Comparing Robert Penn Warren: The Book Of Job And Oedipus The King
Robert Penn Warren: The Book of Job and Oedipus the King
A great man, by the name of Robert Penn Warren once said, "One of our deepest cravings is to find logic in experience, but in real life, how little of our experience comes to us in such manageable form. 'TELLING' is a way of groping of the logic of an event, and attempt to make the experience intellectually manageable. If a man who is in a state of blind outrage at his fate, can come to understand that the fate which had seemed random and gratuitous is really a result of his own previous behavior, or is a part of the general plan of life, his emotional response is modified by that intellectual comprehension." In this statement, Robert Warren is saying that whenever people find themselves …show more content…
Job's problem is an emotional one, in which God is taking away everything he has. God has taken away all of Job's livestock, his home, and his family. Once Job realizes that everything he once had is gone, he begins to release emotionally by complaining and questioning his life. Job asks himself questions such as, "Why did my mother hold me on her knees? Why did she feed me at her breast?" (3:11). Job continues by saying, "If I had died then, I would be at rest now" (3:13). After Job's soliloquy, Job's friends step in to guide him and proceed to tell him things such as - the innocent don't suffer but the wicked do; God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers; and Job has received less than he deserves. Job, however, continues to complain, and he becomes emotionally …show more content…
He will be revealed as a brother and father of the children with whom he know lives, the son and husband of the women who game him birth, the murderer and marriage-partner of his father." (Sophocles 31).
After this statement by Tiresias, Oedipus starts to question his past. Oedipus discovers that he was an adopted baby and soon after discovers his identity as the man who killed his father and slept with his mother. Briefly, both Job and Oedipus contemplate about the terrible things that have/will occur to them, and somehow try to make sense of their findings.
Finally, Job and Oedipus make some sense of what has happened to them, but understand that much of it has to do with fate. When Job finally speaks with God, God says, "Who are you to question my wisdom? /Were you there when I made the world? /Who decided how large it would be? /It was I who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness." (38: 2-9). God explains that Job has no right to question what he has planned for him because Job is only a mere mortal. Job understands God's explanation, and he realizes that this part of his life had already been planned out for him. In comparison to Job, Oedipus discovers that the prophecy has come true, and realizes that there is no way for him to escape fate. Also when Oedipus gouges out his eyes, he comprehends what has occurred to him by stating that he sees the truth, and does not want
A great man, by the name of Robert Penn Warren once said, "One of our deepest cravings is to find logic in experience, but in real life, how little of our experience comes to us in such manageable form. 'TELLING' is a way of groping of the logic of an event, and attempt to make the experience intellectually manageable. If a man who is in a state of blind outrage at his fate, can come to understand that the fate which had seemed random and gratuitous is really a result of his own previous behavior, or is a part of the general plan of life, his emotional response is modified by that intellectual comprehension." In this statement, Robert Warren is saying that whenever people find themselves …show more content…
Job's problem is an emotional one, in which God is taking away everything he has. God has taken away all of Job's livestock, his home, and his family. Once Job realizes that everything he once had is gone, he begins to release emotionally by complaining and questioning his life. Job asks himself questions such as, "Why did my mother hold me on her knees? Why did she feed me at her breast?" (3:11). Job continues by saying, "If I had died then, I would be at rest now" (3:13). After Job's soliloquy, Job's friends step in to guide him and proceed to tell him things such as - the innocent don't suffer but the wicked do; God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers; and Job has received less than he deserves. Job, however, continues to complain, and he becomes emotionally …show more content…
He will be revealed as a brother and father of the children with whom he know lives, the son and husband of the women who game him birth, the murderer and marriage-partner of his father." (Sophocles 31).
After this statement by Tiresias, Oedipus starts to question his past. Oedipus discovers that he was an adopted baby and soon after discovers his identity as the man who killed his father and slept with his mother. Briefly, both Job and Oedipus contemplate about the terrible things that have/will occur to them, and somehow try to make sense of their findings.
Finally, Job and Oedipus make some sense of what has happened to them, but understand that much of it has to do with fate. When Job finally speaks with God, God says, "Who are you to question my wisdom? /Were you there when I made the world? /Who decided how large it would be? /It was I who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness." (38: 2-9). God explains that Job has no right to question what he has planned for him because Job is only a mere mortal. Job understands God's explanation, and he realizes that this part of his life had already been planned out for him. In comparison to Job, Oedipus discovers that the prophecy has come true, and realizes that there is no way for him to escape fate. Also when Oedipus gouges out his eyes, he comprehends what has occurred to him by stating that he sees the truth, and does not want