Euripides’ Hippolytus
Synopsis
The goddess Aphrodite, angered by a man called Hippolytus’ chastity and dismissal of her, decides to take action. She makes Hippolytus’ step-mother Phaedra fall in love with Hippolytus and ensures that Hippolytus finds out. Phaedra, to ensure she leaves her reputation intact, accuses Hippolytus of raping her, then kills herself in shame. Artemis reveals the truth to Theseus, Phaedra’s wife and father of Hippolytus, but too late: Theseus has already punished his son for the crime he believed he was guilty of, and Hippolytus lies on the stage nearly dead, while Theseus cries over the tragic events of the day.
In-depth plot summary
The play opens with a speech from Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Almost all Ancient Greek tragedies begin with a long speech, called the Prologue, which introduces the current state of affairs and often hints at what is to come. Often, it is given by a god, as is the case in Hippolytus (or the Bacchae, in which Dionysus gives the Prologue); sometimes, it is given by a mortal, as when the Nurse opens the play in Medea, or when the Prologue is spoken by a humble farmer in Electra (all written by Euripides). The use of a deity to give the opening speech makes the scene instantly more dramatic and intense: an actor swinging precariously in the air on ropes and pulleys, shouting about how they intend to make the lives of mortals miserable, can create a rather terrifying picture.
In the Prologue, Aphrodite speaks of her hatred for Hippolytus. She claims that he “says that I am the vilest of the gods,” and “keeps clear of marriage.” Furthermore, she is greatly annoyed that “it is Artemis […] that he honours, holding her the greatest of the gods.” She informs the audience that she has struck Phaedra, Hippolytus’ step-mother and wife of his father Theseus, with love for her step-son. Aphrodite elaborates on what will happen next:
“I shall reveal to Theseus what is happening and it will all come out. As for the young man […], his father will kill him […]. The other, Phaedra, must die─with her honour safe, but nevertheless die she must. […] Her catastrophe is a secondary consideration.”
Here we begin to see the unfairness and ruthlessness of Aphrodite’s plan. The goddess cares nothing for Phaedra, who has not wronged her at all, instead regarding her pain as collateral damage that is integral to the success of her scheme. However, it isn’t until a servant enters with Hippolytus just a page later that the plan is fully shown in a new light, after the servant speaks these peacemaking words to Aphrodite:
“You should forgive. If a man speaks foolishly of you in the spirited vehemence of youth, act as if you have not heard it. After all, the gods ought to be wiser than mortals.”
Suddenly, Aphrodite’s intentions turn from terrifying and virtually unstoppable to unreasonable, and the audience begins to doubt the seriousness of the cause of her anger. In the Prologue, this cause─married, of course, with the terrifying figure of an actor suspended in the air, screaming curses and other manifestations of wrath─seemed rather convincing; now, Aphrodite seems to be obsessed with the trivialities that usually only concern mortals. The servant leaves and Aphrodite, possibly quite put out, says little for the rest of the play. Nonetheless, her plan has been put into effect, and she is determined to see it through.
But not everything happens just as she had described in the Prologue; it is Artemis that reveals the dismal truth to Theseus, not Aphrodite. This is more significant than it might seem at first glance, before one of the many reasons why Aphrodite despises Hippolytus is because she is jealous of how much he worships Artemis. It also shows that Aphrodite might not be as in control as she would like the spectators─and, for that matter, the other characters in the play─to believe.
Soon after, the Nurse enters. Euripides specifies that she and some other female servants are carrying Phaedra in on a stretcher, who has been starving herself. The Nurse tries to persuade Phaedra, whom she clearly loves very much, to tell her what the problem is. She even asks her if it is a woman’s problem, assuring her that she and the female servants would support her no matter what. At this, the servants (who comprise the chorus in this part of the narrative) launch into a lengthy speech on issues such as postnatal depression. Eventually, Phaedra gives in, and tells the Nurse that she is stricken with love for her own step-son. The Nurse’s reaction here could be thought of as a little melodramatic: she jumps back across the stage, crying that she no longer has the strength to live. Oddly enough, it only takes a small, reasonable interlude from the chorus for her to pull herself together, saying simply, “Now I realise that I was being small-minded.” She assures Phaedra that she has a love potion in the house that will cure her of her passion for Hippolytus. The love potion is never used.
Phaedra makes the Nurse promise that she will not tell anyone of Phaedra’s love for Hippolytus. The Nurse agrees, and rushes into the house to find the love potion. Soon enough, though, Phaedra hears a conversation going on inside: the Nurse is telling Hippolytus everything. She makes him swear to not tell Phaedra what she has done, but Hippolytus rushes outside straight away, launching into a long and overly anti-feminist speech.
The Ancient Greeks were by no means feminists, and few were concerned with womens’ rights at all; but Hippolytus’ speech would still have come as a shock to them, purely because of its strongly sexist undertones. He curses the female sex, despairing that women were ever created by Zeus at all. He concludes his oration with these words:
“I shall never have my fill of hating women, not even if someone says that I am always harping on the same old theme. Let someone either teach them to be virtuous or allow me always to tread them underfoot.”
With that, he withdraws. Phaedra bemoans her state, crying, “Most ill-starred of all women am I.” Here, we see the conflict of Phaedra’s position in the play: is she the victim, or the victimiser? She describes herself in this scene as “the victim of unjust deeds”, so she certainly views herself as the target, the dupe of some greater plan in which she plays an unfortunate part. Her love for her step-son was inflicted on her by the gods, and it appals her more than anyone else. That said, she does accuse Hippolytus of raping her later on in the play, thus victimising him and, ultimately, ensuring his downfall.
Phaedra goes into the house to kill herself; when she reveals that this is her intention, she is met with absolutely no resistance. This is perhaps becasue the Chorus present are also unsure if whether or not she is a victimiser, and subsequently whether or not it would actually be a bad thing for her to die; or it could simply be because of the Ancient Greek views of glory and reputation─in other words, killing herself would be a noble thing for Phaedra to do, and the Chorus respect that. Either way, Phaedra leaves the stage and is not seen again.
Just moments later, Theseus arrives at the palace to find that his beloved wife is dead. Furthermore, on a closer inspection of the body, she is revealed to be holding a tablet with an accusation against Hippolytus for raping her written on it. Horrified, Theseus curses his son’s name and banishes him. Hippolytus leaves with these desperate words: “How wretched I am! I know the truth but do not know how I can give it expression.”
Here we see the tension between characters in Hippolytus, especially in regards to betrayal and loyalty, a central theme in the play. So far, the characters seemed to have had little emotional difficulty in betraying each other: the Nurse betrays Phaedra by telling Hippolytus about her secret; Hippolytus betrays the Nurse by telling everyone what, and that, he knows; Phaedra betrays Hippolytus by accusing him of raping her─but then we see an interesting conflict. Hippolytus cannot bring himself to betray Phaedra by telling Theseus the real truth. Although he professes his innocence to his father, he does not tell him of his wife’s disgraceful love for her own step-son, and dies for his loyalty to the woman who falsely accused him of raping her.
Hippolytus is escorted out, but the messengers who did so are quick to return with bad news. One informs Theseus that “Hippolytus is dead, or almost dead─it makes no odds.” He describes exactly how it happened, and how the curse that Theseus had put on his son, calling to Poseidon to avenge him, has been fulfilled. Poseidon sent forth a great wave while Hippolytus was journeying away from his homeland of Troezen. The wave carried a bull which scared the horses tethered to Hippolytus’ chariot. Inevitably, they ran wild, trampling their rider and dragging him about on the rocks. The messenger concludes, “He still sees the light of day but his life is poised in the balance.”
Theseus, of course, is overjoyed. Still believing that his son assaulted Phaedra, he believes that justice has been served, and rejoices. But the messenger takes this opportunity to declare his own opinion. (A little context is required; Mount Ida was a mountain range near Troy, famous for its pine forests. Writing tablets were often made of the pine from the range. The messenger makes it clear here that he is not siding with his master in the slightest, and the inital respectful sentence with which he begins his speech seems to be purely out of tradition, not genuine respect. This small passage is, rather comically, infused with contempt and scorn.)
“I am only a slave of your house, my lord, but to believe you when you say that your son is vicious is more than I shall ever be able to do, even if the whole of the female sex were to hang themselves and someone filled all the pinewood on Mount Ida full of writing. For I know that he is a good man.”
Hippolytus is brought to Theseus, and Artemis comes down to make matters right─as well as she can. She explains the truth to Theseus, assuring him too late of Hippolytus’ innocence. Theseus cries, “I wish I might die!” (a continuation of a small tradition of his that I noticed; when Phaedra died, he exclaimed, “It is rather that you have killed me than died yourself.” and shortly after Artemis reveals the truth, he says to Hippolytus, “If only I could die instead of you, my child!”).
The tragedy is drawn to a close. Phaedra is dead; so is Hippolytus; and Theseus is as miserable as ever, with the weight of the latter unnecessary and brutal demise on his hands. Hippolytus dies incredibly lonely, with only the too-late pity of his father to comfort him, as even Artemis deserts him at the last minute in an abrupt and heartbreaking scene:
ARTEMIS
Farewell. It is not proper for me to look upon the dead or to pollute my sight as men breathe their last and die. I see that you are now near this evil fate.
HIPPOLYTUS
Go on your way […]. How easily you take leave of our long companionship!
Now as lonely and desolate as his late wife and son, Theseus goes out, and the Chorus concludes the play: “Again and again many tears will break forth…”