The Psychodynamics of Suicide in Sophocles’s Plays (IN: Suicide and the Creative Arts, edited by S Stack & D Lester)

This chapter presents an analysis of self-destructive behaviour as depicted by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles in two of his dramas, “Oedipus Rex” and “Antigone”. It is concluded the self-destructive behaviour depicted illustrates some of the psychodynamic processes often present in the minds of suicidal individuals but that the plays do not present new ideas advancing the understanding of suicidal behaviours. (13 refs.)