Resumo de Seven Against Thebes

Greek drama wasn?t like most modern stories, for being based on legends everyone knew who the characters were, and at least the main gist of the plot. I?m sure most of you know Oedipus killed his father and married his mother, even if you haven?t seen or read the play. The job of tragic poets was to tell the tales with their own twist, thus you would often find several of them seizing on the same famous myth, but giving slightly different versions of it.

Aeschylus (?525-456BC) was the earliest of the great tragic poets, before Sophocles and Euripides. Apparently he practically invented the genre, even being the one to introduce a second actor to proceeding. Details are hard to verify though ? only seven of an estimated 90-100 plays remain.

The Seven Against Thebes is the final part of a trilogy dealing with Oedipus ? although the first two plays are lost, so the story is best known to us through Sophocles? later version. For those that don?t know Laius was warned against having a son who would kill him. He did so anyway, but the baby (Oedipus) was cast away. Oedipus was also warned that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Not recognising his real (as opposed to adopted) parents, he did indeed kill Laius before saving the city of Thebes from the Sphinx and marrying Laius? widow (his mother) Jocasta.

Jocasta bore Oedipus sons (Eteocles and Polynices) and daughters (Antigone and Ismene). After they found out what had happened, Jocasta committed suicide and Oedipus blinded himself. I don?t remember it from the Sophocles version, but according to Aeschylus, he also cursed his sons: ?The glory of wealth and of pride, With iron, not gold, in your hands, ye shall come, at the last, to divide? (p30)

None of this is really told in The Seven Against Thebes itself, being as I said dealt with in two previous plays. This play wraps up loose ends, when Polynices brings his army against Thebes (known in the play as Cadmus? city, never Thebes ? which was presumably a later name) to claim his half of inheritance from his brother. As foretold, they must fight over the kingdom.

This being a tragedy, the outcome is no great surprise. Of course, this was true of most Greek drama anyway. It?s also foreshadowed in the play, particularly when the chorus of Cadmean maidens counsel Eteocles before battle:
??strange is the Lord of Division, who cleaveth the birthright in twain ?
The edged thing , born of the north, the steel that is ruthless and keen,
Dividing in bitter division the lot of the children of teen!
Not the wide lowland around, the realm of their sire, shall they have,
Yet enough for the dead to inherit, the pitiful space of a grave!? (p28)

The action itself is mostly off stage. We see nothing of the fighting, or opposing army. The action of the play itself is confined to Eteocles, a spy reporting on the enemy camp, and some townsfolk (mostly maidens, plus a herald). The spy reports on Polynices and each of his six champions come to assault each gate of the city, and Eteocles responds with his own champions who will defend the city.

There?s a bit of debate both before and after, but the main pattern is very much ?spy describes attacker, Eteocles describes defender?. There?s plenty of detail about each of the champions, with his character, entourage, weapons, armour and the deeds he has done. A lot of appeals are made to the gods too. It?s a good glimpse of Greek character, but not a riveting or difficult plot.

In many ways, I think the simplistic structure would suit a beginner to Greek drama, who doesn?t know much about their mythology. Not knowing the significance of Zeus on Hyperbius? shield (p20), for example, is no real drawback. I?m sure I missed many subtleties, but it doesn?t stop you following the thrust of the action.

What?s more, despite the simple plot and lack of action, there is still interesting stuff going on in the play. Aside from all the Greek mythology, that may pass the reader by, there are thinngs as simple as Eteocles? strained relationship with the women. Early on in an outburst of misogyny he tells the chorus to shut up and stop panicking (p6-7). As I mentioned earlier, they prophesise his death, crying ?Heed women?s voices, though thou love them not!? (p27) There?s plenty more to the battle of the sexes, such as Antigone defying the city authorities to bury her brother at the end.

The Seven Against Thebes is available in various editions. Mine (from which all page references are taken) is the Dover Thrift Edition ? the cheapest I could find, since I only want the play and not detailed analytical apparatus. It contains 41 pages of text, translated by E. D. A. Morshead and first published in 1928. There?s a four page introductory note, and a reasonable number of footnotes (which between them supplied all I needed to understand the play, but are obviously too brief for serious study). Since it?s beyond copyright, it may also be used for theatrical productions.
ISBN 0486-41420-5.

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