Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: I'm not one to pick up a book of plays with enthusiasm. In fact, I'm not one to pick up a book of plays in the first place. But when we were instructed to read The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles, my eyes were glued to its pages! Much like Homer's Odyssey, this book has all of the components of a good reading. It has suspense, romance, fear, and best of all, the tragedy that completes it all. I must say that I adored Oedipus in Colonus the most, and I thought it to be intriguing as well as heartwrenching.

Do not hesitate in your next trip to the library if you see this book lining its shelves! Take a look, and I assure you that you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Freedom Within Destiny and The Sacred
Review: .
This is a moving book that stays with you. It conveys the idea of tragedy and life's hand of cards dealt to each one of us. Paul Roche's translation of Sophocles is excellent and his introduction is wonderful to read both before and after reading the plays.

Here are the stories of Oedipus, the King of Thebes, respectively Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. It all began with the words of the gods spoken through an oracle and thus the words eventually become fulfilled, for you cannot outwit, nor cheat the oracle.

The ultimate lesson one finds, as outlined in Roche's intro, is that each one of us are handed a destiny in life and it is in vain to attempt to do otherwise, to cease what is handed to us prior our births. However, there is the human freedom of the will and with this we make decisions and act, all so within the predetermined destiny we are given. And so it is, Oedipus is foretold that he will murder his father and marry his mother and despite all efforts to prevent this, it ultimately becomes fulfilled.

Now what is so beautiful and yet tragic is beauty seen in suffering, the final outcome in some ways is honorary, yet painful; ugly yet divine; disturbing, yet positive in meaning. In King Oedipus' suffering he is finally vindicated, accepted by the King of Athens, and yet dies while being an outcast by many but with honor and pride of himself and his actions subsequent his many years of suffering blind, walking in the harsh desert with his daughter Antigone. His two son's deaths, the predecessor King of Thebes, Creon also reaps tragedy in a major and soul stirring way. The ultimate death of Antigone, Creon's son and wife, the vindication of Oedipus and self punishment of Creon's pride; there are many lessons, many meanings in these three stories. The tragedy conveyed is that of a nature of pessimism and yet a numinous quality of the irrational in the Dionysian, in the void of Being, in the sacred as opposed to the profane.

Now as far as Freud is concerned with his 20th century psychoanalysis he labels the "Oedipus Complex," I can understand the similarity with the sexual attraction towards a parent, however I find there is really no connection here with the plays of Sophocles and that of Freud. There simply is no relation towards the desires of murder and sex, as these actions were entirely accidental and pre-determined by the gods, by the oracle. So in line with this, taking it much further, that is, to those Jim Morrison listener's of music, there is great difference in the original intent of Sophocles and that of the mantra uttering "Kill the Father, F---- the Mother."

What also makes these plays so enlightening is the origin from a totally non-theistic society far apart from the monotheistic mindset of the Western civilization, as we know it and so deeply ingrained in both thought and rational analysis.

Rating:
Summary: Oedipus the King!!
Review: I didn't read all three plays. I only read Oedipus the King for my Greek Mythology class. Before I start reading, I was so panic because I personally don't like reading plays. But this play is much easier than Shakespear's!! First I thought the play is little bit sick, I mean Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. But once you understand the entire story, I feel sorry and pity him. It seems just his fate. This play is a good example of exercising free will or its just his fate. It's a way to look humanism at Greek at that time period, but it can still relate to us nowaday! It's definitely a Greek Tragedy, but it's worth reading and knowing this play. You can also learn some history backgrounds and tragedies at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and captivating!
Review: I must admit, I have difficulty reading plays done in poetry. (I read "Hamlet" a thousand times and I still don't know the details about Rosencrantz and Guilderstern!) When I picked up this book, I was expecting it to be the same deal. But it wasn't. I couldn't put this book down! "Oedipus at Colonus" is so powerful and dramatic! The other two are equally compelling. I guess I'm giving this such a glowing review because I love Greek mythology, but I can't help loving this! Paul Roche is a wonderful translator. This translation can be performed in front of a modern audience without problems in understanding at all. I really must owe the credit to Sophocles for my favourite moments. The endings "Oedipus the King" (where a messenger describes Jocasta's death and Oedipus blinding himself) and where in "Oedipus at Colonus" a man describes Oedipus going into the light before Theseus's eyes- they moved me so much. I recommend this translation to anyone who wants to enrich their lives with a timeless and simple story about human nature.

Rating:
Summary: Very captivating
Review: I must admit, I have difficulty reading plays done in poetry. (I read "Hamlet" a thousand times and I still don't know the details about Rosencrantz and Guilderstern!) When I picked up this book, I was expecting it to be the same deal. But it wasn't. I couldn't put this book down! "Oedipus at Colonus" is so powerful and dramatic! The other two are equally compelling. I guess I'm giving this such a glowing review because I love Greek mythology, but I can't help loving this! Paul Roche is a wonderful translator. This translation can be performed in front of a modern audience without problems in understanding at all. I really must owe the credit to Sophocles for my favourite moments. The endings "Oedipus the King" (where a messenger describes Jocasta's death and Oedipus blinding himself) and where in "Oedipus at Colonus" a man describes Oedipus going into the light before Theseus's eyes- they moved me so much. I recommend this translation to anyone who wants to enrich their lives with a timeless and simple story about human nature.

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Example of the Translator?s Art
Review: I'm not sure how to rate this book. For one thing, I don't know much about Greek drama. However, in some respects no one does. Our author tried to be faithful to the original in ways he feels are important: "I have tried to walk and to run, to rise and to sit, with the Master, but never by imitation, only by analogy, transposition, re-creation." He has given us the three plays in iambic lines of varying length, with inventive syntax and vocabulary (sanctioned by the example of the original). I got annoyed with the verse at various points as it seemed just wrong: the expression seemed not to reflect the intention, and words were used (dare I say it?) sloppily. Now, I know I'm on shaky ground here. For one thing (a big thing!), I have not seen the plays performed. Moreover, our author knows the Greek, and he may be reflecting it quite closely, and my criticism should be directed at the Master. On top of that, Paul Roche, from his introduction, is clearly a good writer, so I must assume that the odd things he does he does deliberately.

But, anyway, as he says in a note on meter in the Appendix, "Indeed, the danger on the stage is not that poetry should sound monotonous but that it should not sound at all." He has quite a bit more to say on the subject, which is an important one. Sophocles wrote in an "iambic" meter rather than prose. In fact, it's possible that writing a play in prose, or good parts of it in prose, made as much sense in classical Athens as writing song lyrics in prose would now, and for roughly the same reason. While the actors may not have sung all the words, certainly the chorus was singing, and song hovered around, heightening the action.

Having said all that, I think our author does some very good things. For one thing, he does give us a good verse translation with all the choral markings - the Episodes, the Strophes and Antistrophes, with nice summaries at their heads. He brings the speech into reasonably colloquial English without sacrificing the "beat". (As an example of that, I particularly liked the byplay between Creon and the sentry in "Antigone". Here he gives the sentry a Cockney accent and Creon the voice of one of those impatient stuffed-shirts in a screwball comedy.) Overall, he achieves the right balance between vivacity of expression and dignity. His introduction and appendix are informative, opinionated, and well-written. In summary, this is an excellent version of these three plays (only a trilogy by coincidence).

Rating:
Summary: A very interesting story, full of irony
Review: Sophocles' masterpieces cannot be acclaimed enough for their fluidity, coherence, content and style. Indeed, I have never read a play that captured my heart and soul as much as Antigone, and I have never had more interest in any story than that of Oedipus. Roche's translations are the best ever produced by human hands. The text reads perfectly, as if originally written in English (although not in an english style), yet it more accurately represents Sophocles' work than any other translation on the market. Roche has used his great poetic skill and love of greek to create a triumph of classic literature.

Rating:
Summary: Sophocles and Roche: A great tag-team
Review: Sophocles' masterpieces cannot be acclaimed enough for their fluidity, coherence, content and style. Indeed, I have never read a play that captured my heart and soul as much as Antigone, and I have never had more interest in any story than that of Oedipus. Roche's translations are the best ever produced by human hands. The text reads perfectly, as if originally written in English (although not in an english style), yet it more accurately represents Sophocles' work than any other translation on the market. Roche has used his great poetic skill and love of greek to create a triumph of classic literature.

Rating:
Summary: This Sophocles guy sure knows what he's doing
Review: This was a lot better than I expected it to be. The reading is easier than Shakespeare - in fact, I like this more. Much of the credit must go to Paul Roche. Watching a clip of a video of these plays (under a different translation) showed that his translation was not just word for word, but - as he says in the introduction - a work of art that retains the melody of the poetry.

I found the sophistication of Shakespeare (and the multiple suicides/murders) - amazing for something written so much earlier. But what was here was something more human. Within the different but wonderful style of speaking (thanks to Sophocles) was a modern voice (thanks to Roche) that made this play not only readable but enjoyable.