Women In Euripides Greek Tragedy, Hippolytus

Euripides Bacchae and Euripides Hippolytus both have similar characteristics and themes because of the way Dionysus and Aphrodite both behaved towards characters in their plays. Dionysus and Aphrodite both wished to punish mortals that failed to worship them and had done them wrong, but Dionysus came back to Greece also to spread his message and religion, while Aphrodite’s only wished to punish Hippolytus for not worshiping her. Dionysus actions in the play did not change how the characters felt about him, while Aphrodite’s’ brief appearance in the play changed Phaedra and Hippolytus perceptions of her, because of what she did to them, but no other characters popular perception changed. Aphrodite and Dionysus behavior

Meanwhile, there was the mighty Zeus, the king of the gods, who was married to the goddess Hera. Hera is the goddess of War and Honesty, but she had an awful temper and often took it out on her husband, Zeus. Hera only loved Zeus because he was the king of gods and she wanted some of that power for herself, so she never let him leave her side, and although he was her husband, she talked badly about him, and constantly blamed and insulted him. Aphrodite witnessed this many times and started to feel empathy for Zeus, she knew Zeus was kind and didn’t deserve to be treated like that. At this, anger burned inside of Aphrodite for Hera and what she did to hurt Zeus, and as this anger burned she felt a passion. Aphrodite casually began to develop feelings for Zeus. She always told herself she shouldn’t, that Zeus was married and she needed to stay away, but she couldn’t help how she felt for Zeus.

In most Greek tragedy, it is clear that females are not vital in society. Women are rather a necessity for the birth of new citizens and seen as just the vessels for carrying children. Greek cultural values depict women as subservient to men given no chance or opportunities to participate in society. The female is not considered to be part of Greek democracy because she is perceived to be dishonest and frankly her entire life is then masked by the masculinities that this society tends to favor. Thus, it is important to note the frustrations this belittling of expression brings upon females in these tragedies. In Euripides’s Medea, we can observe the fascination of women and the effects being subordinate to their male counterparts has in

   Many different interpretations can be derived from themes in Euripides's The Bacchae, most of which assume that, in order to punish the women of Thebes for their impudence, the god Dionysus drove them mad. However, there is evidence to believe that another factor played into this confrontation. Because of the trend of male dominance in Greek society, women suffered in oppression and bore a social stigma which led to their own vulnerability in becoming Dionysus's target. In essence, the Thebian women practically fostered Dionysian insanity through their longing to rebel against social norms. Their debilitating conditions as women prompted them to search for a way to

As soon as she saw Momus, the God of satire, Aphrodite knew that he was the one for her. Such an exquisite man, he did not seem to know what boundaries were, and found humor in even the darkest of situations. But, when he ridiculed Zeus and was banished from Mt. Olympus, Aphrodite immediately regretted her decision to bear his child. With great feelings of angst and resentment towards Momus, once the babe was born Aphrodite abandoned her in the home of an Amazon tribe. All the baby had was her father's mask and a name- Callidora. Callidora had an extremely difficult time growing up as an Amazonian warrior. Firstly, she was extremely clumsy. She could not hold a weapon and would constantly trip over her own feet. Also, she would consistently

75) (2). In Euripides "Hippolytus" it is the young half-son Hippolytus who refuses to honour the goddess, Aphrodite calling her, "A god of nocturnal prowess is not my god." (lines 106) (3). His declaration of not praising Aphrodite unlike his devoted attachment to the goddess Artemis leaves the goddess of love to take matters into her own hands and punish him for his disrespect towards her by putting his mother Phaedra under a spell that will make her lust for her own son, "I am ashamed of what I said. Cover me up.

This makes Phaedra seem even more weak-minded, pulling up the fact that she cannot stand even being in the same room without fear she might show everyone how she truly feels. Phaedra resolves to die, being weak-minded and sees this as an escape of her current melancholy. “Worn down by the guilt of this passion and the division it creates within her, she resolves to die.” (Critchley 18) Phaedra wants to end this pain and guilt of her loving Hippolytus by killing herself. The only problem is she cannot die because she is a requirement of Aphrodite’s plan to cause pain for Hippolytus. (Lattimore 7) Phaedra wishes she could be put out of her misery and her mental pain being caused by this lustfulness. She cannot take this pain much longer. “I faint, I fall; my strength abandons me. / My eyes are dazzled by the daylight’s glare, / And my knees, trembling, give beneath my weight.” (Racine 191) Her physical stature begins to suffer because of her lustful nature and her weak-mind. By banishing Hippolytus, Phaedra’s mind only begins

Responsibility in “Phaethon” by Morris Bishop In Morris Bishop’s poem “Phaethon”, the speaker focuses on the topic of responsibility by using humorous language to relay the message to the reader. Within the piece, the speaker tells his son the story of Apollo and Phaethon, tying ancient mythology to the present day. With literary allusion, the speaker draws parallels between the past and the present, the old and the new, mythology and reality. Throughout the poem, the rhythm and rhyme establish the light and humorous tone best suited to a younger audience, instituting the speaker’s position as a father to a young child.

Since Hippolytus now knows of her feelings, Phaedra believes she is damned and after making the Chorus swear secrecy, goes inside and hangs herself to death. On returning Theseus learns of his wife’s death and discovers a letter which seems to clearly place the blame for her death on Hippolytus. Misinterpreting this, he assumes that Hippolytus had raped Phaedra, the furious Theseus curses his son to death or at least exile, calling on his father Poseidon to enforce the curse. Hippolytus pleads innocence, but cannot tell the truth in entirety because of the binding oath he previously swore to the nurse. As the Chorus sings a lament, Hippolytus is sent off to exile.

Aphrodite's genealogy is not the same as in the Theogony, but her sphere of intervention remains unchanged: the sexuality legitimated by society (with marriage), as well as its destructive aspect (the rape of Helen by Paris, presented as a reward offered by Aphrodite, is the core of the Trojan war narrated by the Homeric Iliad). This ambivalence is exemplified by many other Greek texts, mainly in the classical Athenian tragedies of the fifth century BCE, which illustrate how necessary it is to submit to sexual union and to what extent the goddess's anger can be disastrous to the human, male or female, refusing this destiny. The young Hippolytus, son of Theseus and an Amazon, despises sexual union and marriage, just as do the fifty daughters of Danaos, the Danaides. Hippolytus must die, and the Danaides must each kill her husband. during the wedding night (forty-nine do).

Aphrodite the goddess of love has made many couples fall in love, some however, proofed to be dysfunctional relationships. Most worth noticing are Jason and Medea relationship, both have fallen madly at first, later however, Jason's infidelity and Meade’s jealousy is the center of Euripides’ tragic play. Another example of an unhealthy relationship are Dido and Aeneas they are a perfect example on the reason why multicultural relations do not usually last. These two peers have many similarities and differences, however one of the most important questions are why two of the Heroic age icons whom the goddess of love herself paired, caused such tragic stories. Each individual comes from a different background and has a very different mindset,

In order for Aphrodite to seduce Anchises’s she had to disguise herself as a Phrygian princess. Anchises knew better though when he first met “Aphrodite”, he thought that she had to be a goddess. This being ancient Greek though, Anchises decides to sleep with her anyway. Anchises left his cattle in the pasture, and whisks Aphrodite away to his home. Knowing anything about Greek mythology one might know that sleeping with a goddess can get you into some serious trouble.

The overall main causes of the majority of problems the characters in Racine’s “Phaedra” have are due to their own passions. This is despite their roles within a society based upon the idea reason rather than passion. An example of this is the fact that Phaedra loves Hippolytus, despite being her stepson, a passion which she very much feels guilty about it, as it is completely against the established norms of their society. She becomes crazed with this passion, attempting to stay within reason by convincing herself that she must die without telling anyone, feeling that her guilt and shame for it would become worse if others knew. However, her passion eventually defeats her reasoning and logic.

In Seneca Phaedra, Phaedra is portrayed as violent, wicked, emotionally unstable, lustful, and confuse woman. Phaedra In this story was caught in an act of forbidden love for Hippolytus, her stepson. Phaedra married to Theseus the king of Athens, where she explain that the reason she married Theseus because she was the victim of cupid arrows because she was the curse by Venus state that her ancestor throws Venus lover to Mars. Theseus, Phaedra husband went on a journey with Pirithous to the underworld to kidnap Persephone Hades wife and this where Phaedra lust of passion towards Hippolytus begin to show.

Phaedra emotions are ultimately unstable and erratic. She can no longer suppress her huge infatuation for Hippolytus. She finds Hippolytus very lustrous. She is galvanized at the core to release her feelings, because the build-up of these intense emotions would become too onerous for her to cope with. Her confession becomes a conduit in her trying save her son, this is to assure that he will be crown king of Athens. If she don’t declare her love for him then she will forever regret it and feel trap. She has made the executive decision to utter out how she feels regardless of what her mother and the nurse thinks. As she vehemently declares her love for Hippolytus, her confession becomes an ultimate tragedy because Hippolytus rejects her love for him. She becomes an emotional wreck seeking to take her own life. But the love that Phaedra feels for Hippolytus is too immense that her emotions pulsate through her veins like a river. For love is indeed destructive and this is what Oenone admonishes to Phaedra. There is a sense of isolation that comes with the declaration because she knows that what she is doing very atrocious. Her passion becomes too monstrous turning her ill emotionally and physically. She has become a slave to her emotions. She is in a constant battle with love and sin. Phaedra vows to take this chance and in the end she committed suicide from this tragedy. Phaedra’s ultimate quest to confess her love for Hippolytus