03 - A Conflicted Chorus: Sophocles’ Philoctetes and the Tensions of Societal Reintegration of the Disabled

Sophocles' Philoctetes has become an extreme metaphor among scholars for the life of isolation and loneliness that disabled and sick people in the fifth century BCE experienced, expelled from their communities (Leder 1990; Worman 2000; Kosak 2006; Mitchell-Boyask 2007 & 2008 & 2012; Gagnon 2016). However, this isolation is not an accurate depiction of disability in Athens. Athenaion Politeia and Lysias 24 confirm the presence of a welfare pension awarded to disabled Athenian citizens in this period, and D. Sneed (2021) argues that families cared for their disabled children. To accommodate the disconnect between these real and tragic worlds, I examine Philoctetes through the lens of community and disability studies with particular emphasis on the Chorus. I argue that the Chorus represents two interrelated communities: the Greek army at Troy and the Athenian audience watching the play. While the Chorus provides communal support structures to help reincorporate Philoctetes into society, these structures encourage Philoctetes to serve the able-bodied community who marginalized him, causing him to initially refuse to be healed.

J-P. Vernant (1972 & 1990) argues that the chorus represents the democratic city, and this is especially true in the case of Philoctetes, given the status of Lemnos as a legal cleruchy and the identity of the Chorus as male sailors. As a representation of community, one would expect Sophocles to contrast the Chorus with the ill, isolated Philoctetes, but he insteads marks their similarities through sound. The Chorus and Philoctetes are both sonic characters, in that they are defined by sound and vocalizations. For example, Odysseus describes Philoctetes as vocal from the beginning (7-11), and in his first stage appearance, Philoctetes wishes to hear a "φωνῆς." It is because of Philoctetes' cries that the Chorus pities his lack of community, coming to join him in lamentation (185-190, 201-209, 691-706). In the Stasimon, the Chorus may have even imitated Philoctetes' disabled body in their dance (691-706). Ancient sources like Plato (Politeia 394a-c) suggest that the Chorus' dance may have had a mimetic quality, supported by the active participle phrases used to describe his movements (691-706). In using their abled bodies to represent Philoctetes' disability, their dance emphasizes the differences between their and Philoctetes' abilities. The embodiment of his condition with their abled bodies expresses their empathy for him. By listening to and understanding him, the Chorus takes on the role of his friend. While they must still deceive Philoctetes to protect the community's interests as good sailors - and good citizens - they also attempt to maintain their "φιλότητ'" and welcome him into their community (1116-1121). However, that societal reintegration is contingent on Philoctetes' healing, to which Philoctetes must agree at the behest of his old friend Herakles. By eventually joining the Chorus, Sophocles shows that, despite personal compassion for the disabled, the disabled are ultimately expected to submit to Athens' social structures that pride health, healing, and ability for the betterment of the polis.

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Presenters

Sydney Kennedy, University of Cincinnati

  SCS-57