Does the caterpillar envy the butterfly and ponder how he might change and improve himself to be more like a butterfly?
The greatness of Ajax is plain to see. His valor and fearsome strength in battle, acclaimed by the Greek Chieftains and Trojans alike; The awe and love of his kinsmen. Yet this god-like man disgraced his name and destroyed himself. Why did this happen? It happened because Ajax would not yield to reason and restrain his passion. He dishonoured the divine principle personified by the goddess Athena, who embodies and reifies the civic virtues. The fatality of Ajax however was his very character – what could he have done to improve himself?
He could have fought as the champion and protector of his own people, not independently for his own enrichment and glory. Then he would have stopped fighting in good time - but to gain immortality through the exploits of war, that was what he really lived for. He could have yielded to his friends, honoured the vote of the Greek chieftains who awarded Achilles’ armour to one less worthy than he, and thereby upheld their authority and the will of the collective, whereby his people were protected and prospered. Yet the purity of his character, the uncompromising will nourishing all his virtue and heroism was outraged and violated by the lying, cheating cunning of his political superiors.
In truth he was superior and the deserving victor. He could have waited in his tent, endured the disgrace and allowed time and the comforts of home, family and friends to blunt the ignominy and reconcile him with life again - but what meaning life had for him was destroyed. The injustice of his subjugation burned his guts and heart like acid. The insult to his nature burdened him with a shame that would only deepen over time. In the end, as all along, Ajax was true to himself and in his case that amounts to a tragedy.
Here, nature, without mercy, destroys one of its highest types. Questionable, relentless, cruel Nature is unveiled – a sight to blind a man. We have only to ask Sophocles but he offers also a redemption from the horror and disgust at existence that the tragedy evokes. A redeeming, tragic wisdom is revealed, formulated by Odysseus, in the concluding action of the play: ‘He wins the victory who yields to his friends’ he says and ‘I cannot recommend a rigid spirit’. The defeat, shame and death of Ajax is redeemed by offering it as a sacrifice by means of which tragic wisdom is demonstrated. Odysseus is shown to have Athena on his side, he speaks and acts wisely and if the viewer takes heed he stand to profit. As for Ajax – to live greatly is to suffer greatly. He cannot be asked to have improved himself. His greatness and goodness was all behind him and could never be renewed.
