Odysseus in the Ajax

Extract

The outstanding feature of epic as displayed in the Odyssey is simplicity. It is the tale of the hero who has to pass many dangers on sea and land, outwit giants and other monsters, and accomplish in general a number of feats of courage and ingenuity before he reaches the final goal from which his purpose, so far as it is serious, has never swerved, and is welcomed by his dear wife at his own fireside. In all this he has working with and for him a goddess who has chosen him for her especial favourite. As Jason had the help of Hera, and Aeneas of his mother, so Odysseus was able to defeat all perils by joining to his own wits the divine powers of Athena. The assistance she gave him lay in such devices as hiding him in a cloud, or going before him in human form to ensure him a friendly reception, for help of this sort suited the problems he had to face. We are, that is to say, in a genuine fairy-tale world, not one indeed where human personalities are submerged, but where motives are simplified, where our chief joy is to see the hero first mocked, then outwitting or outdoing his mockers, where, to put the point briefly, there is no moral and no one but a fool would spoil a good story by looking for one.

It is otherwise with tragedy, and expecially with the tragedy of Sophocles. Human motives and their justification, the moral relations between gods and mortals, provide questions that have demanded, not perhaps to be answered, but at any rate to be probed and brought forcibly before the notice of men.