Sofokles Yapıtları

Sofokles (Sophocles) Yapıtları

Sofokles (Yunanca : Σοφοκλῆς) (d. MÖ 495 - ö. MÖ 406), Antik Yunan'ın Eshilos ve Evripides ile beraber 3 büyük tragedya yazarlarından biridir.

Hayatı

Sofokles (MÖ 496-MÖ 406) Atina dışında Kolonos'ta doğmuştur. Babası Sophillos zengin bir silah üreticisiydi. 5. yüzyıl Atina'sında yaşamış, Atina site devletinin hem gelişimini hem de çöküşünü görmüş. Birçok resmi ve askeri görevlerde bulunmuş. 441'de birliğe bağlı site devletlerine katkıları yöneten Kolegiumun üyesiydi. 441-440'ta Perikles ile Sisam'da baş gösteren ayaklanmayı bastırmak üzere görev almış. Salamis deniz zaferini kutlamak üzere düzenlenen gençler korosunu yönetmiş. Kendisinden 16-17 yaş küçük olan Euripides'in ölüm haberi üzerine tragedyalarına yas giysileriyle gelerek meslektaşına duyduğu saygıyı göstermiştir.Sofokles'in ilk birinciliği MÖ 468 yılındadır. İlk ödülünü Dionysia şenliğindeki tiyatro oyunu yarışmalarında aldı. Uzun yaşamı boyunca eserler yazmaya devam etmiş. Filoktetes adlı oyununu 88 yaşında kendisi sahneye koymuştur. MÖ 420 yılında Asklepios'un heykelini tapınağa yerleşinceye kadar evinde tutmuştur. Bu davranışıyla ölümünden sonra da Atinalılar tarafından onurlandırılmıştır. MÖ 413'te Peloponnesos Savaşı boyunca Sicilyadaki Atinalı kuvvetin yıkımına karşılık veren komutanlardan biri olmuştur.

Tragedyalarında bir yazarın seyircilerine söylediklerinden çok bir yurttaş olarak diğer yurttaşa söylemek istedikleriydi.Seyircileri düşünmeye yönelten bir uyarıcı ve danışmandı. Suda'ya göre Sofokles 123 oyun yazmış ancak 7 tanesi tam şekliyle günümüze ulaşmıştır. Bunlar Troyalı Kadınlar, Aias, Kral Oidipus, Oidipus Kolonos'ta, Antigone, Elektra, Filoktetes.

Sofokles'in sahneye getirdiği yenilik korodakilerin sayısını 12'den 15'e çıkarmıştır.Sanat yapıtının temel koşutu site ilişkileri olmuştur.

Sofokles'in eserlerinin bize en iyi ulaşanları MS 950'de Bizanstaki elyazmalarıdır. Aiskhylos, Sofokles ve Rodoslu Apollonios'un Argonauticasından meydana gelen bir metin destesi Giovanni Aurispa tarafından 1453'te İstanbul'dan İtalya'daki Floransa Medici kitaplığına getirildi. Bu elyazmalarının yanında Sofokles'e ait olduğu kesin olmayan elyazmaları vardır.

Eserleri ve konuları

Aias ve Antigone'yi,Oidipus Kolonos'ta ile Filoktetes'ten önce sahneye koymuştur.Aias adlı eserinde Arkaizm (edebiyat) izlerine rastlanır.Bu eserde Troya Savaşı'ndaki bir olayı ele alır.Sofokles bu oyununda karakterden çok konuya ağırlık vermiştir.Antigone ile dünya edebiyatında ilk direniş oyununu yazmıştır.Antigone'nin yanında İsmene ve Kreon karakterleri de belirgin olarak gösterilmiştir.Trakhisli Kadınlar'ın temelini oluşturan mitos Herakles'in mitosudur.Kral Oidipus Sophokles'in başyapıtı olarak görülür.Aristoteles'in Poetika adlı eserinde tragedya hakkında bilgi verirken özellikle Kral Oidipus üzerinde durmuştur.

Aristoteles ideal tragedyanın birincil etkisi olarak belirlediği birlikte acı çekme ve dehşete uğramanın ilk kez Sofokles ile tam anlamıyla biçimlendiği görülür. Kral Oidipus MÖ 430'lu yıllarda, Yunan aydınlanma hareketinin sofizm akımına doğru eriştiği dönemde ortaya gelmiştir. Elektra, Filoktetes ve Oidipus Kolonos'ta adlı oyunlarda ana karakterler baştan sona oyunu tek başına belirler. Aias, Antigone ve Deianeira intihar etmiş; Herakles öldürülmüş; Kreon ile Oidipus acı bir sonla tükenirken, Elektra, Filoktetes ve Oidipus yüceltilmiştir.

Elektra mitosunu daha önce Aiskhylos da işlemiştir. Aiskhylos'ta olayların akışı doğrusaldır. Sofokles'te ise olay akışı daha karmaşık bir haldedir. Filoktetes Sofokles'in sanatsal olarak en olgun oyunu ve dönemindeki akılcılık ve bilgicilikle olan kesin bir hesaplaşmadır. Bu oyunda ahlakı vurgulayarak kanıtlamıştır. Oidipus Kolonos'ta adlı eserinde insan aklını, kendini her değerin üstünde ve kendini sınırsız ve güçlü gören yapısıyla hesaplaşmadır. Sofokles'in asıl dile getirmek istediği akıl üstü değerlerin geçerliliğini kanıtlamak için kendi üstün aklını ortaya koymasıdır.

Oyunlar

    Aias
    Antigone
    Kral Oidipus
    Trakhisli Kadınlar
    Elektra
    Filoktetes
    Oidipus Kolonos'ta

Works and legacy

Portrait of the Greek actor Euiaon in Sophocles' Andromeda, c. 430 BC.

Among Sophocles' earliest innovations was the addition of a third actor, which further reduced the role of the chorus and created greater opportunity for character development and conflict between characters.[5] Aeschylus, who dominated Athenian playwriting during Sophocles' early career, followed suit and adopted the third character into his own work towards the end of his life.[5] Aristotle credits Sophocles with the introduction of skenographia, or scenery-painting. It was not until after the death of the old master Aeschylus in 456 BC that Sophocles became the pre-eminent playwright in Athens.[2]

Thereafter, Sophocles emerged victorious in dramatic competitions at 18 Dionysia and 6 Lenaia festivals.[2] In addition to innovations in dramatic structure, Sophocles' work is also known for its deeper development of characters than earlier playwrights.[5] His reputation was such that foreign rulers invited him to attend their courts, although unlike Aeschylus who died in Sicily, or Euripides who spent time in Macedon, Sophocles never accepted any of these invitations.[2] Aristotle used Sophocles' Oedipus the King in his Poetics (c. 335 BC) as an example of the highest achievement in tragedy, which suggests the high esteem in which his work was held by later Greeks.[17]

Only two of the seven surviving plays[18] can be dated securely: Philoctetes (409 BC) and Oedipus at Colonus (401 BC, staged after Sophocles' death by his grandson). Of the others, Electra shows stylistic similarities to these two plays, which suggests that it was probably written in the latter part of his career. Ajax, Antigone and The Trachiniae are generally thought to be among his early works, again based on stylistic elements, with Oedipus the King coming in Sophocles' middle period. Most of Sophocles' plays show an undercurrent of early fatalism and the beginnings of Socratic logic as a mainstay for the long tradition of Greek tragedy.[19][20]
The Theban plays

The Theban plays consist of three plays: Oedipus the King (also called Oedipus Tyrannus), Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. All three plays concern the fate of Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus.[21] They have often been published under a single cover.[22] Sophocles, however, wrote the three plays for separate festival competitions, many years apart. Not only are the Theban plays not a true trilogy (three plays presented as a continuous narrative) but they are not even an intentional series and contain some inconsistencies among them.[21] He also wrote other plays having to do with Thebes, such as the Epigoni, of which only fragments have survived.[23]
Subjects

Each of the plays relates to the tale of the mythological Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother without knowledge that they were his parents. His family is fated to be doomed for three generations.

In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the protagonist. Oedipus' infanticide is planned by his parents, Laius and Jocasta, to avert him fulfilling a prophecy; in truth, the servant entrusted with the infanticide passes the infant on through a series of intermediaries to a childless couple, who adopt him not knowing his history. Oedipus eventually learns of the Delphic Oracle's prophecy of him, that he would kill his father and marry his mother; Oedipus attempts to flee his fate without harming his parents (at this point, he does not know that he is adopted). Oedipus meets a man at a crossroads accompanied by servants; Oedipus and the man fought, and Oedipus killed the man. (This man was his father, Laius, not that anyone apart from the gods knew this at the time). He becomes the ruler of Thebes after solving the riddle of the sphinx and in the process, marries the widowed Queen, his mother Jocasta. Thus the stage is set for horror. When the truth comes out, following from another true but confusing prophecy from Delphi, Jocasta commits suicide, Oedipus blinds himself and leaves Thebes, and the children are left to sort out the consequences themselves (which provides the grounds for the later parts of the cycle of plays).

In Oedipus at Colonus, the banished Oedipus and his daughter Antigone arrive at the town of Colonus where they encounter Theseus, King of Athens. Oedipus dies and strife begins between his sons Polyneices and Eteocles.

In Antigone, the protagonist is Oedipus' daughter, Antigone. She is faced with the choice of allowing her brother Polyneices' body to remain unburied, outside the city walls, exposed to the ravages of wild animals, or to bury him and face death. The king of the land, Creon, has forbidden the burial of Polyneices for he was a traitor to the city. Antigone decides to bury his body and face the consequences of her actions. Creon sentences her to death. Eventually, Creon is convinced to free Antigone from her punishment, but his decision comes too late and Antigone commits suicide. Her suicide triggers the suicide of two others close to King Creon: his son, Haemon, who was to wed Antigone, and his wife, Eurydice, who commits suicide after losing her only surviving son.

Composition and inconsistencies

The plays were written across thirty-six years of Sophocles' career and were not composed in chronological order, but instead were written in the order Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus. Nor were they composed as a trilogy - a group of plays to be performed together, but are the remaining parts of three different groups of plays. As a result, there are some inconsistencies: notably, Creon is the undisputed king at the end of Oedipus the King and, in consultation with Apollo, single-handedly makes the decision to expel Oedipus from Thebes. Creon is also instructed to look after Oedipus' daughters Antigone and Ismene at the end of Oedipus the King. By contrast, in the other plays there is some struggle with Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polynices in regard to the succession. In Oedipus at Colonus ("Oedipus the King" and "Oedipus Rex" are the same play), Sophocles attempts to work these inconsistencies into a coherent whole: Ismene explains that, in light of their tainted family lineage, her brothers were at first willing to cede the throne to Creon. Nevertheless, they eventually decided to take charge of the monarchy, with each brother disputing the other's right to succeed. In addition to being in a clearly more powerful position in Oedipus at Colonus, Eteocles and Polynices are also culpable: they consent <l. 429, Theodorides, tr.> to their father's going to exile, which is one of his bitterest charges against them.[21]

Other plays

In addition to the three Theban plays, there are four surviving plays by Sophocles: Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Electra, and Philoctetes, the last of which won first prize.[24]

Ajax focuses on the proud hero of the Trojan War, Telamonian Ajax, who is driven to treachery and eventually suicide. Ajax becomes gravely upset when Achilles’ armor is presented to Odysseus instead of himself. Despite their enmity toward him, Odysseus persuades the kings Menelaus and Agamemnon to grant Ajax a proper burial.

The Women of Trachis (named for the Trachinian women who make up the chorus) dramatizes Deianeira's accidentally killing Heracles after he had completed his famous twelve labors. Tricked into thinking it is a love charm, Deianeira applies poison to an article of Heracles' clothing; this poisoned robe causes Heracles to die an excruciating death. Upon learning the truth, Deianeira commits suicide.

Electra corresponds roughly to the plot of Aeschylus' Libation Bearers. It details how Electra and Orestes' avenge their father Agamemnon's murder by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

Philoctetes retells the story of Philoctetes, an archer who had been abandoned on Lemnos by the rest of the Greek fleet while on the way to Troy. After learning that they cannot win the Trojan War without Philoctetes' bow, the Greeks send Odysseus and Neoptolemus to retrieve him; due to the Greeks' earlier treachery, however, Philoctetes refuses to rejoin the army. It is only Heracles' deus ex machina appearance that persuades Philoctetes to go to Troy.

Fragmentary plays

Fragments of Ichneutae (Tracking Satyrs) were discovered in Egypt in 1907.[25] These amount to about half of the play, making it the best preserved satyr play after Euripides' Cyclops, which survives in its entirety.[25] Fragments of the Epigoni were discovered in April 2005 by classicists at Oxford University with the help of infrared technology previously used for satellite imaging. The tragedy tells the story of the second siege of Thebes.[23] A number of other Sophoclean works have survived only in fragments, including:

        Aias Lokros (Ajax the Locrian)
        Aias Mastigophoros (Ajax the Whip-Bearer)
        Aigeus (Aegeus)
        Aigisthos (Aegisthus)
        Aikhmalôtides (The Captive Women)
        Aithiopes (The Ethiopians), or Memnon
        Akhaiôn Syllogos (The Gathering of the Achaeans)
        Akhilleôs Erastai (Lovers of Achilles)
        Akrisios
        Aleadae (The Sons of Aleus)
        Aletes
        Alexandros (Alexander)
        Alcmeôn
        Amphiaraus
        Amphitryôn
        Amycos
        Andromache
        Andromeda
        Antenoridai (Sons of Antenor)
        Athamas (two versions produced)
        Atreus, or Mykenaiai
        Camicoi
        Cassandra
        Cedaliôn
        Cerebros
        Chryseis
        Clytemnestra
        Colchides
        Côphoi (Mute Ones)
        Creusa
        Crisis (Judgement)
        Daedalus
        Danae
        Dionysiacus
        Dolopes
        Epigoni
        Eriphyle
        Eris
        Eumelus
        Euryalus
        Eurypylus
        Eurysaces
        Helenes Apaitesis (Helen's Demand)
        Helenes Gamos (Helen's Marriage)
        Herakles Epi Tainaro (Hercules At Taenarum)
        Hermione
        Hipponous
        Hybris
        Hydrophoroi (Water-Bearers)
        Inachos
        Iobates
        Iokles
        Iôn
        Iphigenia
        Ixiôn
        Lacaenae (Lacaenian Women)
        Laocoôn
        Larisaioi
        Lemniai (Lemnian Women)
        Manteis or Polyidus (The Prophets or Polyidus)
        Meleagros
        Minôs
        Momus
        Mousai (Muses)
        Mysoi (Mysians)
        Nauplios Katapleon (Nauplius' Arrival)
        Nauplios Pyrkaeus (Nauplius' Fires)
        Nausicaa, or Plyntriai
        Niobe
        Odysseus Acanthoplex (Odysseus Scourged with Thorns)
        Odysseus Mainomenos (Odysseus Gone Mad)
        Oeneus
        Oenomaus
        Palamedes
        Pandora, or Sphyrokopoi (Hammer-Strikers)
        Pelias
        Peleus
        Phaiakes
        Phaedra
        Philoctetes In Troy
        Phineus (two versions)
        Phoenix
        Phrixus
        Phryges (Phrygians)
        Phthiôtides
        Poimenes (The Shepherds)
        Polyxene
        Priam
        Procris
        Rhizotomoi (The Root-Cutters)
        Salmoneus
        Sinon
        Sisyphus
        Skyrioi (Scyrians)
        Skythai (Scythians)
        Syndeipnoi (The Diners, or, The Banqueters)
        Tantalus
        Telephus
        Tereus
        Teukros (Teucer)
        Thamyras
        Theseus
        Thyestes
        Troilus
        Triptolemos
        Tympanistai (Drummers)
        Tyndareos
        Tyro Keiromene (Tyro Shorn)
        Tyro Anagnorizomene (Tyro Rediscovered).
        Xoanephoroi (Image-Bearers)

   
Sophocles' view of his own work

There is a passage of Plutarch's tract De Profectibus in Virtute 7 in which Sophocles discusses his own growth as a writer. A likely source of this material for Plutarch was the Epidemiae of Ion of Chios, a book that recorded many conversations of Sophocles. This book is a likely candidate to have contained Sophocles' discourse on his own development because Ion was a friend of Sophocles, and the book is known to have been used by Plutarch.[26] Though some interpretations of Plutarch's words suggest that Sophocles says that he imitated Aeschylus, the translation does not fit grammatically, nor does the interpretation that Sophocles said that he was making fun of Aeschylus' works. C. M. Bowra argues for the following translation of the line: "After practising to the full the bigness of Aeschylus, then the painful ingenuity of my own invention, now in the third stage I am changing to the kind of diction which is most expressive of character and best."[27]

Here Sophocles says that he has completed a stage of Aeschylus' work, meaning that he went through a phase of imitating Aeschylus' style but is finished with that. Sophocles' opinion of Aeschylus was mixed. He certainly respected him enough to imitate his work early on in his career, but he had reservations about Aeschylus' style,[28] and thus did not keep his imitation up. Sophocles' first stage, in which he imitated Aeschylus, is marked by "Aeschylean pomp in the language".[29] Sophocles' second stage was entirely his own. He introduced new ways of evoking feeling out of an audience, like in his Ajax when he is mocked by Athene, then the stage is emptied so that he may commit suicide alone.[30] Sophocles mentions a third stage, distinct from the other two, in his discussion of his development. The third stage pays more heed to diction. His characters spoke in a way that was more natural to them and more expressive of their individual character feelings.[31]

Works by Sophocles at Project Gutenberg
Sophocles, 495? BC-406 BC

    Oedipus King of Thebes Translated into English Rhyming Verse with Explanatory Notes(English)
    Oedipus Trilogy(English)
    Philoktetes(English)
    The Seven Plays in English Verse(English)
    Αντιγόνη(Greek)
    Οιδίπους Τύραννος(Greek)