People normally see the story of Samson and Delilah as a simple story of betrayal. Samson loves Delilah, but Delilah only cares about power. We see stories similar to this one everywhere in our culture, but the story of Samson and Delilah contains more depth then the average love/betrayal story. In many versions of the story Delilah cuts Samson's hair herself, but in others, she orders servants to cut his hair for her. In the second option, why did Delilah tell a servant to cut off Samson's hair? One answer could be that Delilah felt a little guilty about betraying Samson, who would have done anything for her. Another option would be that Delilah actually did love Samson, and she did not want to be a direct part of his suffering. Delilah also simply might have thought that she was to important to waste energy cutting Samson's hair herself. Why do you think Delilah didn't cut Samson's hair (expand on your response if you choose one of the above reasons)? Do you think that Delilah felt guilty after seeing how much she caused Samson to suffer? Why? On the other side of the story, Samson never got mad at Delilah. During her first failed attempts of taking away his power, Samson simply smiled and ripped away his chains. Through the whole story, Samson never blames Penelope. When the Philistines chained him to the pillars, he doesn't even give Delilah a second thought. It seems strange that Samson has enough anger inside of him to kill hundreds of Philistines, but he can't seem to find the energy to see that Delilah betrayed him and their love. How can a man be willing to forgive a close one's betrayal, but at the same time commit a mass murder while killing himself in the process. In a comment explain why Samson was either more of a forgiving or a short tempered man. Why do you think Samson was able to kill hundreds of Philistines, but laugh at his wife's attempts to overthrow him? Considering the arguments throughout the paragraph, do you believe that Samson or Delilah was a more terrible person?
I think that Delilah didn't cut his hair, because she still loved him, and she didn't want to be one of his first suspects of doing it. That's probably also why she chose to have it done at night, so he wouldn't directly catch her in the process. Though she probably still wanted the power, she didn't want to completely ruin her relationship and her angelic reputation, too. That's why i think she did it in secret. On the other hand, I think Samson doesn't get mad at Delilah, because he refuses to believe that his wife would actually do that to him. Her earlier attempts might have just seemed like a cruel joke to him. Maybe in the end, Delilah's plan worked and he didn't suspect her at all for doing it. Maybe that's why he was so intent on killing everyone else, since he was so desperate not to have to put the blame on his wife. Personally, I think Delilah was a more terrible person, because even if she did love him, she wasn't loyal to him and opposed him without a second thought. I think that she was so selfish, that she betrayed him, and got away with it scot-free still with a good relationship and a good reputation.
ReplyDeleteDelilah in my opinion was the more insincere person for betraying her husband. However in the post both arguments about Samson and Delilah show the same reasons for trechery. Delilah is betraying her husband for her people and Samson kills himself and all the philistines for his own people aswell. Since they both have the same motive I think that they both seem equal. This also shows why Samson my not have gotten angry at Delilah but we must also not take the stoey so literaly. It is a story to prove a point and to teach the lesson about who to trust and what people do for thier country.
ReplyDeleteI don't think its fair to say that either Samson or Delilah are terrible people. Samson is arrogant enough to laugh as his wife tries to take his strength away. He doesn't thinks she will act on the secret when he tells he that his hair should be cut off for him to become weak. He thinks Delilah is not cunning or daring enough to betray her husband, even though she has openly tried to take his strength away many times before. Since Delilah's reasons for wanting to betray her husband are unknown, I think its wrong to assume she was a bad person. She was betraying her people when she married Samson, so cutting of his hair could be considered and act of courage and loyalty to the Philistines rather than of treason to the Israelites. When Samson kills hundreds of Philistines under the temple, he is doing it for the same reasons Delilah cut off his hair. He was willing to hurt some people in order to remain faithful to his people.
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