ALONE ALWAYS IN PAIN
SOPHOCLES,
PHILOKTETES
LECTURE
22
MARCH 3,
2017
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. Persuasion
3. Trapped in Pain
4. Conclusion
TRADITIONS OF PHILOKTETES
•
Philoktetes sails to Troy , gets bitten by a snake, has a
festering wound, & is abandoned on the island of Lemnos
•
Marooned for 10 years, he’s retrieved because of a
prophecy by Helenos, Trojan POW
•
•
Troy can’t be taken without Neoptolemos and
Philoktetes with Herakles’ bow
How he goes to Troy
•
Odysseus & Neoptolemos go get him
•
Diomedes & Odysseus (Sophocles references this
alternate tradition, 626+)
•
Two traditions about Odysseus
•
•
Laertes is not Odysseus’ true father, Sisyphus is
•
A real deceiver punished by the gods
•
Philoktetes prefers this version
Odysseus’ oath
•
Tries to get out of coming to Troy
•
Feigns madness
•
Out-tricked: Put Telemachus in the way of
Odysseus’ plow & he swerves to save the child
PERSUASION: NEOPTOLEMOS
•
Son of Achilles, “New warrior,” & eager for glory
•
“Together we can pull it off” (32)
•
Persuasion of Philoktetes will take deception
•
Odysseus needs Neoptolemos to do it
•
Neoptolemos interprets order in terms of
individual honor. He’s uncomfortable…
•
Odysseus makes the case this is good for everyone
•
Necessity & the what the gods have said
•
War as the space of necessity
•
Neoptolemos wants a clear ethical world
•
In war, only end is victory—a necessity
•
Possibility of dishonorable acts for the right ends
•
Odysseus directly confronts the issue in his
persuasion of Neoptolemos (90-7)
•
It’s a necessary exception
•
Plan to persuade Philoktetes
•
Odysseus: “it’s words / that move people not
deeds” (110-1)
•
Purpose is to “disarm” Philoktetes
•
Need something “novel” (57-9)
•
•
•
“As you’re giving him your story / reach into his
soul. Take it!” (64-6)
Basic lie becomes truth: Neoptolemos & dishonor
Odysseus controls the revelation of information to put
make the most use of it (126-30)
PERSUASION: PHILOKTETES
•
Neoptolemos’ story connects with Philoktetes
•
Both disrespected by the same people (427), left
Neoptolemos feeling the same as Philoktetes
(431-3, 508-12)
•
Philoktetes: “Your story tells my story” (453-5)
•
Neoptolemos feigns leaving to ratchet up the
pressure on Philoktetes
•
Deep deception: “Don’t worry. It’s not right to
leave without you” (899)
•
The deception breaks down
•
Neoptolemos: “Damn! What now am I to
do!?” (996)
•
Ethical clarity lost: “Can’t. Have to do what’s right.
And for / my own good, obey the commanders’
orders” (1033-4)
•
Turns away in silence
•
Odysseus intervenes & meets Philoktetes’ hard no
•
Odysseus & Neoptolemos leave with the bow
•
Then Neoptolemos turns
•
Wants to do the “right” thing (1372-1417)
•
Tries to persuade Philoktetes one more time
•
Returns the bow to Philoktetes
•
Philoktetes immediately tries to kill Odysseus
•
•
Neoptolemos has to intervene since that’s not
ethical either
Left in this irresolvable conflict: Persuasion won’t
work and violence threatens…
TRAPPED IN PAIN
•
Why is Philoktetes abandoned?
•
•
Pollution or inconvenience?
Physical suffering
•
“Dragging his agony around” (180)
•
Episodes are terrible to witness
•
Way his speaking is disrupted
•
Passes out at the end
•
•
Emotional suffering
•
“alone always in pain” (191)
•
“Sickness I was left alone with” (298)
Philoktetes wants more than understanding; he
wants empathy (308-17)
Philoktetes
Can you feel, son, how I felt, waking
to nobody here?
I burst into tears.
Can you feel how I felt cursing myself
seeing the very ships I’d sailed on
gone! and on the island
nobody, not one human being
to give me a hand when I went down
in pain? All I saw
was pain. Plenty of it.
(308-17)
ENCLOSED IN PAIN
•
Philoktetes can’t think outside the terms of his pain
(1185-7)
•
Keeps other away
•
•
Experience of those in habitual pain
•
How others respond
•
First impulse is pity
•
Then get overwhelmed by horror and ingratitude
How does Philoktetes break free from this prison?
FRIENDSHIP
•
Philoktetes = philia (friend-love) + ktema (possession)
•
Desperate need for community
•
•
Arrival of Greeks (253-63)
•
Friends who have died in the war
•
“Don’t go!”
Philoktetes trusts Neoptolemos
•
After Neoptolemos’ confession, Philoktetes
immediately calls him “stranger” (1031)
CONCLUSION
•
Where does Philoktetes’ choice lie?
•
•
Struggles with what he can’t control—his pain &
Trojan War
Persuading the enclosed
•
Attempts to reach Philoktetes (1242-51, 1311-4,
1291-4)
•
Neoptolemos speaks his mind (1480-90)
•
Philoktetes still refuses, though he wavers
Neoptolemos
I’m pleased, hearing you speak so well
of my father, and of me. But now listen.
I have something to put to you.
What fortunes
the gods give us, we have to live with.
But when, like you, we willfully persist
in being victims, there’s no excuse for that.
No pardoning, no pity.
You’re stubborn, like an animal. You won’t
take advice. Someone says something helpful
you hate him. Like he’s an enemy.
(1480-90)
DEUS EX MACHINA
•
Herakles appears & resolves the conflict!
•
Not really a deus ex machina
•
•
Herakles & Philoktetes are friends
•
Combines the command of a god with the
exhortation of a friend
Philoktetes quickly affirms: “Your words / I will not
disobey” (1639-40)
•
•
“set me free and uncomplaining” (1665)
Philoktetes finally moves outside of his pain