"But what is strength without a double share
Of wisdom, vast, unyielding burdensome,
Proudly secure, yet liable to fall
By weakest subtleties, not made to rule,
But to subserve where wisdom bears command" (53-57).
Samson realizes that brute force is nothing without knowledge and wisdom. When he lacks the wisdom to keep his Nazirite secret from Delila, his strength disappears. Now, blind and in prison, Samson laments this decision and notes that strength will always fall if it is not coupled with the knowledge of how to wield it properly.
"Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!)
The dungeon of thyself" (155-156).
The chorus despairs alongside Samson as they lament his fall from famed Nazirite with unparalleled strength to a blind slave dressed in rags. Here, they declare that his blindness renders him doubly imprisoned, doomed to live in darkness within darkness cut off from God's light and creation.
"But what more oft in nations frown corrupt
And by their voices brought to servitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty" (268-271).
Samson here comments on the men of Judah who delivered him to the Philistines, but also comments on the nature of man more generally. He argues that men will choose servitude over freedom because it is the easier way. These words echo Milton's own past political critiques of the English monarchy, in which he argued that liberty requires work and diligence. The only one man should serve, Milton proposed, was God.
"I myself have brought them on,
Sole author I, sole cause" (375-376).
Samson assumes full responsibility for his fallen state. While others encourage him to blame God or blame Delila, Samson continues to express his loyalty to God by acknowledging that he and only he was at fault for betraying the Nazirite secret. This commitment to serve God is what ultimately restores Samson's strength.
"To what can I be useful, wherein serve
My nation, and the work from heaven imposed,
But to sit idle on the household hearth,
A burdenous drone" (564-567).
When Manoa tells Samson he will free him with ransom money, Samson refuses to leave the prison, wondering how he could continue to serve Israel as a blind man without physical strength. These words mirror Milton's expressions of doubt over his own blindness. In his sonnet "When I Consider how my Light is Spent," Milton argues that even those without physical power to act (or, in his case, see) can serve God simply by remaining dedicated to His word.
"I knew that liberty
Would draw thee forth to perilous enterprises" (803-804).
Delila tells Samson that she loved him so much, she wanted to keep him confined so that he would never be harmed. Here, Delila expresses a veiled political message—that liberty is dangerous because it gives one the freedom to act. Before the English Civil Wars, Milton expressed this very sentiment frequently in his political tracts, arguing that organizing an alternative government structure would be challenging but would ensure the freedom of the commonwealth.
"All wickedness is weakness" (834).
Samson refuses to forgive Delila, who argues that her transgression was simply due to her inherent weakness as a woman. Samson, however, equates wickedness itself with weakness, which suggests that faith and dedication to God are the only true forms of strength one can possess.
"Commands are not constraints. If I obey them,
I do it freely" (1372-1373).
The chorus asks why Samson will not obey the messenger when he is already working as a slave for the Philistines in their mill. Samson retorts that to be physically confined and to heed verbal commands are two different circumstances. In so doing, he argues that one can continue to serve God by exercising strength through resistance and constancy.
"I begin to feel
Some rousing motions in me which dispose
To something extraordinary in my thoughts" (1381-1383).
After Samson first refuses to accompany the officer to the amphitheater, he swiftly changes his mind. Here, Samson describes the moment God restores his strength, allowing him to conceive his plan of self-sacrifice. It is only once Samson knows God has no abandoned him that he agrees to leave the prison, his intention to save Israel and destroy himself already formed.
"Oft he seems to hide his face
But unexpectedly returns
And to his faithful champion hath in place
Bore witness gloriously" (1749-1752).
At the end of the play, the chorus remarks that God restored Samson's strength even after Samson thought he was doomed to live a blind Philistine prisoner forever. The play ends with the assertion that though God often appears absent from the world, He will never abandon those who are truly faithful and serve Him with pure intention.
