Phaedra
(continued from page 1)
Suddenly the slave runs in to say that Phaedra has
hanged herself! The slave finds a suicide note Phaedra wrote which
accuses Hippolytos of raping her, and claims that she is killing herself
out of shame (but this is lies, this is not true).
At this point Theseus gets home, and of course he is very upset to
find Phaedra is dead, and even more upset when he reads her note.
When Hippolytus comes home, Theseus accuses him of raping Phaedra.
Even though Hippolytus understands what has happened, he won't explain
it, maybe because he doesn't want to shame his step-mother, and maybe
because he thinks his own father should not be so willing to believe
such a terrible thing. Once again, Hippolytus controls himself and
says nothing.
Theseus, out of his head with anger, curses his son Hippolytus, and asks Poseidon to kill him. As Hippolytos drives his chariot away down the beach, Poseidon sends a great wave out of the ocean to drown him.
With Hippolytus dead, Theseus realizes that he should have had more self-control, and judged the case fairly rather than jumping to conclusions.
To find out more about Phaedra and Euripides, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your local library:
Greek Theatre, by Stewart Ross (1999). For kids.
Greek and Roman Theater, by Don Nardo. For teenagers.
The Bull from the Sea, by Mary Renault. An excellent novelization of the story of Phaedra, for teenagers.
Euripides: Medea, Hippolytus, Electra, Helen, by Euripides. Translated by James Morwood. The text of the actual play, which is called Hippolytus in Greek.
Euripides (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies), by Judith Mossman (2003). A collection of essays by different people trying to explain what Euripides means. Good for college students, and maybe high school students too.
