Hippolytus: Seneca, Euripides, Ovid

Liz Soolkin Hippolytus Seneca, Euripides, Ovid The horizontal surface of Hippolytus, a man wronged and kil guide by his own stepmother is a falsehood retold by many different writers. For this paper, I have chosen to address the myth as retold by Ovid, Seneca, and Euripides. Each multiform has a hardly a(prenominal) distinct differences that impacts the meaning of the myth as whole. While reading individually myth, the reader receives a completely different sense from the tier, a final stage that is unique to each(prenominal) account.The difference in each retelling that changes the meaning of the story most signifi tail assemblytly is the stepmother, Phaedras role and the emphasis each occasion places on her consultation in his form of the story. The variations in the portrayal of her slip provide each story a different meaning a large portion of the meaning comes from the readers ability or inability to relate to Phaedra this ability depends on the creators portraya l of her and her actions.Senecas discrepancy of the story of Hippolytuss decease is called Phaedra. Before fifty-fifty beginning to read the narrative, the reader understands that Phaedra is the main caliber in the story the main involvement of the story is maven mingled with her and her stepson. She does everything in her federal agency to get Hippolytus to sleep with her she asks the nurse to convince him and purge tries to do so herself later fainting in his arms. She does not discoverm to c are to the highest degree(predicate) his affectionate morals or her own morals.Aphrodites curse on her has led her to be so determined to sleep with her stepson that she ignores her ideals and the ideals of Hippolytus. When she is rejected, she spreads the lies about Hippolytus having raped her and lives to see the consequences of those lies though she is in control of the situation and could physically dismiss the story from ending tragically, she does nothing to prevent her st epson from existence cursed by his father. She is quick when Hippolytus mangled corpse is brought to her and her husband, Hippolytuss father, Theseus.Only then does she realize her immense outrage because she recognizes that her dishonest actions lead to Hippolytuss undoing and that her need for revenge is what causes Hippolytus to contact his horrendous fate. Her daunt only comes after she causes her stepsons shoemakers last. In Euripides version, Phaedra kills herself to begin with Hippolytus is cursed. She leaves a suicide note blaming Hippolytus with her death. She is unable to outlive Hippolytus and see the consequences of her revengeful actions.Unlike in Senecas version, in Euripidess retelling Phaedra dies and has no ability to stop the spread of lies about Hippolytus. She can do nothing to take vertebral column her actions like she could have in Senecas version. The reader can feature Phaedras actions to a greater extent in Euripidess version because she dies, atte mpting to keep herself morally good and free from shame and guilt for her lust she is portrayed more as essentially a good person who is cursed by Aphrodite and her attraction to her stepson. One can be more empathetic to her in this version because Aphrodite could cast the same curse on anyone.In her death, she blames Hippolytus of rape, relating her to Senecas version of her character as a harsh person, intent on revenge, individual to whom the reader cannot easily relate. Ovids retelling of the myth of Hippolytus is completely different from Seneca and Euripides narratives. prototypal of all, Ovids account starts with Hippolytuss narration of the story the reader is first base introduced to Hippolytus as someone returned from the late(prenominal) so, even without reading the story, the reader already knows that Hippolytus suffers tragic death at the end of the story.Because he is telling his story to a bystander, Hippolytus does not go into great detail of his life he recou nts the story of his stepmothers betrayal in a very brusque and succinct manner, concentrating more on the paroxysm he faced when his limbs were compound in the reins of his chariot (Ovids Metamorphoses p. 539 line 608-609). The fact that Hippolytus talks of his own death in a conversational manner, attempting to console Egeria is classic because it is one of Ovids techniques that he used to place the readers tending on Hippolytus.Whereas Seneca wrote about Phaedra and described the story with her as the main character, Ovid wrote about Hippolytus, from Hippolytuss point of view. In this story, Aphrodite is not even mentioned as being the instigator of Phaedras lust. Phaedra is portrayed as a cold-blooded, merciless killer who did not feel shame for her put to death of Hippolytus. The shame aspect, that was so important in defining the other authors versions of the myth, is absent from Ovids version. Phaedras shames absence from the myth can be explained by the fact that Hipp olytus himself is narrating the story.Ovid indues the reader a perspective from the victims point-of-view, which does not view any guilt felt by Phaedra as relevant. Even if she feels guilt, she is still held responsible for her actions. Whereas in the other myths, the reader knows that Aphrodite is the final cause of Hippolytuss death and Phaedra is not completely criminal, in Ovids myth, she is not mentioned since Hippolytus was not aware of her influence on Phaedra. The three versions portrayals of Phaedra are important when analyzing the different meanings of the multiform myth.The difference lies in the different conflicts that trick up in each myth and the various sources of Phaedras shame, or the absence of it. In Euripides version of the story, the main scrape of the myth lies in Phaedras inner conflict she struggles with her desires and is unable to express them and deal with them in a healthy way. She must use the help of her nurse to help her and before the story is over, the shame of her dissolute thoughts kills her. Unlike Euripides version, Senecas retelling of the myth shows her conflict to be one with Hippolytus.Phaedras every action is a struggle against Hippolytus strong morals and chastity. The story is one of a fight between the two characters, concluding with Hippolytus loss of life, an event that leads to Phaedras shame and last her death. Ovid tells the story as a conflict between Hippolytus and Phaedra from Hippolytus point-of-view. Hippolytus, in Ovids version is wronged by his stepmother, who is portrayed as evil and coldhearted. There is no mention of any shame she might feel for her stepsons murder the lack of shame depicts as heartless, an obvious antagonist to Hippolytus.From these differences, one can interpret that a greater meaning lies in the three authors definitions of shame. Whereas Phaedra in Senecas version is shameful of her own immoral thoughts and urges, the other Phaedra, in Euripides version, only realizes her guilt when she sees Hippolytus dead body she acts more child-like, not believing that such terrible consequences could come from her actions until she sees them. Ovid differs completely in his view of shame. He sees it as irrelevant to the victims suffering and pain.In his version, Hippolytus does not consider Phaedra as having felt any remorse for her actions, he sees her as a coldblooded killer who caused him immense grief. The way I began to analyze the myths of Hippolytus was to think about the major differences between the characters. Because the story is all about the characters rather than the setting or culture, I thought that the differences of each character among each multiform would give me a clear view of the meanings of each multiform. The character that seems to influence each story the most is Phaedra.I could have gone(p) into greater detail about the differences amongst each Hippolytus, Theseus, and nurse but I realized that analyzing those differences would resu lt in an essay of 20 pages and would not be as meaningful. Relying on the differences among each authors version of Phaedra to give meaning to the differences was very fruitful. I managed to find that the differences in Phaedras character were based in her decisions throughout the story. In one story, she killed herself before Hippolytus was dead in another version, she killed herself after Hippolytus died and in the third version, she was barely even mentioned.Each story showed her as more or less humane in Euripidess and Senecas versions of the story, Aphrodite was mentioned as the source of her attraction to Hippolytus. The godesss elaborateness in the crime took some of the blame off of Phaedras shoulders and make it easier for the reader to relate to Phaedra. In Ovids version, Aphrodite was not mentioned and Hippolytuss death was viewed as a direct result of Phaedras cruel passion. much differences between Seneca and Euripidess versions could be found and meaning could be di scover from the timing of Phaedras death.I asked myself, why caused her to die before or after Hippolytus and what is the meaning of the difference in her suicide? I realized that in both cases, shame had caused her to kill herself but in each story, shame was a result of something different. In Euripidess version, Phaedra kills herself because of her own immorality she feels guilty about her sinful passions towards Hippolytus. In Senecas versions, she commits suicide from guilt of see Hippolytuss mangled corpse and realizing that her actions had caused his death.