Tuesday, 1 July 2008: begin Euripides, Hippolytus: Hippolytus modern performance version (pdf file) by Jon Corelis

Text-objective discussion: Ashley Bedford

Problem and Issues:

• Oedipus complex- Pheadra falls in love with Hippolytus and Theseus is enraged and blames Hippolytus for the romance that has not even taken place.
   

• Heroic tragic flaw- Hippolytus continues to ignore Aphrodite, which angers the goddess
   

• Theme- Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned. Aphrodite is angered and takes her fury out on Hippolytus for his disrespect. Pheadra is rejected by her step-son and leads her husband to think the son is the cause of her suicide

Comparisons to Other Texts:

• Aphrodite and Pheadra are much like Clytemnestra in Agamemnon, and Christine in Mourning Becomes Electra. All these women have been scorned in some way or another. Aphrodite was disrespected, Pheadra was rejected, Clytemnestra lost her daughter, and Christine is stuck with a husband whom she knows only as a brute beast and treats her like a slave.

• Women’s roles in each text are to cause the downfall of great men. In Milton’s Samson, Delilah brings down the great Samson with her trickery and deceit. Christine poisons her husband. Clytemnestra butchers Agamemnon. Aphrodite causes Phaedra to fall in love with her stepson, ultimately causing the deaths of both parties. Enraged by Hippolytus’ rejection, Pheadra confides to Theseus in a letter before her suicide that Hippolytus is the one behind her death.

• Another role that women play are the victims of fate. Cassandra was doomed to die in her very own vision after rejecting Apollo. Jocasta was part of the same prophecy damning her as well as her son. Pheadra, although responsible in part for her step son’s death is doomed by the curse put upon her by Aphrodite.

Quotes and Lines Taken from Text:

• Lines 5-8 pg. 2: “I enrich their lives, but anyone who rules me out slips up. People just naturally like to be admired; why should the gods be any different?”

• Line 13 pg. 3: “Phaedra will keep her honor but lose her life.”

• Lines 2-3 pg. 8: “Oh I’m unhappy – what have I done – how have I lost my senses? –I must have been out of my mind – some god sent those cruel illusions.”

• Lines 12-15 pg. 35: “you are laughter, love, enjoyer, you are light and hope and womb, you are slayer and destroyer, you are night and death and tomb”

Discussion Questions:

• Does the audience as easily gain sympathy for Pheadra as with Cassandra?

• In your opinion, would all these great men still have met their tragic endings without a woman’s guiding hand?

• Was Hippolytus responsible for his own fate by denying Aphrodite in the first place?