Olen niin iloinen, että Teos kustantaa näitä antiikin kirjallisuuden käännöksiä. Jälleen yksi todella tyylikäs kokoelma. Nämä Sofokleen aiemmin suomentamattomat tragediat ovat huippuja (ainakin minulle ja joo... mä todella fanitan antiikin kirjallisuutta). Paljon inhimillisiä tunteita tiiviissä ilmaisussa ja lukija joutuu käymään läpi eettisiä/moraalisia pohdintoja lukukokemuksen aikana. Huvitti yksi deus ex machina loppu. Kokonaisuudessaan laadukkaasti toimitettu näytelmätekstien kokonaisuus.

Kirjoitin tästä myös blogiini: https://kosminenk.blogspot.com/2021/0...

I loved it so much more than I expected I would! A welcome treat from other, extremely dense and convoluted ‘older’ literature (though not ancient like this).

The themes are incredibly relevant to modern society - from dealing with suicide and mental health issues, to isolation and exclusion, to jealousy, infidelity, manipulation and betrayal. The characters are so realistic, it’s easy to see why this mythology was once upon a time accepted as fact.

It’s quite difficult to pick a favourite. I enjoyed ‘Philoctetes’ the least - that is to say, it was a little slower than the rest and went round in circles a bit too much while the suspense built - however, it’s still a fantastic play. ‘Ajax’, ‘Electra’ and ‘Women of Trachis’ were all equally brilliant, but ‘Ajax’ conversely to the other two. It took the form of philosophical debate more than the successive plays, which were moreso really juicy, invigorating stories. The translator (who, by the way, is outstanding - I never would have guessed that he worked on this in the 1950s, it was so advanced!) mentioned in his introduction that many folks believe that the distribution of action in ‘Ajax’ is unsavoury, but I was enthralled by the intellectual wit of Teucer in the wake of the death of his half-brother.

This is going to be the text I’ll recommend to my friends out of all my recent reads for the next six months or so - not to be missed!

57. Sophocles II : Ajax; The Women of Trachis; Electra; Philoctetes (The Complete Greek Tragedies)
translated: 1957
format: 255 page paperback (20th printing of a 1969 edition, printed in 1989)
acquired: May
read: Aug 31 - Sep 5
rating: 4 stars

There is something special about Sophocles relative to the other two preserved tragedy playwrights. David Grene says he is "the most modern, the nearest to us, of three Greek tragedians". What I think sets him apart is the power of the language itself. I know I'm reading this in translation, but Sophocles manages to make striking notes with short phrases, over and over again through his plays.

These four range quite a wide spectrum of his styles. The Women of Trachis stands out as being unusually wordy. It's considered immature, and it was the one I liked the least, although it has it's memorable aspects. The other three are each a masterwork in some way.

Ajax ~440 bce, translated by John Moore

When Achilles died, his armor was supposed to go to the best warrior. But Odysseus manipulated the process and won the armor. Ajax, truly the best warrior, committed suicide in humiliation. The manner in how he does this varies in different stories and Sophocles could chose his preferred version for the drama.

In this version Ajax sets out to kill Agamemnon, Menelaus and Odysseus, but Athena plays a trick on his mind. Instead of attaching the men, he attacks sheep, thinking they are these men. He captures and tortures them, gloats and kills them and then passes out. Upon awaking, he is fully humiliated. The play is about how he bears it.

I found Ajax, the character, magnificent. He must come to terms with what he has actually done, and what to do about it, and about his wife, and son and brother, Teucer. He rocks with grief, then, feeling he has no choice but to kill himself, must give his family an affectionate goodbye, while concealing it from them, their servants, and the entire audience.

In the Homeric story, Ajax may well represent the most ancient aspects of Greek history. His full-bodied shield is antiquated even for the supposed time period of the bronze age Trojan War, and also for weaponry used within the epic. He is a relic from an older time, preserved. He is an archetype, silent both in his stoicism and because he in some ways defies words. I like to think Sophocles knew this, even if he didn't have the word "archetype" within his vocabulary, and that he captures elements of this here.

Unfortunately, we lose Ajax halfway through the play, and the play must go on without its best character.

The Women of Trachis ~450 bce, translated by Michael Jameson

In the tradition, apparently, Deianira, long suffering wife of Heracles, has had enough when Heracles falls for his captive, the young Iole. She sends him a poisoned gift. Sophocles' twist is to make her innocent. She intends to send him a potion from long ago that would make Heracles only love her and no one else. She doesn't realize it's actually poison. Sophocles does some interesting things with Heracles too. The play seemed wordy to me, and lacked the magical lines Sophocles creates in his other plays. And, being a Greek tragedy, it was a bit over the top with the melodrama. Not my favorite, obviously.

Electra ~409 bce, translated by David Grene

Electra is a brilliant, if understated play, with little action. Grene appreciates this in his intro and translation. He wasn't able to create the same magic Anne Carson does with her translation, and I don't think he felt and understood Electra the character as well as Carson does. But, still, this play has a lot of life in his translation too. (I reviewed Anne Carson's translation  HERE)

Philoctetes 409 bce, translated by David Grene

This was a great play to end with. It is interesting and curious. Philoctetes, a master bowman from the Iliad who uses Heracles's bow, was bitten by a snake in the foot. Then he was dumped alone on the island of Lemnos by the Greek leadership - namely Agamemnon, Menelaus and, Odysseus. But the prophecy says that Philoctetes and his bow are needed to defeat Troy. He has to come back and fight for those who punished him.

In the play it's Odysseus and a young Neoptolemus, son of dead Achilles, are sent to bring him to Troy. Odysseus plays a hard game, opening the play by manipulating the still pure and honorable Neoptolemus. He knows it must be Neoptolemus who convinces Philoctetes to join, through is own apparent integrity and honor. "It is you who must help me," he tells him, and then advises him to "Say what you will against me; do not spare anything."

Things mostly go as planned. Neoptolemus wins the elder Philoctetes over completely, but the respect is mutual. Odysseus sets the trap, captures the bow and waits for Philoctetes to finally give in, but Neoptolemus undermines it all, returning the bow to Philoctetes. It's only when Heracles himself appears, in god form, that Philoctetes relents and comes to Troy.

Odysseus controls everyone ruthlessly, never letting on about his true plans. But his machinations don't capture the audience as much as Philoctetes does. It's hard not to like this desperate, and rather disgusting and unkempt survivor. The conversation between Philoctetes and Neoptolemus is moving. When Philoctetes is betrayed he reveals that he has no god to turn to. They are all against him. "Caverns and headlands, dens of wild creatures, you jutting broken crags, to you I raise my cry—there is no one else that I can speak to—" And, later, screaming at Odysseus "Hateful creature, what things you can invent! You plead the Gods to screen your actions and make the Gods out liars." This is Sophocles quietly damning the Gods himself.

A last note about his play. These plays were restricted to three actors and a chorus. When Heracles appears, Neoptolemus is on stage with Philoctetes. Which means the actor who plays Heracles is the same one who plays Odysseus and the audience would know this. So, was it Heracles, or, wink wink, was it really Odysseus putting in his last trick?

This collection finishes my incomplete run through these tragedies. I read all of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and most of Euripides. Of three playwrights, Sophocles was easily my favorite. I see him as the gem, the full master of language, creating living breathing experiences within the restrictive constraints of the form.

At one point, I wanted to read more about Ajax and this play came up in my search. I decided to read the other three for kicks. The other three were fine, but Ajax genuinely got me.

Greek tragedies always feel like tragedies in form, but not always in emotion. Ajax is genuinely heartbreaking. It still has the interference of the gods and the devastating loss of life or limb by the play's end. In this play, though, Ajax is wronged from the beginning and his attempts to rectify his situation is thwarted. If he has a fatal flaw, it's that everyone is working against him.

Odysseus on the other had, is the absolute worst. Sure, he's smart and strategic, but his success is strictly due to favoritism shown by the gods. For an archetypal hero, he really does suck.

آژاکس
زمستان با پای برف‌آلود از مقابل تابستان گرم می‌گریزد. شحنه شب از گشت شبانه خود باز می‌ایستد تا چابک‌سوار صبح بر سمند نقره فام نشیند و عالم را منور کند. طوفان باد توقف می‌کند تا امواج خروشان دریا اندکی بیارامد. حتی خواب که قادر مطلق جان آدمیان است دریچه‌ی خود را گاهی می‌گشاید و گاهی می‌بندد و هرگز نمی‌تواند زندانی خود را تا ابد در بند نگاه‌ دارد.

AJAX
The story of Ajax, one of the warriors at Troy, who got angry he was not awarded the armor of the dead Achilles. Instead the armor was awarded to Odysseus his rival. Athena, forever on the side of Odysseus, saves Odysseus from the attack Ajax planned on the leaders of the Greek army. She made Ajax mad and he shames himself by slaughtering a herd of cattle and sheep whom he believes to be his enemies. After his delusions passed, he contemplates suicide.

Ajax: “Long life? Who but a coward would ask for it,
Beset by endless evil? Can he enjoy
Counting the days that pass; now a step forward,
Now a step backward, on the way to death?
Who’d be that man? To huddle over the coals
Of flickering hope. Not I.

Ajax’s wife and the chorus try to persuade him to live. He tells them they are right and he must go to the sea to cleanse himself of the filth, but he has tricked them so he may be alone and so have the opportunity to die.

Then we learn from the prophet Calchas that Ajax had broken the bounds of mortal modesty. His father told him as he left for Troy “Go out to win, but win with God beside you” and Ajax replied “Any fool can win with God beside him; I intend to do win glory and honour on my own account”. During battle Athena came to Ajax to urge him on and he told Athena “Holy One, give your assistance to some other Greeks; the line won’t break here where I am in command.” Ajax was doomed to meet Athena’s wrath.

Ajax kills himself on Hector’s sword. Teucer, Ajax’s half brother, finds him dead.

Teucer: “You see, it had to be Hector after all
That did this thing, although he died before you.
By heaven, what a fate has bound these two
Together! The girdle Ajax gave to Hector
Became the rope that lashed him to the chariot
And dragged him to his death. Now Hector’ssword,
His gift to Ajax, has laid Ajax low.
Who but some Fury could have forged the sword,
What cruel craftsman but the God of Death
Devised the girdle? These, like all things ever,
I must believe are engines of the gods
Designed against mankind. If this be error,
Then he who thinks it so must go his way
As I go mine.

The leaders of the Greek army learn Ajax is dead. For punishment they try to decree Ajax will not have burial rites. We must remember to the Greek’s if you are not properly buried you are doomed to misery in the life to come. Teucer stands up for Ajax and is willing to defy them. The argument between Teucer and the leaders, Menelaus and Agamenmon, is priceless. The following is only a part:

Menelaus: “I’ve heard a man,
A bully with his tongue, commanding sailors
To put to sea in dirty weather; aboard
And in the thick of the storm, you’d always find him
Speechless, hiding his head beneath his cloak,
And letting any man walk over him.
That’s you, and your bold language; come a gale –
A little cloud may bring it – and your bluster
Will soon be silenced.”

Teucer: “I have seen a fool,
Mocking his friends’ misfortunes. One who stood by,
As it might be me, feeling as I do now,
Said to this person: ‘Never insult the dead;
You’re bound to suffer for it.’ So he warned
The wretched fellow to his face. I think,
Nay I am sure, he stands before me now,
And you are he. Is that a riddle for you?

Odysseus comes on the scene.

Odysseus: “For the love of all the gods, think twice
Before you do so rash and vile a thing.
You cannot leave this man to rot unburied.
You must not let your violent will persuade you
Into such hatred as would tread down justice.
There was a time when I too hated him;
From the time I won the armour of Achilles,
He was the bitterest enemy I had; and yet,
Such though he was, I could not bring myself
To grudge him honour, or refuse to admit
He was the bravest man I ever saw,
The best of all that ever came to Troy,
Save only Achilles. It is against all justice
For you to treat him with contempt. God’s laws,
And not the man himself, you would annihilate.
Even if you hate him, it is against all justice
To lift your hand against a good man dead.

Menelaus allows the burial of Ajax. The play ends with the chorus saying these words: “Many are the things that man seeing must understand. Not seeing, how shall he know what lies in the hand of time to come?

I really enjoyed this play. Can you see this sort of conflict in everyday life? Not necessarily over burying the dead, but over what is perceived as right and wrong. Sophocles is said to portray man as he ought to be. This play exemplifies that concept nicely. Odysseus could easily have nursed the wrongs Ajax served him, but instead he takes the higher path of right.

ELECTRA
Backstory: Helen went with Paris to Troy. Menelaus, Helen’s husband, offended, orchestrated an alliance between Greek nations and gathered an army at Aulis ready to sail for Troy. They waited and waited for any wind, but none came. Finally a prophet announced that the god Artemis required a virgin to be sacrificed in order for the army to sail. Agamemnon as leader of the army sacrificed his daughter on the altar. He lured her there with the guise of a marriage to Achilles. After the sacrifice, the army went to Troy and was gone 10 years. Meanwhile, Clytaemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, had taken a lover (Aegisthus) and plotted to kill Agamemnon when he returned. She cites the wrong done to their daughter at Aulis as her reason. At the time of Agamemnon’s murder, Electra (daughter of Clytaemnestra and Agamemnon) saves her baby brother Orestes by sending him away with his tutor. Clytaemnestra lives in fear Orestes will someday come back to avenge the death of his father.

Electra: “Forgive me; what else can I do? Would it not belie
My birth and breeding to see the things I have seen
Happening in my father’s house, and not complain?
Day in, day out, an endless summer of sorrow –
Hating and hated by my mother – beholden to them
For everything I may or may not do. Imagine,
Imagine what it means to see, day after day,
Aegisthus sitting in my father’s chair, wearing
The clothes he wore, pouring the same libations
At the altar where he killed him: and, last outrage,
The murderer going to his bed with her –
Must I still call her mother? – with his mistress.
For she still lives with the criminal, unashamed,
Unafraid of retribution; on the contrary, proud
Of the thing she did, she marks the happy day,
The day she treacherously killed my father,
With music and sacrifice, as each month comes round,
To thank the saving gods. And I must watch
And weep alone at the foul ceremonies
That keep his name alive – but weep in silence,
Not as my heart would have me weep.

In Sophocles version of this story Electra has another sister, Chrysothemis. She and Electra are in disagreement:

Chrysothemis: “Electra! Why are you here again, out of doors,
And holding forth in this fashion? Have you not learnt
After all this time to restrain your useless anger,
Not make a vain parade of it? I’m sure
I feel our position as bitterly as you do,
And if only I had the strength to do it, I’d show
Where my real feelings lie. But as it is,
My policy is to bow before the storm,
Not make a show of pluck, when powerless
To strike a blow. I wish you’d do the same.
O yes, it’s true that what you think is right,
Not what I say. And yet, to keep my freedom,
I know I must obey.”

Clytaemnestra has a dream:

Chrysothemis: “I was told she saw our father returned to life,
Standing beside her; and he took the scepter
That once was his, which now Aegisthus carries,
And planted it near the altar, where it sprouted
Into a leafy bough, casting a shadow
Over all Mycenae.”

She decides to send Electra away. They engage in an argument. Clytaemnestra defends herself in the murder of Agamemnon and Electra rebuts:

Clytaemnestra: “This father of yours, whom you never stop weeping for, did a thing no other Greek had dared to do, when he so ruthlessly sacrificed your sister to the gods – the child whom he had begotten, at little cost of course compared to mine who bore her. No doubt you can tell me why he did this, and for whose sake? For the Greeks, maybe? And who gave them the right to take my daughter’s life? … Or for Menelaus? Is that any reason why he should not be brought to justice for killing what was mine? Had not Menelaus two children of his own? And should not they have been the ones to die, the children of that father, that mother, the cause of the whole enterprise? Was my child’s blood sweeter to the stomach of Death than Helen’s? …No, I’ve nothing to regret. You think I’m heartless. You would do well to make sure of your own ground before condemning others.”

Electra: “This is my case. You admit you killed my father; And that is the most monstrous admission you could make, whether you had justice on your side or not. I say you had not; you were drawn on and cajoled by the wiles of the miscreant whom you are living with now. Ask Huntress Artemis what fault she punished by withholding the winds that blow on the straits of Aulis. I’ll tell you, since we cannot question her. I have heard how my father, in an idle moment, walking in a demesne of the goddess, startled a stag, a dappled full-antlered beast, and thoughtlessly with a rash triumphant cry he shot it dead. It was this that provoked the goddess, Leto’s daughter, to detain the Greeks and make my father pay for the creature’s life by offering up his daughter. … It was not done to humour Menelaus. Even if it were, as you maintain, even if that were his object, to help his brother, would that entitle you to take his life? What kind of law is that? … If life for life be the rule, Justice demands your life before all others. …”

Sophocles does a wonderful job of helping the reader be sympathetic to both sides. I really like Aeschylus’ Orestes story because he in the end condemns the life for a life policy for a better system of Justice. Here Electra condemns her mother for taking her father’s life for taking his daughter’s life, yet will ruthlessly follow that same policy with Orestes to take her mother’s and Aegisthus’ life. Her logic is lacking. Sophocles does not reconcile this at the end of his play other than to show the furies begin to torment Orestes. Maybe this embodies the nature of this play being a tragedy? Electra and Orestes got what they wanted, but in the end paid for it dearly (at least Orestes does, Electra seems to get by fine). Overall not my favorite mythological story and I think Aeschylus’ version was better.

WOMEN OF TRACHIS
As with the Oedipus trilogy (term loosely used), Women of Trachis demonstrates the genius of Sophocles. The audience knows this story, but it is the rendering of HOW the story comes to its inevitable end that is so wonderful. It is the weaving of circumstance, of righteous intent, of historic events, of realization, of trying in vain to avoid a disastrous end that makes the tragedy so compelling.

Women of Trachis is the story of Heracles (Hercules) and how he met his end. His death was caused by his wife, Deianeira, but entirely without intent. Trachis is a location in Greece where Deianeira lives and awaits the return of her husband Heracles.

Deianeira: “Heracles chose me for his wife; and since that day
I have had no moment’s rest from fear
On his account.
Each night’s new terror drives away
The terror of the night before.
We had children … but he never sees them
Except as a farmer sees a distant field
On the edge of his estate, visiting it
Now and again, at planting or at harvest.
That’s what his life has been,
Home one minute and away the next,
A slave to his employer.”

A year and three months ago, Heracles left Trachis again, but told his wife the following:

Deianeira: “Fixing the exact time – a year and three months
From the day of his going out; that day, he said,
Would be either his last on earth, or else the beginning
Of peaceful days for the rest of his mortal life.
Thus, he said, it was the will of the immortal gods
That the labours of Heracles should be brought to an end;
Thus it had been spoken at Dodona by the ancient oak
Long ago, by the voice of the two dove-priestesses.
And now that moment is here, and the fulfillment must come.”

Messengers come and tell Deianeira that Heracles is alive and is on his way home. The messengers bring in a group of women who were awarded to Heracles after he sacked their city. Deianeira asks who they are and one messenger says he doesn’t know. When that messenger leaves, another messenger comes forward telling Deianeira he lied. One of the women was the daughter of King Eurytus, whom Heracles had fallen in love with.

Deianeria: “I know,
I see how it is: the one with youthful beauty
Ripening to its prime, the other falling away.
The eye must ever enjoy the flower, the feet
Turn from the withered stalk. This is my fear,
Heracles to be called my husband, but her man…”

Deianeria then decides to try a love potion on her husband. She saved the blood of a centaur as he was dying (after Heracles killed him). The centaur told her “this charm will bind the heart of Heracles if ever he should look upon a woman to lover her more than you”. Deianeria sends a tunic brushed with the salve by messenger to Heracles. Then Deianeria learns the tunic was killing her husband and his men were bringing him home to die. She kills herself before he comes. Her son found her dead.

Nurse: “Her son cried bitterly at what he saw; he knew,
Poor lad, it was his anger drove her to it.
By now he had learnt, too late, from others here
That what she had done was all a mistake – that spell
The Centaur taught her. So the unhappy boy
Wept bitterly, and could never make an end
Of crying over her, clinging to her lips,
Falling beside her, with his heart on hers.
….
Only the foolish man
Would reckon on the future – one day, two,
Or more to come. Tomorrow – what is tomorrow?
‘Tis nothing, until today is safely past.”

Heracles is brought in and wants to kill Deianeria. Their son, Hyllus tells him she didn’t mean to kill her. Then Heracles wants his son to do two things for him. First he wants his son to take him to Oeta, the mount of Zeus and lay his body on a pyre and kindle it.

Hyllus: “It is too much. How can you ask me, father,
To take your life – your blood upon my hands?
Heracles: I do not ask it. I make you my physician:
Your act alone shall cure me of my sickness.
Hyllus: How? Heal your body by setting fire to it?”

Hyllus agrees to build the pyre and lay Heracles upon it, but will not light the pyre. Heracles will do that himself. The second thing Heracles wants of his son is to marry Iole, the girl Heracles sent home and is in love with.

Hyllus: “What can I say?
I must not cross you in your agony.
But this last fancy that possesses you –
It is intolerable.
Heracles: What are you saying?
You mean to disobey me?
Hyllus: Who could do it?
That woman – the sole cause of my mother’s death,
Of your condition too – take her to wife?
No man could do it, unless the avenging fiends
Had driven him from his wits. I’d rather die
Than mate with my worst enemy.”

After much hot debate with his father Hyllus agrees “I will do it. The gods be witness that it is your doing; It cannot be sin to obey my father’s charge.” The play ends with these words:

Hyllus: “Let all men here forgive me,
And mark the malevolence
Of the unforgiving gods
In this event. We call them
Fathers of sons, and they
Look down unmoved
Upon our tragedies.

The future is hidden from us.
This is our present –
Our grief, who see it;
His untold agony,
Who must endure it;
And their reproach,
Who let it be.

Women of Trachis, you have leave to go.
You have seen strange things,
The awful hand of death, new shapes of woe,
Uncounted sufferings;
And all that you have seen
Is God.”

This is my introduction to Heracles as a character (besides Homer – and then I didn’t realize Heracles was Hercules!). He was full of command, pride, and short tempered. He didn’t come off well to me, the reader, due to his wanting to kill his wife, to make his son finish the job of killing him and then marry the girl with whom he cheated on his wife.

I was more sympathetic towards Deianeira. Here she is continually waiting at home for a husband who comes only once in a while. She is patient and makes his home and raises their children for years and years. Then she is rewarded by the news of Heracles taking another to his bed. Instead of being angry, (is this where Sophocles portrays people as they should be, not as they are?) her only desire is to preserve Heracles’ love for her. Who wants to live the rest of their life rejected by the one they love? I guess you could say Heracles got what was coming to him, but Deianeira couldn’t live with her mistake or without Heracles. It is tragic.

The end of this play is interesting. It portrays the gods as far off beings who are the authors of the pains in this life. “We call them fathers of sons, and they look down unmoved upon our tragedies” – could there be some scorn for religion coming from Sophocles? Or is this how the Greek religion viewed the gods? We must endure the agony of life and they who let the agony be, reproach us for it?

What is with the title of this play? Women of Trachis? They are the chorus and are witness to all that happens, but they are not a main character. The play is not about them … or is it?

Overall, a very compelling story with a good plot.

PHILOCTETES
Backstory: Heracles, at his death, gives Philoctetes his bow and arrows (“arrows that never miss, flying to kill”)I. Later, Philoctetes accompanies the Greek army to Troy, but on the way is bitten by a serpent. His companions are repulsed by his incurable wound and deserted him on the island of Lemnos, an uninhabited island. There he wretchedly lived until it was revealed to the leaders of the Greek army they could not take Troy without the help of Heracles’ bow and arrows. Odysseus and Noptolemus go to Lemnos to retrieve them.

Odysseus wants Neoptolemus to trick Philoctetes into giving him the bow and arrows and the desert Philoctetes again. However, Neoptolemus has reservations about this plan.

Odysseus: “I know it goes against the grain with you
To lie, or act deceitfully; but then,
Success is worth an effort, make it now.
We shall be justified in the end; for the present
Let honesty go hang, only for a day,
I beg you; and then you can live for ever after
A paragon of virtue. Will you do it?”

Neoptolemus: “I’d rather beat this man
By force than by deception. In any case,
One against many, and with only one sound foot,
He isn’t likely to get the better of us.
I know I’ve been sent to help you in this mission.
And I’d hate to fail you now; but really, sir,
I’d rather lose by fair means than win by foul.”

In the end, Neoptolemus succumbs to Odysseus’ persuasion (he is famed to be a master of words) and engages Philoctetes. Neoptolemus tells Philoctetes he went to Troy, but was wronged by Odysseus. Odysseus would not give Neoptolemus the armor of his

I had planned to only read Electra and Ajax, but I enjoyed those too so much that I decided to read all four of the plays: Ajax, Electra, Women of Trachis, and Philoctetes.

These plays by ancient Greek drama great Sophocles delves into the private lives and crises of the heroes and villains of the Trojan War and Greek mythology, especially their children and spouses .

In this edition the language is written in free verse and is easy to understand. The language is emotional at times, pleasant, sarcastic, and occasionally even there's a glimmer of humor. At the end there is a small section of notes for each play.

I liked this collection of plays even better than the more well-known collection of Sophocles' plays that Oxford prints (which had the three plays Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone).

1. Ajax

I read this as basically the story about how a great, renowned person can have a great life, but then end it poorly if he allows himself to be eaten up by entitlement and a desire for revenge. Ajax goes literally insane at the end of his life, ends up committing degrading acts, and when he realizes what he has done, he (you guessed it) kills himself (as is mandatory in all Greek tragedies). Others are angry at him and briefly consider disrespecting his body (by not burying it) but, this is wrong to do even to one's enemies, and so they do consent to bury it. There is a really good peaceful bittersweet ending to how Ajax dies.

But with that said, I'm not going to go into as much detail on this play, mostly because I just want to get to the other three.

2. Women of Trachis

This should really have been called Deianeira. It's the story of the jilted wife, who has gotten older and lost some of the beauty of her youth, her husband (Heracles) is always away, and then (in this case) he sends home a recently captured younger woman, Iole, to be his new concubine (basically). Unfortunately, when Deianeira first meets Iole, she takes pity on Iole and promises to take good care of her, before realizing exactly who Iole is to her husband. She is a woman of her word though.

This is an under-told story, if I can make up that word. I'm surprised at how many good proto-feminist stories that Sophocles told. It really focuses on the pain of Deianeira and I found myself really feeling for her. I felt for Iole, too, who had no choice in the matter.

But then on top of that pain, Deianeira makes a mistake. She uses a supposed magic potion on her husband (indirectly, by applying it to part of a robe that she sends to Heracles to wear). However, when Heracles wears it and the potion comes into contact with his chest, it eats away at it and slowly kills him; it's literally eating his heart out. He thinks she intentionally tried to kill him. She discovers what has happened and that she was tricked by the person who gave her this "magic potion," a centaur who was actually enacting a final act of vengeance when he gave it to her.

When she realizes what she has done (she has actually killed the very person that she was trying to draw close to her), she kills herself (as all Greek tragedies are mandated to end). This story just really strikes so close to home. This is a universal powerful truth. When we try to control others it usually backfires and we get the very opposite of what we wanted. It also burns especially to have insult added to injury because she was already in such a terrible position. To be so terribly treated by someone but to still love them and want them to love you--that's a hard thing that many people have experienced. I am filled with empathy for these stories.

These are the kind of stories that need to be told more. When I was a kid I was told the myths that appealed to boys/men, but there are myths that were written that appeal much more to the experience of girls/women. We need to bring this part of our cannon much more to the forefront, alongside the others.

3. Electra

This is one of the best stories that I have read of Sophocles so far. I say this despite the fact that Electra, the hero, is really quite un-empathetic in many ways. Her father, King Agamemnon, was murdered by her mother and her affair partner who then became her new husband afterwards. To add insult to injury, Electra has then had to live with her mother and step-father for years and years. She has never stopped grieving for her father, which has made them very angry with her, and she's almost never allowed to leave the house, etc.

She has been waiting all of these years for her brother to grow up in a distant city and then come back and avenge her father's death. The play is largely about that happening, and when he does get revenge on both perpetrators at the end, it's satisfying--although it's interesting, the revenge actually happens off camera: you hear it happening instead of seeing it, but somehow this only makes it more riveting. It actually feels like there are elements of horror in this play.

It has traces of Antigone. Again, you have a young woman who loves her brother greatly and who is grieving a family member who has been killed and disrespected, and continues to grieve them in the morally right way despite that having majorly negative consequences for herself. She's not as relatable as Antigone because she is still grieving after maybe 20 years or something, and one can see her being annoying about it. When her mother comes on scene and you hear about why she killed her husband, you actually start to relate to her mother a bit--although you still don't "root" for her, you are able to at least understand her perspective.

In fact, this play really doesn't have a "side" almost, even though there's the very obvious "side" of Electra and her brother Orestes getting revenge on Electra's mother and stepfather, at the same time, every single character is actually humanized, their perspective is shown in such a way that you can understand them a little. The stepfather is perhaps the least relatable. But you really get a taste of pretty much all of the characters. And when the revenge finally happens, it's not portrayed as some positive healing thing...I interpreted it as being portrayed as a horrific fact.

Electra shows a different side of herself when interacting with several different people. She's almost a series of reactions to other people. She doesn't change up through the end of the play; she never seems to come to the realization that revenge will not heal her.

All the same...it's hard to explain why, but there's just something about this play that is different. It's not a typical tragedy. But it's not really a celebration of revenge either. Electra's love of her brother Orestes is something appealing. It also has some of the best actual action of any of the plays, including a really good telling of a chariot race. It's funny how good that that mini-story is, because, that whole story is just fabricated to give the soon-to-be victims a misplaced sense of ease at thinking that Orestes has died (and so not guess the truth, which is that Orestes has actually come back to avenge his father on them this very day).

I will need to re-read this play a few times to understand why I liked it so much. I'm sorry I can't give better explanations as to why, yet.

4. Philoctetes

This guy was annoying because again, throwing a pity party, lame (which is why I don't enjoy the two Oedipus plays as much as I should). But there was more to this one. There is Philoctetes, whom Odysseus is trying to trick into coming back to help them with the Trojan war, or, failing that, to at least steal his magical bow (given to him by the gods). But there is a third character, Neoptolemus, who Odysseus uses to try and trick Philoctetes.

Neoptolemus is the more interesting character, he's younger but also jaded, he relates to Philoctetes a lot, and he changes his mind a couple of times and actually helps Philoctetes (by giving back his bow to him), even to their detriment, and respects Philoctetes' decision to still not help them. And he's willing to fight Odysseus and all the Greeks over this. He also tries to persuade Philoctetes, but he's not going to fight him to force his way. He seems much more motivated by empathy and much more capable of gaining perspective than any of the other Greek characters I've read about thus far. I really like him.

There's also a classic Ex Deus Machina at the end, a literal god-in-the-machine, as Heracles shows up in glory and convinces Philoctetes to go with them. Some people dislike this, but when I read it, I actually viewed it as the grace of God that sometimes forces us to change even though we know it's going to be painful and we don't want to do it, all the while knowing it's going to be good for us. Sometimes God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. I think of stories like Jonah. I'm glad for Philoctetes that God pushed him out of his comfort zone, and glad for the times in my life and others when God has done that.

Conclusion: these plays are more readable, to me, than the more popular ones of Sophocles that I have read. Of all Sophocles' plays, my favorites are:
Antigone
Women of Trachis
Electra
Ajax
Philoctetes

So, 4/5 are in this volume. I will say, there are some parts of the Greek tragedy that make it not necessarily my favorite genre. But there is a lot of poetic and life depth to it. I want to continue to re-read these five plays in the years to come and continue to mine their depths.

I only had to read Electra for my Mythology class but I wish I had more time to read the other stories. This version was vastly more entertaining that the Orestia which I had previously and it was only a retake on the second play from the Trilogy. This one was much more to the point and fixed a lot of the loop holes present in the other stories.

My version is Watling and a Penguin Book. Sophocles knows how to create tension and make us empathize with the characters.

Joyful sibling reunions and the wheels of justice....and just the side issue of matricide.

Having grown up in the aftermath of her father's murder by her mother and in witnessing the marriage of her mother to her father's ancient enemy, Electra is left to lament her fate as an outcast daughter. She rages against her mother's crimes and yearns for the day that her brother will return to seek vengeance. After much subterfuge and many misunderstandings, the brother and sister reunite at last. Together, they hatch a plot to avenge their father- by murdering their mother and her husband in the name of justice.

Although a beautifully constructed play in itself, this is by far the most unsatisfying treatment of the Electra myth I've read. We're lucky enough to possess the plays by all three of the great Greek tragedians on the subject of Electra/Orestes but I struggle to find a deep sense of tragedy or complexity in this version. The reason for Clytemnestra killing her husband Agamemnon (he sacrificed their daughter to the gods at the beginning of the ten year Trojan War) is brushed off by Electra as if it were merely an unfortunate necessity and no further mention is given to this motive behind her mother's actions. Although the play makes it clear that, from Electra's perspective, she has been mistreated and abused by her mother throughout the years, therefore providing her with extra motive, the cold and calculating Orestes shows absolutely no sign of hesitancy or revulsion towards murdering his own mother. There is no tension in this act, no sense of dread, no remorse or fear of the Furies, only cold 'justice'. In my opinion, this diminishes the myth's power and any emotional impact it might have had.

In terms of language, structure, set ups, it's all superb as you would expect, but I just don't feel it has the impact in the same way as in the Aeschylus or Euripides treatments of the myth.

Todella hyvin tehty laitos Sofokleen neljästä tragediasta. Käännökset ovat hyviä ja kieli ei turhaan etäännytä, tarinat ovat tietysti ihan dynamiittia ja lisäksi kirjassa on vielä lyhyet, valaisevat tekstit joka näytelmästä. Kulttuuriteko.