It’s no disgrace for a man, even a wise man, to learn many things and not be too rigid. You’ve seen many trees by a raging winter torrent, how many sway with the flood and salvage every twig, but not the stubborn—they’re ripped out, roots and all. Bend or break.

This incredibly powerful and moving play was written well over two thousand years ago, yet it is as relevant and relatable as ever. Antigone's immovable conviction is tragically squared against Creon's regal pride, both as stubborn as oxen, while the audience is maddeningly positioned to see the folly and the "well, he/she's got a point" of both sides. This work would make an excellent companion piece to Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," which also deals with family, and in particular, the rights accorded to the dead in burial - how the manner in which we honor the dead is a mirror of who we are. There is so much to say about this play, I actually found it more compelling than its predecessor, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles' other famous play based on Antigone's accursed father. Ay, there lies the rub! For in Oedipus Rex, it seems as though nothing can be done by man to avert the cruel hand of fate. However in Antigone, people are just being too selfish and stubborn, ignoring all kinds of good advice, and swearing up and down that the gods are most definitely on their side. Meanwhile, Sophocles nudges the audience to avoid a similar fate by having King Creon's son announce that unfortunately, man isn't born perfect, so we'd all do well to listen to some good advice.

But my favorite part of this play, the part that really sang for me, was the Chorus' ode to man, so reminiscent of Hamlet's beautiful and, ultimately sad, "What a piece of work is a man" soliloquy. Hamlet glibly ends it by saying that man, despite his natural magnificence and beauty, doesn't interest him. In Antigone, the Chorus is marveling at how man has mastered the sea and the animals and the earth, and has even fashioned a lawful society and an intricate language by which to communicate, but there remains one thing that goes yet unconquered by man - Death. Mwahahaha!

So, if TIME magazine is right, and man becomes immortal by 2045, I guess Antigone will finally become an obsolete literary relic of the ancient past that has no bearing on the modern human condition. But until that frightening time arrives, this is a work for the ages. Man the master, ingenious past all measure, past all dreams, the skills within his grasp - he forges on, now to destruction, now again to greatness.

Before I begin my review I should say I only read Oedipus the King ark for my AP literature class. For the book being translated, it was a lot easier to read than most other "translated books" because with how they interperated most of Sophocles language it is very readable. When I first began the book, I honestly thought it threw us straight in the middle of the main issue/problem, which was not my favorite thing about the book at all, got a little confusing. On top of being thrown in the middle of action, the story seems as if it all took place in one day, which seems very unlikely but there is no clear change of day to night at all. The only other thing that bothers me, and it's a very little thing I know, but, you never find out the gender of the oracle, it's a weird thing to point out but it honestly does bother me not knowing only because of the way Oedipus talks to him/her. *Spoilers Ahead* Some of the things I did like was just the big twist in the end, turning out that exactly what he runs away from is what he's heading directly for, seems like a moral for us all that Sophocles is trying to tell us. My next favorite part would have to be just how Oedipus in the beginning questions everyone for having angered the gods when really the tables turn on him, for my first time reading it I honestly thought it was a little funny. Now for other books I could compare it to, I would say It reminds me a little bit of The Lord Of The Flies. I say this because as Jack is trying to lead the boys away from evil, he himself is the evil corrupting all the other boys to kill Piggy and Simon, so more of an inspiration than anything. Now I would recommend this book because it is a short read but it does keep you interested through each page. So I give this book 3 stars, even after my list of dislikes I still think it is worth reading.

4 stars for Antigone
3 for Oedipus the King
2 for Electra

☆☆☆.75 (avg)

3 ☆
“What ordinance of the gods have I transgressed? . . . / How savagely impious men use me, / for keeping a law that is holy.” – Antigone. 921ff.

4.5 ☆
“[You are] wise above all other men to read / Life’s riddles, and the hidden ways of Heaven; / For it was you who came and set us free / From the blood-tribute that the cruel Sphinx / Had laid upon our city . . . .”– Oedipus the King, 35ff.

3.75 ☆
“If retribution / were swift and certain, and the lawless man / paid with his life, there would be fewer villains.” – Electra, 1505ff.

Original rating:
3/5 (avg): 2.75, 3.5, 2.5

Electra: 5/5
I'm most familiar with this story, through Richard Strauss' opera of the same name, one of my absolute favorite. What strikes me is that the libretto by Hofmannsthal is very close to this original Sophocles play, all the interactions, themes, except how the two plays end. This speaks a lot of the modern quality of ancient Greek plays, and Electra especially.
The interesting thing about Electra is that she does very little. It is her very presence, her existence as she is, and her reason of it that put all others at their own places so the final event may happen. I guess this is common in ancient Greek dramas? Instead of action it is reasoning, debate, rhetoric that really instigate the plot.

Oedipus Rex: 2/5
Everyone knows the story. For me this play is a bit disappointing, flat. Much time is spent on the discovery of the truth, but little attention paid to the moral dilemma of Oedipus, or of Creon, Iocasta, Antigone, etc. And because the plot is so well known now the shock factor is gone completely. As for the language itself, I find Kitto's translation adequate but not very inspiring. Oedipus reads like a routine. I don't know why it is that I find the translation of Electra to be electrifying while this one flat. Maybe it's the original? Even the strophe and antistrophe present much better arguments in Electra, and here they basically just say the very obvious things.

Antigone: 3/5
Read last. There are a lot of "filler" passages too, and the old "never ignore the prophet" thing. But two passages stand out, one of Antigone's argument against Creon on burying her brother, another of Haemon's argument of the same topic. The former discusses divine law vs. human law, or in contemporary terms morality vs. law. Should people obey immoral laws? Very good question. The latter discusses how the wisest men learn from the young and foolish, which is also very true even today. But besides these there's not much else exciting going on.

Conclusion:
I don't know if it's the translation, or that I've just come off a Shakespeare binge (so everything in comparison would seem dull indeed), but the language does little to gripe me, especially the two Oedipus related ones. Maybe I'll find a different edition in the future to compare, but the interest in that is not very strong for now.
It's still nice to know a bit about the old classics, and in extension know the ancient Greek way of thinking and its influence on modern culture.

A comment on the edition:
There are many minor editing/format errors, mostly verse line alignment issues. They are a bit distracting. I was surprised to find them in a supposedly decent edition like Oxford's.

As massive classical nut, I had to get my hands on Sophocles' Electra after being force fed the dribble that is Euripedes' version. For all Electra enthusiasts, I recommend reading other translations - a favourite being Anne Carsons. And then get yourself onto youtube to watch Strauss' operatic version of Hofmannsthal's. Electra geek FTW!

Read this for English class and quite enjoyed it .

For the Record - only read Oedipus the King so far.

It was as awful as I expected. The story, I mean. The writing is great, occasionally humorous.

رائعة من روائع المسرح التراجيدى اليونانى....توقفت كثيرا اثناء القراءة لأسأل نفس السؤل.. كم قرن مضت على كتابة هذه الروائع.. وأين نحن الان منها؟؟

That Oedipus guy really had a time of it, but the circumstances were so unique, I hope no one extrapolates on that to make arguments about the nature of the human psyche.

Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, the former king of Thebes. She is willing to face the capital punishment that has been decreed by her uncle Creon, the new king, as the penalty for anyone burying her brother Polyneices. (Polyneices has just been killed attacking Thebes, and it is as posthumous punishment for this attack that Creon has forbidden the burial of his corpse.) Obeying all her instincts of love, loyalty, and humanity, Antigone defies Creon and dutifully buries her brother’s corpse. Creon, from conviction that reasons of state outweigh family ties, refuses to commute Antigone’s death sentence. By the time Creon is finally persuaded by the prophet Tiresias to relent and free Antigone, she has killed herself in her prison cell. Creon’s son, Haemon, kills himself out of love and sympathy for the dead Antigone, and Creon’s wife, Eurydice, then kills herself out of grief over these tragic events. At the play’s end Creon is left desolate and broken in spirit. In his narrow and unduly rigid adherence to his civic duties, Creon has defied the gods through his denial of humanity’s common obligations toward the dead. The play thus concerns the conflicting obligations of civic versus personal loyalties and religious mores.

Oedipus the King is a structural marvel that marks the summit of classical Greek drama’s formal achievements. The play’s main character, Oedipus, is the wise, happy, and beloved ruler of Thebes. Though hot-tempered, impatient, and arrogant at times of crisis, he otherwise seems to enjoy every good fortune. But Oedipus mistakenly believes that he is the son of King Polybus of Corinth and his queen. He became the ruler of Thebes because he rescued the city from the Sphinx by answering its riddle correctly, and so was awarded the city’s widowed queen, Jocasta. Before overcoming the Sphinx, Oedipus left Corinth forever because the Delphic oracle had prophesied to him that he would kill his father and marry his mother. While journeying to Thebes from Corinth, Oedipus encountered at a crossroads an old man accompanied by five servants. Oedipus got into an argument with him and in a fit of arrogance and bad temper killed the old man and four of his servants.

Electra follows the return of Orestes to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus in retribution for their murder of Orestes’ father, Agamemnon. In this play, however, the main focus is on Orestes’ sister Electra and her anguished participation in her brother’s plans. To gain admittance to the palace and thus be able to execute his revenge, Orestes spreads false news of his own death. Believing this report, the despairing Electra unsuccessfully tries to enlist her sister Chrysothemis in an attempt to murder their mother. In a dramatic scene, Orestes then enters in disguise and hands Electra the urn that is supposed to contain his own ashes. Moved by his sister’s display of grief, Orestes reveals his true identity to her and then strikes down his mother and her lover. Electra’s triumph is thus complete. In the play Electra is seen passing through the whole range of human emotions—from passionate love to cruel hatred, from numb despair to wild joy. There is debate over whether the play depicts virtue triumphant or, rather, portrays a young woman incurably twisted by years of hatred and resentment.

This read is a great way to see how ones fate is set for them and you can't escape it. It has an interesting twist at the end which is what really got me intrigued.