Skip to main content

Philoctetes by Sophocles

Two important themes were brilliantly explored by 7 Theta this morning in their interpretation of Sophocles’ play Philoctetes set in the ninth year of the Trojan war where Philoctetes is recalled to Troy from his exile on Lemnos. This tragic Greek drama examines the effects of disability and suffering in the wounded warrior and its effects on the social fabric. Philoctetes, the greatest of the Greek archers, played superbly by Christopher R., articulates in several of his monologues, the physical, psychological and social disruption caused by his suffering; what today we would call post traumatic stress disorder. Secondly, it explores how an essentially moral person, Neoptolemus, Achilles son, played with a commanding alertness by Tomaso R. is persuaded to engage in unethical behavior by a powerful superior, Odysseus, played confidently by Matthew McC.—and what then moves him to return to his new moral framework, enlarged by his almost complete betrayal of Philoctetes.

I enjoyed the correlation that the boys drew in their narration of the play with the effects of war today and the post traumatic stress often experienced by returning soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq. The PowerPoint presentation documented this correlation, giving the play a meaningful contemporary message. The boys also explored the stigma so often associated with illness and disability.

Sophocles' intent to show the negative side of Odysseus’ shrewdness is what makes this play so interesting.  Instead of seeing Odysseus as the hero (as in the Iliad and the Odyssey), we see him in Philoctetes as an opportunistic man who rationalizes his deceptions and abandonment of Philoctetes with a pragmatic argument—the moral core of the “hero” is missing.

Painting of Philoctetes by Jean-Germain Drouais

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 4, 2010 at 8:39 PM

    Thank you for the wonderful review and accolades. It was a very sophisticated and challenging undertaking for the boys of Grade 7. Bravo to all the boys in Theta, Mr. Barbieri and Saint David's!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OLIVER!

This morning our fifth graders continued a great year-end tradition at Saint David's, The Fifth Grade Musical. The boys performed Oliver! and they were fantastic, providing impressive performances and demonstrating great vocal ability. They have been mastering the dialogue and musical numbers for weeks, and clearly gave it their all. Congratulations to the cast on a job well done, and to their Producers/Teachers James Hubbard and Jamie MacNeille, Director Phyllis Clark, Musical Conductor Jeff Moore, and the Parent Committee of Cynthia Chapman, Susan Kissane, Tara Neumann, Joyce Restituto, and Ann Roberts. Musical theater is alive and well at Saint David's!
Post a Comment
Read more

Sixth Graders Meet with Dr. Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at the American Museum of Natural History

Dr. Carter Emmart with Saint David's Sixth Graders This past Friday, as part of our unique partnership with the American Museum of Natural History, sixth graders had the great honor to attend a private lecture given by Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at AMNH. Dr. Emmart told the boys about his passion for science along with an overview of the history of the Hayden Planetarium.  He also gave the boys advice on how to take scientific information about the universe and compile it into an interesting and captivating show for an audience. The boys were able to see Dr. Emmart's original sketches, which helped create the Uniview program they are using to develop their presentations. The session provided our boys with an opportunity to learn how art and science come together in the planetarium, and to obtain expert advice on developing their own space shows from one of the creators of Uniview . You can learn more about Dr. Emmart's work and Univie...
Post a Comment
Read more

Surf's Up for Horizons at Saint David's

Little can top catching a wave to beat the heat on an exceptionally hot summer's day. Yesterday, as the temperatures soared into the nineties, the Horizons at Saint David's Eighth Grade class traveled to Rockaway Beach with their teachers for surf lessons with New York's premiere surf school, Locals Surf School. The boys have been taking swimming lessons through our program since their first summer with us in 2012.  At that time, they were were rising first graders, and our inaugural cohort of Horizons students. Yesterday, they were ready to go, and, as these pictures show, they had a blast while learning a new skill. This is the eighth year of Horizons at Saint David's, a six-week multi-faceted academic and cultural summer experience whose mission is to prevent summer slide in elementary school boys from low-income families. We began the program in conjunction with Saint David's 60th anniversary in 2011, as one way that Saint David's as an ins...
Post a Comment
Read more