Reviews

Hippolytus is another brilliant play by Euripides, the guys seriously can’t miss. Though I was familiar with the myth itself, having even read modern retellings recently, the play managed to surprise me with its wonderful characterisation and rather unexpected moral.

Hippolytus is the son of Theseus, and he’s devoted to the goddess Artemis. He’s rejection of womanly love enrages Aphrodite, who sets a vicious plot in motion. She makes Phaedra, Hippolytus’ stepmother, fall madly in love with him, in an attempt to dishonour him and cause his demise.

The story is well known in Greek and Roman mythology, and many authors depict Hippolytus as the innocent victim, and Phaedra as a sinful temptress and a liar. But Euripides knows better than that. His Hippolytus, from the get go, is unlikable and extremely arrogant, ironically praising himself as the most pious man alive. He hates women with a strong passion, which we’re clearly not meant to sympathise with. He certainly deserves to be taken down a peg.

On the other side, Phaedra is afflicted with the goddess’ curse, but instead of being emboldened by her newfound lustfulness, she is distraught and would rather die than act upon her instincts (and she is obviously correct in this course of action, she is this kid’s stepmom, like this isn’t about repressing a woman’s sexuality, it’d be highly inappropriate). Anyway, ultimately Phaedra, though making questionable decisions, is never blamed. She pays the price for it and she is mourned, even when the truth comes out. Her strength in the face of temptation is portrayed as admirable, as much as it is futile, and we can understand when she takes it upon herself to desperately try to defend her honour.

Finally, Theseus shows up in the second half, with the ungrateful task of discovering Phaedra and facing Hippolytus. I liked how much he mourned his wife and how he never questioned her words, even after hearing Hippolytus’ version. He may be a loving father, but he doesn’t hesitate one second to exile him. These days Theseus gets a bad rep, but you couldn’t call him a bad husband in this play. I think you could argue that he’s as tragic as Phaedra, suffering due to the curse imposed on another person.

This play provided many points of reflection beyond the characters. The nurse has a pretty shocking speech defending and encouraging adultery, for example. Hippolytus is criticised for his way of life and rejection of women, with words that almost rang like homophobia. Theseus, instead of believing his innocence in light of his attachment to the idea of chastity and only surrounding himself with men, is even more prone to condemn him due to his weird ways that now only appear as a phoney coverup.

Ultimately, Euripides, once again, shows an incredible degree of empathy in this tragedy. It’s themes are very powerful and the characters have great depth, but I can’t help comparing this to other play and I must say this is ever so slightly inferior. I think Aphrodite's’ curse constantly looming over the fate of the characters was a bit overbearing and denied them of agency, which would have made their actions potentially more compelling. Still excellent though.