222 CLASSICS NOTES FOR 2/11/09 Repeat announcement: Our second test will be on Monday, 2/16. The format will be exactly the same as last years second test, which is available in a folder in the Course Documents area of the Blackboard site. Please test yourself as you will be tested. More on the back story to Hippolytus: Minotaur was contained in a maze, the labyrinth, constructed by Daedalus. Theseus came to Crete originally as tribute from Athens (7 males and 7 females) to be sacrificed to Minotaur within the labyrinth, but Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a weapon to kill the Minotaur and a ball of twine to play out behind him so that he could retrace his steps through the maze and escape. They ran away together but he left her behind on the island of Naxos. -he was known for being forgetful. Ariadne was not completely abandoned. The god Dionysos took pity on her, and married her. Note: Aegeus was Theseus father. When he sent Theseus to Crete to confront the Minotaur, had charged him to hoist a white sail if he was sailing home safely. Theseus forgot. Aegeus saw the ship returning and thought it would announce his son's death. So he threw himself in the sea, which is named Aegean after him. Next, a dynastic marriage between Theseus and Phaedra Theseus spent a year in self-imposed exile in Troezen for killing the Pallantids. Troezen in Euripides' time had a hero cult of Hippolytus, so in that sense Euripides story is etiological. There is also a temple of Aphrodite Hippolytus in Athens that connects with the myth Euripides is using here. Note etiology is the study of causes. An etiology can also mean a cause. An etiological myth is one that explains a cause of some ritual behavior. Euripides won first prize with Hippolytus in 428. He had produced another Hippolytus earlier that had not been well received. In it, Phaedra approaches Hippolytus directly. In the winner, that is left much more ambiguous, and Phaedra is in her way quite noble. In this play, some principal issues are 1) how do we view the role of the gods in human affairs? What is the meaning of humanism? Is Euripides a pure determinist, or as some would argue, an atheist? One way the play focuses these questions is to ask us whether Phaedra responsible for her malady and her subsequent actions? 2) The nurse attacks Phaedras sense of right and wrong in order to save Phaedras life. She ends up triggering Phaedras suicide. Is the nurse evil? (This might be a good journal topic.) 3) Is Hippolytus in any way deserving of his fate, or is he simply collateral damage? Walk through: pp. 163-165 Aphrodite - no chance for Hippolytus the sinner or Phaedra the devotee. The reference to Phaedra's seeing Hippolytus in Athens is an etiological myth to explain the temple of Aphrodite Hippolytus in Athens. p. 168 Note the change of speaker that the text does not indicate. The servant says, You should be wiser than mortals, being Gods. pp, 168-169 parodos announces Phaedra's trouble. Chorus of women of Troezen pp. 172-173 Ph.'s shame and Nurse's moderation (Note that the Nurse is a wet-nurse, not inhome care provider. She has been with Phaedra since Phaedra was a baby.) 173- Nurse knows she is too emotionally involved with this woman.
Note: The nurse's love for Phaedra is a different word in Greek from Phaedra's love for Hippolytus. As we noted earlier, there are three Greek words for love. Eros, of which Aphrodite is goddess, is sexual passion, along with what we would call "romance." Philia is the love of family members and friends. Agape, which just means something like "esteem" in the classical period, will later be used by Christians to speak of God's love for people. Nurse is here talking about her philia. She recommends moderation in love because she is incapable of achieving it in her love for Phaedra. p. 175- "No remedy in silence child" is Nurse a pretty good arguer. She uses dilemma (presenting a person with two options, either of which gets what you want). This kind of argumentative tactic shows the Nurse is a sophist. p. 177, Phaedra conjectures that there is a family curse. There isnt. 178- When the truth comes out, the nurse goes crazy. She is absolutely flabbergasted. Phaedra talks about problems of being a woman- how she deals with Eros- p180: 1) silence and concealment, 2) discretion and good sense, 3) death. Phaedra can't control her desire- she's a noble person, and so feels she has to die. We may feel that the best thing to do would be to tell her snap out of it, or to get her professional help. But to a Greek audience, she is the essence of nobility in a difficult situation. Her resolve is eroded by the nurse Nurse has it all figured out 182. echo of Aristophanes point to Zeus as model: gods fell victim to adultery, how can a mortal do any differently? p.183 Nurse argues that, if it's going to happen- just let it, don't kill yourself . Nurse knows her "baby" is going to die unless she steps in to do something. [Here Dr. Craig tried to draw parallels with modern debates about the relative value of counseling abstinence or safe sex for teen-agers. Despite the remarkable possibilities this would create for multiple-choice questions, it will not be on the exam.] Confronted with the choice between dishonor and death, we would all try to help Phaedra find a third way that avoids either. Euripides, or Phaedra's world, does not have that much flexibility. 184- at some time Phaedra assents. We are not even sure when. This is unlike Euripides' first play on this theme, in which Phaedra had confronted Hippolytus directly. Phaedra overhears the conversation between Nurse and Hippolytus. Hippolytus does not assent, but has sworn an oath he will not tell anyone, and he keeps it. 189-190- used to prove Euripides is a misogynist (woman hater) Why women? All they do is make trouble. There is a misogynistic tradition in Greece literature, but Hippolytus is over the top. Hippolytus is just not a moderate guy. 192-193- Phaedra implicates Hippolytus. Given what she is suffering, and given the Greek aversion to reconciliation at the time of death (as we saw in Ajax' last words) her behavior is understandable, if not commendable. chastity in moderation we can't understand this- some things cannot be done in moderation. But a Greek would find Hippolytus so extreme that he is unbalanced. The two sayings inscribed on the lintel of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi were Know thyself and Nothing in Excess. These ideas are central for Greeks, and for them, Hippolytus is clearly excessive.
Coming of Theseus on p. 195. Theseus has been given the power to use 3 curses by his father Poseidon- on p. 200, uses one to make sure Hippolytus will die. At this point, Hippolytus' death is a done deal. Note that Theseus father is Aegeus, and Poseidon. How bout them Vols? P200 Violent exchange between father and son, as we have come to see already, these exchanges are shocking, distasteful, and common in Greek tragedy. On P203- Hippolytus ends his annoying and completely inappropriate protestation of innocence with an oath. Why couldn't he have just sworn the oath? Because Euripides loves a good debate. Hippolytus banished bull from the sea We come to the end of the play with a real mess, and no clear way to resolve it. So, Artemis as deus ex machina 216- Artemis says it is all Aphrodite's fault, but that gods can't turn against one another. She would not have let this happen, but she feared Zeus. 219- Aphrodite will be punished severely -Artemis will kill the next mortal whom Aphrodite loves. Does that make us feel any better about Hippolytus fate? Still, this tragedy is not as painful as it could be. We will finish considering it, and treat Oedipus at Colonus, on Friday.