Alfred de Vigny Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Phillip A. Duncan

Critical Essay by Phillip A. Duncan

SOURCE: "Alfred de Vigny's 'La Colère de Samson' and Solar Myth," in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3-4, Spring-Summer, 1992, pp. 478-81.

In the following essay, Duncan examines how Vigny combines elements of celestial mythology with psychological realism to add a "mythic dimension " to a story of romantic betrayal.

The Biblical account of the Nazarite, Samson, involves three levels of narrative. While it relates the amorous adventures of Samson and the treachery of Dalilah, its central reference is to the superhuman exploits of a hero whose life echoes the epic of Hercules in a neighboring culture. Additionally, Samson and Dalilah (as well as Hercules) behave as celestial deities anthropomorphized. Alfred de Vigny's "La Colère de Samson" virtually suppresses the elements of gigantism and the marvelous to focus on the human passion and pathos that mask a combat of male solar and female lunar principles.

Vigny's troubled liaison with...
(read more)