Aspects of violence, trauma, and theater in Sophocles’ Ajax

Violence is an essential aspect of many Greek tragedies, but the conventional wisdom about Greek tragedy’s violence has limited our ability to understand the intricate patterns of its representation. Focusing on Sophocles’ Ajax, this chapter argues that trauma theory offers a new possibility by providing the requisite background and vocabulary for discussing violence as a broader pattern of experience woven into the fabric of the drama as a whole. In this light, we can see how theater as an artform is uniquely suited to the depiction of traumatic violence.