Phaedra

Many of the core conflicts of the play originate in the tension and conflict between the sexes. Hippolytus in particular is extremely misogynistic, viewing women as “the root of all evil” (559). There is a senselessness to Hippolytus’s misogyny, which he accepts: “Be it reason, nature, or passion which inspires me” (567).

There is also a more pervasive conflict between the sexes and their respective gender roles. Phaedra’s position is particularly complicated. Her husband’s absence has placed her in an unusual position, in which she must take charge of the duties that typically belong to the male. Even more importantly, her passion for the handsome Hippolytus lays bare an ancient double standard surrounding sexual mores. For while Theseus can abandon his kingdom to help his friend rape a goddess with no harm befalling his good name, Phaedra knows that if she consummates her feelings for Hippolytus, she will be ruined. The virginal Hippolytus also subverts traditional gender roles. While women were expected to remain chaste, men, if anything, were expected to indulge their sexual whims.

There are other imbalances between the sexes, especially when it comes to power. Though Phaedra rules her husband Theseus’s kingdom in his absence, she does not truly have free rein. She is accompanied everywhere by a Nurse who supervises her actions. And even with Theseus gone, Phaedra is cautioned to remember and fear him. When Theseus does return, he does not hesitate to strongarm Phaedra into telling him what he needs to know.

The role of women in the play—and in ancient Greece and Rome— was subordinate and servile, but also maternal. Phaedra subverts these norms when she tries to seduce her stepson Hippolytus. She defies both the subordinate role of women as well as the maternal relationship between a mother and son, or even a stepson.

Phaedra tries to convince Hippolytus that, as a woman, she should be ruled by a man like him:

“Mother”! that heavy title means too much.

A lowlier name would suit my feelings better;

Hippolytus call me “sister,” or “hand-maiden”—

Yes, call me your slave, I will serve you in every way.

I would not be ashamed, if you bid me go through snow-drifts,

to scale the frozen ridges of Mount Pindus.

And if you bade me walk through fire and enemy ranks in war

I would bare my breast to meet the naked swords.

Take up the sceptre entrusted to you, accept me as your servant:

It is right for you to give orders, and me to obey.

It is not women’s job to govern cities (609-19).

The end of the play confirms traditional gender roles without reaching any resolution. The virgin Hippolytus dies; Phaedra, having lost her chastity and thus her good name, kills herself; and Theseus, ever the picture of the long-suffering male hero, rages and grieves but lives on.