Sophocles was born in 495 BC in Colonus, a
village a mile north of Athens. His father was a man of wealth and stature and
was, accordingly, able to provide his son with the benefit of a rounded and
far-reaching education. That education included instruction in poetry, music,
and dance. Sophocles’ education produced immediate results; at the age of
sixteen, he was chosen to lead the chorus that celebrated the Greek victory at
Salamis. Then, at twenty-eight, in his first competition, his play took first
prize, defeating even the renowned dramatist Aeschylus, who was thirty years
his senior. This victory marked the commencement of a dramatic career that
produced 180 plays, of which unfortunately only 7 have survived intact.
Sophocles proved himself one of the great
innovators of theatre, adding to the improvements that Aeschylus had already
made in the field of tragedy. He introduced a third actor to the stage,
abbreviated the choral components of Greek drama, and more fully developed the
tragedy's moments of dialogue. Importantly, Sophocles was the first to abandon
the trilogy form. Other dramatists, such as Aeschylus, had previously used
three tragedies to tell a single story. Sophocles, however, chose to make each
tragedy its own entity. As a result, he had to pack the complete action of a
story into a compressed form, which afforded new and uncharted dramatic
possibilities.
Sophocles’ language, though sometimes
characterized by harsh words or complicated syntax, was for the most part grand
and elaborate. He was careful to avoid both the immensely complex wording that
typified the work of Aeschylus and the ordinary diction of Euripides. He paid
unprecedented attention to the spectacular effects of the play, insisting upon
including meticulously painted scenery that was to be properly and purposefully
placed. Sophocles was also of a profoundly religious temperament, with a deep
reverence for his gods, but without any strains of crude superstition. In many
of his plays, he grapples with his country's sacred myths, examining them from
the point of view of the diligent artist and pondering their relation to the
struggles of humanity.
Electra
is widely considered to be Sophocles’ best character drama due to the
thoroughness of its examination of the morals and motives of Electra herself.
After Electra's father, King Agamemnon, returns from the Trojan War, his wife,
Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, murder him. Sophocles’ play deals with
Electra's intense desire for revenge in the years following her father's
murder.
Sophocles’ version of the Electra story was
written around 410 BCE, and it is difficult not to see the resemblance to
Euripides' Electra and the middle portion of Aeschylus's trilogy, the Oresteia,
which recounts the same events. When Aeschylus told the story, he did so with
an eye to the ethical issues associated with a blood feud. Sophocles, however,
addresses the problem of character. Namely, he questions what kind of woman
would want so keenly to kill her mother. Euripides similarly focuses on the
issue of character, but Euripides's Electra is ultimately destroyed by her
situation, whereas Sophocles’ Electra prevails and triumphs, rendering his play
both a highly satisfactory revenge drama to a contemporary audience and an
interesting study of the psychology of Electra herself for all. The play is
considered one of Sophocles' most successful dramas.
Sophocles devoted his life not exclusively to
drama. He was, in addition, one of ten generals responsible for waging the
country's war against Samos. He was an ordained priest in the service of Alcon
and Ascelpius, God of medicine. He was for a time the director of the Treasury,
responsible for the funds of a group of states known as the Delian Confederacy,
and he served of the Board of Generals in administration of the civil and
military affairs of Athens. He died in 405 BCE, at the age of 90.
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