Write about Sophocles, the playwright.
Born: ca. 496 B.C.
Birthplace: Colonus (now Kolonos), Greece
Died: ca. 406 B.C.
Best Known As: Greek dramatist who wrote Oedipus
Tyrannus
Sophocles was a Greek dramatist whose long career came
between his contemporaries Aeschylus and Euripides. A
respected public figure of Athens, he was both a priest and
a general (an elected position), but he is best known for the
many dramatic prizes he won after 468 B.C. Like the elder
Aeschylus, Sophocles was known as an innovator. He is
credited with introducing a third actor, expanding the
chorus from 12 to 15 players and replacing the trilogy form
with self-contained tragedies. It is estimated he wrote more
than 120 plays, of which only seven are extant (hundreds of
fragments survived also). His most famous play, Oedipus
Tyrannus (also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the
King), is considered by many to be the apex of Greek
dramatic irony. His other plays include Antigone, Electra,
Trachiniae (The Women of Trachis) and Oedipus at
Colonus (produced after his death).
Sophocles was also an actor and performed in many of his
early works... Reliable sources for the dates of his plays are
scarce, other than for Oedipus at Colonus, produced in 401
B.C.... Because they involve themes associated with
Thebes, the plays Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus and
Oedipus at Colonus are sometimes referred to as the
"Theban plays" or "Theban trilogy" (though scholars are
quick to point out the plays are not, in fact, a trilogy).
Discuss Sophocles employment for ‘myth’ in his play
Oedipus the King.
Much of the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play. The main
character of the tragedy is Oedipus, son of King Laius of Thebes and Queen Jocasta.
After Laius learned from an oracle that "he was doomed/To perish by the hand of his own
son," Jocasta ordered a messenger to leave him for dead "In Cithaeron's wooded glens";
Instead, the baby was given to a shepherd and raised in the court of King Polybus of
Corinth. When Oedipus grew up he learned from the oracle, Loxias, that he was destined
to "Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/ With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own
sire," and left Corinth under the belief that Polybus and Merope, Polybus' wife, were his
true parents. On the road to Thebes, he met Laius and they argued over which wagon had
the right-of-way. Oedipus' pride led him to kill Laius, ignorant of the fact that he was his
biological father, fulfilling part of the oracle's prophecy. Oedipus then went on to solve
the Sphinx's riddle: "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs
at noon and three in the evening?" To this Oedipus answered "Man," causing the Sphinx's
death. His reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from the Sphinx's curse was
kingship and the hand of the queen, Jocasta, who was also his biological mother. Thus,
the prophesy was fulfilled. This myth was well-known to the Greeks, which added to the
tragedy of the play.
The play begins years after Oedipus is given the throne of Thebes. The chorus of Thebans
cries out to Oedipus for salvation from the plague sent by the gods in response to Laius'
murder. Throughout the play, Oedipus searches for Laius' murderer and promises to exile
the man responsible for it, ignorant of the fact that he is the murderer. The blind prophet,
Tiresias, is called to aid Oedipus in his search; however, after warning Oedipus not to
follow through with the investigation, Oedipus accuses him of being the murderer, even
though Tiresias is blind and aged. Oedipus also accuses Tiresias of conspiring with
Creon, Jocasta's brother, to overthrow him.
Oedipus then calls for one of Laius' former servants, the only surviving witness of the
murder, who fled the city when Oedipus became king to avoid being the one to reveal the
truth. Soon a messenger from Corinth also arrives to inform Oedipus of the death of
Polybus, whom Oedipus still believes is his real father. At this point the messenger
informs him that he was in fact adopted and his real parentage is unknown. In the
subsequent discussions between Oedipus, Jocasta, the servant, and the messenger, Jocasta
guesses the truth and runs away. Oedipus is stubborn; however, a second messenger
arrives and reveals that Jocasta has hanged herself and Oedipus, upon discovering her
body, blinds himself with the golden brooches on her dress. The play ends with Oedipus
entrusting his children to Creon and leaving in exile, as he promised would be the fate of
Laius' murderer.
The changing prophecy in Oedipus the King
Because the prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother is so well
known, it is often overlooked that in the Sophocles version of the story the prophecy
changes. When Oedipus explains why he left Corinth he says:
“ Aye, 'tis no secret. Loxias once foretold
That I should mate with mine own mother, and shed
With my own hands the blood of my own sire.
Hence Corinth was for many a year to me
A home distant; and I trove abroad,
But missed the sweetest sight, my parents' face. ”
However, later in the play, Jocasta relates the prophecy that was told to Laius before the
birth of Oedipus, which proves to be significantly different:
“ An oracle
Once came to Laius (I will not say
'Twas from the Delphic god himself, but from
His ministers) declaring he was doomed
To perish by the hand of his own son,
A child that should be born to him by me. ”
The original prophecy does not say anything about the son marrying the mother. At that
point in the tragedy Jocasta claims it was Laius who ordered the child, "its ankles pierced
and pinned/Together," to be "cast away/By others on the trackless mountain side" in an
effort to avoid the prophecy. However, after the Messenger relates that Oedipus was not
the natural son of Polybus and Jocasta realizes the truth and leaves, the Huntsman arrives
and tells Oedipus that it was Jocasta and not Laius who gave over the infant to die on the
mountain. Because of her attempt to thwart the original prophecy from coming true, the
additional element of the son marrying the mother is added. Therefore, the sin of incest is
Jocasta's punishment for challenging Fate.
Second Play: Arms and the Man
Write a brief note about George Bernard Shaw
life and work.
Shaw was already a celebrity arts critic and socialist lecturer when he wrote Arms and the
Man in 1894. One of Shaw's earliest attempts at writing for the theatre, it was also his
first commercial success as a playwright. Although it played for only one season at an
avant-garde theatre, thanks to the financial backing of a friend, it was later produced in
America in 1895. Accustomed to the melodramas of the age, however, even sophisticated
audiences often did not discern the serious purpose of Shaw's play. Thus, Shaw
considered it a failure.
True success did not come until 1898, when Arms and the Man was published as one of
the "pleasant" plays in Shaw's collection called Plays: Pleasant and Unpleasant, and it
subsequently gained popularity as a written work. Included in this collection of plays are
lengthy explanatory prefaces, which note significant issues in the plays and which have
been invaluable to critics. In place of brief stage directions, Shaw's plays also included
lengthy instructions and descriptions. Another unique aspect of Arms and the Man was its
use of a woman as the central character.
Set during the four-month-long Serbo-Bulgarian War that occurred between November
1885 and March 1886, this play is a satire on the foolishness of glorifying something so
terrible as war, as well as a satire on the foolishness of basing your affections on
idealistic notions of love. These themes brought reality and a timeless lesson to the comic
stage. Consequently, once Shaw's genius was recognized, Arms and the Man became one
of Shaw's most popular plays and has remained a classic ever since.
Write about the plot sequences in Arms and
the Man.
The play takes place during the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War. Its heroine, Raina (rah-EEna), is a young Bulgarian woman engaged to Sergius Saranoff, one of the heroes of that
war, whom she idealizes. One night, a Swiss voluntary soldier to the Serbian army,
Bluntschli, bursts through her bedroom window and begs her to hide him, so that he is
not killed. Raina complies, though she thinks the man a coward, especially when he tells
her that he does not carry pistol cartridges, but chocolates. When the battle dies down,
Raina and her mother sneak Bluntschli out of the house, disguised in an old housecoat.
The war ends and Sergius returns to Raina, but also flirts with her insolent servant girl
Louka (a soubrette role), who is engaged to the loyal house servant Nicola. Raina begins
to find Sergius both foolhardy and tiresome, but she hides it. Bluntschli unexpectedly
returns so that he can give back the old housecoat, but also so that he can see her. Raina
is shocked, especially when her father and Sergius reveal that they have met Bluntschli
before, and invite him to stay.
Left alone with Bluntschli, Raina realizes that he respects her as a woman, as Sergius
does not. She also tells him that she left a portrait of herself in the pocket of the coat,
inscribed "To my chocolate-cream soldier," but Bluntschli says that he didn't see it.
Louka tells Sergius that Raina is really in love with Bluntschli, so Sergius challenges him
to a duel, but the men avoid fighting. Raina's father discovers the portrait in the pocket of
his housecoat, which convinces Sergius to break off his engagement to Raina. He
proposes marriage to Louka, and Nicola quietly lets Sergius have her. Bluntschli,
recognising Nicola's dedication, offers him a job as a hotel manager. Bluntschli's father
has just died, leaving him a grand inheritance of Swiss luxury hotels. Raina, having
realized the hollowness of her romantic ideals and her fiancé's values, protests that she
would prefer her poor "chocolate-cream soldier" to this wealthy businessman. Bluntschli
says that he is still the same person, and the play ends with Raina proclaiming her love
for him.
Write about two of the following characters from the play Arms
and the Man.
Captain Bluntschli
Bluntschli is a realist who believes in adapting to a situation in order to survive. A
professional soldier, he knows that he is only a tool and he has no illusions about war and
the practical actions one must take to win battles and stay alive. His most famous feature
is that he keeps chocolates in his cartridge belt rather than bullets. His common sense
appeals to Sergius, who is in awe of Bluntschli's ability to figure out troop movements.
This influence helps Sergius make the decision to be honest about Louka and to change
his life.
When Bluntschli takes refuge in Raina's bedroom, he starts a chain of events that changes
his life and the lives of all those associated with the Petkoff family. Despite his
pragmatism, Bluntschli has a romantic side, illustrated by such actions as: he ran off to be
a soldier rather than go into his father's business; he climbs a balcony to escape rather
than drop into a cellar; and he himself returns the borrowed coat rather than shipping it,
because he wants to see Raina. He has always known that total pragmatism can be as
unrealistic as overblown idealism and he has tried to maintain a balance. However, over
the course of the play, this balance flip-flops as he changes from a soldier who looks
askance at love, to a man who is leaving the army to get married and to take care of his
father's business. Thus, the man who changed Raina's and Sergius's lives has also had his
own life transformed.
Louka
An ambitious and sometimes spiteful maid who is desperate to rise above her station,
Louka is attracted to Major Sergius Saranoff, and he to her. However, Sergius is engaged
to Raina, and he is gentry while Louka is just a servant. Louka shames Sergius about the
hypocrisy of his behavior. She tries to break up his relationship with Raina when Captain
Bluntschli returns, knowing that Bluntschli is the enemy soldier who hid in Raina's
bedroom. Louka is herself supposedly engaged to another servant, Nicola, who advises
her to accept her place in life, but she rejects his downcast philosophy and eventually
wins her man and a new life.
Nicola
A wily servant, Nicola covers for Raina and Catherine's intrigues. He believes that class
division is an indisputable system, and he advises Louka to accept her place. He found
Louka, taught her how to be a proper servant, and plans to marry her, but he comes to see
how Louka's marriage to Sergius would create an advantage for both Louka and for
himself. Thus, he changes his story about his engagement to Louka, and he promotes
Louka's ambitions. Ultimately, Nicola wants to run his own business, so he will do
whatever it takes to stay in favor with potential patrons, while taking advantage of
opportunities to earn extra capital for special services.
Catherine Petkoff
Raina's mother and the wife of Major Paul Petkoff, Catherine is a nouveau-riche social
climber. Crudely ignorant and snooty, Catherine is Shaw's voice for the stereotypical
expectations of romanticized love and war. Catherine is disappointed when the war ends
in a peace treaty, because she wanted a glorious victory over a soundly defeated enemy.
Although she allows Bluntschli to hide in her home and she helps to keep him secret, she
thinks Sergius Saranoff is the ideal handsome hero her daughter must marry for an
appropriate match. She declares Bluntschli unsuitable until she finds out how rich he is,
and then she quickly changes her mind.
Major Paul Petkoff
Raina's father and Catherine's husband, Major Petkoff is an amiable, unpolished buffoon
who craves rank and has somehow stumbled into wealth. His rank was given to him for
being the richest Bulgarian, but he has no military skills. His purpose in the play is almost
that of a prop. It is his old coat that is lent to Bluntschli and which then gives Bluntschli
the excuse to come back to see Raina. It is Petkoff who discovers the incriminating photo
in his coat pocket that leads to the revelation of the truth and to the resolution of the
story.
Raina Petkoff
The central character in the play, Raina learns to discard her foolish ideals about love in
exchange for real love. Raina is central because Catherine and Paul Petkoff are her
parents, Sergius is her fiancé, Louka and Nicola are her family's servants, and Bluntschli
is her dream soldier. The play starts in her bedroom, where we learn what a dreamy
romantic she is about love and war, before the enemy soldier comes through her window
and begins to shatter her fairy-tale illusions with his realism.
Shaw was known for creating lively, willful, and articulate female characters. He also
often included a youthful character in his plays, one who could express a childish
approach to life. Raina fits both these descriptions. She is unworldly and sometimes acts
like a spoiled child to get her way. Catherine points out that Raina always times her
entrances to get the most attention. Nonetheless, Raina is intelligent. She probably
wouldn't have fallen for Bluntschli if she had not been open to his arguments and if she
were not smart enough to see the differences in qualities between Bluntschli and
Saranoff. She is also honest enough with herself to realize that she is not truly in love
with Saranoff, but was just playing a role to meet social expectations. Raina has enough
bravery and compassion to aid an enemy soldier in need, and she is courageous and
adventurous enough to take a risk with Bluntschli and to start a new life.
Major Sergius Saranoff
Major Saranoff is Raina's fiancé, and he is a shining example of Raina and her mother's
romanticized image of a hero. He is almost quixotic in his attempt to live up to this
image, especially in battle, for it is hopeless to try to embody a myth. Thus, Shaw uses
this character to show that these romanticized ideals were probably nonsense all along.
Sergius is often referred to as the Byronic hero or as the Hamlet of this play because he
has an underlying despair about life. He clings to his idealized image of himself because
he is afraid to find out who he really is. He knows that he is a different person with Raina
than he is with Louka, and Louka has pointed out his hypocritical behaviors to him.
Sergius realizes that there must be more to himself than the idealized soldier the young
ladies worship, but of the other selves that he has observed in himself he says: "One of
them is a hero, another a buffoon, another a humbug, another perhaps a bit of a
blackguard." He is disconcerted by the feeling that "everything I think is mocked by
everything I do." In losing Raina and declaring his love for Louka, Sergius is freed to be
himself and to discover his own values.
Discuss Shaw style in his play Arms and the
Man.
Ruritanian Romance
Although already established as a model for romances prior to the publication of Anthony
Hope's popular 1894 novel The Prisoner of Zenda, Ruritanian romance takes its name
from the imaginary country of Ruritania found in Hope's book. This type of story
generally includes intrigue, adventure, sword fights, and star-crossed lovers, ingredients
that are all found in Arms and the Man. However, Shaw ultimately attacks this genre by
exaggerating the absurdities of the plot and by transforming the typically cookie-cutter
characters into people facing reality. He thus inverts the conventions of melodrama and
inserts critical commentary into the cleverly funny lines of his play. There is the threat of
a sword fight that never comes to fruition, since Bluntschli is too sensible to accept
Saranoff's challenge — which illustrates Shaw's belief that dueling is stupid. Romance
also plays a big role in Arms and the Man, but, again, Shaw turns the tables by having the
heroine and her fiancé abandon their idealized relationship, which would have been
prized in a Ruritanian romance, for a more realistic and truer love.
Comedy
One standard trait of comedic plays — often used by Shakespeare and also used by Shaw
in Arms and the Man — is the use of an ending in which all the confusions of the play are
resolved, and every romantic figure winds up with his or her ideal partner. The gimmicks
in Arms and the Man of the lost coat and the incriminating inscription on the hidden
photograph are also ploys that are typical of comedy. The gimmicks serve as catalysts to
spark the humorous confusion, and work as objects around which the plot turns. In
Shaw's hands, however, comedy is serious business disguised by farce. Always an
innovator, Shaw introduced moral instruction into comedic plays, rather than taking the
conventional route of writing essays or lectures to communicate his views.
Redefining Romance and Heroism
Shaw does not simply dismiss Raina's idealism in favor of Bluntschli's pragmatism. He
replaces her shallow ideals with more worthy ones. By the end of the play, Raina
understands that a man like Bluntschli is more of a real hero than Sergius. The audience
also discovers that Bluntschli's practical nature is not without romance because he has
come back to see Raina rather than sending the coat back by courier. In fact, he admits to
Sergius that he "climbed the balcony of this house when a man of sense would have
dived into the nearest cellar." Together, Raina, Bluntschli, and Sergius attain a new
realism that sees love and heroism as they really should be, according to Shaw. Thus
Shaw does not reject romance and heroism, but rather brings his characters to an
understanding of a higher definition of these values. That is, the course of the play has
worked to maneuver the characters and the audience into a new position and thus redefine
romance and heroism according to the light of realism.
Sophocles
The Greek tragedian Sophocles (496-406 B.C.) ranks foremost among Greek classical
dramatists and has been called the poet of Greek humanism par excellence.
The son of Sophilus, a well-to-do industrialist, Sophocles was born in Colonus near
Athens and grew up in the most brilliant intellectual period of Athens. Nothing concrete
is known about his education, though it is known that he had a reputation for learning and
esthetic taste. He was well versed in Homer and the Greek lyric poets, and because of his
industriousness he was known as the "Attic Bee." His music teacher was a great man of
the old school, Lamprus. Tradition says that because of his beauty and talent Sophocles
was chosen to lead the male chorus at the celebration of the Greek victory at Salamis.
In 468 B.C., at age 28, Sophocles defeated Aeschylus in one of the drama contests that
were then fashionable. During the remainder of his career he never won less than second
prize and gained first prize more than any other Greek tragedian. He was also known for
his amiability and sociability which epitomized the ideal Athenian gentleman
(kaloskagathos). In public life he distinguished himself as a man of affairs. In 443-442 he
held the post of Hellenotamias, or imperial treasurer, and was elected general at least
twice. His religious activities included service as priest of the healing divinity, and he
turned over his house for the worship of Asclepius until a proper temple could be built.
For this he was honored with the title Dexion as a hero after his death. He is reported to
have written a paean in honor of Asclepius. Sophocles had two sons, lophon and
Sophocles, by his first wife, Nicostrata, and he had a third son, Ariston, by his second
wife, Theoris.
Style and Contributions to Theater
Of approximately 125 tragedies that Sophocles is said to have written, only 7 have
survived. Since we have but a fraction of the plays he wrote, general comments on
Sophoclean drama are based on the extant plays. However, Plutarch tells us that there
were three periods in Sophocles's literary development: imitation of the grand style of
Aeschylus, use of artificial and incisive style, and use of the best style and that which is
most expressive of character. It is only from the third period that we have examples.
It is often asserted that Sophocles found tragedy up in the clouds and brought it down to
earth. For Aeschylus, myth was an important vehicle for ideas, for highlighting man's
relation to the gods. Sophocles dealt with men and showed how a character reacts under
stress. The tragedy of Sophocles has been described as a tragedy of character as
contrasted to Aeschylus's tragedy of situation. Sophocles's principal subject is man, and
his hero is suffering man. The protagonist is subjected to a series of tests which he
usually surmounts.
It was Sophocles who raised the number of the chorus from 12 to 15 members and
initiated other technical improvements, such as scene painting and better tragic masks. He
abandoned the tetralogy and presented three plays on different subjects and a satyr play.
A supreme master in the delineation of character, he is credited with the invention of the
heroic maiden (Antigone, Electra) and the ingenuous young man (Haemon). Sophocles's
choral songs are excellent and structurally, as well as situationally, beautiful.
The Plays
The dates of the seven extant plays of Sophocles are not all certain. Three are known:
Antigone, 442/441; Philoctetes, 409; and Oedipus at Colonus, 401 (posthumously). C. H.
Whitman has argued for 447 for the Ajax, about 437-432 for the Trachiniae, about 429
for the Oedipus Rex, and 418-414 for the Electra.
In the Ajax, the hero, whom the Iliad describes as second only to Achilles, is humiliated
by Agamemnon and Menelaus when they award the arms of Achilles to Odysseus
through intrigue. He vows vengeance on the Greek commanders as well as on Odysseus,
but the goddess Athena makes him believe that he is attacking the Greeks when he is in
fact attacking sheep. When he realizes his folly, he is so appalled that he commits suicide.
Menelaus and Agamemnon try to prevent a proper burial, but Odysseus intercedes to
make it possible. In the Ajax, Sophocles is pointing up the tragedy that may result from
an insult to a man's arete (Homeric recognition of a man's excellence).
The Antigone is one of three plays on the Oedipus theme written over a period of some
40 years. Antigone is the young princess who pits herself against her uncle, King Creon.
She defies his cruel edict forbidding burial of her brother Polyneices who, in attempting
to invade Thebes and seize the throne from his brother Eteocles, slew him in mortal
combat and, in turn, was slain. Against the pleas of her sister Ismene and fiancé Haemon,
Antigone goes to her death holding to her defiance.
The Antigone has been interpreted as depicting the conflict between divine and secular
law, between devotion to family and to the state, and between the arete of the heroine and
the inadequacy of society represented by an illegal tyrant.
In the Trachiniae, Heracles's wife, Deianira, worries about the 15-month absence of her
husband, who has acquired a new love, Princess Iole, and is bringing her home. In her
sincere attempt to regain her husband's love, Deianira sends him a poisoned robe which
she falsely believes has magical powers to restore lost love. Her son Hyllus and her
husband, before dying, denounce Deianira, who commits suicide.
In this play Sophocles poignantly raises the question, "Why can knowledge hurt?" He
stresses the dilemma of the person who unintentionally hurts those whom he loves. The
question of the role of knowledge in human affairs prepares us for the Oedipus, his
greatest play and the work that Aristotle considered the perfect Greek play and many
have considered the greatest play of all time.
Oedipus Rex is a superb example of dramatic irony. It is not a play about sex or murder;
it is a play about the inadequacy of human knowledge and man's capacity to survive
almost intolerable suffering. The worst of all things happens to Oedipus: unknowingly he
kills his own father, Laius, and is given his own mother, Jocasta, in marriage for slaying
the Sphinx. When a plague at Thebes compels him to consult the oracle, he finds that he
himself is the cause of the affliction.
No summary can do this amazing play justice. Sophocles brings up the question of
justice. Why is there irrational evil in the world? Why does the very man who is basically
good suffer intolerably? The answer is found in the concept of dikē - balance, order,
justice. The world is orderly and follows natural laws. No matter how good or how well
intentioned man may be, if he violates a natural law, he will be punished and he will
suffer. Human knowledge is limited, but there is nobility in human suffering.
Write about the character of Oedipus.
Literal meaning: ‘swollen-foot’. Son of Laius, King of Thebes, and Queen Jocasta. His
father, having learnt from an oracle that he was doomed to perish by the hands of his own
son, exposed Oedipus on a mountainside, immediately after his birth, with his feet
pierced and tied together. The child was found by a shepherd who took him to the
childless King and Queen of Corinth; they brought Oedipus up as their own son.
In his youth Oedipus was told by the Oracle at Delphi that he would kill his father and
marry his mother and, horrified, he resolved never to return to Corinth. Ignorant of his
true ancestry, he set out for Thebes and on the road encountered King Laius, whom he
slew in a quarrel over the right-of-way. Near the city he answered the riddle of the
Sphinx, then a plague to all travellers, and for defeating this monstrous female
wingedlion, the Thebans made him their king. He married the widowed Jocasta and so,
unwittingly, fulfilled the prophecy. In time he became aware of the patricide and incest:
this self-discovery caused him to blind himself before going into exile, where in the
grove of Colonus near Athens the Eumenides finally released Oedipus from an earthly
existence. Jocasta hanged hereself shortly afterwards.
Oedipus (ĕd'ĭpəs, ē'dĭ–) , in Greek legend, son of Laius, king of Thebes, and his wife,
Jocasta. Laius had been warned by an oracle that he was fated to be killed by his own
son; he therefore abandoned Oedipus on a mountainside. The baby was rescued,
however, by a shepherd and brought to the king of Corinth, who adopted him. When
Oedipus was grown, he learned from the Delphic oracle that he would kill his father and
marry his mother. He fled Corinth to escape this fate, believing his foster parents to be his
real parents. At a crossroad he encountered Laius, quarreled with him, and killed him. He
continued on to Thebes, where the sphinx was killing all who could not solve her riddle.
Oedipus answered it correctly and so won the widowed queen's hand. The prophecy was
thus fulfilled. Two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone and
Ismene, were born to the unwittingly incestuous pair. When a plague descended on
Thebes, an oracle declared that the only way to rid the land of its pollution was to expel
the murderer of Laius. Through a series of painful revelations, brilliantly dramatized by
Sophocles in Oedipus Rex, the king learned the truth and in an agony of horror blinded
himself. According to Homer, Oedipus continued to reign over Thebes until he was killed
in battle; but the more common version is that he was exiled by Creon, Jocasta's brother,
and his sons battled for the throne (see Seven against Thebes). In Sophocles' Oedipus at
Colonus, Oedipus is guided in his later wanderings by his faithful daughter, Antigone.
The Electra is Sophocles's only play that can be compared thematically with works of
Aeschylus (Libation Bearers) and Euripides (Electra). Again Sophocles concentrates on a
character under stress. Described as the most grim of all Greek tragedies, Electra suggests
a flaw in the universe. It is less concerned with moral issues than the other two Electra
plays. An oppressed and harassed Electra anxiously awaits the return of her avenging
brother, Orestes. He returns secretly, first spreading the news that Orestes was killed in a
chariot accident. Electra is constantly at the tomb of her father but is warned by her sister,
Chrysothemis, about her constant wailing. Clytemnestra, disturbed by an ominous dream,
sends Chrysothemis to offer libations at the tomb. A quarrel between Clytemnestra and
Electra demonstrates the impossibility of reconciliation between mother and daughter. A
messenger announcing the death of Orestes and carrying an urn with his ashes stirs up
maternal feelings in Clytemnestra, despair in Chrysothemis, and determination to wreak
vengeance on her mother and Aegisthus, her mother's consort, in Electra. The appearance
of Orestes rejuvenates Electra, and together they do away with Clytemnestra and
Aegisthus. The chorus rejoices that justice has triumphed.
The Electra of Sophocles may have been written as an answer to Euripides's Electra.
Matricide and murder are fully justified, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus are completely and
utterly evil, and Electra avenges her father's death relentlessly and almost
psychopathically.
In the Philoctetes, Odysseus is sent with young Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, from
Troy to the allegedly uninhabited island of Lemnos to bring back Philoctetes with his
bow and his arrows to effect the capture of Troy. Urged by Odysseus to do his
assignment, Neoptolemus, after gaining Philoctetes's confidence suffers pangs of
conscience over the old man and refuses to deceive him. He returns Philoctetes's weapons
and promises to take him home. A deus ex machina finally convinces Philoctetes to
return to Troy voluntarily. The Philoctetes clearly shows how man and society can come
into conflict, how society can discard an individual when it does not need him, and how
the individual with technological knowhow can bring society to its knees.
The Oedipus at Colonus, produced posthumously, is the most loosely structured, most
lyrical, and longest of Sophoclean dramas. It brings to a conclusion Sophocles's concern
with the Oedipus theme. Exiled by Creon, in concurrence with Eteocles and Polyneices,
Oedipus becomes a wandering beggar accompanied by his daughter Antigone. He
stumbles into a sacred grove of the Eumenides at Colonus, and the chorus of Elders is
shocked to discover his identity. Oedipus justifies his past and asks that Theseus be
summoned. Theseus arrives and promises him asylum, but Creon, first deceitfully, then
by force, tries to remove Oedipus. Theseus comes to the rescue and thwarts Creon. The
arrival of his son Polyneices produces thunderous rage in Oedipus, who curses both him
and Eteocles. Oedipus soon senses his impending death and allows only Theseus to
witness the event by which he is transfigured into a hero and a saint.
"Many are the wonders of the world," says Sophocles in the first stasimon of the
Antigone, "but none is more wonderful than man." Sophocles's humanism is nowhere
more concisely manifest than in this famous quotation. Man is able to overcome all kinds
of obstacles and is able to be remarkably inventive and creative, but he is mortal and
hence limited, despite an optimistic, progressive outlook. Suffering is an inherent part of
the nature of things, but learning can be gained, and through suffering man can achieve
nobility and dignity.
Test your knowledge. Take the quiz, see how you
scored at the end of this quiz.
1: Oedipus is the king of which city?
a. Athens
b. Thrace
c. Thebes
2: What does the oracle say must be done in order to save the city from the plague?
a. The murderer of the past king must be discovered.
b. Creon must murder his brother-in-law, Oedipus.
c. Oedipus must sacrifice his daughter, Antigone.
d. Jocasta must marry her brother.
3: Who is revealed to be Oedipus’ mother?
a. Ismene
b. Merope
c. Jocasta
d. Antigone
4: Who is Oedipus’ father?
a. Laius
b. Polybus
c. Apollo
5: What does Oedipus do when he finds out the truth about his birth?
a. He kills his father.
b. He blinds himself.
c. He kills his wife.
d. He sets fire to his palace.
6: When Oedipus and Antigone arrive at Colonus, who is the King of Athens who grants
Oedipus citizenship?
a. Polynices
b. Polybus
c. Theseus
d. Creon
7: Why does Creon come to Colonus and take Oedipus’ daughters hostage?
a. He is trying to secure Antigone’s hand in marriage.
b. He is trying to force Oedipus to return to Thebes.
c. He has been ordered by the prophet to do so.
d. He is punishing them for revealing the oracle to their father.
8: What prophecy does Oedipus tell to Polynices?
a. that he will become king
b. that Polynices will marry his mother
c. that Polynices and Eteocles will kill each other
d. that Creon will kill Polynices and Eteocles
9: Who witnesses Oedipus’ death?
a. Creon
b. Theseus
c. Ismene
d. Antigone
10: Whom does Creon decree shall not be buried but left to rot?
a. Polynices
b. Eteocles
c. Haemon
d. Theseus
11: What is Antigone’s main argument for attempting to violate Creon’s decree?
a. that the dead man is actually Creon’s son
b. that Creon doesn’t know the truth surrounding the death
c. that leaving the body to rot will start a war
d. that the decree goes against the laws of the gods
12: Who tries to convince Creon not to execute Antigone and her sister?
a. Haemon
b. Eurydice
c. Theseus
d. Agamemnon
13: Who is dead at the end of Antigone?
a. Haemon, Antigone, and Eurydice
b. Haemon, Antigone, and Creon
c. Haemon, Tiresias, and Creon
d. Haemon, Eurydice, and Creon
14: Who says the following: “Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, he will
grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step.”
a. Tiresias
b. Oedipus
c. Creon
d. Antigone
15: Who says the following: “What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our
lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at
random, best we can.”
a. Tiresias
b. Jocasta
c. Antigone
d. Oedipus
Suggested Answers:
1. c 2. a 3. c 4. a 5. b 6. c 7. d 8.c 9. b 10.a 11.d 12. a 13. a 14. a 15. b