I Samuel As A Tragic Hero

“Happiness… consists in giving, and in serving others.” (Henry Drummond). All believers wrestle with selflessness because of Jesus and his perfect being with a servant’s heart because we long to be more like Him. State leaders struggle with selflessness because they are in the public eye and many people view them as feeblish because of how selfless they can be. A wise response to selflessness in literature portrays as a comic hero, but a foolish response to selfishness in literature reflects as a tragic hero. Old Testament book 1 Samuel tells the story of Israel’s first kings Saul and David as they struggle with selflessness and selfishness as guided by the Prophet Samuel to follow the Word of God, as a believer of Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel, God rejects
Saul, who qualifies as a tragic hero, who later dies, but God has a plan for David, a comic hero, for which was to help others with the hope of the Lord. The quality of selfishness that Saul possesses, how reflects he portrays a tragic hero as his actions soon lead to his death. Israel is in battle with the Philistines, and as they are fighting, Saul is wounded by the Philistines because his men are weak, and so “the Philistines overtook Saul” so he grabs his “own sword and fell upon it” (31:2, 4). Saul’s selfishness composes himself to believe he can overcome the Philistines with as much power as he has, but soon he is severely wounded by the Philistines. He realizes how he cannot defeat the Philistines and also realizes his failure, so he kills himself and dies along with his men. Afterwards, Saul blames the men and women who “spared the sheep” for Samuel, while Samuel was not happy about it, so he “rejected [Saul] from being king” (15:15, 26). Because of Saul’s selfishness, he blames other people for bringing the animals to the offering because he desires to overpower them. Since he refuses against the Lord and worships himself, he then is rejected by Samuel from being king of Israel. The quality Saul obtains demonstrates how he acts as a tragic hero because of his blindness towards his own wrong-doings. Reflecting back on Saul’s selfishness, his actions of being a tragic hero lead to his death. David, a selfless comic hero, persists his quality of how he thinks of others and serves the Lord.
David is told by Abishai to “pin his [enemies] to the earth” because he does not like David’s enemies, but David knows it is not right, so he tells Abishai that “the Lord forbid that I should” (26:8, 11). David’s love for his enemies prevails how even though he had an opportunity to kill the people he does not favor, he spares their lives. David explains to Abishai that the Lord commands him not to kill his enemies. For “David came to Saul” with bread and wine as an offering to win Saul over and as David remains in his presence, Saul loves him so he exclaims “let David remain in my presence” (16:21, 22). As David is exhibiting mercy to Saul, he came to him offering in both hands of bread and wine. Saul loves David because David serves other people than just himself and displays mercy to Saul when he commands David’s service. David’s selflessness demonstrates how he prevails a comic hero because he displays his mercy towards everyone by caring for them just as the Lord does. David’s love for the Lord and willingness to serve others exposes how he has the quality of selflessness which a comic hero
possesses.
The differences between the two types of hero’s differ by the qualities that each one possesses such as a tragic hero and comic hero