[Milton-L] Samson as suicide bomber

[Derek Wood]

Louis (quoted below), . . .
 
God restores his superhuman strength, there is no doubt about that. But in order 'to destroy Philistines' is not clear, at least not in Milton's play. Samson uses his strength 'of his own accord' -- his own will, acting out his own morality.
 
About the jawbone of the ass and dead things: God did give Samson water from the jaw when he was thirsty.
 
James's question about Samson as a 'figure' of. . .I tend to see Samson as a figure of the English revolution  itself, with the NMA, fighting for the GOC. Read the next chapter of Judges: what does Samson achieve? Not even the beginning of Israel's deliverance. What has changed because of him? And what did the English revolution achieve? Nothing. Milton had friends who died in the war. For nothing. For many monarchists after 1660, the word 'revolution' meant 'something that turned around and ended up as it had been before.' Why should another temporal, physical, bloody revolution in the future achieve more than nothing?
 
What did Milton make of those often repeated verses in Judges: "In those days there was no king in Israel and every man did what was right in his own eyes.": So Samson's sacrifice and slaughter was part of a process leading up to a king in Israel . . . just like the English Revolution. How did Milton like that, I wonder?
Derek.
 
Derek N. C. Wood,
Senior Research Professor and Shastri Fellow,,
St. Francis Xavier University,
ANTIGONISH,    NS,
Canada,    B2G 2W5
 
e-mail: dwood at stfx.ca
phone: 902-867-2328 (w)
           902-863-5433 (h)
fax:      902-867-5400
web:     http://www.stfx.ca/people/dwood <http://www.stfx.ca/people/dwood/Welcome.html> /Welcome.html 

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...God restores" Samson's strength to destroy more Philistines in one act than he had killed in his entire lifetime (including himself). So why the restoration of strength at the end?"

 

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Louis Schwartz

 

 

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