Leadership Strategies in Sophocles' Philoctetes

Varied Approaches to Leadership in Sophocles’ Philoctetes

Heroes of Greek Tragedy tend to encounter situations that call their leadership and morals into question in their plights; for instance, Sophocles’ Philoctetes revolves around Greek leaders utilizing their talents and strategies to get Philoctetes to Troy to help fulfill one of the requirements to end the war. Philoctetes has the bow of Herakles, which is needed for Troy to fall, but the Greeks left him on the island of Lemnos on the initial journey to Troy because he has an infected foot that smells terribly. Correspondingly, the heroes have an issue to work into their approaches to convince Philoctetes, which is that Philoctetes detests the Greeks, especially Odysseus. As the play

quickly becomes political, the Greeks make their cases to Philoctetes on the deserted Lemnos, and the lack of women characters further accentuates the play’s political focus. Accordingly, the leaders face and question their personal ethics as they try to decide on a matter that affects the outcome of the Trojan War for the entire Greek army. Predominantly, Odysseus, Neoptolemus, and Herakles of Sophocles’ Philoctetes demonstrate three different styles of leadership among influential men of Greek tragedy through essentially deceit, righteousness, and glory; furthermore, Philoctetes’ responses to the leaders confirms the rationality and effectiveness of the varied approaches, despite his weighty distaste for Greek leadership.
Chiefly, Odysseus utilizes trickery to achieve his goal for his given mission, and he is perfectly open to lying along the way (Soph.1-8-9). In Philoctetes, Odysseus prays to first Hermes, god of tricks, then Athena and Victory before sending off Neoptolemus on his mission (132-5). Odysseus’ intentions are clear, as is his confidence in tricks’ efficiency. Since hearing the prophecy that Philoctetes is required to take Troy, Odysseus has set out to achieve his goal by any means necessary (610-5). By solely focusing on his objective, Odysseus fails to sympathize with Philoctetes immense pain, which is ultimately the downfall of his leadership. Sophocles innovates the myth by having Lemnos be abandoned, so Philoctetes has been isolated for nearly ten years with a medical condition and insufficient supplies. In those ten years, Philoctetes animosity for the Greeks leaders that abandoned him has stewed, all the while suffering physically. Odysseus does not appear to have morals to sway his actions, but he does follow his task for the sake of the Greek army as a whole, not him personally. Odysseus views Philoctetes as a tool to siege Troy, not as a human he has wronged; similarly, he utilizes Neoptolemus as an instrument to persuade Philoctetes. Odysseus threatens to take Philoctetes by force as deception fails to convince Philoctetes to go to Troy (982-4). As Philoctetes discredits Odysseus, Odysseus decides to insult him and his skills then walk away; moreover, this is not the level-headed leader approach to snags in the plan, if anything it is juvenile (1055-60). Correspondingly, virtually all myth depicts Odysseus as a natural trickster, and his cleverness tends to work in his favor, while it fails to here. Briefly, Neoptolemus tells Philoctetes of Odysseus’ deceptive appeals that got him to Troy, yet Odysseus kept Achilles’ arms, despite telling Neoptolemus he was essentially the next Achilles (333-66). Philoctetes, conceivably even Sophocles, abhors dishonesty and trickery among those in power; considering, Philoctetes never does not respond to Odysseus, and he first mentions Odysseus by his central traits, at least to him, of unworthiness and cleverness (438-40). Additionally, Philoctetes briefly distrusts Neoptolemus, when he discovers he working with Odysseus, but he is quick to change his mind as Neoptolemus reverts to his own honest ways.
All in all, Odysseus’ method of leadership is not placed in a favorable light, due to its ineffectiveness. Primarily seen in Philoctetes’ trust in Neoptolemus, he brands genuineness and righteousness to be the most desirable characteristics in comrades, and thus leaders. Initially, Sophocles innovates the myth by choosing to add Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus accompanies Odysseus to Lemnos, rather than Diomedes who Philoctetes has a negative history with. Moreover, Philoctetes has no reason to dislike Neoptolemus at the onset since he had no role in abandoning him, and he has fond memories of Achilles, Neoptolemus’ father; plus, he is rather virtuous in his approach as he tells the truth of Odysseus’ plan to Philoctetes. Nevertheless, Neoptolemus first follows the instructions Odysseus, a higher-ranking Greek, gave him to deceive Philoctetes. In his minor ruse, Neoptolemus still befriends and gains Philoctetes trust, and he acts honorably as he does not exploit this trust, as Odysseus would for his greater purpose. He even gets handed the only valuable object Philoctetes has, Herakles’ bow. Even then, he only directly lies about not knowing Philoctetes and his reason for being on the island. Before owning up to the truth, Neoptolemus does consider taking the bow, while Philoctetes has a spell of pain; however, he cannot bring himself to thoroughly betray Philoctetes, due to his conscience. Neoptolemus is quickly overwhelmed by his compassion for the pitiful Philoctetes, as he responds to Philoctetes’ involuntary emotional appeal. As Neoptolemus tells the truth, he claims he followed Odysseus out of duty to his superior, but he too is a prince and a great warrior, particularly as he chooses his own path (Soph. 915-25). He decides tricks and treachery are not how he wishes to get ahead or meet goals in politics, like Odysseus does. Neoptolemus even goes as far as to fix his wrong, and he offers to take Philoctetes to his home (1223-35). Of course, Philoctetes wants to go home to Greece, and the virtuous Neoptolemus was willing to take him back to Greece after all these years. Chiefly, Neoptolemus embraces shame for following Odysseus’ strategy, and this shows his method of leadership is more reflective than Odysseus, as he chooses to fix his past offenses. Neoptolemus values honor above all else, thus he leads with a firm moral compass. Subsequently, Philoctetes is not inclined to think Neoptolemus is unworthy innately, like he feels Odysseus is, so Philoctetes writes of the trick as Odysseus hoax and Neoptolemus lesson in honesty (971-3).
As the play is coming to a close, Herakles unexpectedly comes in from above to clean up Odysseus’ failed trip to procure Philoctetes. Unlike the previous two attempts, Herakles calls on a hero’s desire to maximize his glory. Before his death, Heracles was a grand, Greek leader, and he seems to know how to appeal to Philoctetes here. Herakles prophesies a future Philoctetes wants: glory, healing, and riches. Essentially, Herakles, who Philoctetes had trusted fully, tells Philoctetes that going to Troy will fix all his misfortunes, yet Troy and the journey there caused all his woe in the first place. Plus, Herakles is getting Philoctetes to agree to go to Troy with the Greeks, which benefits the entire Greek army (Soph. 1423-30). Also, Philoctetes has a history with Herakles, so Philoctetes wishes to please his former, admirable superior. Sadly, Herakles stage time is too brief to completely flush out his leadership style, but here, at least, he is quick to appeal to his men to achieve his goal.
Conclusively, politics dominate Sophocles’ Philoctetes as Odysseus, Neoptolemus, and Herakles each aim to reach a common goal in order to ensure a Greek victory at Troy.

Odysseus is willing to do anything to get Philoctetes and the bow of Herakles to Troy, and he knew from the start he would an underhanded strategy to do so. At the same time, Neoptolemus is hungry enough for glory to agree to be deceitful as Odysseus instructs, but his morals fully kick in, as he must own up to the truth. Odysseus and Neoptolemus’ ultimate approaches to leadership address the moral discrepancy between doing what is best for the group verses an individual. Luckily, Herakles enters from above and appeals to the heroes craving for glory, getting everyone Troy bound. The three leaders’ approaches are gauged based on Philoctetes’ responses to the heroes. Though Philoctetes has lingering distrust of the Greek leaders, he does agree to go on to Troy at the end, but the ending is far from pleasing for most. Even if everyone knows greatness does await Philoctetes, the emphasis on his suffering and continuous negative encounters with Odysseus make it difficult to accept Herakles success. If anything, Sophocles made innovations in Philoctetes’ myth that change the way the Greek leaders are perceived. Namely, Sophocles underlines Odysseus’ immoral traits and Neoptolemus’ virtue; seemingly to focus on the political approach he found appropriate for his time, despite the complications of pleasing

everyone.