1 Sophocles' Antigone Introduction, translation, and notes by ...

This play ends with the statement that there is nothing here that is not Zeus/God
(1278). That is true: there is nothing here that is not Zeus, and his incarnation in the
Sophoclean hero. Greek tragedy shows us the paradox of fate/god and man inextricably
woven together, without man being released from responsibility. It is this which
constitutes his human glory. Sophocles' heroes choose and suffer the consequences. The
Sophoclean hero may learn through his suffering, but he will not change. Ajax will be
Ajax and Heracles, Heracles.
Even at his/her best, it is difficult to feel empathy towards a Sophoclean hero, who
is both alienated and alienating, but one has to admire the single-minded pursuit of goals
which so often entail self-destruction, along with the destruction of others. As Bernard
Knox says, "Sophocles creates a tragic universe in which man's heroic action, free and
responsible, brings him sometimes through suffering to victory but more often to a fall
which is both defeat and victory at once; the suffering and glory are fused in an
indissoluble unity" (The Heroic Temper, p. 6).
Philoctetes is a late play, and the only Greek tragedy with an all male cast. It
raises the issue of victory and its price. Does the end justify the means? An oracle says
the bow of Achilles is necessary for victory at Troy. Neoptolemus goes with Odysseus to
deceive Philoctetes who was given the bow by Heracles, but Neoptolemus cannot become
Odysseus: he cannot be a liar. Sophocles' genius is to show us Neoptolemus trying to
compromise his nature. Only after experience and reflection does he see that the loss of
self, or self-betrayal, is worse than the loss of Troy. His dilemma is like Antigone's, and
his loyalty to himself and the ideals that constitute his character is more important than
loyalty to those in power, particularly when his allegiance involves a loyalty to a higher
truth.
Theme upon theme is repeated in Sophocles, as he replicates the hero in his
strange majesty. Philoctetes and Neoptolemus are like two sides of Achilles, one, the
irascible and wild nature of the devoted warrior, the other, his virtue and integrity. When
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