Samson as a Tragic Hero

Samson as a Tragic Hero

When one reads the story of Samson in the Bible, one is struck by the similarities between Samson and other heroes in literary tragedies. Like many other tragic heroes, Samson is set apart from other people at birth. Samson has unnatural abilities, which give him the power to save society. As a result, Samson's job is to confront his nemesis, and he is initially successful in that confrontation, though not completely triumphant over his enemies. However, Samson also has a tragic flaw, which leads to his downfall. Even more significant is the fact that Samson has a tragic weakness, which combined with the tragic flaw, causes his decline. Most importantly, Samson dies prematurely in the story, which is an essential element of the tragic hero. Because Samson exhibits so many elements of a hero in classical literature, one can safely classify Samson as a tragic hero.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of many tragic heroes is that they are somehow set apart from the rest of humanity, and designated as heroes. Samson's separation from the rest of society began prior to his conception. Samson's mother was sterile and childless, but then an Angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her that she would conceive and have a son. (Judges 13:5). Even more significant, Samson's mother was told that her son would be different from others, and that his differences would be physically apparent. The angel instructed her that, "No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines." (Judges 13:5). Therefore, Samson not only had a pre-ordained task, but one that was divinely ordained and conceived.

Given that God intervened so that Samson would be born, and designated Samson as Israel's champion against the Philistines, it is not surprising that Samson displayed extraordinary skills. First, Samson demonstrated his connection with the divine. Samson chose to marry a Philistine woman, despite his parents' protests that he should marry an Israeli. Samson did this at the Lord's instruction, in order to provoke a confrontation with the Philistines. (Judges 14:1-5). Next, Samson displayed extraordinary courage and bravery by confronting a lion in battle. Next, Samson displayed extraordinary strength, because he "tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat." (Judges 14:6). Furthermore, Samson was later able to retrieve honey from the carcass of the lion's body, which seems to be some type of supernatural skill. (Judges 14:9). Samson's skills were not purely physical. On the contrary, Samson was also blessed with an extraordinary mind. He challenged his Philistine companions with a riddle, which they were initially unable to solve. When they used subterfuge to obtain the answer, Samson was not penalized. On the contrary, divine intervention took the lives of those to whom the answer had been explained.

However, Samson's experience with the riddle revealed his tragic flaw, and foreshadowed his eventual doom. When her countrymen were unable to solve Samson's riddle, his first wife came to him and begged him to reveal the answer to her. Initially, Samson ignored his wife's pleas, but when she questioned his love for her, he eventually capitulated and told it to him. In turn, she told her people the answer. This incident was significant because it revealed Samson's tragic flaw: women. Furthermore, it foreshadowed what would cause Delilah's eventual betrayal of Samson: divided loyalties between her countrymen and her husband. Later, Samson's tragic flaw makes another appearance. When Samson goes to Gaza, he lays with a prostitute. (Judges 16:1). The people of Gaza learned that Samson was present, so they surrounded the building at night, waiting to kill him in the morning. Though Samson was able to escape from the danger by slipping out during the night, the incident provided further evidence that a woman would eventually be at the root of Samson's downfall.

Like other tragic heroes, Samson is also initially victorious over his nemesis: the Philistines. To exact revenge for their taking of his wife, first as a companion for another man, and then her life, Samson attacks their property and their person. Samson's initial forays against the Philistines are successful, but the successes are seemingly insignificant. However, after the Philistines cause his first father-in-law to give his wife to another man, Samson's attacks on them intensify. First, he burns their crops. When they seek revenge for that, Samson defeats an untold number of them. All of these incidents are merely preludes to the first real battle, which occurs when Samson is a prisoner facing overwhelming odds. The Philistines demand that the Israelites hand over Samson, so they bind him with ropes and hand him over. However, "The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men." (Judges 15: 14-15).

Furthermore, Samson is initially successful over his second wife, Delilah's attempts to betray him to the Philistines. She repeatedly asks him for the secret to his strength and he repeatedly gives her false answers. However, each time that he gives her a false answer, she attempts to use that answer to betray him to the Philistines. Despite knowing that Delilah is actively attempting to betray him, Samson still allows her to persuade him to tell her the source of his strength: his uncut hair. In this manner, Samson's tragic flaw sets the stage for his eventual defeat by the Philistine's. He is not defeated by the Philistines because of the loss of his hair, but because he is betrayed by a woman. This betrayal is evidence of his weakness because he was betrayed by his first wife, he was almost killed while visiting a prostitute, and Delilah, herself, made several attempts to betray him to the Philistines.

However, it is important to realize that Samson's tragic flaw and his tragic weakness were not the same thing. Samson's tragic flaw was his desire for women. Repeatedly, despite knowing that he was doing something foolish and risky, Samson placed his safety in danger for the sake of a woman. His tragic weakness was that his hair was the source of his strength. Unlike his tragic flaw, Samson had no control over the source of his strength; God ordained that Samson's unshorn hair would give him strength, God provided Samson with his unnatural strength, and God left Samson when his hair was cut. However, Samson's tragic weakness would have remained unknown to the Philistines if Samson's tragic flaw had not caused him to reveal the source of his strength to Delilah.