Sophocles' Tragedy of Philoctetes In The Light of Aristotle's Poetics

Abstract

Besides his philosophical discussions on ethics, aesthetics and politics; Aristotle, one of the most prominent philosophers of Ancient Greek, also examines tragedy, which is the prepotent form of theatre in his era, and the free will, moral values and actual intentions of tragic characters in his ‘Poetics’; thus, cracking the door open to a formal discussion. The principle of unity of action of ancient Greek tragedies, which constitutes the building block of modern theatre, was first manifested in this work of Aristotle's. Sophocles, who lived almost a century before Aristotle and who was the most influential tragedy writer of the fifth century BC, authored works that correspond to the ideal form of tragedy discussed in the Poetics; so much so that he won the first prize many times in the dramatic festivals of the time can be construed as evidence to this. The tragedy of 'Philoctetes', which is the last known work of Sophocles and claimed to be staged and directed by the writer himself, is described by various authorities to be his best-written work. This study is going to explain the core terms in Aristotle's Poetics and trace their counterparts in Sophocles’s Philoctetes. Therefore, the dialectic between Philoctetes's destiny, will and moral standing is going to be examined, with an aim to contribute to the reader in terms of theory and practice.