Kay’s Reviews > The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripedes > Status Update

Oh, I liked Oedipus at Colonus possibly even more than Antigone. It’s such a rich text and I feel like it’s a deeply vulnerable one too; I feel like I can see Sophocles asking questions at the end of his life that he hadn’t asked in the earlier plays. Also enjoy the Athenian identity-building.

I don’t know if it’s a translation issue, but Electra didn’t feel as powerful as the other Sophocles plays. I wonder if it’s just the plot? I felt similarly unmoved but Aeschylus’ The Libation Bearers.

I’m going to pause to read a couple modern renditions of “Antigone” but man. Man! I adored this one beyond measure. Everything fell together and Antigone and Creon were both so vivid on the page. So rich with so much to think about, in a lovely translation besides. I adored it.

The editors did a great job juxtaposing “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles agains “Prometheus Bound.” Sophocles’ style is drawn in sharp relief, and the play, structurally, is really, really stunning. In terms of theme, though, I’m not quite sure what Sophocles is really getting at. Nisetich’s translation sometimes feels a little labored.

“Prometheus Bound” by Aeschylus was probably the least compelling of the Aeschylus (or dubiously attributed to Aeschylus) plays. Some of the dialogue is funny, but I think things feel too abstracted from human reality set in the realm of the gods.

I'm not sold on Greek tragedy as a vehicle of exploring the human condition, but "Eumenides" certainly has a lot to say about gender and Athenian government. I liked "Agamemnon" best of the Oresteia in terms of character drama, but I found "Eumenides" most enjoyable as a historical text. I think Ruden's translation felt smoother than in "Libation Bearers." Once more Aeschylus (contested) then on to Sophocles.

Is saying that "Libation Bearers" is a bit of a saggy middle book a fair thing to say about Greek tragedy? Or, since I've not yet read "Eumenides," it didn't hit nearly as hard as "Agamemnon"--maybe it's all downhill. Orestes is a lot less fun than Clytemnestra, though I suppose I can't blame him--he really doesn't want to be here, doing this. Ruden's translation felt awkward at times, beautiful at others.

I think I'd need a better primer on the socio-political situation of Athens to truly appreciate Persians, but even without that there's some frankly fascinating anxieties about Athenian power and some very telling moments of Athenian identity. It also probably bears mention the odd way the Persians themselves are conceived--as an Asiatic Other but also as a decidedly similar people.