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SophoclesAjax
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Character Analysis
Ajax
Like his cousin Achilles, whose name in Greek means ‘grief of the people,’ Ajax’s name carries a meaning relevant to his narrative. In Greek, Ajax is called ‘Aias,’ which resembles an expression of grief: ‘aiai.’ The translators capture this meaning in Line 432, when Ajax, in the depth of despair, reflects on his name: “AIAS! AJAX! AGONY! | Ajax means agony, so much agony!” (58). Ajax’s ultimate suicide is brought on a by a combination of misfortunes both self- and divinely inflicted.
Both Achilles and Ajax veer toward inflexibility and believe themselves to be equal to gods, which earns their enmity. Like Achilles, a divine force features prominently in Ajax’s eventual death. Paris strikes Achilles, but it is Apollo who guides the arrow that pierces him. Ajax kills himself, but it is Athena’s intervention on behalf of Odysseus that drives Ajax’s grief and rage. Grief and rage over confiscated prizes drive both heroes’ destructive acts. Achilles removes himself from battle after Agamemnon takes Briseis, Achilles’s war prize, and Ajax descends into rage after Athena and the Greeks deny him the arms of Achilles.
In the play, the messenger recounts the advice Ajax’s father gave him before he left for Troy to seek the help of the gods. Ajax rejected this advice, believing that he could be great on his own, without divine support. When Athena offered to help him in battle, he sent her to the other warriors, claiming they needed her more, since he could fight well on his own. His rejection and belief in his own capacities, independent from the gods, can be understood as impious acts that incurred Athena’s displeasure.
Having rejected his father’s advice and the goddesses help, and being stripped of his honor by the denial of his cousin’s arms, Ajax is effectively stripped of his identity as the ‘best’ surviving Greek warrior. Having lost his identity, Ajax feels isolated from his comrades and alienated from the people who he is most responsible to: his Salamnian comrades, spear-bride, son, brother, and parents. With no place left for him in this world, he chooses to end his life. This, too, aligns him with Achilles, who feels such grief at having failed to protect his beloved companion, Patroclus, that he goes willingly to his death in battle.
Odysseus
In Homer, Odysseus is a cunning and adaptable hero, known for his plots and schemes. Though it is his ploy that brought about the fall of Troy with the gift of the Trojan horse, he achieves his epic fame via the Odyssey, by successfully returning to his home and mortal identity after the war. His success results from his closeness with Athena, his ability to adapt, his foresight, and his acceptance of suffering. In both Homeric epics, Odysseus prays to the goddess when he undertakes a mission or needs guidance, expressing his willingness to submit to her intentions for him, which demonstrates his piety. In turn, she advocates for him with Zeus and contrives to bring about his success. Their wills and intentions are aligned.
Epic elements of his character are consistent with Sophocles’s portrayal of him in Ajax. Odysseus appears at the beginning effectively offering himself as her instrument, and she affirms that she is always watching over him. When she brings Ajax out of his tent and invites Odysseus to laugh at the hero’s suffering, Odysseus demurs, recognizing that what happened to Ajax could happen to anyone. His recognition is attributable both to his reverence for the gods and to his foresight, his ability to think ahead and plan accordingly (a quality also associated with Tecmessa).
Odysseus’s foresight, piety, and recognition of the mutability of human life also drive his conciliatory actions at the end of the play. He debates Agamemnon in favor of allowing Ajax to be buried, arguing that enemies can become friends and vice versa: Human life is unpredictable, since mortals cannot always know or understand the will and plan of the gods. Good judgments result from accepting the conditions of mortal life and assuming the proper stance in relation to the gods
Tecmessa
Tecmessa is a Phrygian noblewoman who was captured during a raid, awarded to Ajax as his prize, and is the mother of his son, Eurysaces. Captured women would be distributed according to status. Thus, receiving a noblewoman as his war prize is a sign of Ajax’s status among his fellow warriors, as being awarded to a great warrior is a sign of Tecmessa’s status. Though Ajax won her with his spear, Tecmessa is described as his wife and their relationship as one of a family. However, as a captive, Tecmessa is dependent on Ajax’s protection. Without him, she and their son will be vulnerable to Ajax’s enemies.
Like Odysseus, Tecmessa is portrayed as accepting the fate that the gods have given her, even though it is one of loss, uncertainty, and suffering, but she is not portrayed as passive. She urges Ajax to take her example and repeatedly reminds him of his responsibility to her, since he destroyed her former world and left her without other social connections, and their son, who would similarly be left without protection after his death. When Calchas’s prophecy is presented to her, she sends the Chorus out to find Ajax, though they are unsuccessful. Though Teucer takes Eurysaces under his protection, Tecmessa’s fate is left open at the end of the play.
Teucer
Teucer is the half-brother of Ajax, son of Telamon and Hesiod, a Trojan Princess who was awarded to Telamon when he participated in Heracles’s sack of Troy with the previous generation of heroes. Like his nephew Eurysaces, then, Teucer is the son of a high-ranking warrior and a captive noblewoman. Hesione’s status, like Tecmessa’s, reflects Telamon’s status. Though it can be a difficult concept for modern readers to understand, for ancient audiences, the interdependence of status represents the interconnection of all humans and the importance of social bonds. Subjectivity is social and communal, and everyone is connected to and responsible for each other. To reject these connections and responsibilities could be seen as a violation of divine laws.
Living up to their famous father is a pressure that both Ajax and Teucer struggle with, and both know that they will not be welcomed by Telamon having failed to live up their responsibilities, which include achieving honor that confers more fame on their father’s name and protecting each other. Teucer understands he will be held responsible for his brother’s death and punished accordingly, possibly with the loss of his freedom or expulsion from his home. Unable to prevent Ajax’s death, Teucer does everything he can to ensure his brother receives proper honors and to protect Eurysaces. In his debates with Menelaus and Agamemnon, Teucer defense his own and his brother’s status and is willing to fight to the death, if necessary, to defend his family, which reflect his piety.
Agamemnon
In Trojan war mythology, Agamemnon is the eldest son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus, King of Mycenae (or, in some variants, Argos), and commander of the combined Greek (Homer uses the terms Achaeans, Danaans, and Argives) forces at Troy. The expedition is undertaken after Trojan prince Paris removes treasure and Menelaus’s wife, Helen, from their home in Sparta and brings her to Troy. As the older brother, Agamemnon commands the expedition on his brother’s behalf. The allied Greek troops are led by former suitors of Helen’s, who her father compelled to swear an oath that they would accept her choice and defend it against anyone who attempted to interfere in the future. It is this oath that Teucer refers to when he insists that Ajax came to Troy by his own free will and is not beholden to Agamemnon.
In the Iliad, Agamemnon is shown making disastrous decisions that he blames on the gods and criticized for insisting on the proper honors for himself while denying them to others. He enslaves a prophet’s daughter and refuses to return her, against the will of his fellow leaders, then confiscates the war prize of the army’s best warrior, Achilles, which lead to plague and battle failures. In the Odyssey, he appears in the Underworld, complaining that his wife’s lover murdered him when he returned home expecting to be welcomed warmly and with honor.
In Ajax, his characterization is consistent with that established in Homer. He appears at the end of the play to debate Teucer and Odysseus. He denigrates Teucer for his parentage and expresses more concern with appearing strong than making good judgments. After his discussion with Odysseus, he agrees not to interfere with Ajax’s burial but only on condition that the decision to allow the burial is credited to Odysseus. His final words are that he will hate Ajax “forever | [w]hether on earth or in the Underworld” (84). Like Ajax and unlike Odysseus, Agamemnon remains inflexible.
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By Sophocles
