Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King Oedipus at Colonus Antigone

Sophocles, 495？ BCE-406 BCEProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.8

Word count: 207K words
Chapters: 21

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone by Sophocles. Author: Sophocles, 495? BCE-406 BCE. Language: English. Class: PA: Language and Literatures: Classical Languages and Literature. Release Date: Mar 8, 2006

Editor's review

This Project Gutenberg edition of Sophocles' plays collects Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. All three center on the house of Oedipus, and read in sequence they reveal conflicts among fate, the city-state, family bonds, and law. Oedipus the King drives toward the truth through the search for a murderer; Oedipus at Colonus deals with exile in old age and final resting place; Antigone brings the conflict between burying a kinsman and the city's decree to the fore. The public-domain English ebook is convenient for searching character names and key passages and suits reading on classical literature, drama, and ethical questions. Read in trilogy order: first clarify the characters and prior events, then focus on the chorus's odes and the clashes of position in the dialogue, and afterward compare how the different plays handle fate and responsibility.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in ancient Greek tragedy and the roots of Western drama
Students taking courses in classical literature, drama, or ethics
Readers who want to understand the story of the house of Oedipus through three consecutive plays
Readers who need a public-domain English text for comparison and quotation

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer light entertainment and are uncomfortable with tragic material
Readers unfamiliar with ancient Greek myth who are unwilling to look up character relationships
Beginning readers expecting line-by-line annotations and an introduction to a modern translation

Reading tips

Read in the order Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, and clarify the causes and consequences of the family's events.
Before reading, learn the basic outline of the Oedipus myth to avoid stumbling over character relationships.
Notice differences in position between the chorus's odes and the characters' dialogue, and record the points of conflict among fate, law, and family bonds.
After each play, summarize the core conflict in a few sentences, then compare how the three works handle responsibility differently.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Are these three plays connected in sequence?

Yes. All three center on the house of Oedipus. In terms of events, Oedipus the King reveals his origins and the truth, Oedipus at Colonus recounts his exile and final resting place in old age, and Antigone shows his offspring facing the conflict between the city's decree and family bonds. Reading in this order makes them easier to understand.

Can I read this without any background in ancient Greek drama?

You can, but it is best to learn the basic character relationships of the Oedipus myth first and to accept that a public-domain English text may lack detailed annotations. If it feels difficult, use reliable introductory material or course lectures, then return to the original for close reading.

What are the practical features of this edition?

This is a public-domain English ebook from Project Gutenberg. The text is searchable and convenient for quotation and comparison, but it usually does not come with line-by-line annotations or an introduction to a modern translation. It suits self-study by readers with some background or use as a supplementary course text.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Sophocles, 495？ BCE-406 BCE Author

Sophocles (c. 495 BCE–406 BCE) was one of the three great tragedians of ancient Greece. Thirteen of his works are held here, including Antigone, Oedipus the King, Elektra, Oedipus at Colonus, Plays of Sophocles, and The Seven Plays in English Verse. His plays draw mainly on myth and heroic legend; they are tightly structured, with compact plotting and vivid characters, and his choruses and dialogue work in close harmony. He excelled at portraying human choice and suffering amid conflicts of fate and ethics, and the discovery and reversal in Oedipus the King have been especially admired by later ages. These works have deeply influenced the Western dramatic tradition and are still read, translated, and performed today. Because public information is limited, details of his life are omitted here.