Seven Against Thebes

About the Author

You can read my summary of the life of Aeschylus on the goodreads page for The Persians.

Review

Like the other Aeschylus tragedies that I have read so far, The Suppliant Maidens and The Persians, this tragedy does not contain really any direct action. I didn't realize that this would be the case when getting into the Greek tragedians, and it was a bitter realization for me. These tragedies contain some heavy-handed moralizing, and this play was pretty slow for the first of it. I have already read Sophocles' Antigone, and this tragedy tells the tell of Eteocles and Thebes before him and Polyneices kill each other at the seventh gate at Thebes.

I gave this tragedy 2 stars because not much really happens and because I share in Eteocles' opinion of the chorus of Theban women (who take up most of the tragedy). Here are some of my favorite quotes from the tragedy:

Eteocles on finding out it is his brother who approaches the seventh gate:

And yet this is no time to weep and wail,
Lest sorrow's debt with usury of sorrow
Gender increase of groans!

Eteocles to Theban women when he decides to fight his brother:

Sin may be thrust upon us:
Evil when Heaven sends it, who shall shun?

Chorus of Theban Women after the Death of Eteocles and Polyneices:

O Fate! How heavy is thy hand!
How grievous are the gifts that thou dost
bring!