Samson Agonistes is Milton's attempt to bring together the seemingly opposing worldviews of Christianity and tragedy. While some would dispute that tragedy has no place in Christianity, Milton observed tragedy in Judges 12-16 and, as an astute student of human nature, imagined the emotions Samson must have felt and the verbal exchanges that could have taken place between him and others. The result of Milton's conjectures is Samson Agonistes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay If, as Chaucer writes, “tragedy consists in telling a certain story, as the old books have remembered to us, of one who enjoyed great prosperity. And he falls from a high degree into misery and ends miserably” (http://www.dictionary.com), then Samson is indeed a tragic hero in the literary sense of the term. Samson has clearly fallen from the "high degree", for his friends remember a great man, a "Herioc... Renowned... Irresistible Samson" (SA 125-126), the "late glory of Israel, now grief” (179). Manoa speaks of an “invincible Samson” (341), and even the powerful Harapha admits: “I have heard much/Of your prodigious power and of your accomplished exploits/Incredible to me” (1082-1084). No one would dispute that at one time the Philistines feared Samson and the Israelites worshiped him. However, Samson's life changed dramatically when he suddenly metamorphosed from a glorious hero to a prisoner "trapped, assaulted, defeated.../poor and blind" (365-366). Samson languishes in a “double darkness,” devoid of temporal and spiritual vision. For him, physical blindness is more bearable than the isolation he feels from God. Samson fell headlong “from the height of marvelous glory,/…to [the] lowest level of abject fortune” (167-169). A character must have a fatal flaw before he can become a tragic hero; Samson's weakness was pride. According to the Bible, pride is one of the “seven deadly sins” that surely lead to a person's ultimate downfall. Samson was blessed with superhuman strength, but, by his own admission, lacked commensurate wisdom (53-57). As his ego grew, his relationship with God diminished, until “puffed with pride into the trap, [he] fell” (532). Samson would never have been captured, blinded and humiliated without his burgeoning pride. In order for God to show Samson that He was truly the one in control, He was forced, by Samson's own arrogance, to bring Israel's vain son to nothing before he could be restored. A true “tragic hero”, Samson refuses to ask for help. external forces. Samson vehemently refuses Manoa's offer to pay a ransom for his release, and urges him to “spare the trouble/of this solicitation; leave me here,/as I deserve” (487-489). Samson believes he has brought all his misery upon himself; therefore, he cannot accept help from another person (374-376). At first, Samson is immersed in self-pity and has no desire to take revenge on the Philistines. Samson's meeting with Delilah brings him out of his Laodicean state. So far, Samson refuses to show his anger and accepts his fate with abject resignation. Delilah, however, lights a fire within him, a fire that, once lit, consumes his despair and fuels his desire for revenge. Samson's first sentence to him, "Out, out Hyena" (748), shows that he has instantly freed himself from his apathetic state of mind. As Marjorie Hope Nicolson aptly observes, “Samson’s vigor returns…more than he realizes” (362). Truly, Delilah's visit to Samson was the » (953).>