Hippolytus By Euripides

Greek tragedy grew out of the public rituals of songs, sacrifice, dances and worship honouring Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation and growth in the 5th century B.C. Euripides’ tragic hero (or heroes as in the play ‘Hippolytus’) is a character, who has good and bad qualities. Moreover, qualities, which are bad tragically, destroy good ones and we feel pity for the tragic heroes and the situations, in which they find themselves. This is especially true with Phaedre as she is a woman and thus suffers more than men (Nietzsche 169-170). However, Nietzsche points out not only the weakness of a woman but her power to make the life of a man a tragedy, as Phaedre does in case with Hippolytus: ‘What, in spite of all fear, elicits pity for this dangerous beautiful cat ‘woman’ is that she appears to suffer more, more vulnerable, more in need of love … than any other animal. Fear and pity: with feelings man has so far confronted woman, always with one foot in tragedy which tears to pieces as it enhances.’

Two major themes are present in ‘Hippolytus’: passion and revenge. Euripides’ play ‘Hippolytus’ is interesting from the psychological point of view. The great playwright shows us repeated injustice and sufferings of his characters. Euripides tends to depict passive victims who get into trouble against their own will and suffer because of their ‘fate’. For example, Phaedre is a victim who acts only when she finds herself in a desperate position and her attempts to change the reality vanish with her death. Phaedra's position illustrates a division between the cognitive and the emotional ‘self’ putting an emphasis on the inner source of human suffering.

Euripides shows us weak points and mistakes of human beings that makes him a modern playwright of his time. His approach to tragedy differs from his contemporaries as he depicts characters of his plays as they are in a real life. Euripides depicts the plight of Phaedre who is racked by passion and desire. She understands her feelings for Hippolytus and knows what she has to do but she is not able to bring it to pass. Euripides masterly shows the division between the reason and emotional ‘self’ in Phaedre whose suffering is caused by a troubling division of her inside ‘self’ when nomos is in confrontation with physis. Finally, her natural desires win. Euripides version of the play is a modern one if compared to other playwrights of that time; however, showing the psychological conditions of his characters, he gives a traditional mythological explanation of their psychological state.

In ‘Hippolytus’ Phaedre believes a person can act according to his/her personal aspirations and passions. She judges a decision by its value, rather than by the consequences. Her love is dead when she is rejected by Hippolytus and now everything she wants is to revenge. In a book ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ Friedrich Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: ‘In revenge and in love woman is more barbarous than man.’ Perhaps, this is especially true concerning a famous character of the play ‘Hippolytus’ Phaedre.

By: Olivia Hunt

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