거인과 기독교 전사: 밀턴의 하라파와 스펜서의 오르고글리오

Abstract

While examining Harapha, who appears in the last episode of the middle part of John Milton's Samson Agonistes, and his challenge to Samson, this paper is to understand who he really is, what he means to Samson, and how his appearance helps to reveal the meaning of the whole work. It is my contention that Milton's Harapha has his archtype in Edmund Spenser's Orgoglio, the giant who defeats the Redcross knight in Book One of The Faerie Queene. We may better understand Samson and his struggle to achieve God's will in himself when we compare his confrontation to Harapha with Redcross's to Orgoglio. Although both Harapha and Orgoglio materialize physical threats to the heroes of each work, the giants affect more in the heroes' minds than their physical safety. That is, they both force the heroes to examine their own shortcomings, so as to lead them to despair. As Spenser's Orgolgio does to Redcross, Milton's Harapha poses, in a significant way, a threat to Samson's spiritual growth, and how Samson deals with this manifestation of his own despair would decide the success of his final achievement. It is well-known that both Milton and Spenser are enthusiastic students of the Bible and Classical literature. Significantly, however, unlike the giants in classics who mostly appear as enemies of the heroes and threaten gods and human beings, Spenser's Orgoglio and Milton's Harapha reflect the heroes' self. And this allegorical manifestation of classical monsters characterizes Renaissance Humanism that goes through the hearts of Spesner's and Milton's works. As Spenser’s Redcross finally overcomes his own despair and obtains the victory against the Dragon, Milton's Samson somehow realizes his own weakness immediately after his confrontation with Harapha and achieves his final peace with God and himself.