DELILAH Madlyn Millner Kahr

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DELILAHMadlyn Millner Kahr
I will put enmities between thee and
womanGenesis 315
Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature Samson and Delilah
(1949) Parmount Pictures
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• Angel of God announced his birth to a barren
  woman. Linked to his divine role were certain
  prohibitions forbidden to cut his hair could
  not drink wine or strong drink
• Samson loved Delilah , she betrayed him, and what
  is worse, she did it for money. That is virtually
  all the Bible tells us about Delilah
• The inscription on the tree trunk sends the
  message home Foemina diabolo tribus assibus est
  mala peior Which translates to A bad woman is
  three times worse than the Devil

Andrea Mantegna, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1495.
London, National Gallery.
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Though this is supposed to be Samson and Delilah,
the young male companion is far from the image of
superman Samson.
Delilahs betrayal? OrA lock of hair for
devotion perhaps?
Master E.S., Samson and Delilah, engraving, ca.
1460. New York, (MET).
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Peter Paul Rubens process of Samson Taken
Prisoner to Samson and Delilah
Rubens, Samson Taken Prisoner, oil sketch, ca.
1609.Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection,
Lugano-Castagnola.
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Rubens, Samson Taken Prisoner, oil sketch,
1609-10. Art Institute of Chicago.
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Delilahs lap Meaning involvement with
whores, is the road straight to Hell, according
to verses in Johan de Brunes Emblemata,
published in Amsterdam in 1624.
Rubens, Samson and Delilah, oil sketch, ca.
1609-10. Cincinnati Art Museum.
Through Delilahs bared breasts Rubens calls
attention to the oral component as Samson serves
to epitomize the primitive, ambivalent ideas
rooted in the complex of erotic and hostile
feelings aroused by the infantile oral attachment
to the mother which may underlie mens hostility
toward women and concomitant fear of them.
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The final masterpiece
Note the sculpture of Venus and her son Cupid set
in the niche and is the apex of the pyramidal
group.
Rubens, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1610. London,
National Gallery.
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And thus, Delilah is the embodiment of mens
deep-rooted fear of the danger threatened by
erotic involvement with a woman.
Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr in Paramount
Pictures Samson and Delilah (1949).