The Character of Ajax

1 Ajax

He is a typical Homeric hero (always to be the best) fascinated with his own honour and his place in the ‘pecking order’

And a successful Homeric hero The best of all who came to Troy, Save only Achilles. (p.64)

His character dominates the play, BUT: his hamartia (fatal flaw): he is too proud.

Too proud (i) to acknowledge the proper authority of the gods (unlike Odysseus) …Holy one, Give your assistance to some other Greeks The line won’t break where I am in command. (p.44)

(ii) to accept the majority decision about the armour of Achilles One thing is certain – had Achilles lived To name the champion worthiest to receive His weapons in reward for valiant service They never would have fallen to other hands Than mine. (p.33)

(iii) to treat his enemies mercifully (pp.21-22)

(iv) to accept his disgrace with resignation: his code of honour allows him only one way out, suicide.

Ajax’s attitude to the gods Firstly arrogant, then Do you believe I still owe any duty Or service to the gods? (p.38)

His final prayers to the gods are still full of hatred, Asking the gods for vengeance (pp.45-47)

Ajax’s attitude to his wife Women should be seen, not heard (p.28)

I’ll say she is right Only when she can show she is obedient. (p.35) 2

Even his praise is short and abrupt Well done You showed good judgement. (p.36)

His relationship with Tecmessa is one of control she is very much his inferior Ajax is more conscious of her duty to him than his duty to her. Is this typical of his character?

Ajax’s attitude to his half-brother Just like his attitude to his wife, Ajax knows that he is more important than Teucer. Thus We see (p.37) that he is very good at arranging Teucer’s life for him, decides that Teucer will look after Eurysaces, no thought for Teucer as a person.

Ajax’s attitude to his son Refuses to recognize any obligation to his own son. He won’t even leave him his weapons! (except his shield)

His interest is mainly in his son as a means of carrying on his feud: May you be everything your father was…

See that your enemies know whose son you are. (p.36)

Ajax is interested only in his own position he does not recognize that he has any obligations to other people; Teucer and Tecmessa are his inferiors, they must obey him.

Nearest he comes to family feeling is for his mother How she will weep… (p.47) but even that doesn’t change his mind.

He has only come to Troy because of his oath again, a matter of his honour.

Ajax’s attitude to the Atreidae and Odysseus Hatred: they have cheated him of his honour

NB: He is correct when he thinks they will want revenge …some one of those I hate can [will]… throw me to the dogs and carrion crows. (p.46) 3 He has apparently been an unruly member of the army We couldn’t rule him while he lived (p.34)

But Agamemnon and Menelaus share his hatred and anger they live in the same ‘world’ as Ajax.

Athene shares his obsession with honour and punishes him; she warns Odysseus Therefore beware of uttering blasphemy Against the gods (p.22) Ajax’s ‘sin’ has been to offend her sense of honour.

Given that Ajax is faithful to the standards of his own world, should we judge him by his standards or ours?

Only his view of Odysseus is wrong. Nonetheless, he dies hating him and Odysseus dare not attend his funeral rites.

Does Ajax have a second chance?

Some debate over this: is Ajax doomed from the start of the play or does he have a second chance?

Notice: Calchas says that on this day, no other, he was doomed…  surely if he survives this day, he is safe?

The chorus, Tecmessa and Teucer want him to live on (& maybe so does Odysseus?)

Athene doesn’t actually kill him even if she engineers his suicide…

(but the decision to kill Ajax is his own, and nobody else’s… just as he wanted to kill Ag. & Men. & Athene used this wish.)

My humble opinion is that Ajax does have a future even after his humiliation; it is only his own pride and savagery that cause him to reject this and to kill himself

even though this means he leaves a widow and child (another example of his self-centredness and inflexibility.) 4 The other characters of Ajax

Ajax is by far the most important character in the play. The other characters are only important in terms of their relationship to him. They offer us ways of looking at Ajax.

They fall neatly into two groups, his friends and his enemies. Only his enemy Odysseus is prepared to acknowledge his good points, and seems to know the whole truth.

Friends Tecmessa A slave-concubine, yet she loves Ajax. We can’t really see why: he is proud and self-centred and uncaring yet does Tecmessa’s devotion imply that Ajax has a better nature?

Teucer Totally biased in Ajax’s favour he never mentions any of Ajax’s faults, only his virtues (Even suggests that Agamemnon ‘rigged’ the ballot for Achilles’ arms)

Mocks Menelaus when he calls Ajax a murderer.

His speeches concentrate on the valour and bravery of Ajax …Did you remember nothing No day when you were penned within your fences… And he came single handed to deliver you… Who averted that disaster? [p.61] And on his former comradeship with Agamemnon …here is the man [Agamemnon] For whom you fought, for whom you risked your life At the spear’s point over and over again…

In spite of his undoubted bias, Teucer allows us to see the warrior-hero aspect of Ajax’s nature, his bravery and valour. This is later also admitted by Odysseus and we see his courage for ourselves, in the opening scenes.

[Chorus Not really a ‘character’ as such, but still, they are on Ajax’s side. Admittedly they too are biased in his favour (they are his men) but we always tend to follow what the chorus thinks in any Greek tragedy. We see them at first worried about Ajax [pp.212-23] All’s well with us, if well with you 5 By page 41 they rejoice, thinking that he has calmed down Praise be to Zeus… …if now the wild Fury of enmity is mended Ajax and the Atreidae reconciled And passion ended. [p.42]

On page 59 they tell us that they are lost without Ajax and throughout the latter part of the play when they are mostly silent they want to have Ajax decently buried.]

Enemies Agamemnon and Menelaus Totally biased against Ajax. The opposite of Teucer and Tecmessa, they see only the bad side, and forget the good. Menelaus seems unpleasantly vindictive …but dead say what you will, we’ll keep him in subjection although he rightly points out that Ajax had murderous intentions. In the end he has to leave, to get his brother. Agamemnon is even worse: his argument with Teucer is name-calling and insults I cannot listen to you; your barbarous speech Sounds like a foreign language in my ears. [p.61]

Yet Teucer is able to use Agamemnon’s family history to equally good effect when he retaliates.

Curiously, both Agamemnon and Menelaus claim to represent the rule of law …Heavens! At this rate There’d be no setting up of law at all Were we to push aside the lawful winners [p.60]

…There is no law In a city where there is no fear… [p.55]

But does their aggressive behaviour seem to match their law-abiding words ? (Besides, as Teucer points out, Ajax was their ally, not their subject.) 6 Notice that Ajax correctly anticipates what the Atreidae will want to do with his body …throw me to the dogs and carrion crows. [p.46] he and they both live in the same brutal society1, and abide by its rules.

Yet their philosophy of life shows how terrible a world it is …let us not think That if we please ourselves we can escape Paying the price of pleasure with our pains Our turn will come. This was a man once proud And full of fire; now I’m the one to boast [p.55]

Ay, there you have it: every man for himself [p.65]

Athene Ajax’s other enemy in this play is the goddess herself.

In some ways she is a reflection of Ajax’s own character. She is cruel and mocking to Ajax, just as he thinks he is being cruel and mocking to Odysseus. Likewise, her quarrel with him is because he offended her sense of honour.

Ajax and his enemies all share the same values, the same obsession with honour and revenge the same murderous and unforgiving pride.

Nonetheless, what Ajax’s enemies say about him is true, and we might be tempted to ignore what his friends say, and side with his enemies, if it weren’t for the only unbiased character in the whole play,

1 Like Ajax, Agamemnon expects unquestioning loyalty A loyal friend should listen to his superior. [p.64] 7 Odysseus Odysseus is naturally Ajax’s enemy, he has been awarded the armour of Achilles.

Yet even in the opening scenes he shows some compassion …He was my enemy, but I’m sorry Now, with all my heart, for the misfortune Which holds him in its deadly grip [p.22]

Even there he is aware that Ajax and he are joined because they are both human beings This touches My state as well as his. Are we not all All living things mere phantoms, shadows of nothing?

Later he is aware that to leave any corpse unburied is wrong …so rash and vile a thing… [p.63]

(Admittedly there may also be a bit of self interest in his view: …Some day I too shall need that office [p.64]. But he remains the most humane man in the play.)

He alone can see that there was a time for hatred but that now it is time to make peace.

Unlike everybody else in the play he does not seem to take such a great interest in honour, I’d pardon a man who gave as good as he got In wordy combat [p.62] (Not interested in mere insults.)

More importantly, he is prepared to acknowledge Ajax’s good points He was my enemy, But he was noble. [p.64]

And because they were once enemies, we feel that we can trust his judgement because he alone is unbiased.

 we accept his judgement on Ajax …his goodness Outweighs his enmity by far.

Although we might think it was a very close-run contest! 8 The ending of the play

It is sometimes said that the ending of Ajax ‘ruins the play’.

The Thesis: The character of Ajax dominates the first half of the play, all our interest is centred on him all the action revolves around him all the other characters exist in relation to him.

But Ajax dies half way through the play, after which all we get is a set of speeches and unpleasant arguments [which seem almost like ‘padding’ in a badly written essay!]

According to this view, Ajax, the play, clearly ought to end somewhere around p.51 and the rest of the play is a mistake on the part of Sophocles.

THIS IS ALL NONSENSE

and that people who think like this are approaching the play from a modern perspective not an ancient Greek one.

If there are ‘two halves’ to the play one is The Death of Ajax, the other, The Burial of Ajax Two sides of the same story! (esp. to an Ancient Greek.)

We see the gradual decline of Ajax: glorious + bloody  defeated + miserable  suicide  helpless corpse… The play thus allows us to see the Whole Story

The debate is also important since it is about the character of Ajax an assessment of what we ought to think.

Unity is further added since i) throughout the ‘second half’ Ajax is still present on stage (even if he is dead) ii) The characters of Tecmessa and Odysseus appear in both ‘halves’ iii) The theme of mercy: (Ajax showed no mercy at start, but at end needs mercy.) 9 Ajax’s Big Speech pp.40-41

This is set at the heart of the play, and is very beautiful and moving. But what does it mean?

To whom is he speaking? Tecmessa? No: first addresses her on p.41: Tecmessa, you must go in… The Chorus? No: first speaks to them on p. 41: And you my friends, help me…  must surely be to himself: a soliloquy

What does he say? 1) The long unmeasured pulse of time moves everything 2) …now my edge is blunted. 3) I am loth to leave a widow and fatherless child… 4) I must …wash till I am clean … 5) I will take this sword of mine …and hide it, bury it… 6) I have learned my lesson, to obey the gods… 7) [Nothing remains the same forever.] 8) Must we not learn this…? 9) [Even friendship changes.] 10) [Tecmessa & chorus must pray.] 11) [Teucer must arrange matters] 12) When next you hear of me I shall be safe…

1), 2), 3), 4), 6) suggest that he has learnt his lesson, and will not kill himself. 5), 10), 11) suggest that he is going to kill himself.

Perhaps 1), 2), 6) imply that he feels defeated; &  will kill himself. In which case, 3) is a regret

But what then do we make of 6)?

Surely he must mean that he is going to kill himself? There are plenty of hints and we never see him change his mind elsewhere.

Is he lying to spare the feelings of Tecmessa and the chorus? But that is out of character for him.

 we must have here a soliloquy, where he speaks to himself, and the gist of it is that it is necessary to obey (gods / Atreidae / forces of nature, etc.) and Ajax would rather die than obey.

(So he does) 10 Context Question

Read the passage below, and answer the following questions.

Ajax: …Zeus, grant me this. And this when I thrust the sword Through to my heart, may Hermes guard my way Under the earth, and lay me down to sleep, 5 In one swift easy jump from life to death. And this prayer too: May the ever living Maidens Who watch forever the sufferings of men, The stern unresting Furies, see this death 10 And know that the sons of Atreus brought it on me: And wipe them utterly out with deaths as vile As their vile selves. Go to it, you swift avengers; Drink deep, and spare not one of all their people! And you, that ride upon the high ways of the heavens, 15 Great Sun, Pull up your golden-harnessed horses Over my native land, and tell this story Of death and ruin to my aged father And to my sorrowing mother. She will weep, 20 How she will weep, and fill the streets with weeping, Unhappy mother, when she hears of this. But now there is no time for tears. To work, To work, and quickly. Death, O Death, come now And look upon me.

1 What is the situation here? [5] 2 How typical of Ajax’s character is what he says in this passage? [10] 3 How does Sophocles gain sympathy for Ajax, in this passage And throughout the play? [10]