Line #42 Theatre/Hippolytus


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6	->'''Nurse:''' τί φῄς; ἐρᾷς, ὦ τέκνον; ἀνθρώπων τίνος; [[note]]What are you saying? Are you in love, child? With what man?[[/note]]
7	->'''Phaedra:''' ὅστις ποθ᾽ οὗτός ἐσθ᾽, ὁ τῆς Ἀμαζόνος... [[note]]Whoever he might be, the son of the Amazon...[[/note]]
8	->'''Nurse:''' Ἱππόλυτον αὐδᾷς;[[note]]You speak of Hippolytus?[[/note]]
9	->'''Phaedra:''' σοῦ τάδ᾽, οὐκ ἐμοῦ κλύεις.[[note]]You heard that from yourself, not from me.[[/note]]
10	-->--'''Euripides''', ''Hippolytus'', Lines 350-353
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12	''Hippolytus'' is a tragedy by Creator/{{Euripides}} which won first prize at Athens' City Dionysia festival in 428 BC. The play retells the myth of the son of Theseus: Hippolytus, who has earned the enmity of the goddess Aphrodite for [[CelibateHero refusing to worship her]].
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14	Rather than target Hippolytus directly, however, Aphrodite turns to another person she apparently has no quarrel with: the goddess causes a woman, Phaedra, to fall desperately in love with him. Unfortunately for Phaedra, he's just not that into her. Hippolytus is really not interested in anyone, and would much rather just go off hunting with his friends and in the presence of his favored goddess, Artemis.
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16	There's also the problem that Phaedra is his stepmother.
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18	Sources tell us that Euripides wrote two versions of ''Hippolytus'': the first version, where Phaedra brazenly tries to seduce Hippolytus, was not received well by the audience. Instead we only have the second, where Phaedra is deeply ashamed of her feelings and the play opens with her determinedly resisting and hiding them. But no matter how determined Phaedra is, she can hardly keep her love secret for long... [[ForegoneConclusion this is a tragedy, after all]].
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20	The play is available online [[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0105 here]]... if you'd prefer an English translation, you could look [[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0106 here]] or [[http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/hippolytus.html here]].
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22	!!This play contains examples of the following tropes:
23	* AcquittedTooLate: Artemis appears to Theseus to clear Hippolytus' name only ''after'' he's been mortally wounded by one of Theseus' ThreeWishes.
24	* AdaptationalHeroism: The first version has Phaedra much more brazenly trying to seduce Hippolytus. The second version play up her tragedy.
25	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: When Hippolytus hears of Phaedra's feelings, he doesn't react well.
26	* BeingGoodSucks: Hippolytus refuses to sleep with his stepmother, at least in part, out of an appeal to basic human decency and respect for his father (the other part being [[HeManWomanHater because he doesn't like women so much]]). When his stepmother then falsely accuses him of raping her, he's helpless to [[ClearMyName defend himself]] before his father [[IGaveMyWord because of an oath he swore]]. See also KeepingSecretsSucks below.
27	* CelibateHero: Aversion to sexuality is the crux of Hippolytus' character. It could even be considered his fatal flaw. Likely owing in part to his own [[ChildByRape illegimate heritage]], Hippolytus despises women and sex, pledging himself wholly to Artemis to the point of actively disdaining [[LoveGoddess Aphrodite]]. Aphrodite does not mind Hippolytus preferring Artemis, but she punishes him for looking at her with scorn.
28	* ClearMyName: [[spoiler: Hippolytus]] tries to do this, but is unsuccessful.
29	* DarkSecret: Phaedra is cursed to be madly in love with Hippolytus. Naturally, being a tragedy, it comes out.
30	* DeusExMachina: Artemis arrives via the crane and reveals the truth [[spoiler: to Theseus: that Phaedra lied in her note, and Hippolytus was innocent]]. Averted in that [[spoiler: she doesn't show up in time to fix anything; she only succeeds in making Theseus realize what a terrible mistake he'd made.]]
31	* DownerEnding: Phaedra commits suicide out of shame, but before doing so writes a suicide note convincing Theseus to kill his own son over false accusations of rape. Then, after the dirty deed is done, [[DeusExMachina Artemis appears]] [[WhatTheHellHero but only to tell Theseus how badly he screwed up]] and inform the audience that [[CycleOfRevenge she's about to take out her revenge on one of Aphrodite's worshipers]].
32	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Phaedra. She finds her love for Hippolytus so unbearable and shameful, so she resorts to killing herself, lest she bring shame upon Crete]].
33	* FatalFlaw: Hippolytus has plenty of other flaws, but the one which drives the tragedy is his refusal to worship Aphrodite. He believes that he can choose which gods he'll associate with in the same way that he can choose which people he associates with; Aphrodite begs to differ.
34	* FreudianExcuse: Hippolytus is the son of King Theseus of Athens and Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons (read: [[HeroicBastard he's a bastard]]). Understanding how big of a shame this was in Ancient Greece and his fear of sex begins to make sense.
35	* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: Which also releases a [[spoiler: giant bull of horse-panicking doom for Hippolytus]].
36	* HeroicBastard: Hippolytus. He is the son of Theseus and the Amazon queen and is portrayed as a victim who didn't deserve what happened to him.
37	* HeManWomanHater: Hippolytus, as proved by his somewhat hysterical speech to Phaedra and the Nurse about the evils of women, including the gem that men should pay for babies at temples and thus eliminate the need for women after all. His favored patron deity Artemis is a goddess, however, so it's not ''all'' women he hates.
38	* {{Jerkass}}: Hippolytus. For many readers, it's terribly difficult to muster up any sympathy for him during the first half of the play.
39	* JerkassHasAPoint: However, Hippolytus is certainly right to insist that sleeping with his stepmother is wrong for so, so many reasons. [[WellIntentionedExtremist He just goes a bit too far]] [[DoesNotlikeWomen when extending his rejection of her to all womankind.]]
40	* KeepingSecretsSucks: Hippolytus actually keeps his oath, which causes some trouble for him.
41	* LoveGoddess: Aphrodite, who opens the play and sets the tragedy in motion because Hippolytus calls her the worst of gods.
42	* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Granted, Phaedra has been without food for three days, but she's definitely somewhat mad when she first appears. She soon calms down and starts behaving rationally, though.
43	* NayTheist: Hippolytus towards Aphrodite. Aphrodite herself stated that though she does not mind Hippolytus preferring Artemis over her, she decides to punish him for actively disdaining her.
44	* OffingTheOffspring: Theseus, when he wishes for [[spoiler: the death of Hippolytus]].
45	* PalsWithJesus: Hippolytus gets to hang with Artemis.
46	* PropheticNames: Hippolytus, whose name in Greek (Ἱππόλυτος) can suggest [[spoiler: "destroyed by horses"]].
47	* SpurnedIntoSuicide: [[spoiler:Phaedra committed suicide after she was spurned by Hippolytus]].
48	* TemptingFate: Hippolytus is warned early on by a servant that refusing to worship Aphrodite will bring trouble for him...and he immediately insults the goddess.
49	* ThreeWishes: Poseidon promises these to Theseus.
50	%%* {{Tragedy}}
51	%%* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness
52	* TragicMistake: When Hippolytus swears his oath to Phaedra's nurse to tell no one what she told him.
53	%%* YouDoNOTWantToKnow

Context Theatre / Hippolytus