Philoctetes’ Drama: Why We Should Take Vulnerability Seriously

Sophocles’ tragedy, Philoctetes, is the drama of vulnerability. The play is well noted, even if it is considered a Sophocles’ minor work. Philoctetes is a member of the Greek shipment against Troy. During the travel, Philoctetes is bitten by a snake. The wound cannot be cured; it is constantly infected with worms and generates smell and a strong pain. Philoctetes reacts with anger and deep cries and this behavior convinces the other Greek kings to abandon him on the Lemno island for ten years. Philoctetes’ human condition expresses a double vulnerability: an ontological one, represented by his physical injury; a socio-political vulnerability, caused by his forced exile on the Lemno island. The wound represents his ontological vulnerability, an universal condition which is common to every being (not only humans). Ontological vulnerability expresses the susceptibility of every living entity to being potentially hurt (Besson 2014; Grompi 2017). Nevertheless, there is a second kind of vulnerability well expressed by Philoctetes but less explored. It is a socio-political vulnerability which the Greek hero experiences by living alone for ten years.