Sophocles' Philoctetes and the Great Soul Robbery

5. The First Episode (Verses 219–675)

5 The First Episode (Verses 219–675) W e have taken the term “episode” (epeisodion in Greek) from Aristotle to refer to the dialogue sections in tragedy. Epeisodion is that which is “added onto, or inserted into” the song. The word, assuming that it was part of the traditional nomenclature , gives us further evidence of the primacy of the chorus. Other meanings for epeisodion include “adventitious,” “addition to give pleasure ” (as sugar might be added to coffee), or “parenthesis.” How far we have come from the original idea, that the spoken conflicts between the characters on stage are the parenthesis in the drama: we take the dialogues to be the essence of the drama and consider the function of the chorus to be to provide musical interludes. The Human Voice The cry that concludes the parodos leads directly into the first sound of this episode. “O strangers,” the strange man calls out to Neoptolemus and his chorus, “who are you who have just put into this land that has neither good anchorage nor human habitation? Who are your fathers? Who are your people? Your dress is Greek, dearest of all apparel to me, but I need to hear your speech [phon¯e].” Several words built on the same root are used to emphasize voice, speech, language. First, phon¯e, which Lloyd-Jones translates as “voice” (v. 225); then the verb phon¯eo, “to speak”; then the abstract noun 88 phon¯ema, “utterance.” Philoctetes has heard no human voice for ten years. The only voice to reach his ears has been his echo, which relentlessly accentuates his own voiceless condition. Philoctetes begs these strangers not to flee from him as if he were some creature gone wild, but to speak to him, to recognize in him a human being. When Neoptolemus pauses in silence, Philoctetes adds greater urgency to his appeal: “Answer me. It is not right that I should fail to receive this from you, or you from me” (vv. 230–31). “This” is language, not mere sound but human discourse. Communication is his greatest need, greater even, at this point at least, than his need to have his wound healed. Philoctetes’ opening words give us to understand that communication, the true versus the false, is central to the play as a whole. “Yes, stranger, we are Hellenes,” Neoptolemus responds, “for this is what you need to know” (vv. 232–33).1 “O dearest sound!” Philoctetes responds. “To think that I would once again receive the human voice after so long a time, and from such a man.” The words here are phon¯ema (simple “utterance”) and prosphthengmai , the latter meaning “speech addressed to someone,” a salutation. Philoctetes is overjoyed at the sound of his own language, but his joy is doubled when he hears himself spoken to. The first link between him and Neoptolemus is forged through logos. Now after ten years of solitude , speech has been restored to Philoctetes, and “with such a man”— a Greek, dressed as a Greek, speaking as a Greek, and, as he will now discover, the noble son of the noblest man in Greece. But this first and dearest human sound to fall on Philoctetes’ ears is a false note, as false as the Echo named in the parodos but more devastating than Echo’s blind mimesis. Echo is a trick of nature. Neoptolemus is a trick of human ingenuity. Neoptolemus identifies himself: “My clan is from sea-girt Skyros. I claim to be the son of Achilles, and I am sailing for home” (vv. 239–41). So Neoptolemus begins, weaving a thread of truth into his tapestry of lies exactly as he has been instructed. Philoctetes is swept away by this news—the son of Achilles! And the trap is sprung: “O son of the dearest father and sprung from the soil dear to me” (v. 242). Philoctetes uses philtatos (most beloved) three times, first when speaking of the men’s Greek dress, then of the speech that issues from Neoptolemus’s mouth, and now of Neoptolemus’s father. These superlatives tell us that the sophisma is about to fall on welcoming ears. Philoctetes asks for more details, and now comes the story invented to forge the bond between the long-suffering Philoctetes and the son of The First Episode 89 Achilles. Neoptolemus explains that he is sailing back to Skyros from Ilium. Ilium! Ilium? Philoctetes is perplexed. How could...