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Hippolytus is a tragedy by Euripides which won first prize at Athens' City Dionysia festival in 428 BC. The play retells the myth of the son of Theseus: Hippolytus, who has earned the emnitity of the goddess Aphrodite for refusing to worship her.
Rather than target Hippolytus directly, however, Aphrodite turns to another person she apparently has no quarrel with: the goddess causes a woman, Phaedra, to fall desperately in love with him. Unfortunately for Phaedra, he's just not that into her. Hippolytus is really not interested in anyone, and would much rather just go off hunting with his friends and in the presence of his favored goddess, Artemis.
There's also the problem that Phaedra is his stepmother.
Sources tell us that Euripides wrote two versions of Hippolytus: the first version, where Phaedra brazenly tries to seduce Hippolytus, was not received well by the audience. Instead we only have the second, where Phaedra is deeply ashamed of her feelings and the play opens with her determinedly resisting and hiding them. But no matter how determined Phaedra is, she can hardly keep her love secret for long... this is a tragedy, after all.
The play is available online here... if you'd prefer an English translation, you could look here or here.
This play contains examples of the following tropes:[]
- Acquitted Too Late
- All Love Is Unrequited: When Hippolytus hears of Phaedra's feelings, he doesn't react well.
- Asexual: A possible interpretation of Hippolytus.
- Break the Haughty
- Celibate Hero: Again, Hippolytus.
- Character Title
- Clear My Name: Hippolytus tries to do this, but is unsuccessful.
- Dark Secret: Naturally, it comes out.
- Deus Ex Machina: Artemis arrives via the crane and reveals the truth to Theseus: that Phaedra lied in her note, and Hippolytus was innocent.
- Downer Ending: Unsurprisingly.
- Driven to Suicide: Phaedra.
- Fatal Flaw: Hippolytus has plenty of other flaws, but the one which drives the tragedy is his refusal to worship Aphrodite.
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom: Which also releases a giant bull of horse-panicking doom for Hippolytus.
- Greek Chorus
- Heroic Bastard: Hippolytus.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Hippolytus, as proved by his somewhat hysterical speech to Phaedra and the Nurse about the evils of women, including the gem that men should pay for babies at temples and thus eliminate the need for women after all. But who would then bring up those babies, hmm?
- His favored patron deity Artemis is a goddess however, so it's not all women he hates.
- Jerkass: Hippolytus. For many readers, it's terribly difficult to muster up any sympathy for him during the first half of the play.
- Jerkass Gods
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Hippolytus actually keeps his oath, which causes some trouble for him.
- Love At First Sight
- Love Goddess: Aphrodite, who opens the play and sets the tragedy in motion because Hippolytus calls her the worst of gods.
- Love Hurts: So much.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Granted, Phaedra has been without food for three days, but she's definitely somewhat mad when she first appears. She soon calms down and starts behaving rationally, though.
- Malicious Slander
- Offing the Offspring: Theseus, when he wishes for the death of Hippolytus.
- Pals with Jesus: Hippolytus gets to hang with Artemis.
- Prophetic Names: Hippolytus, whose name in Greek (Ἱππόλυτος) can suggest "destroyed by horses".
- Second Hand Storytelling
- Spurned Into Suicide: Again, Phaedra.
- Three Wishes: Poseidon promises these to Theseus.
- Tragedy
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness
- Tragic Mistake: When Hippolytus swears his oath to Phaedra's nurse to tell no one what she told him.
- You Do NOT Want to Know
- Your Cheating Heart: Invoked by Phaedra's nurse as a possibility: Phaedra could get together with Hippolytus. What's so bad about cheating anyway? Everyone else is doing it, after all! (Even the gods.) Ultimately averted, however.