Three Faces of Saul An Intertextual Approach

A fascinating intertextual study of the classic biblical tragedy of Saul, the first king of Israel, as first narrated in biblical narrative and later reworked in Lamartine's drama Saul: Tragdie and Thomas Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. Plot and characterization are each explored in detail in this study, and in each of the narrations the hero's tragic fate emerges both as the result of a character flaw and also as a consequence of the ambivalent role of the deity, showing a double theme underlying not only the biblical vision but also its two very different retellings nearer to our own times.

Acknowledgments

9

(1)

Abbreviations

10

(1)

Introduction

11

(1)

The Story of Saul as History and as Literature

11

(6)

Literary Theory and Methodology

17

(5)

The Intertextual Perspective

22

(3)

The Story of Saul as Tragedy

25

(7)

Technical Matters

32

(4)

Face I Saul in 1 Samuel

To Every Bad There is a Worse: The Mechanics of Biblical Tragedy

36

(41)

Introduction

36

(4)

Overview of the Tragic Vision

40

(4)

The Father-Son Collision

44

(9)

Tragic Mechanics

53

(22)

Saul Becomes King (10.1--16 and 10.17--27)

55

(1)

Saul Goes to Gilgal (11.5 and 13.4)

56

(1)

Saul's Errors (13.8--15 and 15.1--34)

57

(3)

Saul's Two Daughters (18.17--19 and 18.20--29)

60

(2)

Saul's Attacks on David and Jonathan (18.10, 19.9 and 20.33)

62

(2)

Is Saul also among the Prophets? (10.11 and 19.24)

64

(2)

Letting David Go (19.17 and 20.29)

66

(2)

The Women's Song (18.7; 18.8--9 and 21.12 [ET 21.11]; 29.5)

68

(2)

The Tearing of the Robe (15.27 and 24.5 [ET 24.4])

70

(1)

Saul Falls into David's hands (24.1--22 and 26.1--25)

71

(3)

Summary

74

(1)

Conclusions

75

(2)

An Unsympathetic First Cause: Divine Ambivalence in Biblical Tragedy

77

(37)

Introduction

77

(1)

Overview of Divine Ambivalence

77

(6)

Divine Agency

83

(23)

Yhwh Intervenes

84

(1)

Yhwh Feels Rejected (8.7--9)

84

(1)

Yhwh Concedes (8.22a)

85

(1)

Yhwh tells Samuel to Expect the Future King (9.16)

85

(1)

Jonathan Attacks the Philistine Garrison (14.8--15)

85

(1)

The Commandment to Annihilate the Amalekites (15.2--3)

86

(1)

Yhwh's Repentance (15.11)

86

(3)

God Sends Samuel to Bethlehem (16.1)

89

(1)

Yhwh Looks at Men's Hearts and has David Anointed (16.7, 12)

90

(1)

God does not Give David into Saul's Hand (23.14)

91

(1)

Saul and His Men Sleep through David's Infiltration (26.12)

92

(1)

Yhwh Answers Inquiries

92

(1)

God Answers Saul with Silence but Chooses Jonathan in the Lot (14.37, 41--42)

92

(3)

Yhwh Answers David's Inquiries (23.2--4)

95

(1)

Yhwh Answers Further Inquiries (23.9--12)

96

(1)

Yhwh Will not Answer Saul (28.6)

97

(1)

Samuel Answers Saul (28.17)

97

(2)

Yhwh Answers David's Inquiries (30.8)

99

(1)

The Divine Spirit

99

(7)

Summary

106

(1)

The Problem of Evil

107

(3)

Conclusions

110

(4)

Face II Saul in Lamartine's Saul

If All Were Only Vanity: Striving After the Biblical Plot

114

(34)

Introduction

114

(4)

Plot

118

(12)

Abner's Political Influence

119

(4)

Fate and the Pythonisse

123

(2)

Micol's Care for Saul

125

(1)

The Murder of Achimelech

126

(1)

Saul's Dialogues with Jonathas

127

(2)

The Death of Saul

129

(1)

Characterization

130

(16)

Micol

130

(3)

Jonathas

133

(3)

David

136

(3)

Saul

139

(7)

Conclusions

146

(2)

Once Victim, Always Victim: Blind Insanity and Conflict with the Divine

148

(32)

Introduction

148

(1)

Thematic Schemes and Stylistic Devices

149

(13)

Darkness, Blindness and Hiddenness

149

(6)

Revelation and Recognition

155

(3)

Nature Symbolism and Remembrance

158

(2)

Stylistic Devices

160

(2)

The Role of God

162

(13)

Conception of God

163

(9)

Identity of God

172

(3)

Conclusions

175

(5)

Face III Henchard in Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge

That no Man Remember Me: The Character of Hardy's Tragic Vision

180

(37)

Introduction

180

(1)

The Present State of Scholarship

181

(7)

Voltaire

188

(6)

Character

194

(22)

Henchard

195

(9)

Farfrae

204

(4)

Elizabeth-Jane

208

(3)

Lucetta

211

(2)

Susan

213

(1)

The Paternal Relationship

214

(2)

Conclusions

216

(1)

The Solid, Inexorable Hand of Indifference: Ambivalence and Absence

217

(34)

Introduction

217

(1)

Social History

218

(12)

Fate and Chance

230

(18)

Fate and Parallels of Plot

232

(2)

Fate and Tragic Themes

234

(4)

The Divine and the Supernatural

238

(9)

The Significance for an Intertextual Reading

247

(1)

Conclusions

248

(3)

Conclusion

251

(14)

Summary of Main Findings

257

(1)

Methodological Considerations

258

(2)

Limitations of this Approach and Areas for Further Research

260

(3)

Summary Conclusions

263

(2)

Bibliography

265

(6)

Index of References

271

(4)

Index of Authors

275

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Three Faces of Saul An Intertextual Approach to Biblical Tragedy

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