The Cycle of Heroic Virtue in Samson Agonistes and Oedipus Rex

Samson and Oedipus, protagonists of two prominent works of Western literary canon, have dominated many intellectual discourses for centuries. Countless analyses of Oedipus' plight have been made, the most well-known being that of Sigmund Freud, while Samson's actions have been reinterpreted in various ways ranging from that of a martyr to that of a relentless terrorist. However, all those interpretive readings analyzed only the identity of the heroes or their actions. Oedipus's "particular nature" from Freud's point of view focused merely on the 'personality with instinctive drives', while…