Suicide was a theme that Sophocles dramatized in Ajax. Drama being the mirror of life, we may use it to understand suicide better. In the magical act of suicide there is a split between one's self estimate and one's reputation; i.e., what others, especially the father, think of one after death. Quotations from Ajax are submitted for comparison with this formulation and the formulations of other authors such as Freud, Hendin, and Meerloo.