Classical View of Passion in Hippolytus: Part One

‘For several decades we psychologists looked upon the whole matter of sin and moral accountability as a great incubus and acclaimed our liberation from it as epoch making. But at length we have cut the very roots of our being, lost our deepest sense of selfhood and identity, and with neurotics, themselves, we find ourselves asking, ‘Who am I, what is my deepest destiny, what does living mean?’’- Mowrer, O. This abstract written by an American psychologist is a perfect example of the feelings and emotions, which Phaedre experienced for Hippolytus and which led to an unhappy outcome. We can call Phaedre’s love passion, oceanic feeling, desire, but the result is still the same – a tragedy has happened because of the self-importance of a goddess Aphrodite and nothing can be changed.

In the play ‘Hippolytus’ Phaedre is a victim of the current situation. She is seeking the good, directing all her knowledge and intellect toward her personal goals. According to Friedrich Nietzsche seeking the truth means seeking the good (181). As we discussed in class, Phaedre is a ‘free spirit’ and does not belong to the ‘herd’ as she thinks for herself and wants to find the truth. However, she becomes a ‘scapegoat’ in the hands of a goddess.

The events, which have led to the tragedy, are the natural outcomes of the weakness of the tragic character. Gods and goddesses decide everything. The heroes of ‘Hippolytus’ are thrust into swirling situations against their will and have to defend themselves. They cannot analysis and foresee the future development of the situation and the consequences of their actions. Therefore, a reader feels a pity for them as they are victims who can do nothing. Euripides’ ‘Hippolytus’ is a play, in which gods were doing everything that was in their power, while ordinary people were dependant on their whims. However, people usually called such a state of things fate or destiny: ‘our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our nature that lays down the law of our today.’ (Nietzsche 62).