To what extent do you agree that Phaedra and Hippolytus are in control of there own destiny in the 'Hippolytus'?

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Matthew Belcher

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To what extent do you agree that Phaedra and Hippolytus are in control of there own destiny in the ‘Hippolytus’?

Hippolytus is an ancient Greek tragedy written by the playwright Euripides and was first produced for the City Dionysia around 428BC. What is somewhat unusual about this play is that it is in fact the second time Euripides has covered the myth of Hippolytus in one of his tragedies with the first play (known as the Hippolytus veiled) being an earlier work of his which is now lost. Although the play is simply called the Hippolytus the play fallows the paths of both he and Phaedra, his step-mother, whose storyline takes up most of the first half of the play and whose fate has been entwined with that of Hippolytus. This ‘fate’ of theirs is revealed right at the beginning of the play by Aphrodite during her opening speech were it is revealed that Hippolytus, our tragic figure, must  die due to his refusal to worship her and as a result of this, Phaedra must also die in order to fulfil Aphrodite’s’ plan for revenge on Hippolytus. This then raises the question of whether or not Hippolytus and Phaedra had any control over there own destiny during the play which, at first glance, would suggest that both there fates were constructed by Aphrodite. However, as we’ll see the answer is not that simple, as Hippolytus has ultimately brought this fate upon himself due to his obsession with purity and his scorning of Aphrodite. Phaedra has a lot less control over her own destiny with her original feelings for Hippolytus being cause by Aphrodite and the revealing of these feelings being constructed by the ‘Nurses’ character which ultimately leads to the situation were she believes the only solution is to kill herself and to vilify Hippolytus in the process in order to maintain her dignity.

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Aphrodite’s speech at the beginning of the play is of course the biggest argument to support the idea that Phaedra and Hippolytus were in fact not in control of there own destiny in the play. In this speech Aphrodite tells the audience that she has fated Hippolytus to die due to his failure to worship her and that she has caused Phaedra (his step-mother) to fall in love with him which, according to the speech, will eventually be revealed to her husband Theseus and in turn will be Hippolytus’ downfall. It is also revealed that Phaedra must die in accordance ...

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