Sophocles' Ajax is one of the most disturbing and powerful
surviving ancient tragedies. But it is also difficult to understand and
interpret. What are we to make of its protagonist's extremism? Does Ajax
deserve the isolation and divine punishment he experiences? Why is his
state of mind so difficult to determine? Dr Hesk offers answers to these
and many other questions by drawing together the very latest critical
work on the play and introducing the reader to key frames for its
interpretation, including Sophoclean heroism, language and form; Homeric
intertextuality and Athens' 'masculinist' culture, and the
twentieth-century reception of Ajax.