Ajax - Sophocles

Advantages: good stories
Disadvantages: that chorus ahhhhh

...There are three plays in this particular text from Penguin. It is somewhat of a standard on university English courses. The plays are Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. They deal with the history of Oedipus (as in the Complex of Freud). Unwittingly Oedipus kills his father, ends up becoming king in his place and marries his mother. They have children between them and eventually come to know the secret. The main characters are interrelated needless to say and the conflicts are internecine. For example, Sophocles two sons are engaged in warfare against each other for the kingship. Ismene and Antigone, his two daughters, also come to grief at the hands of relations. The nature of the conflicts is a reflection of the stories of the gods themselves. They all tend to inbreed and be fighting against each other. There is also... Read review

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Advantages: Classic Greek drama
Disadvantages: Won't appeal to everyone

...I’ve always been kind of interested in Greeks and mythology, but it was something I never really took up. In the course of my degree, however, I studied both Plato and Aristotle, and their thoughts on Greek art and drama in particular. In ancient Greek society, everyone knew their Homer and poets were quoted as authorities on just about anything by the educated. Excerpts from great works (many lost) are dotted throughout Plato’s dialogues and Aristotle’s works, and there are many other references. This inspired me to buy some Greek plays, but sadly it was in my final year of my degree so it wasn’t until after the exams I had time to read them! Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex was considered by his contemporaries to be his finest play, so it is just as well it is one of the seven (out of 123) that survive in full! It’s much admired by Aristotle... Read review

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Advantages: It's fairly easy to follow, interesting themes to be explored, based on well-known Oedipus
Disadvantages: Not a lot of action, religious/mythology references may pass you by

...Greek drama wasn’t like most modern stories, for being based on legends everyone knew who the characters were, and at least the main gist of the plot. I’m sure most of you know Oedipus killed his father and married his mother, even if you haven’t seen or read the play. The job of tragic poets was to tell the tales with their own twist, thus you would often find several of them seizing on the same famous myth, but giving slightly different versions of it. Aeschylus (?525-456BC) was the earliest of the great tragic poets, before Sophocles and Euripides. Apparently he practically invented the genre, even being the one to introduce a second actor to proceeding. Details are hard to verify though – only seven of an estimated 90-100 plays remain. The Seven Against Thebes is the final part of a trilogy dealing with Oedipus – although the first... Read review

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