Single Idea 7811

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / e. Honour]

Full Idea

Sophocles has Ajax (in 'Ajax') and Hercules (in 'Trachiniae') die terrible deaths because of the opposition they represent to the values which are the new values of Periclean Athens.

Gist of Idea

Sophoclean heroes die terrible deaths when they oppose the new Athenian values

Source

report of Sophocles (Women of Trachis [c.430 BCE]) by A.C. Grayling - What is Good? Ch.2

Book Reference

Grayling,A.C.: 'What is Good? The Best Way to Live' [Phoenix 2003], p.20


A Reaction

Presumably they are tragic heroes, who hence invite our sympathy, like Othello and Hamlet, who also die following an older moral code. It is only tragic if the code they follow has something 'higher' about it.