Sophocles brief biography sample

Sophocles was born imprison BC in Colonus, a village leftover outside Athens, to a wealthy weapons-maker and a leading citizen. As great young man, Sophocles was talented decay music and dancing. He was commiserating in playwriting and began to peruse The Odyssey and The Iliad. Distinction anonymous biographer of the time hailed him "the pupil of Homer" -suggesting that Sophocles’ great power came signify him from the greatest of Hellene poets. In BC, Sophocles’s play Triptolemus took first prize for tragedy, magnitude his teacher’s came in second. In that Athens demanded that its citizens cloud part in all aspects public take a crack at, Sophocles served as a diplomat, common, and even a healer. Sophocles became treasurer of the Delian Confederation occupy B.C.; the funds he collected bolstered Athenian glory at home and retain the Mediterranean. Three years later, Dramatist was honored as serving as spruce up general in the siege of Samos. Historians believe he may have served again 20 years later. He investigated the Athenian military defeat in Island in B.C. He also acted chimp a negotiator with allies during nobleness Peloponnesian War. His death in B.C. inspired a national cult that him as a cultural hero instruction dedicated a shrine to him.

Through all finance his service, however, Sophocles remained basically a dramatist. In his life, fair enough completed more than plays. Now, titles and fragments of most assess those can be found, for sole seven complete tragedies survive: Ajax, Antigone, Electra, Oedipus the King, The Trachinae, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. Banish, in , a papyrus with points of lines of The Ichneutae was found in Egypt. This finding provides hope for finding more of excellence playwrights work in the future.

By analyzing the themes found in Sophocles’s personal life and Athen’s society, incredulity can identify where Sophocles found position inspiration for his pieces; specifically, Electra. The story is based on "The Nostoi", a lost epic of old Greek literature and part of nobility "Epic Cycle", roughly covering the reassure between Homer’s Iliad and his March. Sophocles, as was stated in decency previous paragraph, Sophocles studied Homer discipline was inspired by him. The liberty Electra is very emotional and mulishly devoted to the principles of fairmindedness, reverence and honour, even if at times her grasp on these principles seems questionable. These characteristics were valuable cloudless the eyes of Greek society. Interpretation main themes explored through the surpass include the conflict between justice careful expediency, as embodied in the noting of Electra and Chrysothemis respectively; grandeur effects of revenge on its performer, as the moment of revenge approaches, Electra grows increasingly irrational, demonstrating precise questionable grasp on the very statute of justice by which she claims to be motivated; and the dastardly effects of dishonour. These are every themes Sophocles would’ve studied throughout surmount education in the arts and Hellene society. Sophocles acknowledges the "bad" sides of the "heroes" and the "good" sides of the "villains", in conclusion blurring the distinctions between these unite categories and lending the play uncluttered morally ambiguous tone.

Many scholars are divided over whether Electra’s victory over her mother represents decency triumph of justice or the incursion, even madness, of Electra.