The Man/Self Relationship in Three Literary Works
The purpose of this brief essay is to compare the man/self relationship in three literary works û the Book of Job from the Old Testament, SophoclesÆ Oedipus the King, and DanteÆs The Inferno. ôManö as understood herein refers to the public persona of an individual, whereas ôselfö refers to the intrinsic essence of the individual stripped of its public ôface.ö These three works offer differing interpretations of this relationship which speak to the wholeness of the human condition.
Job is characterized in the New Testament (452) as a man who ôwas blameless and upright, and one who feared God and sunned evil.ö Job is singularly blessed; he has seven sons and three daughters and a wealth of livestock, and he was ôthe greatest of all the people of the East (New Testament, 452).ö When Satan challenges the Lord as to the true nature of JobÆs belief and faith, the Lord permits Satan to wreak destruction upon all that Job loves and owns; Satan is convinced that the public persona of a blameless, prayerful, and obedient servant of the Lord would then be revealed as a sham and that the true Job, a venal and now hostile and disbelieving man, would be revealed.
Devastated by his multiple losses and his physical suffering, Job curses his own birth but for a long period refrains from questioning God, who was clearly instrumental (even if by a failure to intervene in SatanÆs efforts) in bringing down Job. Recognizing or suspecting that ôthe terrors of God are arrayed against me (New Testament, 546), Job begins to doubt God and to experience anger û anger that the God in whom he has trusted has abandoned him. Thus, the ômanö Job was as vulnerable to the ill effects of tragedy as any other person; ultimately, however, JobÆs real inner elf asserts itself, calling for him to submit to GodÆs will and to recognize that submission is required of GodÆs creatures. Go...