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The language of pity: eleos and oiktos in Sophocles' Philoctetes*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Lucia Prauscello
Lucia Prauscello
Affiliation:
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
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Extract

Pity and the characters' response to it have always been recognized as one of the central themes of Sophocles' Philoctetes. In recent years scholarship on the play has mainly focused either on the cognitive aspects of the dynamics triggered by pity-related emotions (that is, how pity seems to activate and at the same time is triggered by rational reflection and experience) or on its self-conscious meta-theatrical dimension (what Halliwell has called the intrinsic ‘theatricality of pity’ and the audience's response to it). My intention is to contribute to this critical debate by focusing more narrowly on the semantics of pity-related words in the play: a linguistic analysis of the language of pity in Sophocles' Philoctetes will show that the seeming interchangeability of the words oiktos and eleos bears further investigation. The first section of this article will offer a brief diachronic survey of the semantics of oiktos- and eleos-related formations in Homer and the fifth century tragedians (with special attention to Sophoclean usage). Building upon recent studies on paradigmatic semantic relations, it will then be argued that the relation of eleos to oiktos is better described, from a synchronic perspective, in terms of ‘hyponymy’ or ’gradient synonymy.’

Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Classical Journal , Volume 56 , 2010 , pp. 199 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 2010

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