Euripides, Hippolytus; Investigate before sentencing

Its the weekend again, and yet again it does not feel long enough. I guess that's just a side effect of working Saturday mornings. It's still a little crazy to realise I'll be working on Euripides for the rest of the year, for the BC list, and because Augustine's city is so big, I'm slitting it into four and that will cover me for the rest of the year as well. In other news, I think I have already said that my hubby has a new three month contract, which is due to start at the start of September, so roll on September!

The Story
Aphrodite opens the play with a taste of things to come and foretells Hippolytus' demise. We then see Hippolytus returning from the hunt, full of life and vigor. We see the queen languishing in her bed. She is in a bad state and has not eaten for several days. Her nurse questions her as to her reasons and she eventually alludes to having erotic desires for Hippolytus, which would be both adulterous and incestuous, seeing that Hippolytus is the bastard son of the king. Her nurse suggests she should just go on and do what she is thinking, but Phaeda, the Queen, refuses. The nurse goes away and confronts Hippolytus about this but he is aggressively against the suggestion and rebukes the nurse. When Phaeda hears of this she is even more disturbed and kills herself. Her husband comes home to find her dead and reads the notes she left accusing Hippolytus of attempting to rape her. Her husband, in a fury, curses Hippolytus (using one of the three curses that Poseidon owed him). Hippolytus is gravely injured by a huge sea wave but manages to make it back to the palace, where he pleads his innocence as a virgin dedicated to Artemis. Eventually, the truth comes out and The king, Theseus, find himself both without a wife and having killed his own son in haste to believe his wife's suicide note.

Reflections
A tragedy perpetrated by Aphrodite, who starts the play by stirring up Eros in Phaeda. Theseus is both understandably distraught and yet overly hasty in Hippolytus' case. It seems nothing Hippolytus says can bend his wrath and Phaeda has left things in a way that she can not be questioned.
Phaeda's suicide is her solution for the great shame that she feels for having such thoughts about her husband's, bastard son. Him, knowing about this feeling, seems to embarrass her more, and drives her over the edge into suicide. We must conclude that the note she left was her attempt to push the blame and shame off herself and onto Hippolytus.

Comparisons
Like we see in the Alcestis, also by Euripides, we see a god at the start of the play almost foretell the story. Though, it seems to take the idea of foreshadowing and goes a step further into a straight telling. At first, this seemed rather odd to me but on further reflection, I guess, it is no different than having the synopsis on the back of the book or the blurb in the papers for a movie.
It is the first time we see Aphrodite in a negative light or at least in the part of troublemaker. Previously, we have seen her in battle in the Iliad or being called to by her own oracle.

Have you read Hippolytus? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read Hippolytus but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Hippolytus.