Anthony Warford

English 1101-055
09/21/16
Philoctetes: Contextual Goodness and Flexible Morality In the Time of Arte
It was 510 B.C. when the last tyrant of the Athenian Empire fell,
opening the doors for the rest of the Greek city-states to flourish and
allow the focus on politics to fall into the backdrop; this was the
beginning of the Classical Period in Ancient Greece. The Classical
Period brought us tragedians, it brought us architecture and art, and it
brought us philosophia. Sophocles was a Greek philosopher, tragedian,
and teacher in the Classical Period. Born in the 490s B.C. Sophocles
was a well-known philosopher and one of the few authors whose works
remain entirely intact. One of these works was the play Philoctetes,
when this play was written is unclear but its first performance was in
409 B.C., shortly before Sophocles death in his early nineties. Well over
2,000 years later the play is still performed, although sometimes a
director-interpreted version, in local and large theaters across the
globe.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Classical Greek literature
are the legendary characters that span across all of the stories, from
Homers Odysseus in The Odyssey to the stories of Heracles (more
colloquially known in America as Hercules) and Achilles. Even more
interesting, the fact that this storys main drive largely centers around

the legendary Trojan War, and all three main characters are Achaean
soldiers.
The play is set as follows: as Heracles is dying in the Trojan War,
he requests that someone light his honorary funeral pyre, but Heracles
is still alive, so no one is willing to do so, except for one man,
Philoctetes. For his act of honor and kindness, Heracles repays
Philoctetes by giving him his legendary bow and arrows. Soon after, at
the shrine of Chryse (a name in Ancient Greece that could refer to
multiple places, or multiple deities) Philoctetes is bitten on his foot by a
poisonous viper, the guardian of the shrine, leaving him with a foulsmelling infection and limp. This experience is so awful for the Achaean
army that the authority holders order Odysseus to maroon him on the
island of Lemnos: a desolate and rocky place where Philoctetes is left
to rot for almost a decade. The play begins when Odysseus and
Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles arrive at Lemnos in order to bring
back Philoctetes and Heracles bow to sack the city of Troy.
There are three men and three different understandings of what
is good and most important in this play, all centered around the
ancient Greek concept of arte, the personal honor and excellence in
all aspects of ones life. Odysseus arte drives him to do anything,
including deceiving Philoctetes into leaving the island with them. For
Odysseus, nothing is more honorable than sacking the city of Troy in
the name of Athens. He orders Neoptolemus to be the one to trick

Philoctetes, because Philoctetes hates Odysseus so that he would

never listen to Odysseus. In fact, Odysseus goes as far as to say that if
Philoctetes even saw him, Odysseus wouldnt get a word out before
Philoctetes had him lying dead with the swift shot of an arrow. But,
Neoptolemus is an honest man, and believes that honesty would bring
him more honor than the honor brought by the victory over Troy,
especially if the victory stems from dishonesty. Finally, Philoctetes
himself has been dishonored by Odysseus and the rest of the Achaean
army by being abandoned and could never forsake what little honor he
has left by fighting alongside the traitors that abandoned him because
he was lame and crying out in pain.
Most students can undoubtedly remember reading Pygmalion,
Romeo and Juliet, or Les Misrables and can promptly recall the
miserable and painstakingly slow read that was required for English
class. The dry, slow, boring, and seemingly pointless million and a half
act plays that require hours of dedication and interpretation. That is
precisely why this play is different, most of the plays assigned to
students are English plays, but this one is Greek, its gripping and
unassuming, this play leaves you wondering who the bad guy is. Is
there one? Can no one be faulted for leaving Philoctetes to die? A most
horrifying revelation is that the only person who seems to actually
have a problem with the act is Philoctetes himself. This play will leave
you wondering about self-sacrifice, and if the Greeks ever considered

such an act as honorable. Its a story of survival, of forging friendships,

of loyalty, of freedom, and of honor. Its a play written well and
translated just as effectively that anyone could read it and pick up on
the seemingly unsolvable conflict. Horrifying and heartwarming,
intriguing and yet simple; there is a reason why people are so
compelled to read the ancients, and Philoctetes will compel you to read
more.