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Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Women of Trakhis is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg.
A powerful drama centered on a desperate wife's attempts to hold onto her wandering husband, the great Herakles, Women of Trakhis is the tragic tale of how age-old jealousy takes down one of the ancient world's most feared and storied heroes. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.
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WOMEN OF TRAKHIS
INTRODUCTION
âYOUâVE SEEN NOTHING THAT IS NOT ZEUSâ
âYOUâVE SEEN NOTHING THAT IS NOT ZEUSâ
In Sophoclesâ Women of Trakhis, Deianeira is the loyal wife of Herakles, a canny and violent enforcer who carries the ideal of Greek manhood to its logical (and superhuman) conclusion. To cope with her anxiety about his labors and escapades, yet keep his affection and preserve her marriage, she tolerates his conduct. But ultimately her actionsâgiven her predicament, plus the nature and history of her husband, the most feared and storied hero of the ancient worldâdestroy not only her but Herakles as well.
By the time Sophocles wrote this play, Herakles had become a widely worshipped cult figure. (As the son of Zeus and Alk-meneâthe mortal wife of Amphytrion of ThebesâHerakles displayed his strength and resourcefulness at an early age: he strangled two snakes sent by Zeusâ revengeful goddess wife Hera to kill him in his cradle.) His reputation as a savior and benefactor of humankind swelled over centuries. Mythmakers invented countless improbable monsters and obstacles for him to overcome. But egomania and cruelty were also part of the legend. In Women of Trakhis, Sophocles undermines reverential accounts of the heroâs selfless service to his fellow Greeks by taking equal notice of his crimes and his brutal, deceitful, selfish acts. When Herakles finally appears, he is writhing in a robe smeared with clinging, burning, penetrating acid, yet Sophocles makes it difficult for an audience to feel sorry for him.
Deianeira is a shadowy or absent figure in the earliest versions of the Herakles myth. By making her the driving force in his play, Sophocles succeeds in dramatizing the destructive side of his cultureâs fascination with hero cults and especially with Herakles himself. He creates in Deianeira one of the most sympathetic and realistic female characters in Greek drama, and presents a Herakles who, though blessed with immense strength and resourcefulness, is also egomaniacal and cruel.
As the play begins, Deianeira explains to the chorus of Trakhinian women how painful it is loving âthe bestâ man alive. âPeople have a saying that goes way back,â she explains. âYou donât know your own life, / whether itâs good or evilânot / until itâs over. Mine I know now. / Itâs unlucky and itâs harshâ (1â5). Deianeira has missed Herakles. She resents his latest fifteen-month absence. But until nowâwhen she is confronted by Iole, an attractive and aristocratic captive whom Herakles has sent ahead to become his third wifeâshe has tolerated his sexual conquests and his neglect. Sophocles renders, with striking realism, Deianeiraâs struggle to reconcile passion, devotion, and jealousy as she reacts to the girlâs sudden arrival at her house. Pondering how to deal with the threat posed by Iole, Deianeira remembers a âlove charmâ given her by Nessus, a centaur who was attempting to rape her when Herakles pierced his chest with a poison-soaked arrow. Dying, Nessus promised that the gore from his wound, if carefully preserved, could be used to keep Herakles âfrom seeing and lovingâ anyone but her. Deianeira, having saved the gore all these years, will now rub it into a robe and have a messenger take it to Herakles as a homecoming gift. In so doing, she inflicts on him a horrible, unquenchable agony. This epitome of warrior culture is rendered helpless at the hands of a âfrail woman, / born with no male strengthâ (1192â93). âShe beat meâonly she,â says Herakles. âAnd didnât even need a swordâ (1094â95). When Deianeira hears from her son Hyllos what her love potion has done to her husband, whose passion she craves and fears, sh...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- When Theater Was Life: The World of Sophocles
- Women of Trakhis
- Notes to the Play
- Works Cited And Consulted
- Acknowledgments
- About the Translator
- Back Ad
- Also by Robert Bagg
- Credits
- Copyright
- About the Publisher