Author: Sophocles
Published: C. 429 BC
Year I read it: 2005, 2011
One sentence summary: Thebes is suffering from plague as a consequence of King Oedipus's unwittingly and unknown self-fulfilled prophecy that he will murder his father and sleep with his mother.
Interesting fact: While the trilogy this play was a part of did not take home 1st prize at the City Dionysia, since Aristotle it has been considered the greatest of the Greek tragedies.
Three reasons to read it:
- It's not just Aristotle - this play is widely considered one of the best written plays of all time.
- Sophocles goes to great lengths to heighten dramatic irony within the play and, in so doing, he creates nail-biting suspense. This obviously makes him the precursor and inspiration for the dramatic irony in Shakespeare. [By the way, for more incredible dramatic irony, read Seneca's Phaedra - SO good!]
- This is one of the greatest classics and it's short - only 65 pages. It's also a remarkably accessible play if you're just entering (or re-entering the classics). I personally recommend this translation.
One reason you maybe shouldn't:
- It is about a man who's murdered his father and slept with his mother. I must clarify that he didn't do either intentionally or knowingly, but it is the central conflict of the play.
Great quotes:
"No river is great enough, not the Danube,
Not the Phasis, to wash this house clean.
So deep is the stain of evil here.
Soon it will come to light:
The worst pain is self-chosen, deliberate."
"How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be
When there’s no help in truth.”
“How terrible-- to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees!”
Thanks for doing a review on this! I have yet to read any Roman or Greek plays, mostly due to not knowing where to start. I will have to read these.
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