In most literary texts involving a king, there tend to be two types of kings: those who care about the well-being of their people and their city, those who care about the well-being of their people and their city, and those who show their dominance over his people every chance they get. The two main examples of kings who will be at odds with each other, one compassionate and the other reckless, are Oedipus from "Oedipus the King" and Gilgamesh from "The Epic of Gilgamesh". Oedipus and Gilgamesh are at odds with each other in the way they treat their people, with Oedipus being more empathetic and Gilgamesh being more ruthless. The first king to show compassion towards his people is Oedipus. At the beginning of the play, “Oedipus the King,” there is a plague ravaging the city of Thebes, and Oedipus hears the priest tell him “set us firmly on our feet, so Thebes will never fall again” (60-61). The citizens of Thebes believe that Oedipus can help them again because before he became king, he saved the city of Thebes from a Sphinx that devoured people who could not correctly solve the riddle of the Sphinx by solving the...