Preview

Comparing King Oedipus And Lord Of The Flies

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
513 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing King Oedipus And Lord Of The Flies
Comparison Essay
Leadership is key in the two novels King Oedipus by Sophicles and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In both novels the main characters show their true leadership skills when they are faced with what life throws at them. In King Oedipus by Sophicles, Oedipus shows a great example of leadership with his caring and understanding personality. Also, in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph demonstrates how good of a leader he is when him and a group of boys are dropped off at an unknown island, and he has to step up to the plate and find means of survival being the chief. Both Oedipus and Ralph are understanding and determined and have the personalities to become great leaders. In the novel King Oedipus by Sophicles,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Separated by almost 3000 years of literature, two plays can still contain similar elements and characteristics that tie the two together. This is the case between the two plays, Oedipus The King and its counterpart Death of a Salesman, one written approximately 430 BC and the other written in 1949. When first reading this book, one might question, what could these stories possibly have in common; one is about a king who discovers he has killed his father and copulated with his mother and the other about a salesman with suicidal tendencies and unattainable dreams. As the reader further analysis the story, the underlying similarities become more apparent even as one might say that there are no relations between the two stories. Looking into the main protagonist of both…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout history, there have been many different opinions concerning the type of leadership that would lead to a successful society. In "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, a group of civilized boys are left on an uninhabited island with no adults to guide them. The boys must choose a leader and form a society. As the novel continues, it becomes clear that the boys' attempt at forming a society is fruitless. This leads one to contemplate the type of leadership that would lead to a successful society, a topic that philosophers such as Plato, Machiavelli, and Wills have debated for thousands of years. Niccolo Machiavelli was a 15th century philosopher whose main belief was that a good leader must be feared by his people. Machiavelli's theory on leadership is by far the most effective, as portrayed through "Lord of the Flies".…

    • 1003 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel, Lord of the Flies draws in realistic political views in relation to the author, William Golding’s concept. Golding adopts contrasting views of leadership and quarrels between leaders to attempt to properly represent the national government leadership. The United States government leader, President Obama once said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek” (Brain Quotes 1). He instilled a concept of self production, hands-on leadership and not to wait for change. The exact same concept was expressed in depth in Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding uses a deep inner character contrast in order to reveal their individual style of governing. The author customizes his writing to show the power within Ralph and Jack which are driven by inner moral and reasoning for Ralph, and for Jack a sense of dictatorship and holding utter control. All in all, Golding approaches the concept of leadership from an angle perceived by the reader to be an honorable way of living--Ralph and an unfit…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When a group of British school boys land on a deserted island someone has to step up and lead. A leader should have many noble traits. In the book Ralph is elected leader, in the beginning he was not much of a standout but later in the book we found Ralph has great leadership skills: he tries to keep the peace, was stern when he needed to be, and held everyone accountable for their work.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The play Romeo and Juliet may seem to have no visible connections to the novel, “the lord of the Flies; I read these stories in ninth grade, but now that I come to think of it, they do connect, but on a deeper level; they are parallel in many ways. Both stories deal with 2 separate groups (Romeo/Juliet, and the two gangs that are created in lord of the flies), in which it would be best to come together, but other forces are stopping the unity (Romeo and Juliet's parents, and the leaders of the gangs in Lord of the Flies) and innocent people caught in the middle and senseless dying. In the story “Romeo and Juliet” Friar Lawrence tried to use his religious status to unite the Capulet’s and the Montague’s but Jack Merridew put fear into the boys to gain political power over ralph. Their different ways of use of religion are demonstrated in the nature of how they use their beliefs. It can be shown that protagonist Jack uses fear to control the boys, while Friar Lawrence uses the Capulet’s for religion to justify Juliet’s supposed “death”. In the lord of the flies, it can be seen that the boys are being caught up with the idea of having fun and this brings them to a fast decision of underestimating the worth of what is really important. The boys put the act of hunting as more important than being rescued as their priority, as the killing of the sow justified carelessness of not maintain the fire when the boat was seen at the sea, This parallel shows how the brawl between the Capulet’s and Montague’s started, as both families thought that things can only be resolved through violence and this explains their disobedience to the laws of their hometown Verona. In lord of the flies; Simon and piggy were murdered, and on Romeo and Juliet Tybalt, Romeo and many others died due to the fact that they were caught up with what they were doing. Comparing both stories it can be seen that they both show how society overpowers violence.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus Leader Analysis

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Leadership is one of the world's oldest preoccupations. Throughout The Odyssey we see many different leader figures but one stands out in particular; Odysseus. Odysseus demonstrates the concepts of a leader through the treatment of his men and how he deals with problems that are presented to him. I will show you how I see this to be true.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Good leadership can be found in an individual that is persevering, does not give up, and encourages others to reach their goals. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Ralph and Jack are both given the chance to become leaders. However, both of them display negative qualities that reflect onto the rest of the group. Respect, a given human right, leads to a group disagreeing and falling apart when not upheld. When leaders fail to uphold democratic rights, society falters.…

    • 1454 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play “Oedipus the King” (429 BCE) by Sophocles and “Death of a Salesman” (1949 AD) by Arthur Miller it is illustrated that the main protagonists Oedipus and Willy both fail to fulfill their responsibilities as leaders and instead surround themselves with personal conflict affecting their surroundings and families negatively as a result of their arrogance and excessive pride. In “Death of a Salesman”, Willy, who is envisioned as the boss in the household, is the central cause to all of the Loman’s problems. Firstly, not only does Willy think narrow- minded when talking about achieving his own interpretation of the American Dream, but he consistently tries to instill this idea to his sons Happy and Biff. As a result of this, Willy and Biff have had (as of Act 1) a strained relationship, mainly because of Willy’s inability to understand the many opportunities there are to achieve success other than becoming a salesman. However, because Willy thinks so highly of himself as being a salesman, he is too oblivious and prideful thinking he will disgrace himself by saying to Biff that becoming something else may be better than being a salesman. Willy thinks a businessman like himself would be wealthy, yet he has not proven that with his family suffering from major financial struggles. In addition to this fight, Linda is forced to take sides with Willy (due to her nature) and argue against her sons. This separation portrays a family full of boundaries with each person having a different course of life they each want to pursue; Willy will live with Linda forever while Biff and Happy will start their own business or work on a ranch together. As the tension between father and son go on, the Loman’s household suffers from depression and instability which Willy cannot seem to fix. Similarly, so does Oedipus and the occupants of Thebes. Oedipus may be more of an “important” character in his world, but the pain he…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The difference between man and animal is a line that is made up exclusively by humans: they are the ones who decide what is animalistic and what is humankind. Humans also create novels and how they depict themselves and animals in them tells plenty about how humans in general feel about the subjects they’re writing about. For example, novels can use an animal as an image of corruption, another as an an image of innocence, and still one more as an image of wisdom all in the same chapter. Animals in dystopian novels in particular typically represent everything bad about society, including corruption and weakness, and although there is a fine line between humans and animals, perceived by humans, one can only question how fine that line truly is.…

    • 2177 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Great and tragic love is something that happens to everyone in their life time. In the two completely different stories of Oedipus and Batman they both have them same story line. Batman and Oedipus are two different types of heroes but the same when it comes to the archetype theme of tragic forbidden love. In this essay I will explain archetypes, themes, and what the themes of these stories are.…

    • 569 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even when faced with adversity an exceptional leader continues to persevere to eventually reach an end goal. Leadership is to influence your followers and create a path to success. If our leaders do not have endurance in the face of opposition and are not willing to make personal sacrifices, we would not be able to compete in todays global environment. Today leaders develop talent by investing in education and equal rights. In The Odyssey, the protagonist is a leader named Odysseus who goes on a journey with his crew to get back home to Ithaka from Troy, after the trojan war. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, the poet Homer, suggests that Odysseus is a superior leader which is revealed by Odysseus's, bravery, intelligence, and perseverance.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    rapidly, it may not be indicated by the script that it has changed, and was most…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The adaption of the tragedy Oedipus The King to cinema is a big leap in the history of film making. However, there are certain aspects of the movie that could have been beter adapted. The main reason why these points have been missed may be due to the fact that Pier Paolo Pasolini meant to make a movie that carried a myth of the past to today and even tomorrow by starting the movie in Italy and carrying it to the past. What really bothered me while watching the movie was that Oedipus is too young compared to what we see in the tragedy and even more disturbing, he does not act like a king that he is presented to be in the tragedy. I am not criticizing the way how he acts before becoming a king because in my opinion that part of the tragedy is well adapted to the movie but the way how he behaves afterwards is not a good adoption of the text. The reason why I make this claim is because the king sounds more caring in the text. This change is not well demonstrated in the movie. Moreover, the costume that the king wears should not be presented that way. In my opinion Oedipus should have had a more glorifying costume than Creon but that was not the case. Another aspect of the tragedy that was not in the movie was the real reason why Oedipus was named after which is the club foot. It was missing in the movie. According to the tragedy Oedipus should have been nailed at his foot at birth and that is why he is given the name Oedipus which means swollen foot. Apart from these, I believe that the story was told in a way that it could not be told any better. Some may say that the story does not match the tragedy due to the lack of following the same storyline but in my opinion that is why it is a movie and not a demonstration of the tragedy…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gilgamesh vs. Odyssey

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When Odysseus is first mentioned (Odyssey Pp. 83), very little leadership is shown. He is portrayed as helpless; the quote “he saw nothing of the great Odysseus,” and throughout books four through eight, his constant complaining shows this. Similarly Gilgamesh’s leadership is questioned in a formula, “Is this the shepherd of the people?” (G,pp 4) However when both characters have their “Aha” moments, readers start to see the characters develop, and blossom into confident, genuine people.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Existentialism is in essence a belief that the world we live in is fundamentally meaningless and absurd. Most Existentialists or Absurdists believe that each individual-not society or religion- is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely, or ‘authentically’. The ideas of Existentialism are discussed in not only Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex but also in Albert Camus’ The Outsider. Many aspects of both texts incorporate Existential beliefs and readings. Including the concepts that fate and chance affect our lives, that we can expect crime and punishment as part of our fate, and therefore a man cannot be fully content with his life until he dies, such is the unpredictability of life. Another Absurdist reading incorporated into both texts is that man constantly searches for the truth, and how we as an audience feel sympathy to the tragic hero of a text or play. It is in these ways that Sophocles’ play may be seen to represent some of the Existential or Absurdist ideas discussed during The Outsider, and convey and support some of these readings during both texts.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics