Sophocles

Sophocles Study Notes

Sophocles – one of the very great Greek tragedians, along with Aeschylus and Euripides. He lived from about 497-405 BCE, and is said to have written over 120 plays, only seven of which survive. The three ‘Theban plays’ tell the struggles of Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus. They often appear together in anthologies, since they tell a continuing story, but Sophocles wrote them many years apart. They are as follows, in order of the action in the plays:

1. Oedipus Rex – produced in 431 BCE.

Dramatic Irony – The audience knows the whole story (Oedipus killed Laius, his dad, and married his mom, Jocasta. They have four children together). Oedipus does not know his past or future.

Theme of Blindness – While Oedipus can physically see, he knows not his past or future. Once he has blinded himself, he learns the whole story.

Riddle of the Sphinx – Q: What is it that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three at night? A: Man, who crawls as a baby, walks as an adult, and uses a cane in old age.

Name in Greek - Know that Oedipus = swollen foot, and the reason why. But there’s more to it, subtlety that displays Sophocles’ skill with Greek.

Oideo = to swell (think of hemorrhoid).

Oida = to see or know.

Dipous = two-footed. Recall the riddle of the sphinx. ‘Oedipus, do you know yourself while on two feet?’ No, he doesn’t. And that is his tragic downfall.

Oidipou . . .oistha pou? ‘Oedipus . . . what do you know?’ A clever play on words. It rhymes in Greek, and the ancient Greek audience would recognize this.

Characters on Stage

• Priest describes a plague in Thebes (as in Athens during the contemporary Peloponnesian War, and the audience would recognize this). He asks Oedipus ‘What do you know? How can you help us?’

• Creon comes back from the Oracle at Delphi with the command to punish the killer of King Laius. But who is the killer? There is one witness to the killing.

• Teirisias - the blind seer (We met him in The Odyssey, a recurring figure in Greek literature) At first reticent, he names Oedipus as the killer of Laius. Oedipus disagrees.

• Jocasta – Oedipus’ mother and wife reveals details of the ancient oracle and of of the murder of Laius. Oedipus begins to suspect that he is the culprit.

• Messenger from Corinth – Reveals that Polybus, Oedipus’ presumed father, has died. Oedipus thinks he’s clear from the curse, yet worries about marrying his mother. The messenger says the proof is in Oedipus’ ankles.

• Shepherd – He knows and names Oedipus as the infant exposed on Mt. Cithaeron, and who murdered his father Laius. He also says that Jocasta knows the whole story. The jig is up. Everyone knows.

• Messenger from the Palace – Violence does not place on the ancient Greek stage. The messenger comes on stage to report that Jocasta has hanged herself and that Oedipus has gouged out his eyes, after they both realize the tragic truth of what they have done.

The Upshot: Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex asks the question ‘are we masters of our own fate, or are we victims of the gods?’ Oedipus didn’t want to kill his dad and marry his mom, but it all happened before he knew what was going on. Quite the powerful story, from Sophocles’ pre-history to our own day.

Oedipus Complex – in 1899 Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, put forth the Oedipus Complex, in which young boys, around the age of 3 or 4, developed a romantic/sexual attraction to their mothers, and a hostile relation to their fathers. The Oedipus Complex was later adapted to include young girls. This theory has since been criticized by scholars for lack of empirical evidence and the emergence of same-sex parents. But it does show us the enduring influence of Classical Mythology on modern thought.

2. Oedipus at Colonus – produced in 401 BCE, after Sophocles had died.

The banished Oedipus and daughter Antigone have gone to Colonus, a village near Athens, where he dies.

3. Antigone – produced in 441 BCE.

Background

After Oedipus’ death, his sons Eteocles and Polynices have killed each other in a struggle over who would rule Thebes. Uncle Creon, the new ruler, declares that he will not give burial rites to Polynices, who attacked Thebes (cf. the Seven Against Thebes). Antigone wants to bury her brother Polynices, but her sister Ismene and Uncle Creon oppose her. This sets up the struggle of our play.

Nomos (man-made law), advocated by Creon versus Phusis (natural law), advocated by Antigone.

Which one do we follow??? Sophocles presents this troubling question to his audience and to readers like us, forevermore.

Neither Creon or Antigone will back down from their passions or positions. Thebes is vital to Creon, and so is Polynices to Antigone.

As the play goes on, Creon sentences Antigone to a starvation death in a cave for trying to bury her brother, Polynices. Haemon, Antigone’s fiancé, and Creon’s son, pleads with his dad to release her. Creon relents, but when he comes to the cave, sees that Antigone has hanged herself. A grief-stricken Haemon falls on his sword.

Creon is left to suffer the grief of his decisions and the death of his loved ones.