Day 1 SOPHOCLES

Sophocles (496-406 B.C.
Sophocles was born in Colonnus and enjoyed the comforts of being a

rich merchant’s son by dwelling in a lovely village home. He led a sheltered life,
carefully trained in music and grew in beauty of body and soul; it is said that he
was so handsome in face and body that when the Athenians wanted to
celebrate their victory at Salamis and wanted the most good-looking youth who
could be found to lead the choir of boys, he was chosen as the choral leader.
He was about thirty (30) years younger than Aeschylus, whose plays he
must have seen and admired. It is said that for twelve (12) years he trained
himself and studied to become a playwright.
It is not known exactly when he won in a play contest against Aeschylus;

but it is related that when the two competed for the prize, feelings ran so high
that the judging of the competition was entrusted to a board of generals.
One hundred (100) plays followed his first victory. In all he won eighteen
(18) first prizes; he never placed lower than second prize. Every prize was
conferred on a trilogy—meaning not only one play, but three plays. Hence it
was not only eighteen plays but fifty-four rated as the best. He was a remarkable
person. He was the darling of the Athenian populace; he disproved the saying
that a genius must be unrecognized in his own age.
His greatest play is Oedipus the King. This was followed by Oedipus at
Colonnus and Antigone.
Oedipus Rex: A Summary
Oedipus is the king of Thebes because fifteen years ago, he saved Thebe
by solving the riddle of the Sphinx. In gratitude, the elders offered him in
marriage Queen Jocasta and the throne left vacant by recently-murdered King
Lauis. At the opening of the play, Thebes is facing another crisis—pestilence and
plague—so he sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to seek guidance from Apollo’s
oracle. The oracle’s answer requires that he purge the city of Laius’s murderer.
Oedipus commits himself to this task but makes slow progress at learning the
truth because those who know—Apollo’s seer, a messenger, and a shepherd—
refuse to provide any information. Instead, Teiresias issues dire warning and
prophecies.
Oedipus in his pursuit of the truth despite the pleas of Jocasta ad the
elders/chorus to let the matter rest. To discredit Teiresias, Jocasta even goes so
far as to reveal her abandonment of her infant son to protect against an earlier
prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus reveal that he
fled from Corinth in an effort to escape from a similar oracle. The messenger and
the Shepherd finally verify that Oedipus was abandoned prince of Thebes,
Oedipus realizes that Teiresias has correctly identified him as the “rotting canker”
of Thebes. Horrified at her incestuous marriage, Jocasta hangs herself. On
finding her, Oedipus blinds himself in guilt, grief and disgust and asks Creon to
send him to exile. The plays end with banishment.
Oedipus Rex: An Exerpt

O Tiresias,
master of all the mysteries of our life,
all you teach and all you dare not tell,
signs in the heavens, signs that walk the earth!
Blind as you are, you can feel all the more
what sickness haunts our city. You, my lord,
are the one shield, the one savior we can find.
We asked Apollo—perhaps the messengers
haven't told you—he sent his answer back:
"Relief from the plague can only come one way.
Uncover the murderers of Laius,
put them to death or drive them into exile."
So I beg you, grudge us nothing now, no voice,
no message plucked from the birds, the embers
or the other mantic ways within your grasp.
Rescue yourself, your city, rescue me—
rescue everything infected by the dead.
We are in your hands. For a man to help others
with all his gifts and native strength:
that is the noblest work.
TIRESIAS:
How terrible—to see the truth
when the truth is only pain to him who sees!
I knew it well, but I put it from my mind,
else I never would have come.
OEDIPUS:
What's this? Why so grim, so dire?
TIRESIAS:
Just send me home. You bear your burdens,
I'll bear mine. It's better that way,
please believe me.
OEDIPUS:
Strange response . . . unlawful,
unfriendly too to the state that bred and reared you—
you withhold the word of god.
I fail to see
that your own words are so well-timed.
I'd rather not have the same thing said of me . . .
OEDIPUS:
For the love of god, don't turn away,
not if you know something. We beg you,
all of us on our knees.
TIRESIAS:
None of you knows—
and I will never reveal my dreadful secrets,
not to say your own.
OEDIPUS:
What? You know and you won't tell?
You're bent on betraying us, destroying Thebes?
TIRESIAS:
I'd rather not cause pain for you or me.
So why this . . . useless interrogation?
You'll get nothing from me.
OEDIPUS:
Nothing! You,
you scum of the earth, you'd enrage a heart of stone!
You won't talk? Nothing moves you?
Out with it, once and for all!
TIRESIAS:
You criticize my temper . . . unaware
of the one you live with, you revile me.
OEDIPUS:
Who could restrain his anger hearing you?
What outrage—you spurn the city!
TIRESIAS:
What will come will come.
Even if I shroud it all in silence.
OEDIPUS:
What will come? You're bound to tell me that.
TIRESIAS:
I will say no more. Do as you like, build your anger
to whatever pitch you please, rage your worst—
OEDIPUS:
Oh I'll let loose, I have such fury in me—
now I see it all. You helped hatch the plot,
you did the work, yes, short of killing him
with your own hands—and given eyes I'd say
you did the killing single-handed!
TIRESIAS:
Is that so!
I charge you, then, submit to that decree
you just laid down: from this day onward
speak to no one, not these citizens, not myself.
You are the curse, the corruption of the land!
OEDIPUS:
You, shameless—
aren't you appalled to start up such a story?
You think you can get away with this?
TIRESIAS:
I have already.
The truth with all its power lives inside me.
OEDIPUS:
Who primed you for this? Not your prophet's trade.
TIRESIAS:
You did, you forced me, twisted it out of me.
OEDIPUS:
What? Say it again—I'll understand it better.
TIRESIAS:
Didn't you understand, just now?
Or are you tempting me to talk?
OEDIPUS:
No, I can't say I grasped your meaning.
Out with it, again!
TIRESIAS:
I say you are the murderer you hunt.
OEDIPUS:
That obscenity, twice—by god, you'll pay.
TIRESIAS:
Shall I say more, so you can really rage?
OEDIPUS:
Much as you want. Your words are nothing—
futile.
TIRESIAS:
You cannot imagine . . . I tell you,
you and your loved ones live together in infamy,
you cannot see how far you've gone in guilt.
OEDIPUS:
You think you can keep this up and never suffer? 420
TIRESIAS:
Indeed, if the truth has any power.
OEDIPUS:
It does
but not for you, old man. You've lost your power,
stone-blind, stone-deaf--senses, eyes blind as stone!
TIRESIAS:
I pity you, flinging at me the very insults
each man here will fling at you so soon.
OEDIPUS:
Blind,
lost in the night, endless night that nursed you!
You can't hurt me or anyone else who sees the light—
you can never touch me.
TIRESIAS:
True, it is not your fate
to fall at my hands. Apollo is quite enough,
and he will take some pains to work this out.
OEDIPUS:
Creon! Is this conspiracy his or yours?
TIRESIAS:
Creon is not your downfall, no, you are your own.

Day 1 SOPHOCLES

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Day 1 SOPHOCLES

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Sophocles (496-406 B.C.

Sophocles was born in Colonnus and enjoyed the comforts of being a

It is not known exactly when he won in a play contest against Aeschylus;

Oedipus Rex: A Summary

Oedipus Rex: An Exerpt

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