"the ending was a bit of a cop-out"
"I'm beginning to believe that the use of the Deus Ex Machina is just a sign of the lack of faith that writers have in characters ... Sophoclese got tired of writing the story and just decided to tell his characters what to do."
"it took over a year to re-read. Also? You can't make me read it again. Not ever."
"Depressing play basically"
Showing posts with label sophocles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sophocles. Show all posts
Monday, September 3, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Sophocles - Ajax
"Knowing the flimsy plot on this one, I almost skipped reading it. I would not have missed much if I had."
"Oh dear. The Greek soap operas continue."
"come on, it’s a Greek tragedy. What else do you need to know? Some shit will go down; good people will suffer; death will be histrionic. It’s Titanic on a community-theatre budget"
"Once again I have trouble relating to Sophocles’ characters because I’m not all 'Suicide rocks!'"
"Oh dear. The Greek soap operas continue."
"come on, it’s a Greek tragedy. What else do you need to know? Some shit will go down; good people will suffer; death will be histrionic. It’s Titanic on a community-theatre budget"
"Once again I have trouble relating to Sophocles’ characters because I’m not all 'Suicide rocks!'"
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sophocles - Oedipus at Colonus
"I did not like how Oedipus was treated ... Oedipus was treated bad making his life miserable. I was against this idea of fate controlling a person's life; the play was basically about acknowledging the god and the kingdom. The entire play used the oricle as a foreshawod and irony which I found interesting."
"I began the Theban plays with Antigone in 1998 as a freshman in high school and now, 13 years later, I have finally finished them all."
"difficult to understand because os the elevated style of writing and the old-english language. The book also has very taboo themes."
"too simplistic for me ... I expected to be challenged when reading Sophocles. I'm guessing that this was written at a middle school reading level."
"I began the Theban plays with Antigone in 1998 as a freshman in high school and now, 13 years later, I have finally finished them all."
"difficult to understand because os the elevated style of writing and the old-english language. The book also has very taboo themes."
"too simplistic for me ... I expected to be challenged when reading Sophocles. I'm guessing that this was written at a middle school reading level."
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Sophocles - Electra
"I believe Electra could have worked things out with her mother if she ha been a little calmer. Instead she tells her brother to come murder their parents and he complies. Just a little far fetched."
"This book is very boring. I was very sorry that I had to read it."
"All right, all right, I didn't read this, but I did see it performed last night at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and as good as the acting was, I realized scarcely five minutes in that Greek tragedy is not my cup of tea.
I kept wanting to scream at Electra -- 'All right already, you're upset, your grieving, you're angry -- get on with it.'
...
I don't know, I'm either too modern or too unsophisticated to get why this is a classic, but meh, I don't."
"This book was about a young woman named Electra and how she would do anything to get what she wants. What is it that she wants? She wants to be ruler of course. During the entire play she starts off seeming like a really cool girl but during the middle you find out that she is after something sinister. Through the course of the play she gets into multiple arguments with another character named Clythaemestra. Very quickly you can tell as the audience that they don’t like each other, but it’s not until the end that you find out the extent of there dislike for each other is.
...
I for one was not a fan of this script/ play because I feel that nothing really happened until the very end. During the whole play the only thing it seemed that the main characters Electra and Clythaemestra were arguing and they were arguing about nothing in particular. To make it more interesting I would probably add more conflict or maybe have them do more things. Like go around the town, maybe they could get into a fist fight, anything that would add some interest into this play. In my opinion it was really dull of a play. "
"This book is very boring. I was very sorry that I had to read it."
"All right, all right, I didn't read this, but I did see it performed last night at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and as good as the acting was, I realized scarcely five minutes in that Greek tragedy is not my cup of tea.
I kept wanting to scream at Electra -- 'All right already, you're upset, your grieving, you're angry -- get on with it.'
...
I don't know, I'm either too modern or too unsophisticated to get why this is a classic, but meh, I don't."
"This book was about a young woman named Electra and how she would do anything to get what she wants. What is it that she wants? She wants to be ruler of course. During the entire play she starts off seeming like a really cool girl but during the middle you find out that she is after something sinister. Through the course of the play she gets into multiple arguments with another character named Clythaemestra. Very quickly you can tell as the audience that they don’t like each other, but it’s not until the end that you find out the extent of there dislike for each other is.
...
I for one was not a fan of this script/ play because I feel that nothing really happened until the very end. During the whole play the only thing it seemed that the main characters Electra and Clythaemestra were arguing and they were arguing about nothing in particular. To make it more interesting I would probably add more conflict or maybe have them do more things. Like go around the town, maybe they could get into a fist fight, anything that would add some interest into this play. In my opinion it was really dull of a play. "
Thursday, June 30, 2011
SPECIAL: THE HORRORS OF EDUCATION
"I'm a high school student. Today, my English teacher said: 'The difference between sarcasm and irony is that sarcasm has to be mean, while irony is nice sarcasm.'"
"I'm totally opening my Goethe lessons with that when I have to cover him in class. 'Kids. Goethe sucks donkey dicks.'"
"Holden's incessant whining and indulgence in self-pity annoyed me. I wanted to say to him what I say to my son or my students: Look at your life and get over yourself."
"I know as an English teacher, I'm supposed to love The Canterbury Tales and there's a lot of language in there that's teachable, especially from an evolution of linguistics point of view. But it was just tough for me to get into. So there."
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD - THE GREAT GATSBY
"When my yr.11 class whined to our teacher over how much we hated this book, she replied with 'This is english advanced..you're not going to read fun,interesting books in english advanced..you're going to read boring, old novels'"
"Now I am a teacher and at one time found myself in a position where I had no choice but to assign my students _The Great Gatsby_ ... And don't you dare tell me I didn't get the book. Since I was supposed to be teaching the thing I read it three times (well, to be frank, two and half times; midway through my third reading, I gave up in disgust, both at myself, for having persisted so long, and at the novel itself). I mean, who really gives a fig for any of the characters in the book? Or for that stupid green light? Oooh, ah, and the Valley of Ashes! How very apocalyptic! And T. J. Mecklenburg, or whatever his name was. How could anybody really give a fig for any of it?"
"back in high school, after we were finished with the book, my english teacher told us he never understood why this book was so highly regarded. he called it 'stupid.' i had never agreed with a teacher until that moment."
SAMUEL BECKETT - WAITING FOR GODOT
"As an English teacher, an avid reader, a Lit major, et cetera, I am sure I am supposed to give this play six stars, but I was unimpressed. Severely. It feels more likely that this is an enormous hoax on the literary world than it is a legitimate piece of writing - as if in 40 or so years, the Beckett estate will reveal a letter saying something like, 'Just Kidding, y'all. It's garbage, and I know it'. The hat scene - surely cited as 'postmodern lunacy' or somesuch bilge in theatrical reviews, seems more like a tired Warner Brothers skit. Oh well."
HERMAN MELVILLE - BILLY BUDD
"I had to teach this book to juniors in high school and could never figure out why. It is a VERY difficult read and I absolutely hated the book until the end. I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not, but if so, I wouldn't recommend it to teenagers or even early college-aged students. It was very difficult."
"My A.P. English teacher decided that to pass her class we would have to read and take a test on Billy Budd, so we would be able to take the A.P. exam and pass it. This is a woman who appreciates good literature told us 'anyone who likes this book is crazy and should be shot.' needless to say I can't stand it. The only thing that perplexes me, is why people actually read it, why it's such a 'good' book."
SHAKESPEARE - JULIUS CAESAR
"I've never been a fan of reading Shakespeare. As a 10 gr. English teacher, I face the challenge of making relevant and exciting the reading of a play I don't find relevant or exciting."
CORMAC MCCARTHY - THE ROAD
(I DON'T REALLY THINK THIS IS A GOOD BOOK BUT THE QUOTE IS HORRIFYING SO HERE WE ARE)
"As an English teacher, I appreciated the imagery and the amazingly lyrical writing throughout the book. I will also admit to not being able to stop reading it, but not because I was enjoying it. This book was full of gruesome ideas and dark reality. Could this or would this happen after an apocalypse, I am convinced that it would, but I did not find the father continuing on with his son in this black, white, and shades of grey landscape inspiring or faith building."
MARK TWAIN - THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
"I want to love this book, really I do. I'm an English teacher so shouldn't I love it."
"I read this book out a sense of responsibility to America's literary canon. I hadn't read it since middle school. I've taught high school for ten years, and I would not choose this book to read with an English class. I just don't think it's really that deep. Satirical, comic, adventurous, page-turner, yes, but deep, well no. There are other books that made me think more. The people in the country towns are depicted as lawless and base. Jim, while noble and kind, is stupid. Huck is a child swayed by what other people think, and not yet old enough to make his own convictions. Tom Sawyer is a foolish child whose antics cause pain for people. The women in the book are all kind but out of touch with reality and easily duped. There are a couple well educated, intelligent characters, but they are the exception to the rule. For such a long book, there's just not much meat there."
"I know, I know... I am an English teacher who doesn't like Mark Twain. It's a shame, but at least I will never force my students to read this boring book!"
SOPHOCLES - OEDIPUS REX
"This book is overrated, or at least my teacher overrated it. In the beginning of the story, the prophet tells Oedipus that he will live in sin (make love to) his mother. My teacher constantly said that we wouldn't be able to fathom how awesome the plot twist would be, however it was spoiled near the beginning (and if you've ever read these stories, the prophet is NEVER wrong. No matter what happens, their prophecies will not be stopped). We cant forget that the ending is DEPRESSING! Dont bother waiting until you read this story to roll your eyes and say 'THATS IT!?' because I'll tell you now. Oedipus unrealistically flies to get eaten by gods or something. No real reason, no real gain, no loss, just leaving his family for god(s)."
EMILY BRONTE - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
"Ugh. I don't have the level of concentration required to read this book right now. I made it up to like, page 70, mostly driven by guilt that I'm an English teacher and have never read this. Decided life is too short to trudge my way through Victorian sentences in a book where neither the characters nor the story interest me. I was, however, amused that the narrator used the word 'ejaculated' about 15 times in the first 20 pages to mean 'exclaimed.' ('"Wretched inmates!" I ejaculated mentally.') Otherwise, I was both bored and confused. I may come back to it someday, but probably not. I think I'll pick up the 3rd Twilight book instead."
"Very tedious. But on the bright side, now I can grade papers on this work intelligently."
SHAKESPEARE - ROMEO AND JULIET
"Geez... why do so many people insist that this is the PERFECT Shakespeare play for 9th graders? I don't think I can teach it again. HELP!!! I am drowning in a ridiculous love story that gets compared to gang warfare all the time."
"I don't even think Shakespeare wrote this one, it was probably one of those poseurs. Ugh! I had to teach this play and pretend I liked it! That was not fun."
"I am so so so tired of this play. It is an excellent introduction to Shakespeare for young readers (like the freshmen I teach it to) but it is defintely one of Shakespeare's weakest plays. (i.e What's up with all of the plot summary in the dialogue?)"
"I'm sick of this crummy work getting accolades from the literary adult world. Haven't kids suffered enough?"
CHILDREN CAN NEVER SUFFER ENOUGH
"I'm totally opening my Goethe lessons with that when I have to cover him in class. 'Kids. Goethe sucks donkey dicks.'"
"Holden's incessant whining and indulgence in self-pity annoyed me. I wanted to say to him what I say to my son or my students: Look at your life and get over yourself."
"I know as an English teacher, I'm supposed to love The Canterbury Tales and there's a lot of language in there that's teachable, especially from an evolution of linguistics point of view. But it was just tough for me to get into. So there."
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD - THE GREAT GATSBY
"When my yr.11 class whined to our teacher over how much we hated this book, she replied with 'This is english advanced..you're not going to read fun,interesting books in english advanced..you're going to read boring, old novels'"
"Now I am a teacher and at one time found myself in a position where I had no choice but to assign my students _The Great Gatsby_ ... And don't you dare tell me I didn't get the book. Since I was supposed to be teaching the thing I read it three times (well, to be frank, two and half times; midway through my third reading, I gave up in disgust, both at myself, for having persisted so long, and at the novel itself). I mean, who really gives a fig for any of the characters in the book? Or for that stupid green light? Oooh, ah, and the Valley of Ashes! How very apocalyptic! And T. J. Mecklenburg, or whatever his name was. How could anybody really give a fig for any of it?"
"back in high school, after we were finished with the book, my english teacher told us he never understood why this book was so highly regarded. he called it 'stupid.' i had never agreed with a teacher until that moment."
SAMUEL BECKETT - WAITING FOR GODOT
"As an English teacher, an avid reader, a Lit major, et cetera, I am sure I am supposed to give this play six stars, but I was unimpressed. Severely. It feels more likely that this is an enormous hoax on the literary world than it is a legitimate piece of writing - as if in 40 or so years, the Beckett estate will reveal a letter saying something like, 'Just Kidding, y'all. It's garbage, and I know it'. The hat scene - surely cited as 'postmodern lunacy' or somesuch bilge in theatrical reviews, seems more like a tired Warner Brothers skit. Oh well."
HERMAN MELVILLE - BILLY BUDD
"I had to teach this book to juniors in high school and could never figure out why. It is a VERY difficult read and I absolutely hated the book until the end. I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not, but if so, I wouldn't recommend it to teenagers or even early college-aged students. It was very difficult."
"My A.P. English teacher decided that to pass her class we would have to read and take a test on Billy Budd, so we would be able to take the A.P. exam and pass it. This is a woman who appreciates good literature told us 'anyone who likes this book is crazy and should be shot.' needless to say I can't stand it. The only thing that perplexes me, is why people actually read it, why it's such a 'good' book."
SHAKESPEARE - JULIUS CAESAR
"I've never been a fan of reading Shakespeare. As a 10 gr. English teacher, I face the challenge of making relevant and exciting the reading of a play I don't find relevant or exciting."
CORMAC MCCARTHY - THE ROAD
(I DON'T REALLY THINK THIS IS A GOOD BOOK BUT THE QUOTE IS HORRIFYING SO HERE WE ARE)
"As an English teacher, I appreciated the imagery and the amazingly lyrical writing throughout the book. I will also admit to not being able to stop reading it, but not because I was enjoying it. This book was full of gruesome ideas and dark reality. Could this or would this happen after an apocalypse, I am convinced that it would, but I did not find the father continuing on with his son in this black, white, and shades of grey landscape inspiring or faith building."
MARK TWAIN - THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
"I want to love this book, really I do. I'm an English teacher so shouldn't I love it."
"I read this book out a sense of responsibility to America's literary canon. I hadn't read it since middle school. I've taught high school for ten years, and I would not choose this book to read with an English class. I just don't think it's really that deep. Satirical, comic, adventurous, page-turner, yes, but deep, well no. There are other books that made me think more. The people in the country towns are depicted as lawless and base. Jim, while noble and kind, is stupid. Huck is a child swayed by what other people think, and not yet old enough to make his own convictions. Tom Sawyer is a foolish child whose antics cause pain for people. The women in the book are all kind but out of touch with reality and easily duped. There are a couple well educated, intelligent characters, but they are the exception to the rule. For such a long book, there's just not much meat there."
"I know, I know... I am an English teacher who doesn't like Mark Twain. It's a shame, but at least I will never force my students to read this boring book!"
SOPHOCLES - OEDIPUS REX
"This book is overrated, or at least my teacher overrated it. In the beginning of the story, the prophet tells Oedipus that he will live in sin (make love to) his mother. My teacher constantly said that we wouldn't be able to fathom how awesome the plot twist would be, however it was spoiled near the beginning (and if you've ever read these stories, the prophet is NEVER wrong. No matter what happens, their prophecies will not be stopped). We cant forget that the ending is DEPRESSING! Dont bother waiting until you read this story to roll your eyes and say 'THATS IT!?' because I'll tell you now. Oedipus unrealistically flies to get eaten by gods or something. No real reason, no real gain, no loss, just leaving his family for god(s)."
EMILY BRONTE - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
"Ugh. I don't have the level of concentration required to read this book right now. I made it up to like, page 70, mostly driven by guilt that I'm an English teacher and have never read this. Decided life is too short to trudge my way through Victorian sentences in a book where neither the characters nor the story interest me. I was, however, amused that the narrator used the word 'ejaculated' about 15 times in the first 20 pages to mean 'exclaimed.' ('"Wretched inmates!" I ejaculated mentally.') Otherwise, I was both bored and confused. I may come back to it someday, but probably not. I think I'll pick up the 3rd Twilight book instead."
"Very tedious. But on the bright side, now I can grade papers on this work intelligently."
SHAKESPEARE - ROMEO AND JULIET
"Geez... why do so many people insist that this is the PERFECT Shakespeare play for 9th graders? I don't think I can teach it again. HELP!!! I am drowning in a ridiculous love story that gets compared to gang warfare all the time."
"I don't even think Shakespeare wrote this one, it was probably one of those poseurs. Ugh! I had to teach this play and pretend I liked it! That was not fun."
"I am so so so tired of this play. It is an excellent introduction to Shakespeare for young readers (like the freshmen I teach it to) but it is defintely one of Shakespeare's weakest plays. (i.e What's up with all of the plot summary in the dialogue?)"
"I'm sick of this crummy work getting accolades from the literary adult world. Haven't kids suffered enough?"
CHILDREN CAN NEVER SUFFER ENOUGH
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex II
"I believe Sophocles' main purpose of writing this play was to teach us that we can not change fate. When I think of fate, I think off the word outcome. I ask myself: What will happen next in my life? Or how will this decision affect my outcome in life? One thing I know is that we can not change what God has set aside for our lives. Oedipus could not change the fact that he killed his father and married his mother. As much as Oedipus wanted to think that he didn't kill his father, Laius, he couldn't change that he did. God has a plan for our life and as much as we might want to change something that happened in the past, we can't. This is why we have the choice to make the right decision or the wrong decision. I guarantee if we make the right decisions we will have fewer consequences that affect us in the future. Oedipus could not change the outcome of his sin. I believe this is the main point Sophocles was trying to teach us throughout the play."
"Greek? Please!! The quality of the book itself is fine, but the story is terrible. Don't even try to read it"
"I thought that it was really weird that he killed his father so he could marry his mother, I didn't think that things like that happened way back then."
"The book is very hard to understand, you can't skip a few pages and keep going because you will be lost. You have to be devoted to read it, you have to read each page carefully and examine every sentence to find out what the true meaning is. What turned me off to this book was the incest, its not my thing. I'm not into that stuff"
"I would never read this book unless i had to again. Just for the fact that I hate to read."
"This book was very boring to me. It was kind of hard to understand.... The part when they where having sex with their family was very nasty. I hope that i would not have to ever read anything else about this book. Because it was not interesting at all. It did not get any of my attention. The book of Oedipus, which I did not like at all."
"This whole book was about incest! There was almost nothng else in the book. Everyone is related to everbody else in some way. Im not in to all that stuff. I think Sophocles went a little too far. I understand that incest went on back then but give me a break! The story was a litte too far out there."
"The language used in this book is hundreds of years old and is not relevant to how speak today. The way this story is told makes it unbearable to get through and hard to understand. I'm not saying its that bad of a story, but there is no reason to read a book the way it was written in ancient Greece."
"We know as the reader so much more then what the actors knew that it is hard to go and relate you just keep asking yourself why?"
"Like I said in the beginning, the book was a good read you just have to realize that the author was apparently incapable of putting some real thought into it. Also the portrayal of the Gods was unforgivable. I mean really since when does a greek god interfere with the lives of mortals to give a pointless warning?"
"Oedipus Rex is bad. The book reminds me of drinking rancid milk. First off, there was far too much incest in the book, no one likes to hear about incest. Also, the book is incredibly unbelievable. Yeah, I'm sure that the Sphinx really told a riddle, and if you got it wrong, he ate you. I am sure that is 100% historically accurate. Don't even get me started on this blind guy 'seeing' the future. Sounds like a ...Miss Cleo to me. Jocasta did the only realistic thing in the entire book..."
"It was boring because it was not in modern language. In order to follow the story, I had to keep stopping myself and take time out to understand the 'code' of words. While I was taking time to understand I had already forgot what I was reading in the first place."
"Prose isn't very inspiring, we all know the story so most of its intended emotional impact is lost."
OH, VERY FUNNY
"well, it was better than the iliad, but that's like saying, 'i sure like being constipated vs. having diarrhea!'"
STOP IT
"This review refers to the W.B. Yeats translation."
STOP IT YOU'RE KILLING ME
"The deal-breaker for me, however, was the fact that the play is not only summarized on the back cover, but specific details to the plot are revealed, robbing the story of any surprise at all for the first-time reader."
SERIOUSLY SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU ASSHOLES I'LL CHOKE EVERY FUCKING ONE OF YOU
"Greek? Please!! The quality of the book itself is fine, but the story is terrible. Don't even try to read it"
"I thought that it was really weird that he killed his father so he could marry his mother, I didn't think that things like that happened way back then."
"The book is very hard to understand, you can't skip a few pages and keep going because you will be lost. You have to be devoted to read it, you have to read each page carefully and examine every sentence to find out what the true meaning is. What turned me off to this book was the incest, its not my thing. I'm not into that stuff"
"I would never read this book unless i had to again. Just for the fact that I hate to read."
"This book was very boring to me. It was kind of hard to understand.... The part when they where having sex with their family was very nasty. I hope that i would not have to ever read anything else about this book. Because it was not interesting at all. It did not get any of my attention. The book of Oedipus, which I did not like at all."
"This whole book was about incest! There was almost nothng else in the book. Everyone is related to everbody else in some way. Im not in to all that stuff. I think Sophocles went a little too far. I understand that incest went on back then but give me a break! The story was a litte too far out there."
"The language used in this book is hundreds of years old and is not relevant to how speak today. The way this story is told makes it unbearable to get through and hard to understand. I'm not saying its that bad of a story, but there is no reason to read a book the way it was written in ancient Greece."
"We know as the reader so much more then what the actors knew that it is hard to go and relate you just keep asking yourself why?"
"Like I said in the beginning, the book was a good read you just have to realize that the author was apparently incapable of putting some real thought into it. Also the portrayal of the Gods was unforgivable. I mean really since when does a greek god interfere with the lives of mortals to give a pointless warning?"
"Oedipus Rex is bad. The book reminds me of drinking rancid milk. First off, there was far too much incest in the book, no one likes to hear about incest. Also, the book is incredibly unbelievable. Yeah, I'm sure that the Sphinx really told a riddle, and if you got it wrong, he ate you. I am sure that is 100% historically accurate. Don't even get me started on this blind guy 'seeing' the future. Sounds like a ...Miss Cleo to me. Jocasta did the only realistic thing in the entire book..."
"It was boring because it was not in modern language. In order to follow the story, I had to keep stopping myself and take time out to understand the 'code' of words. While I was taking time to understand I had already forgot what I was reading in the first place."
"Prose isn't very inspiring, we all know the story so most of its intended emotional impact is lost."
OH, VERY FUNNY
"well, it was better than the iliad, but that's like saying, 'i sure like being constipated vs. having diarrhea!'"
STOP IT
"This review refers to the W.B. Yeats translation."
STOP IT YOU'RE KILLING ME
"The deal-breaker for me, however, was the fact that the play is not only summarized on the back cover, but specific details to the plot are revealed, robbing the story of any surprise at all for the first-time reader."
SERIOUSLY SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU ASSHOLES I'LL CHOKE EVERY FUCKING ONE OF YOU
Monday, May 9, 2011
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
"Oedipus Rex is one of those awkward tragedies. The first time I read it I was lost. It’s a Greek mythology. This text includes extemporaneous factors."
"Don't bother reading this hogwash! This play is garbage! The whole plot is bleeding stupidity!
The prophesy said that Oedipus would kill his father; later to add that he would marry his mother! The characters so clueless that they can't put together the facts! His ankles, for goodness sakes, are a dead give away! Once his father died, and a new suitor became available for the throne and Jacosta's hand in marriage, it was so obvious Oedipus was her son! Why would she marry a man around the age of her supposed dead son, after her husband was murdered? Shouldn't she be able to tell that the killer of her husband was her son? Meaning he would return home to wed her! The dialogue dragged on and on, and wasn't necessary; it was so very boring! Oedipus was so annoying that I wanted to kill him myself; he is not even a true tragic hero! The plot was conveniently done so it worked, but it's not plausible! This is the worst piece of literature I have read! I almost fell asleep during it in class! The only reason the play is famous is because of the Oedipus complex! Either this play is his worse, or Sophocles is a horrible author/ playwright!"
"Yeah, he marries his mom, we got it."
"Oedipus Rex was not very intriguing to me because it was hard to understand and I could not follow the characters very well. I would suggest that they revise it to make it fit today’s standards more appropriately."
"I did not like this play. There were many things that a good play has to have that this did not. For example characters, setting, conflict, and the main theme."
"I am still having nightmares. No one needs to read these descriptive words and imagine the filthy images portrayed in this play. I cannot even imagine how messed up Sophocles' mind was ... Also, just as a side note, when you rearrange Sophocles’ name, it spells Cop Holes."
"i read this some time in high school. it's pretty pointless, in my opinion. although maybe i didn't get much out of it in high school. maybe it's actually a critique of power and hierarchy. well, i don't care enough to find out."
"Oedipus Rex was not as good as I thought it would because it did not meet the criteria that I thought to make a good book. It was very dull and was not understandable to me. The writing style was more of a Greek style and kind of random. It did not have a very good attention grabber which is one of my main criteria and what keeps me wanting to read the book."
"Sophocles convinces me the Greeks get far too much credit for developing drama."
"Negatively, it began to get confusing and completely understand where the plot was going due to the language the author wrote in."
"I found three different online translations of Oedipus the King and read them in parallel to help assure I was getting most of the nuances. Hmmm. When I rate something extremely old like this, I ask myself, what would happen if a modern playwright wrote something similar? My best guess at the answer is that he wouldn't have any chance at all of getting it produced. It's rather dull, and what characterization it has lacks subtlety ... As an artifact from the past, it is interesting and educational. As entertainment judged with no handicapping, even modern television writers routinely do better."
"As I was reading this book , I thought this book was totally and ridiculously weird that Oedipus
had a actual physical and sexual relationship with his mother. In today’s society that’s just something
that can’t be said. But if you actually read again then in those days it was like an abomination . As I
began to read further it had some details that was explicit (jocasta and Oedipus). But I think what
really makes this book a good is that they had some strange situations that made you think in deep
concentration to what would you do. It’s also a good book because it has mortals vs. the gods . That’s
like crazy like humans vs. different god’s with different powers. I don’t know . This book is weird
in so many ways ."
"Would i recommend this book 2000 years ago? Of course. Would i recommend it now? Of course not. This was probably a very captivating book back in the day, but for a modern audience, its a lackluster book to say the least. Guy kills his Dad and porks his mother, I'm not really sure how this became a mainstream story that people would take their family to see. Only in ancient Greece. The story line wasn't even very interesting, just blind guys, incest and murder. Let me know when the Thunder Crusher comes in and blows everything up. Not only was the book not interesting, but the author only has one name. I mean come on. How can you take someone seriously when they have one name and is very similar to the word 'testicles'?"
"After reading Oedipus Rex I felt like it was ridiculous that Oedipus and his mothers were married. I didn’t understand how they never knew they were related, even worse that they were mother and son. This was not a book I enjoyed, other than the eye gouging and mother lovin’ it was a boring. I could not stay engaged with the story. The characters were completely unrelated able."
"It wasnt that good because there are a lot of hidden messages in the book. Also it is very compliated. This play is about a a kings prophecy that unfolds to come true. This causes a lot of trouble in his kingdom."
"Don't bother reading this hogwash! This play is garbage! The whole plot is bleeding stupidity!
The prophesy said that Oedipus would kill his father; later to add that he would marry his mother! The characters so clueless that they can't put together the facts! His ankles, for goodness sakes, are a dead give away! Once his father died, and a new suitor became available for the throne and Jacosta's hand in marriage, it was so obvious Oedipus was her son! Why would she marry a man around the age of her supposed dead son, after her husband was murdered? Shouldn't she be able to tell that the killer of her husband was her son? Meaning he would return home to wed her! The dialogue dragged on and on, and wasn't necessary; it was so very boring! Oedipus was so annoying that I wanted to kill him myself; he is not even a true tragic hero! The plot was conveniently done so it worked, but it's not plausible! This is the worst piece of literature I have read! I almost fell asleep during it in class! The only reason the play is famous is because of the Oedipus complex! Either this play is his worse, or Sophocles is a horrible author/ playwright!"
"Yeah, he marries his mom, we got it."
"Oedipus Rex was not very intriguing to me because it was hard to understand and I could not follow the characters very well. I would suggest that they revise it to make it fit today’s standards more appropriately."
"I did not like this play. There were many things that a good play has to have that this did not. For example characters, setting, conflict, and the main theme."
"I am still having nightmares. No one needs to read these descriptive words and imagine the filthy images portrayed in this play. I cannot even imagine how messed up Sophocles' mind was ... Also, just as a side note, when you rearrange Sophocles’ name, it spells Cop Holes."
"i read this some time in high school. it's pretty pointless, in my opinion. although maybe i didn't get much out of it in high school. maybe it's actually a critique of power and hierarchy. well, i don't care enough to find out."
"Oedipus Rex was not as good as I thought it would because it did not meet the criteria that I thought to make a good book. It was very dull and was not understandable to me. The writing style was more of a Greek style and kind of random. It did not have a very good attention grabber which is one of my main criteria and what keeps me wanting to read the book."
"Sophocles convinces me the Greeks get far too much credit for developing drama."
"Negatively, it began to get confusing and completely understand where the plot was going due to the language the author wrote in."
"I found three different online translations of Oedipus the King and read them in parallel to help assure I was getting most of the nuances. Hmmm. When I rate something extremely old like this, I ask myself, what would happen if a modern playwright wrote something similar? My best guess at the answer is that he wouldn't have any chance at all of getting it produced. It's rather dull, and what characterization it has lacks subtlety ... As an artifact from the past, it is interesting and educational. As entertainment judged with no handicapping, even modern television writers routinely do better."
"As I was reading this book , I thought this book was totally and ridiculously weird that Oedipus
had a actual physical and sexual relationship with his mother. In today’s society that’s just something
that can’t be said. But if you actually read again then in those days it was like an abomination . As I
began to read further it had some details that was explicit (jocasta and Oedipus). But I think what
really makes this book a good is that they had some strange situations that made you think in deep
concentration to what would you do. It’s also a good book because it has mortals vs. the gods . That’s
like crazy like humans vs. different god’s with different powers. I don’t know . This book is weird
in so many ways ."
"Would i recommend this book 2000 years ago? Of course. Would i recommend it now? Of course not. This was probably a very captivating book back in the day, but for a modern audience, its a lackluster book to say the least. Guy kills his Dad and porks his mother, I'm not really sure how this became a mainstream story that people would take their family to see. Only in ancient Greece. The story line wasn't even very interesting, just blind guys, incest and murder. Let me know when the Thunder Crusher comes in and blows everything up. Not only was the book not interesting, but the author only has one name. I mean come on. How can you take someone seriously when they have one name and is very similar to the word 'testicles'?"
"After reading Oedipus Rex I felt like it was ridiculous that Oedipus and his mothers were married. I didn’t understand how they never knew they were related, even worse that they were mother and son. This was not a book I enjoyed, other than the eye gouging and mother lovin’ it was a boring. I could not stay engaged with the story. The characters were completely unrelated able."
"It wasnt that good because there are a lot of hidden messages in the book. Also it is very compliated. This play is about a a kings prophecy that unfolds to come true. This causes a lot of trouble in his kingdom."
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Sophocles - Antigone
"we read this book as a class its about a guy that kills his brother so he can be king or something like that then he leaves him out in the middle of the desert for the dog birds and birds to eat his sister decides to give him a proper burial and then creon finds out and he wants her dead so he locks her away if you want to find out if she lives you will have to read this book"
"Ancient Greek nonsense."
"I understand the Greek style of comedy and these weren't written last year, but nonetheless it seems like it were written for some teen film.
The dry humor Sophocles uses was traditional for his time, and what was a hit in the Greek theater, but its so dated. I wouldnt read this book just to read as a novel and enjoy it, I wouldnt anyway. It just annoys me so much to Sophocles write such trashy humor."
"I would have liked it had it been more easily understandable. Yeah, I don't speak old English. ;)"
"rite. it's hard to rate this book as hard as to understand it.
i've read plays before and fell in love with one of it.
for greek play however this is the first one.
the reason of my first sentence above is that i have difficulties to understand poem. indeed, this play is written in poem-like style.
...
well, i'm not good at (reading) poetry.
enough for greek play.
i guess i will enjoy more of this play when i show it played."
"Surprise, surprise. Someone kills themself and then several others follow suit. Never seen THAT before."
"Suprisingly, this woman-empowered story didn't strike me as great, but I suppose this is one of the first stories of it's kind. In other words, if it wasn't for Antigone, later woman-empowered works wouldn't have come in so early. I guess. xD"
"Amazing...and to think that it really does explore"
"The script of Antigone was not a story I favored ... I think Sophocles main point in writing this script was to entertain the gods,because he would get a bunch of people together and act it out for the gods the best they could,because they had very high respect for the gods in those times."
"Don't waste your time with Sophocles, and try reading other works from that time period like THE MEDITATIONS OF MARCUS ARELIUS. I promise that it is much better!"
"In general this book didn't rock my sock. I don't typically like the format of plays and how they are written."
"I really didn't like this book. It was too boring and plain. The book just didn't interest me. The dialougue is kind of lame and boring. It has a good message but it is just to boring. This was just written too long ago , and its dead. I would not recommend to any reader in the 21st century. This book is just to old . There are to many metaphors and english rhetoric stratigies . I would recommend this to anyone ."
"I thought Antigone was a great tragedy. However, I did not like it because it was a tragedy."
"Incredibly dull. Sophocles should have ended it at Oedipus Rex."
"Crappy love story."
"Ancient Greek nonsense."
"I understand the Greek style of comedy and these weren't written last year, but nonetheless it seems like it were written for some teen film.
The dry humor Sophocles uses was traditional for his time, and what was a hit in the Greek theater, but its so dated. I wouldnt read this book just to read as a novel and enjoy it, I wouldnt anyway. It just annoys me so much to Sophocles write such trashy humor."
"I would have liked it had it been more easily understandable. Yeah, I don't speak old English. ;)"
"rite. it's hard to rate this book as hard as to understand it.
i've read plays before and fell in love with one of it.
for greek play however this is the first one.
the reason of my first sentence above is that i have difficulties to understand poem. indeed, this play is written in poem-like style.
...
well, i'm not good at (reading) poetry.
enough for greek play.
i guess i will enjoy more of this play when i show it played."
"Surprise, surprise. Someone kills themself and then several others follow suit. Never seen THAT before."
"Suprisingly, this woman-empowered story didn't strike me as great, but I suppose this is one of the first stories of it's kind. In other words, if it wasn't for Antigone, later woman-empowered works wouldn't have come in so early. I guess. xD"
"Amazing...and to think that it really does explore"
"The script of Antigone was not a story I favored ... I think Sophocles main point in writing this script was to entertain the gods,because he would get a bunch of people together and act it out for the gods the best they could,because they had very high respect for the gods in those times."
"Don't waste your time with Sophocles, and try reading other works from that time period like THE MEDITATIONS OF MARCUS ARELIUS. I promise that it is much better!"
"In general this book didn't rock my sock. I don't typically like the format of plays and how they are written."
"I really didn't like this book. It was too boring and plain. The book just didn't interest me. The dialougue is kind of lame and boring. It has a good message but it is just to boring. This was just written too long ago , and its dead. I would not recommend to any reader in the 21st century. This book is just to old . There are to many metaphors and english rhetoric stratigies . I would recommend this to anyone ."
"I thought Antigone was a great tragedy. However, I did not like it because it was a tragedy."
"Incredibly dull. Sophocles should have ended it at Oedipus Rex."
"Crappy love story."
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