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, Oedipus is a proud and determined leader. When citizens of Thebes, cry for help from Oedipus he says “I Oedipus/ whose name is known far”. This shows that Oedipus is a proud leader of Thebes, Also, when Oedipus is doomed with the awful fate of marrying his mother and killing his father he stays determined to break the curse and realizes he “must pursue this trail to the end [until he has] unravelled the mystery of his birth”.
This depicts Oedipus’ determined attitude. Oedipus is also very open and democratic towards the problems and troubles Thebes is going through. When the citizens of Thebes were experiencing troubles, Oedipus was very open minded towards and lets the priest “speck before all” and tell him what is going on. Being open minded and democratic are signs of good leadership. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys are dropped off on a deserted island with no means of rescue. Ralph tries his best to create a society based on survival.
When Ralph is assigned chief, he first makes a rule that the person who is holding the conch him and Piggy found are the only one’s aloud speaking at the time. Ralph tells the boys that once once he is done speaking he’ll “give the conch to the next person to speak [and] he can hold it while he is speaking” . This shows that Ralph has his priorities straight, which is key for leadership. As well, Ralph is a very good speaker and this has a big part in how he became chief. When Ralph was talking to all the other boys for the first time “all at once he ound he could talk fluently and explain what he had to say”. This displays the good leadership skills by Ralph. From the beginning to end of both novels, King Oedipus by Sophicles and Lord of the Flies by William Golding the two characters Ralph and Oedipus continued to show the readers their great leadership skills. Oedipus showed his determination and how he is open minded and how proud he is to be a leader. Ralph demonstrates his good speaking skills, and how he has his priorities straight. Both the characters show that good leadership skills are key.
