Word: neoptolemus
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Like many Greek tragedies, Philoctetes draws upon the Homeric epos for characters and situations. At the outset, the great Greek archer, Philoctetes, is languishing in a cave on Lemnos, abandoned by his army because of an infected foot. Odysseus and Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, come to Lemnos to persuade Philoctetes to give them the bow of Heracles. Without it, says the seer Helenus, the Greeks will never capture Troy. After many a stratagem and one deus ex machina, all three embark for Troy with the bow. Sophocles artfully balances these three characters so that at one pole Odysseus represents super...
Dimitri Villard as Neoptolemus brought little insight and meager stage presence to a demanding part. Neoptolemus, an honest, forthright youth, is forced by Odysseus into a double reversal of character. In order to fool. Philoctetes, he must pretend to be naive, that is, he must "play" himself. Villard's vapid interpretation excluded all this complexity. Thus, when the time came for him to break down and tell all to Philoctetes, he had not prepared the audience with any previous dramatic tension. His moment fizzled...