Ajax (Sophocles)
Duration: part 1 about 8 minutes; part 2 about 75 minutes
A challenge but a ‘must’. “This single play is as rich as a whole trilogy.” Ajax was probably Sophocles’ best known play in the classical world and in Byzantium. Poetically, its greatest moments come (like Shakespeare’s) in the immediately intelligible speeches of the protagonists, rather than in the complex, meditative songs of the chorus. It deals profoundly with the inscrutability of Fate, human guile and heroism and guile, dishonour, madness and suicide. Three wonderfully empathetic portraits of the victims are thrown into relief by all too recognisable studies of the victorious political class.
Film
Part 1 - Homer
Part 2 - Sophocles
Programme
Script
- Part 1 - Homer: PDF, Word file
- Part 1 - English translation: PDF
- Part 2 - Sophocles: PDF, Word file
- Part 2 - English translation: PDF
