Electra, The Women Of Trachis And Philoctetes (Classics S.)

by Sophocles (Author), David Raeburn (Translator), David Raeburn (Translator), Sophocles (Author), E. Watling (Translator), Pat Easterling (Introduction)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.50

  All three of the great tragic poets of ancient Greece produced plays about the Electra myth. If Sophocles (496-406 B.C.) lacks the archaic grandeur of Aeschylus or the neurotic intensity of Euripides, his version is supreme for its power and humanity.

• New

  Paperback
  2008

  $12.73

  Sophocles' innovative plays transformed Greek myths into dramas featuring complex human characters, through which he explored profound moral issues. Electra portrays the grief of a young woman for her father Agamemnon, who has been killed by her mother's lover. Aeschylus and Euripides also dramatized this story, but the objectivity and humanity of Sophocles' version provides a new perspective. Depicting the fall of a great hero, Ajax examines the enigma of power and weakness combined in one being, while the Women of Trachis portrays the tragic love and error of Heracles' deserted wife Deianeira, and Philoctetes deals with the conflict between physical force and moral strength.