The Ethics of Appropriation: Samson Agonistes, Inglourious Basterds, and the Biblical Samson Tale

This essay considers two appropriations of the Samson narrative (Judges 13–16)— Milton’s Samson Agonistes (1671) and Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009)—in light of their controversial critical heritages. Both in Milton Studies and Tarantino criticism, scholars and critics are sharply divided on the ethical implications of the ‘terrorism’ plots the two works advance. Considering the striking parallels between these two historically and generically distant texts and their reception, the essay argues that only focused attention on the works as appropriations/ adaptations allows us full access to their complex ethics.