From Replacing to Reclaiming a Father: Navigating Inheritance through Neoptolemus' Tale ( Ph . 343–90)

Abstract: In this paper I offer a psychoanalytical interpretation of Neoptolemus' deception logos (Ph. 343–90), arguing that it anticipates the play's approach to filial inheritance, from neurotic degenerations to its correct understanding. The tale starts with Neoptolemus claiming Achilles' objects, then Achilles' words, concluding with the boy's spontaneous decision to leave Troy. Similarly, in the play Neoptolemus voices his own pliability to pity, like Achilles, yet these statements leave space to the concrete restitution of the bow to his friend Philoctetes. The gesture precedes what Heracles, son of Zeus, foretells ex machina : Achillean inheritance goes beyond the youth' predicaments or Philoctetes' wishes.