Sophocles and the Politics of Tragedy　is an inquiry into a fundamental political problem made visible through the tragic poetry of Sophocles.　In part I　Badger offers a detailed exegesis of three plays: 　Ajax,　Antigone, and　Philoctetes. These plays share a common theme, illuminating a persistent feature of political life, namely the antagonism between the heroic commitment to the beautiful and the transcendent on the one　hand, and the community's need for bodily safety and material security on the other....

Sophocles and the Politics of Tragedy　is an inquiry into a fundamental political problem made visible through the tragic poetry of Sophocles.　In part I　Badger offers a detailed exegesis of three plays: 　Ajax,　Antigone, and　Philoctetes. These plays share a common theme, illuminating a persistent feature of political life, namely the antagonism between the heroic commitment to the beautiful and the transcendent on the one　hand, and the community's need for bodily safety and material security on the other....