The Theban Plays
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the heart of Western civilization's dramatic tradition stand three towering works — King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone — collectively known as The Theban Plays, in which Sophocles chronicles the catastrophic downfall of a royal bloodline cursed by fate, pride, and the unyielding will of the gods. Set against the backdrop of ancient Thebes, these tragedies follow the ill-fated Oedipus as he uncovers the unbearable truth of his own identity, and his daughter Antigone as she defies the laws of men in honour of the laws of heaven, igniting a conflict between civic duty and divine obligation that reverberates across millennia. Sophocles writes with a devastating economy of language and an architectural precision of plot, presenting moral dilemmas so fundamental to human experience that they remain as urgent today as they were in fifth-century Athens. As a cornerstone of the Western canon, The Theban Plays illustrates the Greek tragic vision — that greatness and destruction are inseparable — and argues, with quiet ferocity, that no mortal stands beyond the reach of hubris or fate. This Penguin Classics edition brings these timeless works to a modern audience with accessible translation and scholarly context, inviting the reader to ask: if Oedipus could not escape his destiny, what hope does any of us have?
Author: Sophocles
Format: Paperback
Genre: Plays
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the heart of Western civilization's dramatic tradition stand three towering works — King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone — collectively known as The Theban Plays, in which Sophocles chronicles the catastrophic downfall of a royal bloodline cursed by fate, pride, and the unyielding will of the gods. Set against the backdrop of ancient Thebes, these tragedies follow the ill-fated Oedipus as he uncovers the unbearable truth of his own identity, and his daughter Antigone as she defies the laws of men in honour of the laws of heaven, igniting a conflict between civic duty and divine obligation that reverberates across millennia. Sophocles writes with a devastating economy of language and an architectural precision of plot, presenting moral dilemmas so fundamental to human experience that they remain as urgent today as they were in fifth-century Athens. As a cornerstone of the Western canon, The Theban Plays illustrates the Greek tragic vision — that greatness and destruction are inseparable — and argues, with quiet ferocity, that no mortal stands beyond the reach of hubris or fate. This Penguin Classics edition brings these timeless works to a modern audience with accessible translation and scholarly context, inviting the reader to ask: if Oedipus could not escape his destiny, what hope does any of us have?