Sophocles: The Complete Plays Book

What a brilliant collection, and now that I've read Sophocles' entire oeuvre, I consider him one of my favorite playwrights

Philoctetes is one of the most brilliant portraits of pain, physical and emotional pain. And Odysseus, who appeared as the commonsensical counterpart to the sons of Atreus in Ajax (a superb portrait of heroic madness in the face of perceived insult), is here the deceptive schemer. Thinking now of Philoctetes, I am surprised by how singular The Odyssey's multifaceted and mostly sympathetic portrayal of Odysseus stands out in light of Odysseus' often negative reputation in later ancient literature.

Then the Oedipus plays are the most masterful "classic" Greek tragedies, full of gravity, beautiful language, elevated grandeur and nobility, and more. Oedipus the King is perhaps the more perfect, but so far my preference goes toward Oedipus at Colonus for the serenity that pervades that play and for the presence of a wiser and more peaceful Oedipus and for the noble presence of Theseus

And Antigone is special for its dramatization of the resistance of right against might, of the individual against the State. And it's perhaps Sophocles' bleakest play, insofar that there are three deaths at the climax - Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice. At least the Oedipus plays establish a kind of noble stance in relation to fate, and Philoctetes ends with a hope of healing. Antigone seems the most relentless of the Sophoclean masterpieces.