At the start of John Milton's Samson Agonistes, Samson is a blind prisoner of the Philistines after revealing the secret of his strength to his wife, Dalila, who betrays him. He regrets the choices that led to his current state and longs for God's forgiveness. Samson's father, Manoa, visits his son and tells him of his plans to bribe an official to free Samson. Samson feels that he deserves his punishment and does not want to be freed.

When a messenger arrives to bring Samson to the festival honoring the Philistine God, Dagon, Samson initially refuses, believing that his attendance of the festival would be offensive to his own God. Upon second thought, Samson is overcome by a strong feeling that he is destined to attend the festival and perform an unknown task. Manoa successfully negotiates his son's release just before he finds out that Samson killed many Philistines, as well as himself, by collapsing the temple they were all standing under. For Samson, this act is an opportunity to redeem himself and earn God's forgiveness. He is given back his strength just long enough to commit the final act of destroying the temple's pillars, killing the Philistines and himself and earning his salvation.