Sophocles: The Ancient Greek Playwright

Sophocles is considered one of the greatest Greek play writers. He was the fist to add a third main character and the first to get rid of trilogic form. As a result, Sophocles had to shorten all of the “action,” therefore giving his plays a more dramatic effect.

Oedipus the King is perhaps one of the most famous and influential of Sophocles' plays. It is a tragic play which focuses on the discovery by Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. On the surface of this drama there is, without a doubt, a tone of disillusionment.

The work was written around 450 BC, a time of high Greek culture where literature and drama were placed at the forefront of society. Sophocles was a key player in this movement, and his plays were performed in a widespread area across ancient Greece and beyond. However, its popularity grew immensely as time went on, especially during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, when the fascination with the arts and the accomplishments

Sophocles was a greek poet known for his greek tragedies, stories and plays popular all across Greece, and even have a strong influence on today’s culture. Tragedies, which was such a large form of amusement that men who were actors could get out of military service at the time. Sophocles is prominent for his plays: Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. Despite the many plays he has made, the ones being distinguish here are Antigone and Oedipus the King. Antigone and Oedipus were tragic heroes. It is beneficial to know that Oedipus is Antigone’s father and sibling due to him unknowingly marrying his mother, Jocasta, and killing his own father Laius, committing

Hero. Hero comes from the greek word heros meaning “A person who faces adversity, or demonstrates courage, in the face of danger.” Growing up we have always read stories about heroes coming to save the day; for instance, Captain America. Being that our whole lives we were mostly exposed to heroism, have you ever asked yourself what is the opposite of a hero? A villain is the opposite of a hero, but their is another opposite form of a hero; a tragic hero. A Tragic hero is “A literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction” (“Tragic hero as defined by Aristotle”). For instance, in the play written by Sophocles Antigone, the tragic hero is Creon. Creon who is Antigone’s

Sophocles, a famous and renowned Greek dramatist, is the playwright to both the play Oedipus the King and Antigone. Along with Antigone and Oedipus Sophocles had also wrote Electra and Fete. Sophocles wrote many Greek tragedies which are plays in which the main character in the play suffers a tragedy due to some flaw of theirs. An example would be how Oedipus (thinking he is defying a prophecy) murders his father and weds his mother. His flaw was him trying to defy fate if he had not just stayed where he was he would’ve been fine. His works are referred to and taught all over the world in many schools along with colleges; this should give light to how will written his plays are and how

Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is someone of great importance or royalty. The hero must go through something terrible such as a relative’s death. We must feel what this character is feeling throughout the story. Aristotle also said that a tragic hero scan be defeated by a tragic flaw, such as hubris or human pride. In Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, both Creon and Antigone are tragic heroes.

In the plays of Sophocles, we see various form and displays of political power. It is shown in a variety of ways. In both plays we see very similar displays of political power. When you think of political power today it is very different to how it was viewed back in the time of Sophocles. Sophocles shows examples of political power in his plays and these examples have many connections to people or things. In King Oedipus, we see an arrogant and very mean king. He cares about what the people need and want but he is arrogant and mean about it at the same time. He is also very paranoid about the people around him. During the time of King Oedipus, the king literally controlled everything. Kings during this time often relied on others when it came to making decisions such as the gods. We can ask many questions when it comes to political power in the plays of Sophocles. Can an arrogant leader really make the right choices for the people? We have many examples of how these leaders used their political power. Political power in both of these stories had tragic outcomes. We can also ask if the rulers were really making mad decisions or if they were really just a victim of some unfortunate events. One thing is for sure, political power was really prevalent in the time of Sophocles and we can see that in both King Oedipus and Antigone. We also get a sense of how society and politics were in this period of time by learning from the writing of Sophocles and the actions of Creon and King

Sophocles was born in modern day Athens in 496 BC. His father was a wealthy merchant which enabled Sophocles to live life comfortably. He had the luxury of receiving a conventional aristocratic education. He would become well-known as a famous playwright throughout history. However there are different aspects of his life not as well-known. Experiences in Sophocles’ life influenced his written works which portrayed him as a politician and religious man (“Sophocles”).

Sophocles was born about 496 BC in Colonus Hippius which is now a part of Athens, Greece, he was to become one of the great playwrights of the golden age. Sophocles was the son of Laius and Jocasta, both wealthy in the city that Sophocles grew up in. Luckily, He was the son of a wealthy merchant, he would enjoy all the perks of a successful Greek empire. Sophocles was provided with the best education which would help him in many ways in the future of his life.

Sophocles was an ancient Athenian playwright who lived from 497 to 406 BC. He, Aeschylus, and Euripides are the most celebrated Ancient Greek playwrights. Sophocles was even superior to them in some ways, as he won 18 competitions, while Aeschylus won 14 and Euripides, 5. Sophocles produced 120 plays over the course of his life, many of which were lost over time or not recorded. He was an innovative creator because of his works and major contribution to the world of Greek Drama: the third actor. While such a contribution may seem insignificant to modern readers and interpreters, the addition of the third actor allowed for many elements of Greek Drama to undergo significant changes. Such a change allowed for a diminished role of the previously

Sophocles was born near Athens in the town of Colonus in 469 BC. His works were considered the pinnacle of Greek tragedy. He was the younger contemporary of Aeschylus and the older of Euripides. He witnessed the rise and fall of the Athenian Golden Age in his ninety-year lifespan. Sophocles was thought to had performed some of the roles in his early plays, but he was unable to continue as an actor. This was because of problems in his voice. He was a father of two sons and one of whom became a playwright. Sophocles died in 406

Sophocles is one of three Greek tragedians, Aeschylus and Euripides were the other two tragedians, whose plays have still survived to this day. Sophocles was born around 497 BC and he died in 406 BC, making him almost 92 years old when he passed. This Greek Tragedian did not start off his career in writing, instead he was chosen to lead the paean in a battle against the Persians. The Battle of Salamis was a decisive victory for the Greek in that sea battle, but this would not be Sophocles first victory. Sophocles took part in a Dionysian dramatic festival over 30 times where he produced nearly 123 dramas for this festival. Sophocles won 24 awards at this festival, in competition against Aeschylus with 13 and Euripides who had 4, but is said

A Greek play created by Sophocles around 335 BC, Oedipus the King tells a story about one man’s irony to find the previous’ king’s murderer to seek justice. Oedipus stops at nothing to find the killer. As he questions the citizens, he only finds himself to be the killer. In this essay we explore how one major event can create multiple forms of conflict. The conflicts of Human vs. supernatural, the predestined fate of Oedipus and the gods. Human vs. human, when Oedipus heeds no warnings and stops at nothing to find the truth behind his true identity. And lastly; human vs. self, where Oedipus’ curiosity puts him in a fight amongst himself that he cannot win.

A world freed of expectations will never exist because it’s a world we wouldn’t know how to live in. The literature we study today revolves around characters who succumb to such expectations. This concept is shown through exaggerations of events in dramas that are also tragedies. They gain this perspective by focusing on human struggles. Playwrights use this to show that despite the societies and the different time in history humanity refuses to evolve. Two well known playwrights who have managed to evoke the same message were Sophocles and Henrik Ibsen. Sophocles was a playwright from the 400 BC’s and Ibsen was a playwright from the early 1900’s. In their works they developed characters who were chained to what society told them to do.