This speech of Ajax (646–92) has been a controversial issue for a little more than a hundred years. As a controversial issue the speech has proved very satisfactory: first because of its crucial importance to the play; and then because so far it has never failed upon re-examination to reveal new intricacies and ambushes. At first the critics naively supposed that only one question existed, namely, whether Ajax spoke with intention to deceive; but a discussion of that point disclosed very soon that other difficulties were present, and indeed the critics have divided sharply over at least one point without apparently realizing that any difference of opinion exists. In order to make the issues as explicit as possible, I shall summarize the leading interpretations.

The speech itself is loaded with verbal ambiguity. In the preceding scene Ajax had made it clear that he intended to kill himself; when Tecmessa begged him to pity her in the name of the gods, he answered brutally and blasphemously, that he was their debtor no longer. Now he comes forth and says quietly, that – even the most steadfast things are overcome … he who was stern before, now feels pity for his wife and child. He will go down to the seashore, wash away his stains, and escape the wrath of the goddess. He will hide his sword, most hateful of weapons, digging in the ground, where no one shall find it.