Works by Sophocles
The Trachiniae
The Trachiniae, or the Trachinian Women, details the quest of Deianeira as she tries to make her husband Heracles fall back in love with her. Before Deianeira's marriage to Heracles, a centaur fell in love with her and trid to take her. Heracles the hero rode in and shot the centaur, saving his damsel in distress. As the centaur lay dying, he surreptitiously informed Deianeira that his blood would act as a love potion in case her husband ever lost interest in her. Years later, Heracles is away on quests of his own for long periods of time. He sends back a concubine named Iole to live with his wife in Trachis. In a desperate attempt to win back her husband, Deianeira pours the centaur's blood on a robe and sends it to Heracles, not knowing that it is actually a poison. Once she discovers that the blood is toxic, she rushes to prevent Heracles from ever donning the robe but she is too late. Both Heracles and Deianeira's son Hyllus now resent her as they see what the robe did. She kills herself due to guilt after learning how much pain she had caused her lover by her own ignorance. Hyllus returns with his father, who is on his deathbed. One of Heracles' dying wishes is for his son to marry Iole because he truly loves her and wants no one else but his son to marry her; but Hyllus has no intention of marrying the concubine who caused the death of his parents. After Heracles dies, leaving Hyllus an orphan, Hyllus carries out all of his father's dying wishes except one. He banishes Iole and orders her to leave. In this play, Heracles' indifference and dismissal to what is occurring with his family combine with Deianeira's ignorance lead to the tragic ending.
Philoctetes
Philoctetes takes place during the Trojan War. Philoctetes was ostracized and left on Lemnos by the Greeks on their way to Troy because he had a foot ulcer. Soon enough, the Greeks realize that in order to win at Troy, they need Philoctetes' help. Philoctetes owns a special bow which once belonged to Heracles. The Greeks assign the task of persuading Philoctetes to join them again to Ulysses, who is known for his cunning and craftiness. Bitter about being excluded merely for a foot ulcer, Philoctetes would most likely be enraged at the sight of Ulysses and attempt to kill him. Knowing this, Ulysses employs Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, as his envoy. Throughout the play, Neoptolemus faces two disparate personalities and schemes. He faces the moral dilemma of choosing to follow a deceitful and duplicitous Ulysses or an honest, genuine, sincere Philoctetes, who would be the last person to help the Greeks after their treatment of him. Throughout the majority of the plot, Neoptolemus works under Ulysses' command, but in the end, his better nature wins over and he joins Philoctetes. Although Ulysses and Neoptolemus do not succeed in winning Philoctetes back, Philoctetes returns to the Greek army at the urging of a divine intervention by Heracles and to heal his foot ulcer.
Ajax
Ajax is the eponymous title of a work centered around the protagonist, Ajax. He was regarded as one of the great heroes of the Trojan war. In this tragedy, the protagonist's pride is his tragic flaw that leads to his suicide. After the Trojan War and Achilles' death, he contends with Ulysses for the prize of Achilles' armor. When the armor is bestowed upon Ulysses, Ajax becomes somewhat deranged and attempts to kill all those who were involved in the affair, including Ulysses, Agamemnon, and Menelaus. However, Athena intervenes and he fails in his endeavor. Humiliated and crushed by his defeat, Ajax commits suicide by stabbing himself with his sword. Agamemnon and Menelaus initially left Ajax's corpse unburied, but Ulysses, who seems to understand how any mighty hero can fall into such ruin, convinces them to give him a proper burial.
Electra
Electra follows a tale of revenge that is often alluded to and told in other Greek works. After the Trojan War, Agamemnon returns home where his wife Clytemnestra is having an affair with Aegisthus. In order to prolong their illicit affair, the couple plots to kill Agamemnon upon his return and usurp his rule. After Agamemnon's murder, his son Orestes returns to avenge his father by killing Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Electra focuses on Orestes' sister, Electra, and her role in her brother's plot for revenge. In the play, Orestes spreads rumors of his death in order to gain access to the lovers' palace but Electra chances to hear this rumor and believes it to be true. After hearing about the death of her brother, Electra attempts to exact justice upon her mother and comes up with a revenge plot of her own. She tries to recruit her sister Chrysothemis in her plan, but her sister refuses. Electra discovers that her brother is still alive in a dramatic scene when Orestes in disguise gives his sister his supposed ashes. When he hands her the urn, she shows such a powerful display of love and grief over her brother's death that Orestes reveals himself to her. He then proceeds to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus and Electra receives her "happy" ending. Although this play does not end in the tragic death of the protagonist, there is ambiguity regarding the ending. It is often interpreted in two different ways: a triumph at the end of an agonizing period of hatred and despair, or the immutable distortion and corruption of Electra due to her long grudge and hatred towards her mother.
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King, also known as Oedipus Rex, is the king of Thebes, born to King Polybus of Corinth. Before he became king, Oedipus was traveling from Corinth to Thebes because the Oracle of Delphi prophesied that he would kill his father and marry his own mother. On the way, he encountered an old man and five of his servants. The two factions became engaged in an argument which ended with Oedipus killing the man and his servants. He becomes king after he saves Thebes from the Sphinx by answering its riddle. As a reward, he also wins Queen Jocasta, whose husband was killed. In this play, a plague strikes Thebes and Oedipus must search for a cure or a way to contain the spread of the disease. He again goes to the Oracle at Delphi and asks advice; he is told that he must find and punish the person who killed Jocasta's first husband, King Laius. However, as he digs into his investigation, Oedipus ultimately discovers that the old man with the five servants he had killed on the road to Thebes was none other than King Laius. Not only was Oedipus the murderer of King Laius, but he discovered that he was not the son of King Polybus of Corinth. His true father was King Laius, and his mother was Queen Jocasta, his wife. The children he had with his wife were also his siblings. The prophecy of the oracle came true: Oedipus slayed his father and married his mother. How did all this happen? Oedipus discovers that he was left abandoned to die by his parents, Laius and Jocasta, because the oracle informed them that their son would kill King Laius and marry his wife. Unknown to his birth parents, Oedipus survived and was raised by King Polybus of Corinth. When he heard the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, he left Corinth to prevent such a tragedy but ironically fulfilled the prophecy by doing so. After the discovery of the true state of affairs, Jocasta hangs herself as she realizes the horrid and shameful incidents of incest, patricide, and attempted infanticide. Oedipus, realizing he had killed his own father and had an incestual marriage with his mother, gouges his eyes out with needles. In the end, he ends up unable to physically see but is able to see the true facts of his life.
Oedipus at Colonus
Oedipus at Colonus is the sequel to Oedipus the King. In this play, Oedipus, now old and blind, has been exiled from Thebes after the tragic discoveries at the end of the previous play. His children reject him except for his daughters, Antigone and Ismene, who took care of him while he was in exile. Oedipus goes to a sacred grove at Colonus where Theseus, the king of Athens, grants him protection. Theseus stands by his word and defends Oedipus against his brother Creon's urgent pleas for help in Thebes. Polyneices, one of Oedipus' sons, approaches him for his aid in an attack on Thebes. Oedipus curses and spurns his son, refusing to help. In this play, Oedipus dies mysteriously. He is swallowed by the earth and becomes a divine force that defends Colonus, the place that offered him refuge from wandering in exile. Oedipus at Colonus is often lauded for its beauty in the melancholy mood and in its lyric odes.
Antigone
Antigone is named after the character Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, the late king of Thebes. The new king of Thebes is established as Creon, Antigone's uncle. Under his rule, her brother, Polyneices, is killed while attacking Thebes. Since he is already dead, Creon cannot punish Polyneices for his attack, but he decrees that anyone who buries his corpse will receive capital punishment. Antigone is fully aware of this decree, but she nevertheless buries her brother. Although Creon and Antigone are family, the king remains more faithful to legal duties than family ties and issues that Antigone should be put to death. The prophet Tiresias intervenes and admonishes Creon to free Antigone. Creon frees her only to find that she had killed herself in prison. This leads to the suicide of Haemon, Creon's son, who killed himself after hearing about the death of Antigone; Haemon's suicide then prompts Eurydice, Creon's wife, to commit suicide. Creon placed legal obligations over his person and familial obligations and disobeyed the gods by refusing to fulfill his proper duties; as a result, Creon is left alone, abandoned, and devastated by the death of his family.
Trackers
Trackers, unlike most of his other works, is a satyr play. This play tells of a myth of Apollo and Hermes. Hermes was a mischievous little boy. When he was merely a few days old, he dared to steal cattle from Apollo. He attempted to thwart efforts to find the missing cattle by reversing the tracks of the cattle so it seemed as if they went out of the cave and not into it. The gods discover Hermes' trick but are not overly angry; they are in fact more amused by his mischief. Hermes creates the lyre out of the shell of a tortoise and fits it with strings. Apollo is so entranced by the music that he offers to trade the lyre for a herd of cattle. Hermes then creates another instrument: the reed-pipe. Again, Apollo is so fascinated by its music that he offers his golden staff in exchange.
Sources
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/554733/Sophocles/
http://www.uvm.edu/~jbailly/courses/tragedy/student%20documents%20F06/Trachinian%20Women.html
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http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/ximages/Tragedy/thebanplays/OedatColonus.jpg
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http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Images/HerculesOeta.gif
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