Struggle For Superiority In Handel's Saul

In a section of the Handel’s Saul, adapted from the Hebrew Bible, comes a struggle for superiority between two people: David and Saul. During a big fight called the Battle of Philistines, David the leader of Israel’s side fights against the Philistines. David defeats the Philistines by using a slingshot to kill the leader with a slingshot as opposed to a sharp weapon such as an arrow or a sword. He also has slain ten thousands while Saul has only slain thousands. Saul sees David’s success as a threat to his confidence causing him to develop a feeling of antagonism towards him.
Saul has an angry reaction towards the Chorus of Israelites’ dramatic singing about David’s success. It is about the aforementioned fact that David has slain ten thousands …show more content…
One day an emotional Jonathan sings “‘tis all in vain; his (referring to Saul) fury still continues: with wild distraction on my friend he stares, stamps on the ground, and seems intent on mischief (Handel, 34, 0:03-0:18).” Then, Saul demands him to destroy David and that “for while he lives, I am not safe. Reply not, but obey (Handel, 36, 0:13-0:19).” Jonathan reacts angrily saying to Saul “How shall I reconcile you? Cruel father! (Handel, 38, 0:22-0:31)” that destroying David is a “hard commands(s) I can’t obey (Handel, 39, 0:09-0:13)”. Basically, Jonathan admits that Saul is causing a lot of trouble over David. Nevertheless, Saul gives Jonathan a hard time to make him hurt David. By saying “reply not, but obey”, he knows that Jonathan would give a negative reply. He is forcing him to do it against his will because of his own hostile feelings towards David stemming from inferiority. By asking Saul, “how shall I reconcile you?” while calling him “cruel”, Jonathan feels that his father-to-son relationship has been jeopardized as his “hard” commands are too much for him to obey. Saul not only takes his hostile feelings out on Jonathan but confronts David with