Reviews
"Mortals cannot escape their destiny." To say each play is a tragedy would be an understatement. Happy to have finally read the source of Freud's Oedipux complex. As always, the women of ancient Greek society were always belittled and disrespected by the men.
Antigone was the best play. The rest is just a bunch of men being dramatic and making long speeches.
enjoyed these greatly! Read the Storr translation for all three and also read the Woodruff translation of Antigone because it was my favourite.
Really like Robert Fagles
Sometimes I’m not sure what to say about classics. I had always meant to get around to reading these and I’m so glad I did. I personally really enjoyed them and the way fate weaves its way through these characters lives. I went ahead and read them in the order the penguin classics edition had them in and all the introduction/background information as well and I felt that was really helpful to deepen my understanding of the plays. I liked them all so much, it’s hard to choose a favorite but I may be partial to Antigone.
A great pick for enriching oneself with golden age of Athens✨ Sophocles’s portrayal of Oedipus is parallel to the ideal trait of an Athenian if analysed. The plays are epic tragedies. One can never go wrong with classic literature ❤️.
I’ve always wanted to read more plays, especially Greek tragedy and the Three Theban Plays are a good place to start. The prophecies and grief that surround Oedipus are probably one of the more well known stories, and it was great to read more about his life and destiny after his exile. I would highly recommend for anyone who wants to know more in-depth knowledge about all the events that transpired.
I'll start this review by saying that I am definitely not the target audience. While I enjoy attending the occasional play and love Shakespeare, I find that reading most plays leaves something to be desired. That being said, I found this particular plays very limited in scope. Perhaps that's due to both the genre and the time in which they were written. The plot was incredibly easy to predict. (Although I suspect that even the mildest familiarity with Greek mythology will render the plots of these plays predictable.) It was a decent translation, fairly easy to read. I would recommend this book to those who either love plays or want to read through the classics. (Of course, I also recommend it to people who want to do both.) If you're not a fan of either of those things, this book is probably not your cup of tea.
*3.5
