A Companion to Sophocles by Kirk Ormand

Author:Kirk Ormand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

5 Conclusions

These plays of Sophocles illustrate three ways in which knowledge of Athenian law can enhance our understanding of Athenian tragedy. In Sophocles’ Antigone contemporary ideas about the relationship between the unwritten laws of the gods and the laws of the community and about a citizen’s duty toward the law and the orders of officials inform the debate between the two main characters. In the Oedipus Tyrannus the laws about homicide and ritual pollution enable us to uncover the causal link between the plague in Thebes and the murder of Laius, two key elements that drive the plot. By analyzing the legal aspects of the murder, we can also gain a greater appreciation of Sophocles’ artistry and insight into the character of his hero. In the Oedipus at Colonus the legal procedure of supplication provides a sequence of steps that structure the dramatic action and create thematic unity as the scenes of the play unfold.

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