Samson, The Story of

Anon. (>1567)

Historical Records

Complaint brought before the wardens of the Carpenters' Company, 15 July 1567

GL. MS 4329/1
(as qtd in Wickham, 291, from the transcription in Records of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, ed. Bower Marsh, III, 95-6 [Oxford, 1915])

... And that the said John Brayne on saturday [19 July] next ensuing the date above written shall pay to the said William Sylvester the sum of £8 10s lawful money of England, and that after the play which is called The Story of Samson be once played at the place aforesaid the said John shall deliver to the said William such bonds as are now in his custody for the performance of the bargain. ...

Theatrical Provenance

The Story of Samson was to be performed at the Red Lion playhouse. On 15 July 1567 John Brayne, grocer, lodged a complaint with the wardens of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters against William Sylvester, carpenter, about the quality of Sylvester's carpentry on "the house called the Red Lion in the parish of Stepney" (as qtd in Wickham, 291).

A lawsuit in the Court of King's Bench in Hilary term 11 Elizabeth (1569) provides further details about the structure of the playhouse, its workmen, and its finances but does not mention a playing company or players (TNA. KB 27/1229/m. 30).

Probable Genre(s)

Biblical tragedy

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The story had to have been based on the Old Testament narrative of Samson and Delilah. In the Miles Coverdale translation (1535), the narrative begins in Judges 13.2 and continues through Judges 16.31. Its major episodes include the following:

1. Birth narrative:

But there was a man at Zarga, of one of ye kynreds of the Danites, named Manoah, and his wife was vnfrutefull & bare him no children. 3 And the angell of the LORDE appeared vnto ye woman, & sayde vnto her: Beholde, thou art baren, & bearest not: but thou shalt conceaue, & beare a sonne. 4 Take hede therfore, yt thou drynke no wyne ner stronge drynke, and yt thou eate no vncleane thinge, 5 for thou shalt conceaue, and beare a sonne, vpo whose heade there shal come no rasoure: for ye childe shal be a Nazaree of God, euen from his mother wombe, and shall begynne to delyuer Israel out of the hande of the Philistynes (Judges 13.2-4)." The child is subsequently born and named Samson.

2. The Philistines of Thimnath

Samson went to Thimnath where he saw a woman he desired. His parents were displeased: "Is there not a woman amonge the doughters of yi brethren, & in all yi people, but thou must go & take a wife amoge the Philistynes, which are vncircumcised?" Judges 14.3 Pursuing his desire, Samson returned to Thimnath, passing on the way a raging lion that he destroyed. Returning home, he saw that a swarm of bees had made honey in the carcass of the lion. His father, Manoah, went with him to Thimnath to a feast, and Samson challenged the young men in attendance with a riddle: "Meate wente out from the deuourer, and swetenesse from the mightie Judges 14.14). The young men threatened Samson's woman for the answer, and after seven days of crying she coaxed it out of him. Scornful of their methods ("Yf ye had not plowed wt my calfe, ye shulde not haue founde out my ryddle" (Judges 14.18), Samson nonetheless paid his promise of fresh raiment to the puzzle solvers, but he did so by killing 30 men in Ascalon, giving their clothing to the Thimnite men, then going home.

After a time cooling off from the insult, Samson returned to the woman of Thimnath, only to find that her father had given her to another man. In retaliation Samson tied firebrands to the tails of 300 foxes and burned the harvest. Learning what had happened, "Then wente the Philistynes vp, and brent her and hir father also with fyre" (Judges 15.6). They extended this revenge by waging war on Samson's people in Juda. Timorous, the men of Juda sought out Samson, who had gone to Eram; they tied him up and delivered him to the Philistines as the price of peace. But Samson broke free of the bonds and wrecked havoc with his would-be captors: "And he founde the cheke bone of a deed asse: then put he forth his hande, and toke it, & slewe a thousande men therwith: And Samson sayde: With an olde asses cheke bone, yee eue with the cheke bone of an asse haue I slayne a thousande men (Judges 15.15-16). Following this victory, Samson "iudged Israel in the tyme of the Philistynes twetye yeare" http://www.studylight.org/desk/?query=jud+15&t=mcb&st=1&new=1&l=en Judges 15.20]).

3. Dalilah

Works Cited

Loengard, Janet S. "An Elizabethan Lawsuit: John Brayne, his Carpenter, and the Building of the Red Lion Theatre," Shakespeare Quarterly 34 (1983): 298-310.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 14 June 2011.biblical plays