Sophocles I: Oedipus The King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (The Complete Greek Tragedies)

This passage from Richard Rhodes' Dark Sun says less about Forrestal (U. S. Secretary of the Navy during the Second World War) than it does about Sophocles. It prompted me to read Sophocles' Ajax. I found Forrestal's valediction both powerful and terrifying:

". . . By painful stages came to his right mind.
And when he saw his dwelling full of Ruin,
He beat his head and bellowed. There he sat,
Wreckage himself among the wreck of corpses,
The sheep slaughtered; and in an anguished gripe
Of fist and fingernail he clutched his hair. . ."

This in turn prompted me to reread the three Oedipus plays. I remembered reading them in college. I thought that I knew the story, but to my surprise I had missed some of the best parts. Either I'm getting wiser or I'm reading a better translation. I don't recall feeling the excitement or seeing the incredible beauty of construction when I read these plays for the first time. Sophocles is much, much better than I remembered him.

Unlike Forrestal, I think that there is nothing better than a good Greek tragedy to cheer you up. David Green's superb translations reveal the Master's touch in readable, comprehensible, modern English.


King Oedipus   September 30, 1999
 5 out of 39 found this review helpful

I just read this story a couple of days ago and I thought it was very interesting because Oedipis was unawhere that hi had married his own mother and that the chinldren that he had are his sons at the same time his brothers, but the thing is the this story has a lot of Irony cuz he doesen't know that he had killed his own father, the ex-king, he thought that his father was another person and when he didcover that there was a prophecy sab about him that said that he wold kill his own father he left his home so the phrofecy would not be completed, but the thing is the in the past his real father had order to leave him in the side of the mountain so he(oedipus) would die, he was only three days old, he was given to a shepart, but the shepert did not had the curage to leave him to die so hi gave the baby to another person and that person gave it to the other king as a present, buy the time Oedipus found out that he had killed his own father he punisht himself so that he would change part of the prophecy. He made himself blind because he said that he didnot deserver to see those who he had never seen and that the dead was not a punish ment for him that it would be the easy way and he deserved to suffer for the rest of his life.


Simlpy Excelent!   August 2, 1998
 4 out of 9 found this review helpful

The three thebian plays defenetly defines irony, love, tragedy and power. For all who wonder where the term absolute power absolutely corrupts, now you know. These plays are beautifly tragic, the description of emotion, the plot twists and the story as a whole wrenches ur heart and if you are like me, this book makes you cry, laugh, and do every thing in between. This book is a book for those that trully enjoy a book.


The Plays of Sophocles   December 4, 2001
 3 out of 26 found this review helpful

Sophocles was a master of ancient Greek tragedy. Any criticism of these works is worse than ignorant. End of story. And yes, I'm aware that that was a sentence fragment, so there's no need to notify me of that via some nasty e-mail.


Unalterable Course   July 18, 2004
 3 out of 14 found this review helpful

I read the story of Oedipus in high school and several times since. While I find the twists of the story, especially the riddle of the Sphinx fascinating. (A very original puzzle.) I also found it a litte disturbing. I've never cared for the idea that a person's destiny is fixed and unavoidable.
The fact that the steps Oedipus took to foil the prophecy, actually placed him on the direct path to fulfilling it was scary. It makes one wonder: Do we really have control over our lives, or are we, as Shakespear put it, actors in someone's grand play?
It is a very sad and tragic story. Oedipus was hopelessly caught in a terrible snare. Definitely NOT upbeat. However,in my opinion, any story that can create positive thought and conversation on the inner workings of life is worth reading.