『에이젝스』: 불변의 원리와 변화의 원리

Abstract

This paper examines Sophocles' Ajax in terms of invariability and mutability with special attention to its diptych form which is divided into two parts at Ajax's death. The principle of invariability is dominant in the first half of the play, and that of mutability is dominant in the second half. Its so-called “deception speech” (lines 646-92), which is delivered just before Ajax’s suicide, is the key to understanding the play's structure and meaning. It acts as the play's turning point. Ajax kills himself to take responsibility for his shameful actions in the first half of the play. Agamemnon and Menelaus reject Ajax's burial because they regard Ajax as a dishonorable man who violated the heroic imperative to harm his enemies and help his fellow warriors in battle. However, Odysseus persuades them to permit Ajax's burial because he regards Ajax as an honorable warrior in the old heroic code who needs a proper burial. It would be a dishonorable act for him to speak ill of the dead hero. Odysseus thinks that everything undergoes a change. However, Ajax as well as Agamemnon and Menelaus belonged to a world in which nothing ever changed, in which great friendships and also great hatreds endured forever. Ajax believed that one dishonorable action had forever changed his heroic status as a noble warrior. Yet, Odysseus does not hold such a static view. He has moved beyond the ideas of the older heroic world. Odysseus is a flexible man who can do good for Ajax whom he once hated. This paper deals with the principle of invariability, represented by Ajax, and with that of mutability, which is represented mainly by Odysseus.