A Man for No Season: Biblical Samson in the Cage of His Childishness

Yair Mazor The following discussion focuses on the character and chronicles of the last Judge , Samson . Since one of the prominent points of this discussion is associated with comic characteristics , it will be useful to start the discussion with some theoretical observations concerning the nature of the comic mechanism , notably the way it is portrayed and analyzed by Anri Bergson in his celebrated book Le Rire ) Laughter ( . Bergson argues that laughter can take place only in the realm of human beings and not in the realms of animals or -non living objects . Laughter can stem , however , from “ installing " in a human being a mechanic repetition , such as a clown in the circus who falls down and gets up repeatedly . Hence laughter derives from the repetition of the same action by a human being who operates like a machine . Already in this early stage of the discussion , one may trace many repetitions in the behavior and actions of Samson : he is attracted to foreign / Philistine wom...  אל הספר
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