Scan barcode
A review by phoires
Sophocles: Ajax by Sophocles
5.0
Ajax's whole story is one of those tragedy where you really feel bad for the character. and, what's more, just like all of these greek tragedies, you end up feeling bitter by this unfairness.
Greek Gods, in this case Athena shows how unfair gods can be, they truly play with humans, and by favouritism only at that. She chooses to trick and punish Ajax quite unfairly i must say! (huh.)
(The whole case of the Iliad shows how insignificant this Trojan war is to gods. Humans equal to paws to them. What's more, they started this war solely because a god (i forgot who. i'm going to have to guess it's Aphrodite) got jealous of Helen and cursed her to this war.)
We know Ajax is a proud hero, only second to Achilles among the greeks. But through this book we realize he was hated by the chiefs of the unit. Meaning that he had most probably some psychological weight during the war, but then they were all stubborn and that's how war works.
His choice to attack them in the middle of the night (i'm going to take sides here, but it was a pretty reasonable decision knowing how they ganged up on him to secretly put a chosen hierarchy in the unit) was pretty bold and even reckless, i don't think he thought through what he was risking, because he was never one to think before acting. While he slowly recovered from his madness, he realized how unfair gods were (the whole point of a tragedy). Because, worse than death, Athena decided to destroy everything that made him what he was. by that i mean that she let him destroy both his pride and his whole glory that supposedly awaited him, all of that by his own hands.
He then gets laughed at and is left with no one to support him, even less, no one to respect him.
His story might seem a bit silly from the surface i'd guess, but what he went through was so destructive for him that he just couldn't stand staying alive anymore.
Now, onto Odysseus. he is a cunning man. i'm not saying this in a bad way or anything, that's just how he is. and that's exactly why he was Athena's favourite. because thanks to that, he was able to survive this long and make the greeks win the war. and because he's cunning like that, Athena "guiding" him (i really want to say "manipulate" rather then "guiding" though.) to Ajax's destruction is seen as fairly usual for Odysseus.
Both Ajax and Odysseus hated each other, they were "ennemies". Ajax didn't see anything beyond that. still, he knew they were (supposedly..) on the same side until his madness happened. despite all of that, Odysseus is a thinker and always sees the bigger picture. what's more, he respects the dead, even if it's his ennemies. that's probably his golden rule. that's why, out of all of his apparitions in this book, he was shown to be a bit uneasy about this situation: he didn't desire to go this far, maybe he didn't even wish to get rid of Ajax. (still doesn't mean that he was against it. quite the contrary actually. knowing how cunning he is, and being his strategic self, he thought it best for the greater good. also. you don't really disobey a goddess now, do you.)
Odysseus is talented when it comes to diplomatic situations and persuasion. he's the one whom we should thank for the success of this war mostly. it is thanks to that that he managed to save a bit of what was left of Ajax's dignity, i guess.
I'll also write a short paragraph about Agamemnon, because he still played an important part in this story (and the Iliad too). to make it short, he is a self-centered and extremely proud character. not in a pejorative way. pride and honour was something to die for in Ancient Greece, so he kind of represents the (though quite extreme?) image we should have of heroes back then.
He's basically the one who keeps messing up the unit's peace and, well, unity. by being his proud self, he stubbornly refuses to back down from his decisions, which led to some quite chaotic situations (blatant example: achilles's withdrawal from battle.). as he is driven by his lust but also his hatred, he (imo) is unfitted to be the chief commander of the unit. yes, he has authority, but don't all the heroes do by saving the day? ANYWAY.
What i'm trying to say here is that he plays the main "antagonist" (this word doesn't really fit greek mythology as it's certainly not a manichean world like disney or some shite) for this story, as he represents all of the unit's voices regarding Ajax. from his point of view, Ajax sneakily tried to come and kill them all, thus, taking away all of their built glory. also! he already hated him to start with, so he just went on and poured even more evilness in this person since he saw him as an enemy. i know that clearly he's not wrong. it's just that he gets a tad too satisfied about his punishment (which went too far lbr).
Greek Gods, in this case Athena shows how unfair gods can be, they truly play with humans, and by favouritism only at that. She chooses to trick and punish Ajax quite unfairly i must say! (huh.)
(The whole case of the Iliad shows how insignificant this Trojan war is to gods. Humans equal to paws to them. What's more, they started this war solely because a god (i forgot who. i'm going to have to guess it's Aphrodite) got jealous of Helen and cursed her to this war.)
We know Ajax is a proud hero, only second to Achilles among the greeks. But through this book we realize he was hated by the chiefs of the unit. Meaning that he had most probably some psychological weight during the war, but then they were all stubborn and that's how war works.
His choice to attack them in the middle of the night (i'm going to take sides here, but it was a pretty reasonable decision knowing how they ganged up on him to secretly put a chosen hierarchy in the unit) was pretty bold and even reckless, i don't think he thought through what he was risking, because he was never one to think before acting. While he slowly recovered from his madness, he realized how unfair gods were (the whole point of a tragedy). Because, worse than death, Athena decided to destroy everything that made him what he was. by that i mean that she let him destroy both his pride and his whole glory that supposedly awaited him, all of that by his own hands.
He then gets laughed at and is left with no one to support him, even less, no one to respect him.
His story might seem a bit silly from the surface i'd guess, but what he went through was so destructive for him that he just couldn't stand staying alive anymore.
Now, onto Odysseus. he is a cunning man. i'm not saying this in a bad way or anything, that's just how he is. and that's exactly why he was Athena's favourite. because thanks to that, he was able to survive this long and make the greeks win the war. and because he's cunning like that, Athena "guiding" him (i really want to say "manipulate" rather then "guiding" though.) to Ajax's destruction is seen as fairly usual for Odysseus.
Both Ajax and Odysseus hated each other, they were "ennemies". Ajax didn't see anything beyond that. still, he knew they were (supposedly..) on the same side until his madness happened. despite all of that, Odysseus is a thinker and always sees the bigger picture. what's more, he respects the dead, even if it's his ennemies. that's probably his golden rule. that's why, out of all of his apparitions in this book, he was shown to be a bit uneasy about this situation: he didn't desire to go this far, maybe he didn't even wish to get rid of Ajax. (still doesn't mean that he was against it. quite the contrary actually. knowing how cunning he is, and being his strategic self, he thought it best for the greater good. also. you don't really disobey a goddess now, do you.)
Odysseus is talented when it comes to diplomatic situations and persuasion. he's the one whom we should thank for the success of this war mostly. it is thanks to that that he managed to save a bit of what was left of Ajax's dignity, i guess.
I'll also write a short paragraph about Agamemnon, because he still played an important part in this story (and the Iliad too). to make it short, he is a self-centered and extremely proud character. not in a pejorative way. pride and honour was something to die for in Ancient Greece, so he kind of represents the (though quite extreme?) image we should have of heroes back then.
He's basically the one who keeps messing up the unit's peace and, well, unity. by being his proud self, he stubbornly refuses to back down from his decisions, which led to some quite chaotic situations (blatant example: achilles's withdrawal from battle.). as he is driven by his lust but also his hatred, he (imo) is unfitted to be the chief commander of the unit. yes, he has authority, but don't all the heroes do by saving the day? ANYWAY.
What i'm trying to say here is that he plays the main "antagonist" (this word doesn't really fit greek mythology as it's certainly not a manichean world like disney or some shite) for this story, as he represents all of the unit's voices regarding Ajax. from his point of view, Ajax sneakily tried to come and kill them all, thus, taking away all of their built glory. also! he already hated him to start with, so he just went on and poured even more evilness in this person since he saw him as an enemy. i know that clearly he's not wrong. it's just that he gets a tad too satisfied about his punishment (which went too far lbr).