British Literature

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to kill him. This can be seen as the opposition to the hero. Pharaoh was also determined to defeat that which is good. He completely despised the Jews, which is why he had them as slaves and tortured them. When Moses warned him about the plagues, he did not listen, and rather treated the Jews even more cruel. As Pharaoh saw these plagues, he was left in doubt, the doubt if the Jewish God did really exist, but even throughout this doubt, his pride would not let the Jews go. These plagues completely stripped Pharaoh of his power, energy, and will, and when his firstborn son died, he finally let the people of Israel go. His selfishness, though, came back into his life. When he released the Jews, it did not take much time before he regretted his decision. He pursued the Jews, who were traveling by foot, in hopes to capture them once again and enslave them. His selfishness led him to want what he had lost, because he could not accept the fact that he had lost, and that he was not God. He, of course, did not succeed, and most of his men were killed in the ocean. His selfishness did not have victory, rather it brought him to the realization of his true identity.

In conclusion, in the Bible, Pharaoh is characterized as a villain in his opposition to the protagonist, his determination to defeat that which is good, and his selfishness, which led him to his downfall.