Ajax (play)
| Ajax | |
|---|---|
 Ajax preparing for suicide | |
| Written by | Sophocles |
| Chorus | Sailors from Salamis |
| Characters |
Athena Odysseus Ajax Tecmessa Messenger Teucer Menelaus Agamemnon |
| Mute |
Attendants Hats Servants Soldiers Eurysaces |
| Place premiered | Athens |
| Original language | Ancient Greek |
| Genre | Tragedy |
Sophocles's Ajax (Ancient Greek: Αἴας Aias, pronounced [aǐ̯.jaːs]) is a Greek tragedy written in the 5th century BC. The date of Ajax's first performance is unknown and may never be found, but most scholars regard it as an early work, c. 450 - 430 BC (J. Moore, 2). It chronicles the fate of the warrior Ajax after the events of the Iliad, but before the end of the Trojan War.
Plot
At the onset of the play, Ajax is enraged because his cousin Achilles' armor was awarded to Odysseus, rather than to him. He vows to kill the Greek leaders who disgraced him. Before he can enact his extraordinary revenge, though, he is tricked by the goddess Athena into believing that the sheep and cattle that were taken by the Achaeans as spoil are the Greek leaders. He slaughters some of them, and takes the others back to his home to torture, including a ram which he believes to be his main rival, Odysseus.
Ajax realizes what he has done and is in agony over his actions. Ajax’s pain is not because of his wish to kill Agamemnon and Odysseus. He is extremely upset that Athena fooled him and is sure that the other Greek warriors are laughing at him. Ajax contemplates ending his life due to his shame. His concubine, Tecmessa, pleads for him not to leave her and her child unprotected. Ajax then gives his son, Eurysakes, his shield. Ajax leaves the house saying that he is going out to purify himself and bury the sword given to him by Hector. Teucer, Ajax’s brother, arrives in the Greek camp to taunting from his fellow soldiers. Kalchas warns that Ajax should not be allowed to leave his tent until the end of the day or he will die. Teucer sends a messenger to Ajax’s campsite with word of Kalchas’ prophecy. Tecmessa and soldiers try to track him down, but are too late. Ajax had indeed buried the sword, but has left the blade sticking out of the ground and has impaled himself upon it.
Sophocles lets us hear the speech Ajax gives immediately before his suicide (which, unlike in most Greek tragedies, where action and death are reported, is called for to take place onstage), in which he calls for vengeance against the sons of Atreus (Menelaus and Agamemnon) and the whole Greek army. Ajax also wishes for the first to find his body to be Teucer, so that he is not found by an enemy and his body left without a proper burial. Tecmessa is the first to discover Ajax impaled on his sword, with Teucer arriving shortly after. He orders that Eurysakes be brought to him so that he will be safe from Ajax’s foes. Menelaus appears on the scene and orders the body not to be moved.
The last part of the play revolves around the dispute over what to do with Ajax's body. Ajax's half brother Teucer intends on burying him despite the demands of Menelaus and Agamemnon that the corpse is not to be buried. Odysseus, although previously Ajax's enemy, steps in and persuades them to allow Ajax a proper funeral by pointing out that even one's enemies deserve respect in death, if they were noble. The play ends with Teucer making arrangements for the burial (which is to take place without Odysseus, out of respect for Ajax).
Modern interpretations
Since Ajax's death is the prerequisite for triggering the vengeance of the Erinyes on his adversaries, German scholar Arata Takeda has interpreted Ajax's suicide as serving also an offensive purpose and thus following a tactic of suicide attack.[1][2]
Translations and adaptations
- Robert Auletta, 1986 – modern adaptation.[3]
- Paul Roche, 2001 – prose
- John Tipton, 2008 – Tipton translated the verse of the play into a "counted line" metrical form: one English word for every foot in the Greek. [4]
- George Theodoridis, 2009 – prose: full text
- Bryan Doerris – Through his company Theatre of War, Doerris presents readings of Ajax and other plays to American military bases, to spark dialogue about PTSD.
- British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker's play 'Our Ajax' had its premier at the Southwark Playhouse, London, in November 2013. This play, inspired by Sophocles' tragedy, has a contemporary military setting, with references to modern warfare including the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wertenbaker is reported to have developed this new work from interviews with current and former servicemen and women.
References
- ↑ Takeda, Arata (2010). "Suicide bombers in Western literature: Demythologizing a mythic discourse" (PDF). Contemporary Justice Review 13 (4): 463–464. doi:10.1080/10282580.2010.517985.
- ↑ Takeda, Arata (2010), Ästhetik der Selbstzerstörung: Selbstmordattentäter in der abendländischen Literatur (pp. 92–114), Munich: Fink; ISBN 978-3-7705-5062-3.
- ↑ Sullivan, Dan. Stage Review : “Sellars' Ajax--more Than Games”. Los Angeles Times. 2 September 1986
- ↑ Sophocles. Ajax. Tipton, John. translator. Chicago: Flood Editions (2008) ISBN 978-0-9787- 4675-9
Further reading
- Grant, Michael. "Sophocles." Greek and Latin Authors 800 BC-AD 1000. New York: HW Wilson Company, 1980. 397–402. Print.
External links
Works related to Ajax at Wikisource- Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Αἴας
- http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/ajax.html Text of Ajax translated by R. C. Trevelyan
-
Ajax public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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