Literary Analysis Essay on Sophocles

Introduction

Sophocles is one of the three great Greek tragedians whose works have survived generations and generations. Some people like Plutarch who was a great admirer of his work actually mentioned that Sophocles had observed three periods of his work with his early work as the imitation of the great Aeschylus. He later developed different styles of writing that were deemed bitter and artificial, but perhaps his major breakthrough was in his later works in which his tragedies portrayed the full use of characters. Basically, his earliest innovations were the addition of the third character which was very important in his work as it created more opportunities for the development of his style and logic in drama. Despite having a greater reservation for his work, Sophocles was creative and in his early life, he was respectful enough to imitate the work of Aeschylus. In particular, his third stage of writing was the unique one in which he favored distinction and developed characters who were natural in their performances in terms of their attitudes and feelings. Ideally, Sophocles was one of the best famous Greek playwrights who focused more on tragic contemporary styled pieces and has been awarded numerous times for his work.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Despite following in the footsteps of Aeschylus in writing tragedies, his initial idea was not to write tragedies the same way Aeschylus did but to modify tragedies in his own unique styles. According to Calame, Sophocles was very innovative compared to his counterparts in Greek's theater industry. He introduced different innovations in the drama that were later adopted in the staging and the performance of the Greek drama. These innovations included the introduction of the third actor which was also used by Aeschylus himself and reinforced the reduction of the role of Chorus in drama. He also came up with scene painting which and the incorporation of the large chorus which was highly welcome in Greek theaters. However, certain reports claim that Sophocles great accomplishment and a real contribution to Greek literature was his unique approach to plot and character (Knox and Bernard). This is his main difference with his predecessor Aeschylus whose tendency focuses more on generational stories or an entire household. In Sophocles' version of tragedies, however, and as time went by, he focused more upon an individual hero as opposed to an entire household. In most of his work unlike most Greek playwrights, the character of an individual hero always steers the story. According to Calame, even the naming style of Sophocles' tragedies differ extensively from Aeschylus. Aeschylus, for example, tends to draw the title of his tragedies from either choruses or mythical creatures. On the hand, Sophocles' tragedies were often titled after an individual hero character. For example, six out of seven of Sophocles' extant tragedies are named from the hero character. Moreover, it is because of its style of characterization that he did not include connected trilogies but separately to deal individually with a different character.

One unique quality of Sophocles' tragedies is his approach to the character. From the beginning of his work, his approach to the character was different from those of the Greek playwrights, and particularly different from Aeschylus who championed the initial tragedies. Sophocles' approach to character completely reconstructed the original Aeschylean drama in so many ways. For instance, according to Segal (np.), the passage of monologue from Aeschylus works which were always deemed to belong was replaced to include dialogue. Initially, the passage monologues from Aeschylean drama were always meant to introduce the drama and were always important in understanding what preceded. However, these passages were long and tedious and sometimes with less important information. For this reason, Sophocles introduced a short but a well-explained dialogue which incorporated the information needed by the audience in the form of a conversation between characters. In addition, his approach to the character was unique in that he used the exchange of characters with a unique point of views in his various literary works such as in Antigone and Creon, to highlight for the audience the crucial insight into the psychological motivation of each character. This indicates that Sophocles' tragedies were not only meant to entertain but also to educate and comfort the audience on various troubles in life.

Furthermore, the psychological motivations as observed from most of his individual hero characters are considered to be a key feature in his tragedies. For example, through psychological motivation, Sophocles tries to highlight the role of fate which was popular among the Greek religious society. Looking at some of his literary works such as the Teucer, Oedipus, and Antigone, Sophocles always strives to incorporate the supernatural theme and fulfillment of certain prophesy or Oracle (Goldhill and Edith). However, his belief in supernatural as portrayed in most of his tragedies does not mean that he believed that humans are confined to a given fate always presided by the goods. To him, and from his pieces of work, the characters' choices often determine their destiny. For example, in Antigone, Creon refuses to accept his perceived fate and believes that he is the only one who can make his own destiny. Antigone, on the other hand, believes in destiny and accepts the fate from the onset and strictly follows it to the end. Moreover, despite the popular Greek opinion that the gods are often in control of destiny, some Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus believed that one's character shapes his or her own destiny. Similarly, just like Heraclitus, Sophocles in his tragedies tries to follow this narrative and portrays that the gods may understand one's fate in terms of troubles and success, but they are, however, not always the cause of the trouble that befalls Sophocles' characters.

According to Knox and Bernard, Sophocles presented his dramas with few characters but often impressive in their endeavors and determination. Unlike most of the Greek writers, he managed to incorporate certain strongly drawn qualities or faults or a character together with unique circumstances that gradually led them to a particular fate. His concentration in developing these characters and plot was unique and economical as he created a coherent but attracting situations that efficiently directed the characters to a various inevitable tragic fate. For example, in Antigone, Sophocles presents the character of Creon as powerfully built but often weary man affected by the burdens of power. He distances himself from Oedipus and its aspirations to avoid a bad fate. This is unlike Antigone's character full of life and enthusiasm which is determined to challenge the authorities no matter the consequence. In the end, Antigone dies; a fate that gradually followed Antigone as a character and certain circumstance that drove her ambitions such as the death of her own brother. Additionally, in Sophocles' plays, this tragic flow of circumstances as portrayed in Antigone's case is the very same quality brought the heroism in other characters. These qualities can be seen in Oedipus's thirst for knowledge and information, Ajax pride that could not be moved, Heracles' mistaken confidence that he can do anything and Antigone's inability to compromise.

Perhaps what was most unique about Sophocles' pieces was his use of language. According to certain reports, Sophocles understanding of literature was of a high level. He language use often responds flexibly to the dramatic circumstances as they appear (Segal np.). In different scenes, he could portray sad emotions or a happy mood depending on the circumstance surrounding the characters. Even to his counterparts, his mastery of form and diction was unbelievable and could as well present a swift-moving or a ponderous weighty situation to portray to the audience exactly what the character feels and how precisely the surrounding looks like. In addition, Sophocles in his plays has also been seen to incorporate sympathy and vividness in an effort to delineates his characters and their unique emotions. In Oedipus the King, for instance, Sophocles portrays vividness and compassion in Teiresias character. He describes Teiresias as the old and cranky fellow who is naturally blind but can see better than those around him (Goldhill and Edith np.). Even though the character only shows up in one scene of the play, he gives a lot of insight into Sophocles art in vivid description and in engaging the true emotions of the audience. Aristotle himself deemed this play as a masterpiece of construction which had never been seen in the theaters of Athens. He also notes Sophocles masterpiece in his use of iron which is considered to be unsurpassed in his moments of high dramatic tension.

Considering the criticism that surrounds Sophocles, one could conclude that he was not only a good playwright but also a great individual character. Most of his counterparts and theater lovers in Athens believed that Sophocles was a master in religion and understood certain aspects that were beyond Aeschylus. In addition, his intellectual prominence had already surpassed the likes of Euripides; however, his most important attribute to the Greeks and the world around him was his acceptance of the gods of the Greek religion. In most of his tragedies like Antigone, he gives insight to the beliefs of Greeks in fate and religion and shades more light to their ways to none Greeks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Sophocles became one of the best and famous Greek playwrights who focused more on tragic contemporary styled pieces. His work begun with a pure imitation of Aeschylean drama but later developed his styles to include a more contemporary feature. For instance, his invention of the third character in tragedies complete changed the scene and allowed the dramatists to increase the number of his characters as wells as increase the variety of their interactions. Similarly, as evidence suggests, his invention of the scene painting completely changed theaters as he gave his own unique locale and atmosphere. However, his most unique contribution to Greek theaters is his approach to characters which affected the construction of initial Aeschylean tragedies. He eliminated the long and boring passage monologues and presented the ideas in a dialogue in which information is broken down by a conversation between characters.

Work Cited

Calame, Claude. Tragedy and the tragic: Greek theatre and beyond. Ed. Michael Stephen Silk. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

Knox, Bernard M., and Bernard Mac Gregor Walker Knox. The heroic temper: studies in Sophoclean tragedy. No. 35. Univ of California Press, 1964.

Segal, Charles. Tragedy and civilization: an interpretation of Sophocles. Vol. 26. University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.

Goldhill, Simon, and Edith Hall, eds. Sophocles and the Greek tragic tradition. Cambridge University Press, 2009.