Samson Agonistes

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1671

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Blindness

Blindness symbolizes introspection in the poem. In prison, the Philistines gouge out Samson’s eyes, leaving him “[w]ithout all hope of day” (Line 82). The imagery of daylight and darkness is significant, as God’s first act of creation is to summon light into the world. By losing his sight, Samson can no longer perceive what God has made—“Light the prime work of God to me is extinct” (Line 70)—a punishment the Chorus proclaims worse than any physical torment because it has no hope of ending.

Instead, Samson looks inward, transcending his flesh and burrowing into his “inmost mind” (Line 611). This perspective shows Samson that despite his mighty military feats, he displayed unbecoming hubris, behaving as a mini-god. Samson now realizes his many mistakes, from Dalila to overweening pride. He takes responsibility for his actions and doesn’t try to avoid his punishment. The Chorus watches Samson “Labouring thy mind” (Line 1298), a newfound awareness that reconnects him to God and helps him sense the “rouzing motions” (Line 1382) that indicate God’s wishes—that Samson eradicate the Philistines.

Milton, himself blind by the time he wrote Samson Agonistes, rejected the notion that blindness is bad, arguing that it symbolizes “an interior light, more precious and more pure” (“The Second Defense of the English People” [1654]). Samson grasps this “interior light,” which teaches him about himself and his predicament.

Spiritual Suffering

Milton recasts Samson as a Christ figure, depicting the prison torments Samson undergoes as the kind of spiritual suffering Christianity valorizes.

The pragmatic Manoa doesn’t think God should let Samson experience “so foul indignities” (Line 371), but Samson believes that his suffering represents his spirituality or his link to God. Rejecting offers of interference, Samson tells his father, “Appoint not heavenly disposition, Father / Nothing of all these evils hath befall’n me / But justly; I my self have brought them on” (Lines 373-75). Samson made choices that put him in his sordid state, and he must confront the harsh consequences.

Samson’s conviction that his suffering is necessary indicates his loyalty to his faith. God’s plan is just, so to run away or mitigate the torment is synonymous with straying from God. Instead, his ordeal prepares him to serve God by eradicating the Philistines and himself.

Samson’s death is another form of suffering and self-effacement—a sacrifice that echoes that of Jesus.

Silence

Samson castigates himself for telling Dalila about his magical hair: “I my self […] Gave up my fort of silence to a Woman” (Lines 234-36). This militaristic image of a defended “fort” turns silence into warrior strength. Samson rues giving up his figurative fortress—his inability to stay silent is a marker of weakness, for which Samson labels himself “a blab” (Line 495). Dalila, too, lacks the strength to stay silent. She claims that under Philistine pressure, she gave in and told them that Samson’s strength comes from his hair. The comparison is emasculating: Samson has as little secret-keeping strength as his disloyal wife.

Silence is an elusive power for Samson. He is not laconic about his suffering, talking at length about his misery; the poem emphasizes this verbal incontinence by having Samson repeat words, like when he wails, “O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, / Irrecoverably dark, total Eclipse” (Lines 80-81). Samson’s loquacity is eventually permanently fixed. In sacrificing himself for the Israelites, Samson becomes forever silent.

Human Weakness

The word “weakness” appears 12 times in the poem, and when Samson upbraids Dalila for telling his secret, he repeats it often. From Lines 829-834, it appears four times, with Samson accusing Dalila of using weakness as an “excuse” (Lines 829, 831). The Chorus and Samson connect weakness with women; moreover, the poem has Dalila also blame gender for her betrayal, claiming “a weakness / In me” (Lines 773-74), which is one of the “common female faults” (Lines 777). Yet Dalila isn’t the only one who’s weak. Samson bewails his own frailty: “O weakness!” (Line 235). He lacked the strength to keep his secret from Dalila just as Dalila lacked the strength to keep his secret from the Philistines. Thus, telling secrets is a human weakness, not a gendered one.

Samson’s mental weakness contrasts with his superhuman strength. His special powers do not make him invincible in all ways: Samson can rip apart a lion and take down an entire army without weapons, but he remains prone to human error. Samson’s self-loathing excoriates his flaws: While berating Dalila, Samson declares, “All wickedness is weakness” (Line 834). However, the same frailty allows Samson the introspection to eventually hear God urging him into action.