Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/328

 2 86

��SAMSON AGONISTES

��height of passion and resolution required by the climax ; this is Manoa's reminder that for the magnifying of Dagon set apart for this feast-day, Samson is indirectly re- sponsible, that by reason of his faithless- ness an idolatrous abomination shall be set above Jehovah. Very skillfully this is made to bring out another noble trait of Samson's character, namely his impersonal optimism ; though hoping nothing for himself, he still has heart to believe in the ultimate triumph of right:

" Dagon hath presumed, The overthrown, to enter lists with God, His deity comparing and preferring Before the God of Abraham. He, be sure, Will not connive, or linger, thus provoked, But will arise, and his great name assert. Dagon must stoop, and shall ere long receive Such a discomfit as shall quite despoil him Of all these boasted trophies won on me, And with confusion blank his worshippers."

The last four lines should be noticed, also, as the first application in the play of the Greek principle of Tragic Irony. In Samson, as in the Greek tragedies, a story is being handled which is perfectly familiar to every one. The element of suspense, therefore, on which a modern playwright largely depends, is impossible here, because the catastrophe is foreseen and taken for granted from the outset. To supply its place the Greek tragedians adopted a de- vice capable of being used with great psychological subtlety; namely, that of put- ting into the mouths of the persons of the drama words which to themselves, ignorant of the future course of events, were trivial, but which to the audience had a tragic em- phasis because of their bearing upon the impending catastrophe. The lines quoted above are of this sort, though they lack the poignancy usually attaching to tragic or pa- thetic irony. The principle is used through- out Samson, often with extreme effective- ness ; to note and weigh the instances as they occur is necessary if we would gain from the play the peculiar effect intended, an effect so unparalleled in English drama

��that it costs, and is worth, some pains to perceive in completeness.

In the conversation between Manoa and Samson, which takes up the greater part of this act, the old man's hopeful looking to the future, his plans for ransoming his son from captivity, are thrown into relief against the listlessness of the hero himself, who knows that there is no future for him. The conversation ends with his reiteration of his deadly weariness, coupled with a touching recurrence to the glories of his youth. Then follows the most noble chorus of the play, beginning,

" God of our fathers ! what is man,"

in which Samson's special case is taken as a starting point for reflection upon the tragic changes everywhere in human for- tune. Dalila now appears, and a subtle change in the metre and color of the verse heralds her approach ; the movement be- comes more vivacious, evanescent vowel rhymes appear, and epithet and imagery take on a more opulent hue. Her trium- phant beauty, as she comes

" Like a stately ship Of Tarsus, bound for the isles Of Javan or Gadire . . . An amber scent of odorous perfume Her harbinger,"

is the last touch needed to emphasize the wretchedness of the captive. Act II. ends with her entrance, at line 731.

The coming of Dalila is the second pro- vocative incident necessary to rouse Sam- son to a supreme effort. Upon the por- trayal of her character Milton has lavished all his art ; she is perhaps the one really dramatic creation, endowed with Shake- spearean reality of life, to be found in his work. Her approach is humble, full of penitence and the sweetness of reawakened wifely love. First she seeks extenuation for her own weakness by reminding Sam- son of his ; next, with exquisite casuistry, she urges the jealousy of her love as the impelling motive of her action, cunningly

�� �