Hippolytus - euripides
Hippolytus, written by Euripides, is the classic tale of a poor human who angers one of the gods, specifically Aphrodite. Hippolytus reveres Artemis, and scorns Aphrodite, so she chooses to get her revenge on Hippolytus by forcing Phaedra, his stepmother, to fall in love with him. This has a cascading effect, the end of which is Hippolytus dying in his father’s, Theseus’, arms after Theseus cursed him using Poseidon’s name because Phaedra accused Hippolytus of slandering her. It is uncertain the reasons for Euripides writing this play, as most of his works and the plays he would have written with were lost. What is known is that this Hippolytus was the second one that was written, after Euripides received harsh criticisms on the first play.
Theseus does not appear until about halfway through, returning from Hades and is immediately met by mourners and his wife’s dead body. Very quickly Theseus shows himself to be impulsive and careless, choosing to believe Phaedra’s suicide note over his son’s words. It is a common theme for Theseus to think, choose an action, and then not think about consequences. For instance, on his return home from Crete, he forgets to raise the right color flag and his father kills himself. For someone who is king of Athens, he does not have very good wisdom. But this flaw also makes him very much like a demigod- what would be a minor flaw for normal people, becomes a fatal flaw for him. And he never learns from his mistakes. Rather than keeping his emotions under control and listening to Hippolytus, as a good king ought to do, Theseus makes a rash decision and calls upon Poseidon to bring death to his son. And of course, Theseus immediately regrets his actions once he hears that Hippolytus is dying. The amusing bit is that, once Theseus hears that Hippolytus did nothing wrong, he begins to beg for forgiveness, as if thefact that Hippolytus is dying In his arms is less important than making sure he does not have blood on his hands. By the end of the play, Theseus appears to be more of a villain than Aphrodite, the one who started the whole mess, though this is largely because of his words which could misconstrued as callous and selfish. Most likely though, with the play being acted out, Theseus’ character would be in mourning in the closing lines. After all, Theseus would still be one of the more beloved heroes, especially of Athens, and making him seem like a terrible person would not be okay.
All in all, the play seems to have many messages; do not disrespect the gods, do not trust stepmothers, think before you act, and so on. But for viewing Theseus, it serves as a reminder that, while Theseus did many amazing things, he was mostly human. And that you never want to make him angry, because he will cause you to die in a rather horrific way.
Theseus does not appear until about halfway through, returning from Hades and is immediately met by mourners and his wife’s dead body. Very quickly Theseus shows himself to be impulsive and careless, choosing to believe Phaedra’s suicide note over his son’s words. It is a common theme for Theseus to think, choose an action, and then not think about consequences. For instance, on his return home from Crete, he forgets to raise the right color flag and his father kills himself. For someone who is king of Athens, he does not have very good wisdom. But this flaw also makes him very much like a demigod- what would be a minor flaw for normal people, becomes a fatal flaw for him. And he never learns from his mistakes. Rather than keeping his emotions under control and listening to Hippolytus, as a good king ought to do, Theseus makes a rash decision and calls upon Poseidon to bring death to his son. And of course, Theseus immediately regrets his actions once he hears that Hippolytus is dying. The amusing bit is that, once Theseus hears that Hippolytus did nothing wrong, he begins to beg for forgiveness, as if thefact that Hippolytus is dying In his arms is less important than making sure he does not have blood on his hands. By the end of the play, Theseus appears to be more of a villain than Aphrodite, the one who started the whole mess, though this is largely because of his words which could misconstrued as callous and selfish. Most likely though, with the play being acted out, Theseus’ character would be in mourning in the closing lines. After all, Theseus would still be one of the more beloved heroes, especially of Athens, and making him seem like a terrible person would not be okay.
All in all, the play seems to have many messages; do not disrespect the gods, do not trust stepmothers, think before you act, and so on. But for viewing Theseus, it serves as a reminder that, while Theseus did many amazing things, he was mostly human. And that you never want to make him angry, because he will cause you to die in a rather horrific way.