There is a lot in here that I hope we get to -- the similarities between Samson and Milton (in blindness, marital history, etc.), the apparent masculinity/femininity and/or mind/body dualities, etc. But since I have to pick one, here is a question on evil.
Towards the beginning Samson takes ownership over his problems:
Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to Man
But justly, I myself have brought them [evils] on.
Sole author I, sole cause.
But the line between good and evil becomes less clear as the play goes on. Harapha gives reasons why Samson could be understood as a murderer; Delilah suggests that she will be remembered as a traitor by one side, and a patriot by another; and the chorus bemoans the apparent lack of justice:
God of our fathers, what is man!
That thou towards him with hand so various,
Or might I say contrarious,
Temperst thy providence through his short course,
Not evenly...
Though not disordinate, yet causeless suffering
The punishment of dissolute days, in fine,
just or unjust, alike seem miserable,
For oft alike, both come to evil end.
What is the role of evil in this work? How does the title of this post, a paraphrase (or possibly exact quote) of Professor Fallon's comment on Milton regarding Paradise Lost, play into this?
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