The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus – Sophocles réunit les trois tragédies de Sophocle consacrées à la famille royale de Thèbes. Dans cette traduction anglaise de Robert Fagles, l'ouvrage propose une lecture accessible de ces drames grecs qui marquent le théâtre depuis le Ve siècle avant notre ère.

État et détails de cet exemplaire

The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles

The Theban plays consist of three plays: Oedipus the King (also called Oedipus Tyrannus or by its Latin title Oedipus Rex), Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. All three plays concern the fate of Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus.They have often been published under a single cover.

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.He also wrote other plays having to do with Thebes, such as the Epigoni, of which only fragments have survived.

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 from 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 those he knows as 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.

At the end of the play, order is restored. This restoration is seen when Creon, brother of Jocasta, becomes king, and also when Oedipus, before going off to exile, asks Creon to take care of his children. Oedipus's children will always bear the weight of shame and humiliation because of their father's actions. 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.

Résumé de The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus – Sophocles

Ce volume rassemble trois tragédies qui racontent le destin de la famille royale de Thèbes. Dans Oedipus the King, la cité est frappée par la peste et le roi Oedipus se lance dans la recherche de l'assassin de Laïos, son prédécesseur. Il découvre peu à peu qu'il est lui-même le meurtrier et que Jocaste est sa mère ; la reine se donne la mort et Oedipus se crève les yeux. Dans Antigone, les fils d'Oedipus, Étéocle et Polynice, se sont entretués. Créon interdit d'enterrer Polynice, mais Antigone, sa sœur, désobéit au roi et lui offre des funérailles. Dans Oedipus at Colonus, un Oedipus aveugle et exilé arrive près d'Athènes, où le roi Thésée l'accueille. Ces trois pièces, écrites à des époques différentes, forment un ensemble marqué par la fatalité, la loi humaine et la piété.

À propos de Sophocles

Sophocle (vers 497 à 406 avant notre ère) est un des trois grands tragiques athéniens, avec Eschyle et Euripide. Il a participé activement à la vie publique de sa cité et a remporté de nombreux concours au théâtre de Dionysos. Sur plus de cent pièces qu'on lui attribue, sept tragédies complètes nous sont parvenues, dont Antigone, Oedipus Roi et Oedipe à Colone, qui forment le cycle thébain.

Tous les livres de Sophocles

Fiche du livre

• Titre : The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus – Sophocles
• Auteur : Sophocles
• Catégorie : Théâtre
• Langue : Anglais

Acheter The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus – Sophocles d'occasion en Tunisie

Vous cherchez The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus – Sophocles ? Cet exemplaire d'occasion est disponible sur Ktebi Ktebek, la première marketplace circulaire du livre de seconde main en Tunisie. Commandez-le en ligne et faites-vous livrer partout en Tunisie. Acheter d'occasion, c'est donner une seconde vie à un livre tout en lisant à petit prix. Découvrez d'autres livres dans la catégorie Théâtre.