Sophocles: The Complete Plays (Signet Classics)

Sophocles was the greatest of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Greece. He wrote over 100 plays of which only seven survive. Paul Roche has done a superb job in translating the extant plays in the same book. They include "Ajax", "Electra", "Philoctetes", "The Women of Trachis", and the three Oedipus plays: "Oedipus the King", "Oedipus at Colonus", and "Antigone."Sophocles was a master at understanding human nature and the consequences one faces when we don't act in a virtuous manner. In "Ajax" the hero at Troy becomes a raging terror when he is not awarded Achille's armor. He seeks a murderous revenge but a trick of Athena causes him to confuse sheep with men. His friends and family can only stand by while Ajax creates the ultimate revenge on himself.In "Electra" the daughter of the murdered Agamemnon seeks her revenge on her mother and paramour with her brother's help. It leads to tragic consequences when people can't learn to forgive. The murderous revenge was in response to the same murderous revenge her mother felt when Agamemnon sacrificed their infant daughter to gain a favorable wind to get to Troy."Philoctetes" is a study in what happens when care, friendship, and trust disappears. Philoctetes was abandoned by his shipmates years earlier because he was bitten on the heel by a poisonous snake. The moaning and stench from the festering wound caused his shipmates to abandon him on a deserted island. His only protection was a magic bow from Heracles that never misses its target. Years later Odysseus and Achilles' son, Neoptolemus returned to the island to get Philoctetes' bow. Neoptolemus tricks him by pretending to help him and then steals his bow. A change of heart and Heracles' intervention saved the day.In "The Women of Trachis" a jealous wife's remedy for her philandering husband has tragic consequences. When Deianeira found that her husband, Heracles, had sent a bedmate home to the palace it was the last straw. She gave him a cloak soaked with a potion that was supposed to make Heracles fall madly in love with her. What she didn't know was that the potion was designed to kill him."Oedipus the King" was clearly the play Sophocles was most famous for. This is the tragic story of a man fated to kill his father and marry his mother. His denial of this truth would have ruinous consequences that would span through the next generation. Oedipus would become a ruined man who would only find salvation at the end of his life in "Oedipus at Colonus", but tragedy would spread to those of his children in "Antigone". Death would take the lives of the two sons of Oedipus as they fought over the throne and when Creon, the new king, dishonors the dead the gods mete out justice.

I've read quite a few tragic plays, from Euripides, Aeschylus, Shakespeare, on to this work of Sophocles. As a tragedian, Sophocles has no match. He is very poetic, and also, he uses stories that communicate profound sentiments about humanity, as well as providing a necessary catharsis of those emotions. He is what he is said to be, a classic Hellenistic playwright and poet from Greece. If you haven't read this, you're not doing yourself the favor of reading something that is timeless, classic, but also inventive, and find yourself much more satisfied when you're finished than you could be by reading most contemporary works of fiction. If what you want is scholarly poetry in story form, this book is for you.

and I was not disappointed. Actually, what the Greek drama depicts is the human condition in all its aspects, good and bad. Not exactly like Shakespeare, but still a very good approximation of what humans do and think. I was not surprised that the ancients were not, in basic ways, not so different from us here in 2013.Very interesting reading. I read the first three plays in one sitting, could not put it down.If you've never delved into ancient Greek drama, this would be the book that would introduce you to it.Highly recommended.

I really like this translation, but the absence of line numbers makes it rather impossible to use it for anything other than reading.

The translations available to me when I was growing up were difficult at best. I'd rate this one as about the easiest one I've read. All of his great plays are in it and it is an enjoyable read.

I've always loved classic literature. I looked on line and found this book at Amazon. The book was delivered in a prompt fashion and in sound condition. Thanks again guys!

Arrived in perfect conditionExactly what I was looking for

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Outstanding translation in English.... Sometimes it makes us land in the mythical land of Greeks Heros and watch them unfold their lives before us..If one is searching for something deep about the mystery and dark secrets of life and fate, one must once in life fall in love with Greek literatures especially Sophoclese, Ascheleus and Euripides....

Very good quality edition with both forward, afterword, glossary and acting/directing notes it contains more than you Would expect from an edition costing under two pounds. As for the translation itself I find it a good clear narrative though not being versed in the greek I cannot compare the two for clarity, put against Robert Fagles translation for penguin this version reads as more accessible so is probably more suited to those new to the subject. Overall a good edition that I could easily recommend.

Putting aside the books state of mass-market paperback, and ignoring the argument that the typography, page design, paper quality have not just a slight, but serious impact on the way books are read, this is Sophocles translated by a poet. So far I've read the Oedipus trilogy, and was simply amazed - I could not stop reading. The pacing and poetry of the translation (as of the original Greek no doubt) is simply breathtaking. I've told my little brother, reading some typically trashy modern detective novel by Grisham-NoraRoberts-StephenKing (as if it made a difference!) "PUT THAT DOWN!! Read this!!! It's the best entertainment reading you'll ever do, you'll never get bored, unlike those silly novels you're reading (quite frankly they bore the wits out of me), and it has the added quality of actually having something to it." Anyone from 14 to 114 can read this with pleasure, get something out of it - great literature can be interpreted in thousands of different ways, sentences, themes, and only burn the stronger for it.

You really get your money’s worth with signet classics. This book with Sophocles’ plays was my first exposure to greek literature and also to greek mythology in general. This edition is easy to read while not compromising on the poetry and beauty of Sophocles’ genius.

Sophocles: such an amazing writer. His words translated to another language still evokes deep emotions after centuries.