I love Greek Tragedy!!!

So if you've been keeping track of my summer reading list, I've moved on from Aeschylus, having finished the Orestia, and started on Sophocle's Oedipus Cycle, which contains the only Greek play I had read before this summer, Oedipus Rex aka King Oedipus aka Oedipus the King. I read Oedipus Rex in 10th grade at NWSA and as I clung to every page last night finishing it for the second time, I remembered that this love of Greek Tragedy is nothing new. I remember thinking in high school that if I had time, I would read the other two plays in the cycle but unfortunatly I never got that time. (Side note: I just started reading a fiction novel by another high school English class author - Libra by Don Delillo, author of the magnificent book White Noise).

So I've obviously always loved Greek tragedy and I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to rediscover it! Having a good translation helps (for the Theban plays I'm reading E. F. Watlin, translated for Penguin Classics which I like a lot better than the acclaimed David Grene translation of Oedipus Rex) but the drama is enough in itself I think these plays speak to that part of me which has always been labeled "over dramatic" and "over the top." The parts of me which morph into extreme passion when I'm discussing war or depression or poverty, AIDS, etc. Oedipus broke many natural laws but since he did so unwittingly, one would assume he could forgive himself. Instead, his sins are so great to him he gouges out his own eyes!!! Mr. Whiteside, back in 10th grade English, made us all take our fingers and lightly touch our nails to the white of our eye. It didn't hurt but it sure was sensitive, proving the point that going further and actually gouging out our eyeballs would be extremely painful. Oedipus's punishment of himself seems extreme until you take into consideration the gods, lore, and prophecy surrounding the lives of these characters! They hold themselves accountable for their actions do to great faith in something they believe in. That is what we can learn from the Greeks. In Aeschylus I found a lot about the futility of violence and war. In Sophocles I'm finding a lot about trust and conviction - staying true to your soul and your beliefs.

That's enough Greek for tonight.

'night y'all!