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Author: Sophocles (c 496-406 BC)Translator: Robert FaglesPublisher: Penguin Books (1984 Penguin Classics Edition)Bought from: Book DepositoryIntroductionSophocles is one of three classical Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. Sophocles wrote 123 plays but only seven survive intact. He is said to have won between 20-25 dramatic competitions in Athens. In comparison, Aeschylus won 14-15 competitions (sometimes placing second to Sophocles) while Euripides won only 4 or 5.The three plays collected in this volume, in order of writing, are Antigone (c 442 BC), Oedipus the King (c. 429 BC) and Oedipus at Colonus (c.

In terms of the story’s internal timeline, the order is Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Oedipus the King is the masterpiece of the three plays and is sometimes regarded as the greatest extant Greek tragedy and one of the greatest work of world literature. The three plays are often published together under the title The Theban Plays. But Sophocles wrote the plays not as a unified trilogy but as parts of different sets. The three plays relate to the myth of Oedipus, king of Thebes (hence the title The Theban Plays).

Thebes was a city founded by Cadmus and an important part of ancient Greek mythology.The events in The Theban Plays take place before the Trojan War (the dividing line between Greek mythology and Greek history). In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus meets the shade of Jocasta (named Epicasta in that play). Homer briefly tells the story of Oedipus but with some differences from Sophocles’ version.Most people, even those who have never actually read the plays, will be familiar with the broad outline of the story of Oedipus. Indeed, the term “Oedipal” has entered modern English.What is the story about?Oedipus the King takes place in Thebes. As the play begins, Oedipus has been king of Thebes for many years. Lately, a plague has struck the city. Oedipus hears a prophecy from Apollo that the plague will only be eradicated if Laius’ killer is brought to justice.

Oedipus is determined to solve the cold case. As a result of his investigation, Oedipus himself unwittingly exposes the horrific sins he has committed. The familiar back story is retold. Laius and Jocasta ordered their infant son Oedipus killed because the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi had prophesied that Laius would be killed by his son. Oedipus ended up adopted in Corinth. An adult Oedipus himself received a prophecy that he would marry his mother and kill his father. To avoid this fate, he fled his adopted parents (he did not know he was adopted).

He ran into a man and his servants on a cross road and, after what must be one of the earliest examples of road rage, killed the man (who was actually Laius) and all his servants except one who would later positively identify Oedipus as Laius’ killer. Oedipus arrived in Thebes and, after solving the riddle of the Sphinx, he married Jocasta and becomes King of Thebes. Back in the present day, as the evidence lead ever closer to the horrific truth, first Tiresias, the blind seer and then Jocasta plead with Oedipus to stop his investigation. Odysseus refuses to listen and finally learns the truth. Jocasta commits suicide from shame and Oedipus blinds himself.In Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus, accompanied by his daughter Antigone, goes to Colonus, a town near Athen (Colonus is believed to be Sophocles’ birthplace).

Oedipus has been exiled by his sons Eteocles and Polynices. In Colonus, he learns that that Apollo has prophesised that the place where he dies will be blessed. Oedipus is warmly welcomed by Theseus the legendary king of Athens and he gratefully offers to die in Colonus as his gift to Athens. In the meantime, back in Thebes, Jocasta’s brother Creon and Eteocles have banished Polynices.

Polynices has fled to Argos and is amassing an army to attack Thebes. Creon and Polynices track Oedipus down separately and each wants him to die in their respective territory.

Oedipus rebuffs both of them. He foresees that his sons will kill each other in the coming battle. Oedipus dies offstage in the presence of only Theseus.

A grieving Antigone leaves for Thebes to convince Polynices to stop his march against Thebes.Antigone is set in Thebes and begins soon after the siege by the Seven Against Thebes led by Polynices has been repelled. Polynices and Eteocles have killed each other, just as Oedipus has foreseen. Creon buries Eteocles but orders Polynices’ body to remain unburied on penalty of death.

Antigone defies Creon and buries his brother. Creon orders Antigone to be buried alive in a cave for disobeying his edict. Tiresias warns Creon to free Antigone and properly bury Polynices or bear the consequences, including losing a son of his own loins. Creon relents but he is too late. Antigone has committed suicide. The tragedy is complete when Creon hears that his son Haemon, who was to have married Antigone has killed himself as has Eurydice, Creon’s wife and Haemon’s mother, after she loses her only son.ThemesOne of the main themes of the plays is the role fate plays in the lives of the main characters. The Olympian gods do not appear directly in the plays (unlike Homer’s poems).

But the will of these gods – or fate – affects the characters through the prophesies emanating from the Delphic oracle. The narrative is propelled by the separate but connected prophecies dispensed to Oedipus’ parents and himself. The characters do everything they can (ie. They exercise their free will) to avoid their fate but everything they do just seem to bring them closer and closer to fulfilling the prophecies.The big question is then whether anyone can be held morally responsible for his or her own actions if everything that happens is fated to happen.