In Easterling’s comparison of Sophocles to modern playwrights, he explains that the differences are not that of technique and convention, but that of attitude. He states that attitude is really the only difference worth considering. Easterling also explores the differences in viewing Sophocles’ work from a modern, and an ancient perspective. Unlike ancient audiences, those of today have been raised on romantic literature that tends to be quite focused on one individual. Easterling explains that when these modern audiences are exposed to Sophocles’ work they have a distorted view in regards to the characters and sometimes draw false conclusions about them. He uses the example of Deianira referring to herself as beautiful in a scene from Trachiniae. Read from a modern perspective Deianira referring to herself as beautiful could seem egotistical. Easterling states however, that since Sophocles is so proficient at setting the scene and tone, the contemporary view of it is non-existent. Easterling follows by focusing on the scene from Trachiniae where Deianira negatively rephrases the Nurse’s suggestion to send her son to look for Heracles. Audiences of today would not …show more content…
Sophocles himself described his style as ‘the best and most expressive of character.’ This leads Easterling to point out that Sophocles has a knack for differentiating his characters. He may not give the audience much information to go on, but what they do get allows them to clearly differentiate between characters. Following this Easterling raises the point that Sophocles forces the audience to use their imagination in regards to interpretation, but he has a way of leading them down the exact path that he has