Elements of the Epic Hero

 

 

Tissot, Samson Puts Down The  Pillars                                    www.cts.edu

 

in Milton’s Samson Agonistes

 

“…Someday we’ll know…why Samson loved Delilah…”

                                                from “Someday We’ll Know,” The New Radicals, 1998

 

           

            When we hear the terms “epic” and “hero,” what comes to mind?  Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey with their Achilles and Odysseus are cornerstones of western literature.  Since the Roman Empire, Vergil’s Aeneid has been a paradigm of the epic as a cultural story and its national hero.  Apollonius’ Argonautica, Dante’s The Divine Comedy, countless medieval romances, as well as Renaissance epics written in the Classical tradition have extended the epic tradition and its hero for centuries, which have continued to fascinate audiences from the 8th century B.C. through today.

 

          While the more famous Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained are considered to be John Milton’s major contributions to the epic tradition, the Biblical hero of his tragic closet drama Samson Agonistes, published in 1671, also shares some intriguing similarities with Odysseus and his epic company.

 

                                Tissot, Samson Breaks His Cords                                  www.cts.edu

 

What are some attributes of epic and epic heroes, and how do they relate to Samson Agonistes?

 

Epic and Epic Heroes

Samson Agonistes

- begins in in medias res, “in the middle of things”

- the play begins in medias res

- unusual circumstances surround the hero’s birth

- Samson was prophesied before his birth to be a savior to his people

- hero faces trials and enemies while struggling on an epic journey

- Samson faces enemy Philistines; is imprisoned; struggles with Dalila

- the hero encounters “women as temptresses” who threaten his completion of the journey 

- Samson is successfully tempted by Dalila, resulting in his downfall

- at the end of the journey, the hero must complete a final task alone

- accomplishes his final task of collapsing the temple on the Philistines without any aid (or is he aided by God?) *

- after the final task is successfully accomplished, the hero returns home, a leader of his people

- dies accomplishing his final task

(which qualifies Samson Agonistes as more tragedy than epic)

 

* For an interpretation that Samson is not alone in his final task, but is aided by God, see Rushdy, The Empty Garden: The Subject of Late Milton (note and publication information below).

 

Although he is considered to be a tragic hero of a tragic play, critics have also commented on Samson’s epical solitude during his final task, as well as his temptation by Dalila.

 

Wierix, Samson Pulling Down the Pillars, c. 1586                                   www.spaightwoodgalleries.com

 

-Standing Alone-

Which familiar epic heroes stand alone in their final task?

- Odysseus reaches Ithaca alone

- Aeneas fights Turnus in single-handed combat for the rule of Italy

- Abdiel alone resists Satan among all the other angels in Paradise Lost

         

·        In Milton’s Epic Characters, 1968, John Steadman comments that Samson’s “final act…his standing alone” is absolutely essential to the theme of the play because “although the crowing event of Samson Agonistes is an external act, Milton invests it…by presenting the logical culmination of a spiritual process rather than as the effect of purely external causes” (57).

 

·        In his 2002 essay “Text and Context for Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes,” author Steven Dobranski examines the Omissa, an additional ten lines which were printed as an addition to the published copy of Samson Agonistes.  The Omissa suggest further lines for the Chorus, in which it hopes Samson may have regained his sight and is now destroying his enemies.  According to Dobranski, such an addition kills any “hope of a peaceful resolution, but instead presents a fantasy of justice that is divine, swift, and bloody” (43).  Instead of making a heroic last stand, Samson becomes a wanton killer.  For this reason, Dobranski suggests Milton purposely deleted these lines, then printed them additionally as a way for his readers to further consider Samson’s last act (46).

 

·        Ashraf Rushdy, in his 1992 book The Empty Garden: The Subject of Late Milton, suggests that Samson is far from alone in his final task.  Instead, God inspires him: “heaven’s silent descent” comes to “rouse the hero to his final act” (306).  By this final act, Samson is not vengeful, but shows “obedience to another set of ‘commands’ which are the opposite of the ‘commands’ given by the Philistine lords” (313).  Rushdy concludes by calling Samson “God’s agonist” – God’s hero (319).

 

Andrea Mantegna, Samson and Delilah                  www.cts.edu

 

-Temptation by Dalila-

Famous female temptations of epic:

- Odysseus encounters Circe and Calypso

- Aeneas spends a winter with Dido in Aeneid Book 4

- Adam accepts the apple from Eve in Paradise Lost

 

·        In his book “Through a Glass Darkly” : Milton’s Reincarnation of the Mythological Tradition, published in 1996, John Mulryan compares Samson to another famous classical hero, Hercules.  In a Renaissance interpretation of a Hercules story, the hero encounters two women, “Lady Virtue” and “Venus the Temptress.”  Hercules chooses “Venus the Temptress.”  According to Mulryan,“ this faulty choosing calls to mind…the failing Samson shares with Hercules: weakness before women” (132).

 

·        Steadman in Milton’s Epic Characters interprets Samson’s temptation by Dalila differently; instead of showing a weakness, Dalila makes him stronger.  Dalila is a “trial of faith” who precedes his final “trial of strength” at Dagon’s temple (47). 

 

·        In a completely different interpretation of the play, Lynne Greenberg suggests in her 2002 essay “Dalila’s ‘feminine assaults’: The Gendering and Engendering of Crime in Samson Agonistes” that Samson is not a hero, but a “litigant.”  Dalila’s appearance is really Milton’s comment on “women’s limited legal status and access to the judicial process” during Milton’s time (193).   As a character, Dalila “acknowledges the inevitability of female speech and the artificiality and relativism of gendered crime,” instead of merely tempting the hero from his mission (201). 

 

 

Readers may never know what made Samson love Dalila, but through an understanding of epic heroes and their stories, they may better understand who Samson is and what he does in Samson Agonistes.

 

For further information on epic, epic heroes, and Samson Agonistes, the following resources are highly recommended:

 

Epic and epic heroes:

Campbell, Joseph.  The Hero With a Thousand Faces.  2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968.

Miller, Dean A.  The Epic Hero.  Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press, 2000.

 

Samson’s final act:

Dobranski, Stephen B.  “Text and Context for Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.”  Altering Eyes: New Perspectives on Samson Agonistes.  Ed. Mark R. Kelley and Joseph Wittreich.  Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2002. 

Rushdy, Ashraf H.  The Empty Garden: The Subject of Late Milton.  Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992.

Steadman, John M.  Milton’s Epic Characters.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968.

 

Dalila as temptress:

Mulryan, John.  “The Heroic Tradition of Milton’s Samson Agonistes.”  Milton Studies 18 (1983): 217-234.

Steadman, John M.  Milton’s Epic Characters.  (see above)

Greenberg, Lynne A.  “Dalila’s ‘feminine assaults’: The Gendering and Engendering of Crime in Samson Agonistes.”    Altering Eyes: New Perspectives on Samson Agonistes.  Ed. Mark R. Kelley and Joseph Wittreich.  Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2002. 

 

Samson’s heroism, or lack of it:

Arnold, Margaret J.  “Graeci Christiani: Milton’s Samson and the Renaissance Editors of Greek Tragedy.”  Milton Studies 18 (1983): 235-254.

Bennett, Joan S.  “Reading Samson Agonistes.”  The Cambridge Companion to Milton.  Ed. Dennis Danielson.  2nd ed.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.  219-235.

Brown, Cedric C.  John Milton: A Literary Life.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.

Carrithers, Gale H., Jr. and James D. Hardy, Jr. Milton and the Hermeneutic Journey.  Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994.

Condee, Ralph Waterbury.  Structure in Milton’s Poetry.  University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1974.

Flesch, William.  “Reading, Seeing, and Acting in Samson Agonistes.”  Critical Essays on John Milton.  Ed. Christopher Kendrick.  New York: G. K. Hall and Co., 1995.

Frye, Northrop.  “Agon and Logos: Revolution and Revelation.”  The Prison and the Pinnacle. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973.  135-163.

Guttenplan, D. D.  “Think Tank: Is Reading Milton Unsafe at Any Speed?”  New York Times 28 December 2002, late ed.: B9.

Mulryan, John.  “The Heroic Tradition of Milton’s Samson Agonistes.”  Milton Studies 18 (1983): 217-234.

Rajan, Balachandra.  “To Which Is Added Samson Agonistes – .”  The Prison and the Pinnacle. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973.  82-110.

 

Useful links:

Text of Samson Agonistes: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/samson/drama/index.shtml

Alternate cover page to SA “first edition”: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/samson/title/index.shtml

A re-creation of the cover page, “To Which is Added SA”: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pr/title/index.shtml

 

“Samson and the Omissa,” including relevant lines from the Omissa, by Stephen Dobranski, is available through EBSCOHost’s Academic Search Premier, a restricted database.  Information appears below:

SAMSON AND THE OMISSA ,  By: Dobranski, Stephen B., Studies in English Literature (Rice), 00393657, Winter 96, Vol. 36, Issue 1

 

The images used in this site are available at:

http://spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Bible_Samson2.html

http://www.cts.edu/FacHomePages/imagelibrary/histbooks.htm

 

 

The author wishes to thank Kimberly Ann Renner and Rachel Pieters for their much-appreciated assistance in this project.

 

This page created by Laura Wurtzel, April 2003.  The contents, opinions and views expressed herein are provided for the purpose of beginning or continuing discussion on the topic presented. The College of New Jersey does not endorse and is not to be held responsible for the contents, opinions and views expressed herein.