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Defending Samson Agonistes in a Post 9/11 World
John Carey draws parallels between 9/11 hijackers and Milton’s depiction of Samson in Samson Agonistes. This comparison is justified, but his call for censorship is misguided, if not duplicitous. Milton displays terrorism in a morally ambiguous way, but this does not prove that he condones it. Terrorism, regardless of its motivation, makes Samson Agonistes more relevant now than ever before; providing new opportunities to discuss such tragedies. And despite Carey’s argument, I suspect he understands this perfectly wel The central premise of Carey’s argument assumes a student might read Samson Agonistes and feel compelled to commit an act of terror. A more reasonable anxiety after 9/1l would be an increase in Islamophobia, which Milton’s work does not condone. If anything, Samson Agonistes could be used as an argument against Islamophobia, since it demonstrates that religious extremism isn’t limited to a single faith.
The source material of Samson Agonistes makes this abundantly clear. Still, Milton’s depiction diverges from the Bible in slightly different but problematic ways. In Judges, Samson is prophetically introduced as the man who “will take lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” Thus, Samson’s actions are the will of God, and not an individual man. An angel of the Lord tells Manoa and his wife that Samson would lead Israel, and Samson is aware that he was raised a Nazirite “dedicated to God from [his] mother’s womb.” In either depiction, Samson is aware that his hair is a source of strength, but it’s Milton’s Samson that feels like he’s betrayed God by yielding to Delila. He considers himself “rewarded well with servile punishment.” Thus, when Samson brings down the roof, it appears that he seeks to redeem himself before God.
By contrast, the Biblical Samson shows less emotion. Carey’s argument that Samson is “in effect, a suicide bomber,” distinguishes the two depictions, since the Biblical Samson seems to consider his suicide an afterthought. He asks God for strength once more, to “get revenge on the Philistines for [his] two eyes,” before yelling “let me die with the Philistines.” In Samson Agonistes, the climax is depicted as both a suicide and honor-killing. Milton does not compartmentalize these two moments. Utilizing the conventions of Greek Tragedy, he has a messenger relay this information to Manoa. Considering Milton’s choice of genre, Samson should be classified as a tragic hero. Milton intentionally adapted the Biblical account of Samson to comply with the rules of Greek tragedy, including the plot’s 24-hour time frame. Fulfilling the tragic hero archetype would require him to have not only strength, but a tragic flaw to justify his unfortunate fate. His blindness evokes parallels to Oedipus, and both characters commit deeds which result in innocent people dying. Tragic heroes suffer simi lar fates by way of death or exile as their punishment for disobeying God.
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By allowing his hair to be cut, Milton has Samson die alongside the Philistines. When viewed from this lens, Samson is being punished when he commits vengeance against the Philistines. Thus, no matter how heroic Samson appears, his flaws cannot be ignored. Tragic heroes evoke pity, but their behavior isn’t meant to be emulated. The Streisand Effect: Censorship in Practice Following 9/11, it’s ludicrous to assume that Americans would be concerned with Milton’s lesser-known works and their moral implications. Carey’s protestation that Samson Agonistes should be banned from schools is a thinly-veiled publicity stunt which brought renewed attention to an author he spent his career studying. His call for censorship resulted in coverage from The New York Times, which makes it unclear whether Carey truly wanted Samson Agonistes to be swept under the rug.
Milton courses are not typically required by English departments, so the best way to keep students away from Milton’s more controversial works would be to stop talking about them. Carey’s sensationalist argument that Samson Agonistes is “an incitement to terrorism” suggests this particular text won’t fade quietly into obscurity. This technique is known as the Streisand effect, which describes how an attempt to conceal information causes the information to be spread. As mentioned earlier, any Miltonist would appreciate Milton’s scathing opinion regarding censorship. Having read Paradise Lost, they would also understand that forbidden knowledge is inherently appealing, no matter how dangerous it might be. High schools and libraries acrosSs the United States hold “banned book weeks,” not to incite controversy, but to foster renewed interest in the classics.
Stanley Fish appeared on the “Why Milton Matters” panel for a similar purpose, and without Carey’s controversial statement, The New York fimes would have no reason to publicize such an event Overall, this controversy was only tangentially related to 9/11. If demand for Milton scholars ever decreases, John Carey ought to pursue a second career in advertising. He seems to have understood clickbait years before the term was ever coined. With these speculations aside, Carey’s opinions of Samson Agonistes should not be taken seriously, even if he stands by them. A text that becomes more relevant 400 years after its publication deserves to be taught in universities. Banning this work will not bring terrorism to an end, and teaching it can only encourage students to think critically about what terrorism entails.
Works Cited
- Guttenplan, D.D. “Is Reading Milton Unsafe at Any Speed?” The New York Times. 27 Dec. 2002.Web. 04 Dec. 2016.
- Milton, John. Samson Agonistes. Oxford. 2008. Print.New International Version. Biblica, 2011. BibleGateway.com
