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8 - Samson and surrogacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Amy Boesky
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts
Catherine Gimelli Martin
Affiliation:
University of Memphis
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Summary

SurrogateL. surrogatus, pp. of surrogare to choose in place of another, substitute. A: to appoint as successor, deputy, or substitute for oneself B: substitute

For Milton's Samson, the most painful aspect of captivity is produced by the dilemma of surrogacy. To be for Samson is to subject himself to a will he cannot entirely know or understand. The urgently repeated question of the poem – for whom is Samson an instrument? – deflects attention away from the fact that Samson is always an instrument, whether for the Hebrews, the Philistines, or for God, his body used to fulfill purposes which are not his own. In his captivity Samson is continually reminded by the characters around him that his labors are being used by the Philistines against his own people. Even his rest from labor is not his own. More disturbingly, Samson's desires are construed as separate from him, divinely ordained. “Motions” that move within him suggest that while desire is experienced as bodily, it is in fact a propulsion that he can gauge but that he did not himself produce. What made him long for the bride at Timnah, and then for Dalila? As Samson explains to the Chorus, his first marriage was not the fulfillment of his own desire, but rather the beginning of his “divine labor”: “what I motion'd was of God; I knew / From intimate impulse, and therefore urg'd / the Marriage on” (SA 222–3).

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Milton and Gender , pp. 153 - 166
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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  • Samson and surrogacy
    • By Amy Boesky, Associate Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts
  • Edited by Catherine Gimelli Martin, University of Memphis
  • Book: Milton and Gender
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511483752.009
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  • Samson and surrogacy
    • By Amy Boesky, Associate Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts
  • Edited by Catherine Gimelli Martin, University of Memphis
  • Book: Milton and Gender
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511483752.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Samson and surrogacy
    • By Amy Boesky, Associate Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts
  • Edited by Catherine Gimelli Martin, University of Memphis
  • Book: Milton and Gender
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511483752.009
Available formats
×