Samson Agonistes Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Line number)

Quote #1

SAMSON: I seek this unfrequented place to find some ease, ease to the body some, none to the mind from restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm of hornets arm'd, no sooner found alone, but rush upon me thronging (15-20)

Talk about suffering! The very thing that makes Samson's body comfortable makes his mind suffer more. Poor guy just can't get a break.

Quote #2

SAMSON: Suffice that to me strength is my bane, and proves the source of all my miseries; so many and so huge, that each apart would ask a life to wail (64-67)

This almost makes "suffering" sound like an understatement. Samson is saying that it would take him lifetimes to complain properly about his life—but, little does he know, he actually only has a few more hours.

Quote #3

SAMSON: O loss of sight, of thee I most complain! Blind among enemies, O worse than chains, Dungeon, or beggery, or decrepit age! (68-69).

According to Samson, blindness doesn't have any competition for Worst Suffering EVAR. And you can kind of see why, since he implicitly compares it to all the other kinds of suffering: it's like a prison he always carries; he has to ask for everything; it makes him weaker than an old man. (Maybe he should get one of these things.)