Does
Samson qualify more as a Christian martyr than a tragic hero? Argue your
answer.
Aristotle’s View: The Tragic Hero: - To be worthy of the position of a
tragic hero, a person must possess certain qualities laid down by Aristotle in
chapter 13 of “The Poetics”. While speaking of the tragic action, Aristotle
sets down his own conceptions of a tragic character which are as follows:-
Firstly :- A tragic hero of the Aristotelian description is a man who enjoys prosperity
and renown, but he is found involved in misfortune and suffering out of some
great flaw, known as ‘Hamartia’ in his
character or a fatal error in his judgment, action or conduct.
Secondly:- A tragic hero of the Aristotelian description
is a man who gives rise to the Cathartic feeling which constitutes the
purgation of the emotion of pity and terror.
Samson as an Aristotelian Tragic Figure:-Now let us
have a brief sketch of the character of Samson to see how far he fits the
Aristotelian postulation. Infact, he fully corresponds to Aristotle’s conception
of the tragic hero.
Firstly:-An ideal
tragic hero is a man, according to Aristotle, “not pre-eminently virtuous and
just whose misfortune is brought upon him not by vice and depravity but by some
error of judgment”. In Samson Agonistes, we find Samson who had
once fame and good fortune, has lost both now as a consequence of his error of Judgment
which he committed because of his uxoriousness to his wife Dalia on whose
persistent request, he reveals her the secret of his strength. It is his error
of judgment for which he suffers terribly losing his power, his wife and even
his eye sight. To Bullough, “Samson is not just the medieval tragic hero
cast down by fortune, but the Aristotelian hero ruined by a moral flaw.”
