Ajax - Electra - Oedipus Tyrannus

by Sophocles, Hugh Lloyd-Jones (Translator)

Sophocles (497/6-406 BCE), with Aeschylus and Euripides, was one of the three great tragic poets of Athens, and is considered one of the world's greatest poets. The subjects of his plays were drawn from mythology and legend. Each play contains at least one heroic figure, a character whose strength, courage, or intelligence exceeds the human norm—but who also has more than ordinary pride and self-assurance. These qualities combine to lead to a tragic end.

Hugh Lloyd-Jones gives us, in two volumes, a new translation of the seven surviving plays. Volume I contains Oedipus Tyrannus (which tells the famous Oedipus story), Ajax (a heroic tragedy of wounded self-esteem), and Electra (the story of siblings who seek revenge on their mother and her lover for killing their father).

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Drama, Plays, Poetry, Literature, Tragedy

483 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 401

About the author

Sophocles (497/496 BC-406/405 BC), (Greek: Σοφοκλής ; German: Sophokles , Russian: Софокл , French: Sophocle ) was an ancient Greek tragedian, known as one of three from whom at least one play has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus; and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote over 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost fifty years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in thirty competitions, won twenty-four, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won thirteen competitions, and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles; Euripides won four.
The most famous tragedies of Sophocles feature Oedipus and Antigone: they are generally known as the Theban plays, though each was part of a different tetralogy (the other members of which are now lost). Sophocles influenced the development of drama, most importantly by adding a third actor (attributed to Sophocles by Aristotle; to Aeschylus by Themistius), thereby reducing the importance of the chorus in the presentation of the plot. He also developed his characters to a greater extent than earlier playwrights.

Reviews

[Wolf Vanlaer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ajax: veel thematische gelijkenissen met Antigone maar dan zonder de goede uitwerking en tragiek van Antigone. Het volgt ook niet het (striktere) Aristotelische structuur van een tragedie, wat ook wel sipjes is, want wat is er beter dan hamartia en katharsis

Elektra: 3 jaar geleden gelezen, dus niet meer zo fris in mijn hoofd, maar ik vond dat niet slecht toen

Oedipus Tyrannus: absoluut geweldig, lees zo vlot, zo veel drama en pijn en tragiek!! Ik had het nog meer uitgewerkt gewild maar de tragische ironie is wel echt de pan uit aan het swingen. Hij is wel een beetje een motherfucker (haha) tegen Creon en Tiresias! Met alweer een vrouw die just niks misdoet en toch sterft:/

[Andrew Fairweather]

TIRESIAS:
“This day shall be your parent and your destroyer.”

After about Hegel’s interpretation of Greek tragedy, particularly in the case of Antigone, I felt it was time to reread them—As I understand it, Hegel places Sophocles as a sort of middle point where the Greek *sittlichkeit*, or ethical order, was unraveling, as the roles determined by the state were no longer regarded as natural. In Hegel’s reading, Sophoclean actors all believe they are remaining faithful to a natural ethical order. In the case of ‘Ajax’, Agamemnon and Menelaus insist that to properly bury a betrayer of the state is unnatural—Teucer, Ajax’s half-brother, feels that to not bury his own kin is unnatural—neither views themselves as the transgressor, though both transgress.

This back-and-forth which takes place throughout the tragedies articulates the appeal to the natural ethical order as a battle of Wills. Yet, particularly in ‘Ajax’, something else is revealed to the reader… that the heroic spirit is dead. The reader probably should know that a sort of essay-contest for Achilles arms had taken place between Ajax and Odysseus. Certainly, Ajax was supposed to win. As one who embodied the heroic spirit, never questioning his role as a servant to the cause of the Achaeans, rather brutish and unreflective in his judgement (and of course, superior to Odysseus in strength) the arms ought to have been his. After all, Odysseus had almost been a draft dodger before the expedition againstTroy. Yet, whether from the atrocities committed during the conquering of Troy, or what, the wily Odysseus comes out the victor in a rhetorical battle through use of shadowy eloquence rather than strength and skill, Ajax’s only virtues, really. Which is why he suffers a break-down and kills all those cattle in a state of madness, convinced that he is killing his brothers in arms…

In opting for burial for Ajax, Teucer reminds Menelaus:


“For [Ajax] did not go to war for the sake of your wife, like those who are weighed down with heavy labor, but because of the oaths that bound him, not because of you; for he did not value nobodies.”


Yet, whether or not Ajax was to receive proper burial, this is a new world. If, in fact, the essence of tragedy lies within a breakdown of the natural ethical order, and persons expressing their own conflicting adherence to this order results in a conflict of Wills, the simple virtues of the warrior are no longer sufficient. Instead, Wills must duel with each other via argument. The individual is now at a painful, yet emancipatory, distance from their society. This is, indeed, the age of Odysseus (which is probably why today’s readers of Homer value the Odyssey as an achievement much more than the Illiad). Agamemnon own words herald in this new era:


"No, we must put a stop to this! It is not stout and broad-shouldered men who are the most reliable, but it is men of good sense that everywhere prevail.”


Needless to say, the theme of battling Wills is also present in Electra. In a sense, Agamemnon’s murder by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus was due punishment for his offenses during the sack of Troy… an act of murder surely sanctioned by the gods. On the other hand, Electra’s faithfulness to her father must also receive sanction. Ultimately, though, it is not the sanction from the gods which wins the day, but trickery and its auxiliary, fortune. Observe the Old Slave’s worlds from the passage which opens ‘Electra’:


“How can this hurt me, if I am dead in fiction, but in fact am sage and can win glory? Yes, often in the past I have known clever men dead in fiction but not dead; and when they return home the honour they receive is all the greater. Just so I believe that as a result of this story, alive, I shall shine like a star upon my enemies.”


Any appeals to the rightness of action takes a backseat to the strategy, since cunning prevails over what is “naturally” ethical and good. The debate between Electra and Chrysothemis lays out the conflict brilliantly… particularly when Chrysothemis admits,


"I know, justice lies not in what I say, but in what you judge; but if I am to live in freedom, I must obey those in power in everything.”


Revisiting these plays was all the more sweet having read about Hegel’s interpretation of them. I am currently working on the second volume which includes ‘Antigone’. Good stuff!

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

ajax gets 3 stars for having too much agamemnon and menelaus being douches (god sophocles... god), the others are decent i suppose

[Arthur Sperry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy rereading the Greek Plays and Classics. There are so many excellent quotations and they never go out of date, since they deal with universal human emotions and thinking.

[jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten stars!

[Jdamaskinos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oedipe Roi: chef d’oeuvre!

[celine · Rating 5 out of 5]

*read oedipus tyrannrus only (part 3)

[Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woo man. Oedipus Tyrannus is some play.

[Debi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, I can't find exactly what I wanted to put in here...I'm currently translating Sophocles' Electra, using the Cambridge commentary by J.H. Kells.

And occasionally looking at this Loeb edition as well.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nietzsche's midwife.

Come for Oedipus, stay for Ajax.

[Brian Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the ten best books I've ever read.