The Three Theban Plays

The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus The King, Oedipus At Colonus

by Sophocles

3.83 out of 5 (9 ratings)

Format:
Paperback 
Pages:
432 
Publisher:
Penguin Books Ltd 
Publication Date:
31 May 1984 
Category:
Books 
ISBN:
9780140444254 

Description

Antigone defending her integrity and ideals to the death, Oedipus questing for his identity and achieving immortality - these heroic figures have moved playgoers and readers since the fifth century BC. Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, these plays are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles' translation conveys all of Sophocles' lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of his choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters.

Showing 1-4 out of 11 reviews. Previous | Next

  • Great book including the stories of epic Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone. Sophocles is an amazing author. Oedipus is a man who tries to avoid his prophecy, which is to kill his father and marry his mother. Not only marry his mother, but also have four children with her. Now, he searches for an answer to his question: Has he fulfilled the prophecy? Think your life has drama? Please. Oedipus has it worse than anyone. In Antigone, she goes against the law to bury her brother. What will win, reason and order or morality and fate? Beautifully written and relative even today.

    5.00 out of 5

    camarie

  • Freud loved this shizzle. it is a classic. whether or not I want to kill my dad. oh wait, I'm sure of.

    4.00 out of 5

    TakeItOrLeaveIt

  • This is a modern and inferior translation. The third of the three plays, Antigone, is Greek tragedy at its classic best. Antigone is Oedipus' daughter who defies King Creon's order against burying her brother. He banishes her to be buried in an island dungeon. She hangs herself and Creon 's son and wife commit suicide.

    4.00 out of 5

    Schmerguls

  • The Cliff/Spark version of <em>Antigone </em>is this: Two sisters want to bury their dead brother. One wants to bury him admirably and the other doesn't want to break the law. He cannot be buried because he was executed for a crime and must be left to rot in the courtyard as an example for the community. Defiant sister must go against the king alone as everyone refuses to help her. True to Greek tragedy nearly everyone, including the king's wife ends up committing suicide. The end.Of course there is much, much more to the story and, depending on which version you read, you get it. In my version of <em>Antigone </em>translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff the language is watered down and somewhat pedestrian. It's not as lyrical as other translations. A small example: from a 1906 Oxford Clarendon Press version (translated by Robert Whitelaw): "Ismene: There's trouble in thy looks, thy tidings tell" compared with the 1954 University of Chicago Press version (translated by Elizabeth Wycoff): "Ismene: What is it? Clearly some news has clouded you" (p 159). Ismene is basically saying the same thing in each line, but the Whitelaw version has more animation, more movement. In the end <em>Antigone</em>is a simple story about the man against The Man, no matter how you read it.

    4.00 out of 5

    SeriousGrace

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