The Conditionality of Helenus’ Oracle and Tragic Choice in Sophocles’ Philoctetes

Abstract Helenus’ oracle in Sophocles’ Philoctetes is commonly misunderstood as an unqualified revelation of an immutable future: the gods have fated Philoctetes to rejoin the Greek army at Troy. This has occasioned further misinterpretations of the play, especially as regards the “false ending”, in which Neoptolemus and Philoctetes would appear to disregard the divine will in an act of conscious impiety by choosing to sail for Malis instead. This paper argues that the oracle should rather be understood as conditional, allowing Philoctetes either to assent or refuse to rejoin the Greek army in good conscience. In the absence of compulsion from the gods, Neoptolemus and Philoctetes feel free to make tragic choices of real gravity about their futures, and these choices reveal the duo’s characters before Heracles appears and reverses their course.