CLASSICS 2D03 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Pittheus, Aegeus, Euripides
13 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Hippolytus
Euripides: Author
Hippolytus: son Theseus and the Amazon warrior Hippolyta
Theseus: son of Aethra and either Aegeus (Athenian King) or Poseidon or both (both had sex with
Aethra on the same night)
Phaedra: daughter of Minos (mythical king of Crete) and Pasiphae (therefore half sister to the Cretan
Minotaur)
Chorus: young married Troezen women
Aphrodite: Goddess of love
Artemis: Goddess of chastity, the hunt
• Set in Troezen, a coastal town in the northeastern Peloponnese, where King Theseus of Athens
is serving a year’s voluntary exile after murdering a local king and his sons
• Hippolytus, Theseus’ illegitimate son with the Amazon Hippolyta, has lived and trained in
Troezen since his early childhood, under the protection of Pittheus, the King of Troezen
• At the start of the play, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, explains that Hippolytus has sworn a
vow of chastity and now refuses to worship (honor) her, instead he honors Artemis, the chaste
goddess of the hunt (goddess of chastity).
▪ Hippolytus has devoted himself too fully to virginity and the goddess Artemis, and
arrogantly rejects the power of sexuality and desire (Aphrodite)
• Hippolytus is warned about his overt disdain for Aphrodite, but refuses to listen.
▪ As if to confirm Aphrodite’s judgement of Hippolytus’ character, a servant sees Hippolytus
honoring the statue of Artemis and urges him to honor Aphrodite as well. Hippolytus
arrogantly denounces the servant and Aphrodite at once.
• As an act of vengeance for Hippolytus’ snub, Aphrodite causes Phaedra, Theseus’ wife and
Hippolytus’ stepmother, to fall madly in love with Hippolytus.
• The Chorus of young married women of Troezen describe how Phaedra is not eating or sleeping,
and Phaedra finally shocks the Chorus and her nurse by reluctantly admitting that she is sick
with love for Hippolytus, and that she plans to starve herself in order to die with her honor
intact.
▪ Phaedra’s desire for Hippolytus is an ailment that she treats like a terrible disease
▪ The nurse assumes that Phaedra cares a lot about her children and their inheritance and so
she thinks Phaedra is looking at Hippolytus as the bastard child, a threat to them. One i
• The nurse soon recovers from her shock, and urges Phaedra to give in to her love and live. She
tells Phaedra that she knows of a medicine that will cure here. Instead, however, the nurse runs
to tell Hippolytus of Phaedra’s desire
▪ This was at the express wishes of Phaedra, even if it was for her own good
• Nurse makes Hippolytus to swear an oath that he will not tell anyone else. He reacts with a
furious, misogynistic tirade on the poisonous nature of women
▪ Nurse propositions him with the prospect of having a sexual relationship with Phaedra.
Hippolytus cruelly denounces Phaedra’s desire
▪ Phaedra stands at the palace door and hears with Hippolytus shouts at the nurse
• Since the secret is out, Phaedra believes she is ruined, and after making the Chorus swear
secrecy, she goes inside and hangs herself.
• Theseus then returns and discovers his wife’s dead body, along with a letter that said Hippolytus
had raped her.
