 958-59). This may be because of differences between the men: Adam is politically affiliated with the most powerful side in the poem—he is not rebelling against God like the fallen angels before him; in contrast, Samson belongs to an occupied population attempting to resist an aggressor—when Dalila’s betrayal aids this opposing force, he cannot side with her.

Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes also demonstrate Milton’s allegiance to classical literature: The first adapts the epic form made famous by Homer and Virgil to describe Christian theology, and the second uses strictures championed by ancient Greek playwrights to dramatize a biblical story. As Aristotle’s Poetics advises, Samson Agonistes features unity of action, place, and time: It describes a single event taking place over the course of a single day and in one location. Milton reinforces the connection to classical literature with the title: Agonistes comes from the Greek word agon, which means “competition” or “disputation”; agonistes is thus a person engaged in a debate. To create conflict while maintaining the unities, ancient Greek drama relied on agon, or scenes of debate. Here, Samson too engages in endless verbal combat: He debates whether to escape his imprisonment, cede to Philistine demands that he perform, forgive Dalila, and consider his life over.