Phaedra

Content Warning: The source material features violence, rape, suicide, and sexual practices that may be disturbing to some readers.

Hippolytus, the son of the Athenian king Theseus and an Amazon woman, lovingly invokes the natural world around Athens. He is preparing to go hunting and prays to his patron goddess Diana (the Roman version of the Greek goddess Artemis) to give him success.

Hippolytus announces his departure, declaring that he is “called to the woods” (82). Phaedra, Theseus’s wife, now enters. She addresses Crete, her home before she came to Athens to marry Theseus. Her husband has disappeared, Phaedra complains. He has descended to the Underworld to help his friend Pirithous carry off Proserpina, the goddess of the dead.

Phaedra is also suffering because of “another deeper source of trouble” (99). This is understood to be Phaedra’s desire for her stepson Hippolytus. Phaedra finds that she can no longer carry out her normal duties, and even longs to spend her days with the animals in the forest. She remembers her mother, Pasiphae, who fell in love with a prize bull that belonged to her husband, Minos. Consummating this forbidden love, Pasiphae bore the terrible Minotaur, a monster that was half-man and half-bull. She concludes ominously that “The women of Crete can never / Enjoy an easy love. They always have monstrous affairs” (127-28).

The Nurse chides Phaedra for her inappropriate thoughts, urging her to resist her passions. She understands that Phaedra is referring to her desire for Hippolytus, and warns her that any consummation of this desire would be punished, whether by the gods or by Phaedra’s own conscience. She tells her to remember the dangerous example of her mother. Phaedra readily agrees that the Nurse is right, but feels like she is unable to control herself.

The Nurse changes tactics and tells Phaedra to fear the punishment of her husband Theseus, but Phaedra does not believe that Theseus will return from the Underworld. Finally, the Nurse reminds Phaedra that Hippolytus, who hates women, is determined to remain a virgin, making him even less likely to give in to Phaedra’s desires. Phaedra, conceding the strength of the Nurse’s arguments and valuing her good reputation, decides to kill herself. The Nurse, wishing to steer Phaedra away from this course at any cost, tells her mistress that she will help her win Hippolytus.

The Chorus sings the first Choral Ode of the play, a song of the power of the love-goddess Venus (the Roman version of the Greek Aphrodite) and her son Cupid (the Roman Eros). They allude to many mythical stories of the love gods’ power, and how they have exerted their power over mortals and gods alike—even animals are subject to the whims of love. Love’s conquest of Phaedra is, in a way, the most impressive testament of all to its power: “What more can I say? Love conquers / Even the fiercest creatures: stepmothers” (356-57).