By Mia Tewes (Fall 2022)
There is a strong presence of religion in John Milton’s Samson Agonistes. There are both direct and indirect character comparisons in Milton’s writing that highlight the important role religion plays. This includes the positive and negative sides, like hope and punishment. Samson Agonistes tells a tale of Samson, a prisoner of the Philistines, and his struggles with despair, sin, and punishment. Samson finds himself betrayed by his wife, who tells the Philistines Samson’s secret power of strength that is rooted in his hair. They cut off his hair, a gift from God, and it leads to Samson learning to conquer his self-pity. This all results in Milton ending the story with Samson finding his inner strength, with the help of God, to pull down the pillars of the Philistine Theater. Milton conveys the importance of religion as a theme by writing his tragedy based on a biblical story. This also includes many references to religion from the characters throughout the story, touching on the dangers of religion and sin, and comparing some of his characters to infamous figures in the Bible. All these references to religion in his work contribute significantly to Milton’s message, which is the aspects involved in overcoming a broken state of the body and religion’s hand in it. This theme can also be related to in modern culture.
John Milton is an English poet who is famous for his epic poetry. He is well known for his epic poem, Paradise Lost, which makes his name known as one of the greats (John Milton). He often would touch on religion in his works. In his theological works, he oftentimes mentions religious toleration and importance of Scripture (John Milton). This directly translates to his poem Samson Agonistes, as he bases the story on Samson from the Christian Old Testament. Milton, along with religious incorporations in his works, is also seen to include personal struggles in his writings. Prior to writing this work, Milton went totally blind, and his struggle was very present in many of his poems, such as Samson Agonistes and his Sonnets, to express his feelings of God punishing him for his sins (John Milton).
When looking at the writing styles in Samson Agonistes, Milton shows a more simplistic style in this poem versus his other works. Milton uses his characters to display this simplicity in a direct way, which can be seen by Milton speaking through them and being very descriptive (John Milton Writing). This poem is also written to be a tragedy with the struggles and death of the protagonist, Samson, occurring within the Philistine Temple. One can also interpret Samson Agonistes as being allegorical. Milton does this by including his own blindness through Samson and expressing his feelings of being punished by God. His use of allegory aids in the underlying connections to Milton’s own struggles and emotions with religion.
When focusing on the theme of religion in Samson Agonistes, it is important to acknowledge the strong relation to the “Book of Judges” in the Old Testament. Samson is also a forceful, legendary figure in the Bible. Because this poem is based on a story in the Bible, it forces the reader to have to interpret and formulate their own answers to the questions Milton addresses about religion. Milton also includes many aspects of the biblical story into his poem and characters. The first being Samson’s gift given to him by God and in the form of his hair: “God, when he gave me strength, to shew withal / How slight the gift was, hung it in my Hair” (Milton, lines 58-59). Samson in both the Bible and Milton’s poem have immense strength, strength from his hair, Samson using God’s strength to sacrifice himself for his people, and is betrayed by his lover, Dalila. The similarities between both texts aid in a feeling of familiarity and put the religious aspects into context. Milton takes liberties to express himself and his own emotions in the text. Milton focuses on Samson’s blindness to directly relate to his own struggles: “Would ask a life to wail, but chief of all, / O loss of sight, of thee I most complain! / Blind among enemies, O worse then chains, / Dungeon, or beggery, or decrepit age!” (Milton, lines 66-69). Samson’s struggle with his blindness and temporary blaming of God, is Milton’s way of expressing his own experiences with his disability and how he felt God was punishing him. This shows how the biblical references relate to the importance of the theme of religion and Milton’s personal values in the story aid to the message he is trying to portray about its significance.
Another way Milton leans into religious themes and personal struggle is his frequent references to the complex relationships his characters have with God. Milton often has Samson go on long dialogues about his relationship to God, as well as the punishment and strength Samson gets from him. Samson goes back and forth between blaming himself and God for his capture and secret. “Who seeing those great acts which God had done / Singly by me against their Conquerours / Acknowledg’d not, or not at all consider’d / Deliverance offer’d:” (Milton, lines 243-246). This back-and-forth conflict is important to have the reader question if it is right to blame God. Milton is creating a pillar for the reader to question and answer the meanings behind Samson and God’s relationship. Along with that, Samson is also written to overcome his struggles without God, where his guilt about telling his secret forced him to push past his despair, and brought God to reward his strength back to him: “And on his shoulders waving down those locks… And since his strength with eye-sight was not lost, / God will restore him eye-sight to his strength. That of a Nation arm’d the strength contain’d:” (Milton, lines 1493-1503). This shows a positive correlation between Samson overcoming his struggles and forgiveness from God. Samson’s ability to pull down the pillars of the Philistine stadium was an act of heroism that occurred with only the help of God, but not solely because of him. The direct mentions of faith show how Milton used religion in this poem to display how conquering battles within oneself will lead to inner power and more greatness than just something given to them.
Furthermore, Milton explains the value of overcoming a broken state of the body and the mind with the influence of religion, but he also expresses the dangers that can come with a strong sense of faith. Samson’s role as a prominent biblical figure leads to his life being filled with violence, hopelessness, and, oftentimes, religious oppression. There is clear violence present in Samson Agonistes, as Samson is found to be a prisoner of the Philistines, is physically blinded and forcibly had his hair cut off because was betrayed by the one he loved. The physical violence and destruction seen relates to the desire to prove who is the true God in the form of physical mutilation: “And at another to let in the foe / Effeminatly vanquish’t? by which means, / Now blind, dishearten’d, sham’d, dishonour’d, quell’d, / To what can I be useful, wherein serve / My Nation, and the work from Heav’n impos’d,” (Milton, lines 561-565). This type of conflict is meant to show the dangerous side associated with religion. Like being blinded, Samson is also threatened by the Philistines wanting to prove who’s God was the rightful one, which included hostility between him and Harapha of Gath. Milton uses Samson Agonistes to explain how religion assists with overcoming despair but fails to address that religion plays a part in creating that struggle.
One example of the conflict that religion creates is the story of Samson’s wife, Dalila. Dalila betrays him and exposes the secret about his power being sourced from his hair. In this case, Milton portrays the well-known biblical story of a holy, God-fearing man being doomed by the sinful actions of his wife: “Not for thy life, lest fierce remembrance wake / My sudden rage to tear thee joint by joint. / At distance I forgive thee, go with that;” (Milton, lines 952-954). The story of his wife’s deception is not only rooted in religious undertones but shows that Samson’s situation would have never occurred if it weren’t for the ongoing religious conflict. Samson blames Dalila for telling God’s secret, however, religion itself and the characters strong convictions are really the sources of conflict. Without acknowledging that faith brings Samson’s terrible situations and battles, Milton writes religion as a means for him to find inner strength to right his misdeeds against God, which is inevitably seen when Samson sacrifices himself for his loyalty to his God and people.
In addition, Milton has an obviously misogynistic point of view of Dalila. He shows the traditionally bias perception of women by making her the over-arching villain who gets Samson’s hair cut off and even making indirect comparisons to Eve in the Bible. Dalila is the only female character to be named in this poem, and it is evident why when exploring the connections between her and Eve. Milton writes, “The penitent, but ever to forgive, / Are drawn to wear out miserable days, / Entangl’d with a poysnous bosom snake, / If not quick destruction soon cut off / As I by thee, to Ages an example” (Milton, lines 761-765). He references a snake which relates to Eve’s sin of eating the apple and listening to the serpent who brought the temptation to sin. By making her the antagonist against Samson, Milton is bringing the blame onto her. Milton also makes Dalila incapable of being forgiven for her sins: “I may, if possible, thy pardon find / The easier towards me, or thy hatred less. … Of secrets, then with like infirmity / To publish them, both common female faults:” (Milton, lines 771-777). Dalila asking for forgiveness to repay her sin and Samson denying her apology gives an impression of women being at fault and unable to avoid sin. Milton’s chosen words also show a misogynistic view towards women when he has Dalila using women’s faults as an excuse. Although religion is often seen to be the source of this violence and despair, Milton shows in his work that he believes women are the causes and God is there to help bring them out of tragedy.
Besides religion’s role in conquering self-pity, despair, and hopelessness, it is important to see how Milton portrays the initiators of those struggles and how they relate to modern times. Although Milton leads the reader to believe that women, teachery, and group conflict lead to a sense of a broken body, when looked at deeper, religion is at the base of all of Samson’s problems. Milton’s misogyny can be a topic to be criticized now, but Milton’s point of overcoming the broken state of one’s body is very relevant in the current time-period. Doing this with the help of religion also translates well into the modern day because of the popular practices of religion and the widely practiced faith seen in many cultures across the globe. This message can be interpreted by modern readers to learn that religion helps in preventing violence and suffrage amongst themselves, as well as their enemies, but inner strength is needed to truly beat a broken sense of self. Religion is a lot of the time the cause of a broken state, but people’s faith allows religion to act as their savior and believe in the positive aspects, rather than the negative factors. Because of the strong presence of religion in today’s culture, it makes Samson Agonistes a relevant work for today and allows many people to relate, or even resonate, with Milton’s main point.
Overall, John Milton’s point of overcoming a broken state of the body and despair in Samson Agonistes is correlated with religion’s influence, along with its importance. This point is seen in many patterns of Milton’s writings, such as Samson Agonistes being based on the Book of Judges in the Bible, mentions of religion, indirectly examining the dangers of religion, and comparing some of his character to prominent figures in the Bible. Looking at Milton’s life and past also contributes to this theme of religion and one can see the level to which Milton placed himself in his writings. Considering the consistencies seen in this poem about religion, one can see how religion influences the state of self-pity and hopelessness, which includes being the cause and the solution. Although Milton tries to blame third-party factors, for example women, religion is the source of many of his characters struggles. The importance that Samson Agonistes has today shows the everlasting significance that religion plays in bringing hope and strength into its believers.
Works Cited
“John Milton Writing Styles in Samson Agonistes, and Shorter Poems.” BookRags, BookRags, http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-samson-agonistes-and-shorter-poems/style.html#gsc.tab=0.
John Milton.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Milton.
Milton, John. Samson Agonistes: Text, https://milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/samson/drama/text.shtml.
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