“Samson Hath Quit Himself / Like Samson”<sup>1</sup>

Rajan, Balachandra

doi:10.1111/j.1094-348x.2007.00153.x

Cited by 10 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…But it is in considering the terms of Samson's resistance, and the ideas which inform it, that we can begin to unravel the interpretive problems that relate to Samson's final actions. Recent critical attempts to draw parallels between Samson's activism and our contemporary experiences of cultures of violence and terrorism have been immensely valuable in establishing the “fundamentalist architecture” of the text (Rajan 2) 2 . Building on the earlier writings of Carey ( Milton ), Samuel, and Wittreich, such work has done much to problematize for new generations of readers the notion of heroism in Samson .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neo‐Roman Terms of Slavery in Samson Agonistes

Cox

2010

Milton Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rosanna CoxIn a recent paper, Balachandra Rajan argues that Samson Agonistes is a radically indeterminate text which is yet "a resistance drama, so deeply embedded in its discourse," that finding our way out of it is "a difficult task" (2). But it is in considering the terms of Samson's resistance, and the ideas which inform it, that we can begin to unravel the interpretive problems that relate to Samson's final actions. Recent critical attempts to draw parallels between Samson's activism and our contemporary experiences of cultures of violence and terrorism have been immensely valuable in establishing the "fundamentalist architecture" of the text (Rajan 2). 2 Building on the earlier writings of Carey (Milton), Samuel, and Wittreich, such work has done much to problematize for new generations of readers the notion of heroism in Samson. However, these readings, while admittedly enhancing our understanding of our own experiences of activism, terrorism, and violence, and reinvigorating the terms upon which we engage with the poem, have tended to overlook the political and legal implications of Samson's identity and actions in their own contexts. I want to argue that to the conundrum of Samson's identity and actions-whether as Christian or Hebraic hero or religious fundamentalist, whether active or passive-must be added the classical and neo-Roman understanding of what constitutes liberty and citizenship. Resistance-to authority, to tyranny-requires recontextualizing in relation to the discourses of political endeavor, vigor, and civic activity with which Milton engages throughout his works and particularly in his prose works from the mid-1640s onward.The ensuing remarks will demonstrate how the discourses of political activity and subjectivity that infused Milton's political prose works from the mid-1640s onwards are at work in Samson Agonistes and the ways in which political identity can be forged in the face of overwhelming tyranny. As the poem begins, Samson is a slave, but at the same time, he is both effeminized and infantilized; his attempts to break free from his physical, emotional, and psychological servitude mark the passage from passive subject to fully engaged citizen, from childhood and effeminacy to independence and manhood. But the conditions of Samson's intellectual, spiritual, and sexual maturation require a rereading of the poem, which considers Samson an embodiment of classical heroism and virtus and in relation to the ideas of the rights of men in a free state, which had come to the fore in opposition to the prerogative powers of the crown in the early 1640s. In response to recent works by Quentin Skinner (Liberty) and Martin Dzelzainis ("Republicanism"), who have demonstrated the ways in which Milton, in the early 1640s, turned to and engaged with familiar discourses of liberty and slavery in order to find legal and rhetorical precedent for his opposition to the royal prerogative, this paper will show how Milton explicitly portrays Samson in relation to neo-Roman conceptions of freedom and servi...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neo‐Roman Terms of Slavery in Samson Agonistes

Cox

2010

Milton Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Milton and the Burden of Freedom

Chernaik

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout his writings, Milton, deeply engaged in political and theological controversy, sought to clear a space for human freedom in a world ruled by an omniscient and omnipotent deity. Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes, as well as other works by Milton in verse and prose, explore the problematical aspects of a universe ruled by an Old Testament God of wrath, demanding obedience, who allows his creatures the freedom to be 'authors' of their own fate. Milton and the Burden of Freedom examines the contradictions inherent in Milton's religious, political, and ethical beliefs as expressed in his poems, prose writings, and the treatise De Doctrina Christiana. Milton, whose writings are rooted in the Reformed tradition while challenging Calvinist orthodoxy, is both radical and conservative. In this book, Warren Chernaik traces the evolution of Milton's attitude towards freedom, servitude and virtue during a century of political upheaval and disappointed hopes.

show abstract