Kings as Main Characters in Literature

The stories about kings are universally appealing, and the leaders in literature works often bear many similarities. For instance, it seems that leaders of all societies share certain common characteristics and attributes including courage, loyalty, tremendous ordeal experience and absolutely selfness. All of these are key factors leading to ultimate triumph and the deeds of heroes are usually of great benefits to others. However, differences in culture, social system, values and social background etc. actually endows heroes with diverse personalities varying from person to person and culture to culture. With rich imagination, every child molds his or her supreme leaders with authorities. But as time goes by, children are gradually matures, leaving their imagination during the childhood in the oblivious world, and their cognition of leadership also develops and changes without only confining to the worship of carton leaders. The connotation of the word “leader” has altered enormously throughout the passage of time. The true definition of leader is a man of distinguished valor, based on which it is widely reflected that an ideal protagonist in literature works must possess the traits such as goodness, humbleness, courteousness, and willingness to sacrifice for people.

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself” (Campbell), which is true for the king in Beowulf, a poem about leadership revealing the fascination of European civilization. Performing prodigies of strength and courage in pursuit of honor the figure of the king in this poem is endowed with the spirit of self-sacrifice and —and is hero who would rather die than yield. The ultimate charisma of this great king is that, fully cogniza...

... middle of paper ...

...idealized people, kings should be capable to achieve marvelous feats beyond the capacity of ordinary people. Leaders, possessing similar traits and roles to kings, have the obligations to help people understand social and human conditions regardless of different cultural contexts. The works The Iliad, Beowulf, and Oedipus Rex, exhibited same fundamentals of leadership but also significant variations of leaders’ representation. The personalities and qualities required for leaders have been evolving as time changes. Unlike the demigods, kings, or warrior in these literatures, most favored leaders today are the representatives of people, who are characteristically outspoken with string personalities, help convey discontentment and ideas of others and speak for those unable to speak for themselves.