Sophocles (c.496 B.C.–406 B.C.). Oedipus the King.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Introductory Note
Besides lyrics, elegies, and epigrams, Sophocles is said to have composed upward of one hundred and twenty plays, one hundred of which are known by name, but only seven have come down to us entire. These are the “Trachiniæ,” dealing with the death of Heracles; “Ajax,” “Philoctetes,” “Electra,” “Œdipus Rex,” “Œdipus at Colonus,” and Antigone.”
The development of tragedy by Æschylus was continued by Sophocles, who introduced a third actor and, later, a fourth; reduced still further the importance of the chorus, and elaborated the costumes of the players. He did not, like Æschylus, write trilogies which carried one story through three plays, but made each work complete in itself. The art of clear and full characterization was carried to a pitch of perfection by him, the figures in the plays of Æschylus being in comparison rather drawings in outline, while those of Euripides are frequently direct transcripts from real life, without the idealization given by Sophocles. With his restraint, his balance, his clearness of vision, his aptness in the fitting of means to ends, and the beauty of his style, he stands as the most perfect example in literature of the characteristic excellences of the Greek artist. In the two PARAs here given will be found illustrations of these qualities at their highest.