'O Light! May I never look on you again, Revealed as I am, sinful in my begetting, Sinful in marriage, sinful in shedding of blood!' The legends surrounding the royal house of Thebes inspired Sophocles (496-406 BC) to create a powerful trilogy of mankind's struggle against fate. King Oedipus tells of a man who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he does not realise he has committed, and then inflicts a brutal punishment upon himself. With profound insights into the human condition, it is a devastating portrayal of a ruler brought down by his own oath. Oedipus at Colonus provides a fitting conclusion to the life of the aged and blinded king, while Antigone depicts the fall of the next generation, through the conflict between a young woman ruled by her conscience and a king too confident in his own authority. E. F. Watling's masterful translation is accompanied by an introduction, which examines the central themes of the plays, the role of the Chorus, and the traditions and staging of Greek tragedy. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
ISBN-10
0140440038
ISBN-13
9780140440034
eBay Product ID (ePID)
63420
Product Key Features
Book Title
Theban Plays : King Oedipus; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone
Author
Sophocles
Format
Uk-B Format Paperback
Language
English
Topic
Classics, European / General, Ancient & Classical
Publication Year
1950
Genre
Drama, Fiction
Number of Pages
176 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
7.7in
Item Height
0.6in
Item Width
5in
Item Weight
4.7 Oz
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
Pa4414
Grade from
Twelfth Grade
Grade to
Up
Reviews
"[Oedipus the King] is Sophocles' most famous play and the most celebrated play of Greek drama . . . Aristotle cites it as the best model for a tragic plot . . . Freud recognized the play's power to dramatize the process by which we uncover hidden truths about ourselves . . . Sophocles is more interested in how Oedipus pieces together the isolated fragments of his past to discover who and what he is and in tracing the hero's response to this new vision of himself."-from the Introduction by Charles Segal
Table of Content
The Theban PlaysIntroduction The Theban Legend King Oedipus The Legend Continued Oedipus at Colonus The Legend Continued Antigone Notes to King Oedipus Notes to Oedipus at Colonus Notes to Antigone