Summary
Samson leaves with the officer, and the chorus announces that Manoa once again approaches the prison. Manoa explains that he has been speaking with Philistine lords about Samson's ransom. In the middle of his explanation, he hears a noise, and the chorus assures him that it is likely the crowd shouting joyfully after seeing Samson. Manoa continues, saying he will live as a poor man with Samson after paying the ransom. They once again hear a terrible noise, and Manoa assumes the Philistines are killing Samson.
The chorus tells him that Samson is killing the Philistines instead, but nobody is certain. A messenger arrives and announces that all the Philistines have perished and that Samson is also dead. He recounts what happened, saying that Samson was paraded around for the Philistines in a large amphitheater. After performing feats of strength, he had asked if he could rest against two pillars of theatre. Then, Samson declared that he would perform one more feat of strength, and pulled the pillars down, collapsing the entire structure on himself and everyone inside.
The chorus praises Samson's actions, noting that he will be famed as a legend despite his death. Manoa is happy to know that God returned Samson's strength to him. He plans to retrieve Samson's body and build him a monument at his own home that will serve as inspiration for other Israelites. The drama ends with the chorus announcing that God will never abandon those who serve him well.
Analysis
In this final section of the drama, Samson's true intentions come to light: he agreed to Philistine commands in the amphitheater in order to kill all the Philistines in a feat of enormous self-sacrifice. However, it is important to note that readers are not privy to this climax of the play firsthand. Instead, Milton leaves the readers in the prison with the chorus and Manoa, who wonder what is producing the disturbing noises coming from above. This type of ending to the play has a literary precedent: plays from antiquity often feature action that is only reported rather than dramatized in front of spectators (or, in the case of closet drama, readers). Many early modern playwrights took inspiration from ancient Greek and Rome, and reported events feature prominently in early modern drama, usually in history plays that describe an important battle scene. Milton prefaces Samson Agonistes with his intent to model the play after Greek tragedy, making his choice to report, rather than dramatize, the most momentous part of the play a deliberate allusion to the Greek stage. However, the report of Samson's deed is also significant for this particular play, as it declines to entertain readers with a dramatic plot twist and instead remains focused on Samson's quiet and humbled relationship with God—one he cultivates while powerless and confined to a prison cell.
Herein lies one of the play's many themes, which crops up in the chorus's commentary at the very end: that God will not abandon those who are weak, destitute, or powerless so long as they remain faithful. That the play focuses so heavily on Samson's imprisonment—replete with despair, slave labor, blindness, and embarrassment—helps underscore Milton's own emphasis throughout his career on pure and uncorrupted dedication to God. Milton's sonnet "When I Consider How My Light is Spent" suggests that in his own life, Milton expressed doubt over his ability to best serve the lord, thinking that his blindness inhibited him from many actions of faith. The sonnet ends, however, with the proclamation that "They also serve who only stand and wait" (14). In many ways, this philosophy is present in Samson Agonistes, as Samson remains a servant of God even in his stagnant state of imprisonment.
