Sophocles, Ajax; It should have been mine

I've been sick with a cold this week, which has been more annoying than anything else. I had to take a couple of days off work as my voice was all over the place, which isn't great when you work on the phones. It's definitely getting better now though, hopefully I don't catch many more this winter.


The Story
Ajax begins directly after the Greek victory at Troy. We see Ajax, angry that he was passed over for Achilles' armor plotting to take his revenge on the Greek Generals he feels have robbed him. Athena intervenes and makes Ajax believe that the cattle in the pens are actually the Generals and Ajax goes and slaughters them and some he even tortures. On coming to his senses, he becomes pressingly aware his loss of face and speaks to his wife about killing himself. She begs him not to and to think of his son. He then has his son brought to him, as if he were swayed by her arguments. After talking to his son, he decides to go for a walk and says he will bury the sword that was given to him by Hector. His wife and the chorus of other soldiers then receive a messenger that says there is a prophecy that, if Ajax leaves his tent he will die. They frantically try to find him but when they do, he is dead. He did indeed bury his sword point up, so that he could fall on it. The Generals argue with his wife as to whether he should be buried, until Odysseus comes along and says they must bury him. The play ends with his half brother preparing his funeral and burial.

Reflections
Although this is just another Greek tragedy, this is considered to be Sophocles' first surviving play and as such, is the first play where we explicitly see the death on the stage; all the other writers, so far, have put death off the stage. My reading suggest that this was a deviation from the standards of the day, Sophocles was being a little edgy. Ajax is a big part of this play though we barely see him on the stage, his presence carries through the play, even with his little stage time. Ajax is rather pig-headed and overly proud at first in his insistence that Achilles armor should be his, implying that he is best after Achilles and then in his death as he seems to be the only one who was really bothered by his treatment of the cattle, that we can see in the play anyway.

Comparisons
It is interesting to see this set directly after the events of the Iliad and, even though the author is different, we see consistencies in the characters that these works share. This makes sense, as the audiences of Ajax would have been familiar with the work of the Iliad. That being said, the research I did suggests that there was probably another play of Sophocles' that went before this one but it has not survived.
Oedipus the King also deals with a protagonist covered in shame but rather than death, Oedipus chooses to blind himself and live in exile. In saying that, Oedipus' shame seems far more real than Ajax's which seems be seen more by Ajax himself.

Have you read Ajax? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read Ajax but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Ajax.