Samson Agonistes and Paradise Lost: Similarities Between the Sexes

John Milton's Samson Agonistes is a dramatic work based on the biblical story of Samson. Although it has a biblical theme like Milton's other famous work Paradise Lost, Samson Agonistes is not written in the style of an epic, but instead, is written in the style of a Greek tragedy. Despite this difference, Milton provides plenty of similarities between the two works. The most evident similarities existing in the works are those that can be found in the relationships with Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost, and Samson and Delila in Samson Agonistes.

The scene in Samson Agonistes when Samson and Delila discuss Delila's disloyalty and treachery for giving away Samson's secrets is reminiscent of the scene in Paradise Lost when Eve defends herself to Adam after they fall. Delila similarly defends her actions to Samson, justifying her indiscretions: "Curiosity, inquisitive, importune/ Of secrets, then with like infirmity/ To publish them, bit common female faults:/ Was it not weakness also to make known" (776-779). Delila does not take responsibility for her actions, instead, she partially blames Samson for ever telling her his secret. Likewise, Eve does not fully take the blame for her sinful activities in the Garden of Eden: "Being as I am, why didst not thou the Head/ Command me absolutely not to go,/ Going into such danger as thou said'st" (IX. 1155-1157). Eve also places some of the responsibility of the fall on Adam because she believes that he should have forbidden her to go off on her own knowing that she was incapable of staving off evil. Both women try to excuse their behavior by blaming it on their gender and the fact that their husbands should have never trusted a member of the "weaker sex."

The scenes in both works are also similar not simply because of the common accusations that Delila and Eve confront their husbands with, but because there is a debate occurring between the husbands and wives in each story. After Delila and Eve state their cases, Samson and Adam retaliate with their own accusations and criticisms. Adam tells Eve that she is being ungrateful-he willingly fell with her, and now she is blaming him: "And am I now upbraided, as the cause/ Of thy transgressing?" (IX. 1168-1169). Samson similarly rebukes Delila, not at all swayed by her excuses or explanations, knowing full well that she was not weak, but greedy: "Weakness is thy excuse,/ And I believe it, weakness to resist/ Philistian gold" (830-831). Just as both couples heatedly debate their issues in the same way, similarly, both of the men eventually forgive their errant wives.

Works Cited

Milton, John. "Paradise Lost." John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. Merrit Y Hughes. Ney Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1957.

Milton, John. "Samson Agonistes." John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. Merrit Y Hughes. Ney Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1957.