Literary analysis: Example 1

Samson's Inner Vision

The notion of a trial by experience is one that recurs frequently in Milton's literature. Frequently his protagonists can only prove their abilities and virtues by passing a test or overcoming a serious obstacle. The Lady in Comus, for example, must resist the temptations of drink and debauchery to prove her chastity. The hero of Samson Agonistes must struggle with a very Miltonic obstacle-Blindness, an affliction that had personal meaning for Milton himself. Samson's physical blindness serves not only to lock him away from a vision of his surroundings. It is juxtaposed with reason and understanding to serve as a metaphor for mortal, limited vision. The tropes of vision, blindness, and captivity are intertwined in the work to ultimately represent the way in which Samson is able to view himself and his history with a distance and accuracy that is given by God. This theme is not new to Milton; the Bard in Paradise Lost also contrasts mortal blindness and inner illumination in his attempt to "justifye the ways of God to men" (Book 1, line 26).

Samson is imprisoned in his own body by his blindness and is literally held in captivity by the Philistines. At the beginning of the poem, he exists also in a mental prison of depression and hopelessness. Samson, as a captive of the Philistines, is reduced physically to little more than a workhorse. His body and form are debased by servitude. His physical change is related through the reactions of the Chorus, Manoa, and Harapha. The Chorus exclaims "O change beyond report, thought, or belief! / See how he lies at random, carelesly diffus'd, / With languished head unpropt, / As one past hope, abandon'd, / And by himself given over; / In slavish habit, ill-fitted weeds, / O're worn and soild" (117 - 123). Samson's own father has a similar reaction of surprise and disgust: "O miserable change!" (340), he exclaims rather unfeelingly. Samson inwardly views himself at the beginning of the poem in similarly depressing, negative terms. His inner thoughts (the only means through which he can view himself) are disturbed.

"I seek / This unfrequented place to find some ease,, / Ease to the body some, none to the mind / From restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm / Of hornets arm'd, no sooner found alone, / But rush upon me thronging, and present / times past, what once I was, and what am now" (16-23).

The hellish, nagging image of hornets buzzing and the emphasis on Samson's change from a heroic past reflect the same type of limited vision with which Samson's visitors regard him - as a man afflicted and pathetic. In a moving and passionate passage, Samson laments bitterly the physical blindness that has struck him. In these lines, Samson mourns this dual captivity and even goes so far as to question God. Although he first states, "I must not quarrel with the will/ Of highest dispensation" (60-61), he immediately contradicts these lines with a long speech of self-pity and complaining. He states, "O first created Beam, and thou great Word, / Let there be light, and light was over all; / Why am I thus bereav'd thy prime decree?" (83-85). This religious suggestion is implicitly a questioning of God's will. Samson pities himself and regrets his failure, but does not view his past with an eye to analyze his faults and learn from them. Contrasting images of light, dark, and death reflect the tumult of Samson's self image as well as his present state of depression. "As in the land of darkness yet in light, / To live a life half dead, a living death" (98-99). Samson refers to his body as a "Sepulcher, a moving grave" (101). The former hero at this point is utterly without hope; he lives in darkness both literally and mentally.

This various "visions" of Samson's physical appearance and debasement are limiting and unproductive. In fact, although Samson is dirty, debased, and blind physically, his mental clarity and freedom of thought are proven to be greater than before. Through Samson's interactions with the Chorus and his four visitors, the difference between physical darkness and inner illumination becomes apparent. "blindness" in the poem paradoxically works to reveal Samson to himself. At the same time, the "seeing" characters in the poem are frequently blind to the truth. Samson's mental clarity is tested and improves with each successive visitor; in a sense, Manoa, Dalilah, Harapha, and the messenger are tests of faith and vision that Samson overcomes and from which he learns valuable lessons about himself and his past. As a result, his tragic and heroic decision to sacrifice himself in the theatre is made possible for the right reasons.

Samson's first visitor is Manoa, his father, who does not recognize him by sight. In a speech with truly epic overtones, Manoa wails about the former greatness of Samson in unequivocal terms. "Can this be hee? / That Heroic, that Renown'd, / Irresistible Samson?" (123-125). Manoa aptly recognizes Samson's state of abjection, but remembers him historically without a fault: "O mirror of our fickle state, / Since man on earth unparallel'd!" (164-165). Flattering as this vision of Samson may be, Manoa is blind to the reality of Samson's failings, even at the height of his strength and prowess. Although blind, Samson's mental clarity surpasses his father's; this exchange provides Samson with the opportunity to evaluate himself justly at a historical distance. At this point he rightly assesses some of his mistakes. Although willful enough to resist certain temptations, he had a weakness for women - the prime cause of his downfall. Regarding his troublesome affection for Dalilah, he admits, "These rags, this grinding, is not yet so base / As was my former servitude, ignoble. / Unmanly, ignominious, infamous, / True slavery, and that blindness worse than this, That saw not how degenerately I serv'd" (415-419). In response to Manoa's desire to elevate him from servitude to the Philistines, Samson replies, "Spare that proposal, Father, spare the trouble / Of that solicitation; let me here; / As I deserve, pay on my punishment; / And expiate, if possible, my crime, / Shameful garrulity" (488-492). As painful as it may be to admit the gravity of his sin towards God, this revelation is a sign of Samson's increasing mental vision and clarity.

In this way, Samson passes the test represented by Manoa, and is more prepared by these revelations than he otherwise would have been to receive Delilah, see through her misleading explanations, and recognize her for what she truly is. Dalilah waltzes onto the stage bedecked in all the riches her betrayal has awarded her. She professes her love for him and tries to justify her actions with slippery arguments. Above all else, she tempts Samson with the sexual physicality that he previously found so irresistible: "Though sight be lost, / life yet hath many solaces, enjoy'd / Where other senses want not their delights / At home in leisure and domestic ease, / Exempt from many a care and chance to which / Eye-sight exposes daily men abroad" (14-19). Dalilah wants Samson to use his blindness as an excuse to become idle and indulgent. Instead, blindness enables Samson to see the weakness of her argument; he is armed against her physicality. Ultimately he evaluates each of her lousy excuses, sees how they are false, and rejects her: "No, no, of my condition take no care; / It fits not; thou and I long since are twain; / Nor think me so unwary or accurst / to bring my feet again into the snare : Where once I have been caught" (928-933). Not only does Samson recognize where he formerly failed - he also has the strength to resist a similar misstep

Both Manoa and Dalilah have given Samson the opportunity to see his failings through their eyes, and evaluate them justly where they cannot. The visit of Harapha has a different effect; it allows Samson the opportunity to display confidence and bravado. In a sense, Samson is using what he has learned about his formerly excessive pride to express courage and strength when it is appropriate. Harapha compares the legend of Samson's greatness to his blind servitude, and regrets having missed the opportunity to test Samson's prowess on the battlefield (1080-1090). Perhaps the most ironic threat Samson levies against Harapha is this short and sweet phrase: "The way to know were not to see but taste" (1092). It is difficult to imagine the depressed, hopeless Samson at the beginning of the poem expressing confidence in his abilities in a way that hints so strongly at his former bravado. Moreover, the statement is accurate - the way to discover the truth, as Samson has discovered in his own life, has nothing to do with observation, but rather with experience. In addition to abandoning vocal laments about his present physical state, Samson begins to express faith in God. "My trust is in the living God who gave me / At my Nativity this strength, diffus'd / No less through all my sinews, joints and bones" (1140-1142). It is significant that Samson is now able to recognize God's central role in his strength and success. Harapha also represents a different kind of challenge - one in the present. Although Harapha repeatedly refers to the past, to the great legend that was Samson, the former hero himself for the first time does not speak of the past as over. It seems that Samson feels his strength as a palpable, present gift. He refers to his ability to meet Harapha's challenge: "Go baffl'd coward, lest I run upon thee, / Though in these chains, bulk without spirit vast, / And with one buffet lay thy structure low, / Or swing thee in the Air, then dash thee down / To the hazard of thy brains and shatter'd sides" (1236-1240). Again, the Samson of the first passages of the poem would never have believed himself capable of such a display of strength.

The final visitor is the messenger who arrives with orders to bring Samson to the theatre to make a spectacle of himself. Repeatedly, Samson rebuffs him, refusing to submit to further humiliation. "Can they think me so broken, so debas'd / With corporal servitude, that my mind ever / Will condescend to such absurd commands?" (1335-1338). Actually, it is not unbelievable that the Philistines would have assumed Samson to be so far debased; he believed it himself at the beginning of the poem. Interestingly, Samson makes a clear distinction In these lines between corporal and mental servitude. The theme of Samson's mental clarity and inner illumination is becoming a central support for his decisions. When he decides finally to accompany the messenger, it is not because he is forced, but because he feels "Some rousing motions in me which dispose / To something extraordinary my thoughts" (1381-1382). Samson has relied increasingly on his own mental powers since the beginning of the poem, up until the pivotal point of this decision to accompany the messenger and appear before the Philistines. It seems apparent from this passage that Samson has an idea of the deed he is about to perform. Each of the visitors presents Samson with a test or challenge. He passes them all, learning more about himself and his past, and arriving at a point that is stronger and clearer in purpose than before. Both his physical blindness and his confrontation with the mental blindness of the characters around him make inward clarity and illumination possible. Samson is able to evaluate, or re-see, his history. This reframing of history has enabled him to see a future in which he can fulfil God's prophecy.

The notion of physical blindness versus mental illumination is not a new one in Milton's poetry. The bard in paradise lost provides an excellent example of this theme. The bard calls for divine inspiration in book 3: "So much the rather thou Celestial light / Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers / Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence / Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell / Of things invisible to mortal sight" (51-55). The notion that there are truths unavailable to "mortal sight" is central to Milton's concept of writing poetry and of discerning the truth. Until one abandons the struggle to see in this limited way and relies on a less material, more divine illumination, the kind of clarity that the Bard and Samson achieve is inaccessible.

Questions

Obviously, an audience who is very familiar with the literary text under analysis is a more informed and critical reader. Assuming you are not familiar with Milton's epic, are you still able to understand this analysis? If so, why? Point to specific features of this essay that enable your understanding. If not, what might the author have done differently?
The most important aspect of this genre is moving away from summary to genuine analysis. Evaluate how well the author succeds in doing this. Find specific passages where the analysis is particularly strong. Discuss how that works.