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Chapter 5 - Lean on Me

Samson Agonistes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

Elizabeth Hodgson
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

The Chorus in Milton's Samson Agonistes are framed as Milton's friends. In the mold of friendship in this era, they are therefore his peers, his counselors, his advisors, and his allies. They are both companions and neighbours. They also make common cause with Samson in resisting both women, the larger nation of Israel, and especially the Philistines. By showing male friends as creators of a boys-only clubhouse, Milton invokes the local chorographies and regionalism of his day. In making friendship both racist and sexist at its core, Milton also makes his closet drama a tool in exclusive and localized patriarchal networks. Juxtaposed with Thomas Fuller's Worthies of England and Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, Milton's Samson Agonistes is deliberately ungenerous to outsiders or larger loyalties.

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Chapter
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The Masculinities of John Milton
Cultures and Constructs of Manhood in the Major Works
, pp. 145 - 173
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Lean on Me
  • Elizabeth Hodgson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Masculinities of John Milton
  • Online publication: 01 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009223577.007
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  • Lean on Me
  • Elizabeth Hodgson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Masculinities of John Milton
  • Online publication: 01 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009223577.007
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.

  • Lean on Me
  • Elizabeth Hodgson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Masculinities of John Milton
  • Online publication: 01 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009223577.007
Available formats
×