Racines play phedrewhich draws on euripides tragedy hippolytusis the supreme achievement of french neoclassic theater. I read the 1970 edition, published by penguin books, which includes an introduction to each play by the translator john cairncross and racines preface to each play, all of which are informative and helpful. In racine s work, a new scene begins whenever a character enters or exits. An excellent novelization of the story of phaedra, for teenagers. When theseus, king of athens, disappears during an expedition and is rumored to be dead, his wife phaedra pursues her love for. The myth has been retold several times, in plays in classical times in euripides hippolytus and seneca the youngers phaedra, later in racines phedre, and more recently in other media. Euripides twice treated the hippolytus myth in dramatic form, which was unusual for a greek tragedian. To the legend as treated by euripides, racine added the love of hippolytus for aricia, and thus supplied a motive for phaedras jealousy, and at the same time. Senecas portrays the action more directly than euripides, relying less. Phedre words on plays 2010 american conservatory theater. Nov 23, 2017 phaedra is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by jean racine, first performed in 1677. As a result of an intrigue by the duchess of bouillon and other friends of the aging pierre corneille, the play was not a success at its premiere on 1 january 1677 at. The play was first produced for the city dionysia of athens in 428 bc and won first prize as part of a trilogy euripides first treated the myth in a previous play, hippolytos kalyptomenos.
Describe one way that racines phaedra is different from euripidess hippolytus. Racines hippolytus a very different character from euripides, where hes repressed. Phaedra, and hippolytus, are the persons essential to the. It therefore seems likely that euripides was deeply interested in this narrative. Aphrodite 1 mighty and of high renown, among mortals and in heaven alike, i am called the goddess aphrodite. He therefore worships artemis, goddess of the hunt and virginity, to the exclusion of aphrodite, goddess of love. In spite of her humiliation, her hopes have been revived and she now urges a reluctant oenone to plead her case with hippolytus. Essay on racines phaedra compared to assignment yet phaedra sees herself as the victim of venus fire. In his absence, queen phaedra fights a guilty passion for her stepson, hippolytus, and he nurses a secret love for aricia, a princess of athenian enemy blood, to whom.
In shifting focus from hippolytus to phaedra, racine portrays. See, my daughter, thine own hippolytus embraces thee. Cliffsnotes on phaedra discusses jean racines tragedy about deceit, honor, and forbidden love. Racines phaedra is a neoclassical french play from the 17th century 1677. Hippolytus dying from hippolytus and phaedra youtube. Furious at this slight, aphrodite avenges her honor by causing hippolytus stepmother, phaedra, to fall in love with him.
Euripides oxford readings in classical studies, by judith mossman 2003. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of phaedra by seneca. Hippolytus sings his death song in hippolytus and phaedra, the new opera by ernest r. My students read phaedra after euripides s hippolytus as part of an analogy criticism assignment, in which they comparecontrast the two versions, which are decidedly different, to say the least. Phd thesis open research online the open university. Hippolytus by euripides translated by david rudkin 1985. Hippolytus, she explains, the bastard son of theseus, has devoted himself too fully to virginity and the goddess artemis, and arrogantly rejects the power of sexuality and desire.
Phaedra fights a guilty passion for her stepson, hippolytus, and he nurses a secret love for aricia, a princess of athenian enemy blood, to whom theseus has forbidden marriage. When phaedras passion was revealed to him, he reacted with such revulsion that she killed herself, leaving a. Translated into english verse by richard wilbur dramatis play service, inc. Based on euripedes hippolytus, racines phaedra reveals the devastating potential of love and the brutality of human nature. However the situation changes drastically with the news of theseus return. In his treatment of the phaedra myth, euripides presents phaedra in a state of mental anguish and exhaustion brought about by her love for hippolytus, which she strives to conceal. The play begins when the goddess aphrodite appears and explains that she has grown angry.
Rather than depending on a god such as artemis to come down from the sky and reveal to theseus the truth of what phaedra has done, racine carefully weaves in a series of events that plausibly increase theseus questioning of his hasty prosecution of hippolytus. To the legend as treated by euripides, racine added the love of hippolytus for aricia, and thus supplied a motive for phaedra s jealousy, and at the same time he made the nurse instead of phaedra the calumniator of. Racine s play phedrewhich draws on euripides tragedy hippolytus is the supreme achievement of french neoclassic theater. Adapted from hippolytus by euripides, it tells the story of phaedra and her taboo love for her stepson, hippolytus, although with a much more sensual and shameless phaedra than in euripides greek original. The french playwright racine was inspired by this play to write phaedra.
Senecas phaedra, with whom the phkdre of racine ordinarily has less in. Marija marked it as toread dec 18, theseus discovers a letter on phaedra s body, which falsely asserts that she was raped by hippolytus. The actual model of racines phaedra is no more the one that he claims to follow in. Phaedra feedrah is a good deal younger than theseus, and hippolytus is now a young man, so they are not very different in age. The hippolytus is one of the most famous and controversial of the tragedies of euripides c485406bce. Phaedra gives her slave a message for hippolytus from pompeii in the play, hippolytus, phaedra, and theseus are all living together in troizen, near athens. Iphigenia and phaedra are based on euripides plays iphigenia at aulis and hippolytus. He was educated at the jansenist spiritual centre les petites. How racines phedre compares to its sources by dan rubin 35. Theseus, and hippolytus, son of theseus and an amazon.
Phaedra is a fabula crepidata, or a roman tragedy about greek subjects, told in. Rejecting their austere teachings, however, racine began writing for the theatre in 1660, and by the time of phaedra phedre, performed in 1677, had nine plays to his credit, several of them masterpieces of the french classical theatre and containing some of its greatest poetry. If hippolytus were only a shadowy figure, phaedra s love would be incomprehensible, and the tragic dimensions of a great passion would be reduced to mere wantonness. Jean racines phaedra, produced in 1677, marks the reemergence of both. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Phaedra or hippolytus by seneca the younger is a latin adaptation of euripides hippolytus. Pdf on feb 1, 1977, j meyrowitz and others published the legitimization of hippolytus find, read and cite all the. Hippolytus any of them who touches me shall regret it. Fatum phaedrae argumentum pluribus tragoediis praebuit. Could i say more, without exposing him to dire disgrace. As a result, aphrodite says, she has caused phaidra, theseus wife and hippolytus stepmother, to grow madly in love with. Jan 01, 2017 in the court of louis xiv, adaptations of greek tragedies were very popular. Phaedra is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by jean racine, first performed in 1677. Phaedra observes the supposed rules of classical drama, but is only loosely modelled on plays by euripides and seneca.
Mar 25, 2020 in euripides tragedy hippolytus, he was son of theseus, king of athens, and the amazon hippolyte. Dassin the classic greek legend of phaedra probes the tragic consequences that occur when a woman becomes sexually obsessed with her stepson. Jean racine was born on october 22 nd,1639 in france. Phaedra and the nurse phaedra and oenone in reading senecas play racine is exposed to the blatantly evil phaedra, consequently he cannot disassociate her from the purer character who appears in euripides play. The chorusconsisting of young married women of troezen, enters and describes how theseuss wife, phaedra has hipoolit eaten or slept in three days. When phaedras passion was revealed to him, he reacted with such revulsion that she killed herself, leaving a note accusing hippolytus of having tried. Phaedra fell in love with her stepson hippolytus, who refused her advances. Qui votum exaudiens monstrum marinum immisit hippolytum saeviter necaturum.
He is not the elemental creature that his origins would suggest. With phedre, racine chose once more a subject from greek mythology, already treated by greek and roman tragic poets, notably by euripides in hippolytus and seneca in phaedra. Based on euripedes hippolytus, racine s phaedra reveals the devastating potential of love and the brutality of human nature. Phaedra, in this new version by frank mcguinness, premiered at the donmar warehouse, london, in april 2006. This is, in fact, the only known instance of a greek dramatist composing two tragedies on the same mythic source. All these characteristics are exemplified in phaedre, the tragedy of racine which has made an appeal to the widest audience. The play was first produced for the city dionysia of athens in 428 bc and won first prize as part of a trilogy. My students read phaedra after euripidess hippolytus as part of an analogy criticism assignment, in which they comparecontrast the two versions, which are decidedly different, to say the least. Racines phaedra in an english version by robert lowell farrar, straus and giroux. In phaedra, racine chose once more a subject from greek mythology, already treated by greek and roman tragic poets, notably by euripides in hippolytus and seneca. The story of hippolytus and phaedra as recounted by euripides. Ovidius naso, the epistles of ovid, phaedra to hippolytus. If hippolytus were only a shadowy figure, phaedras love would be incomprehensible, and the tragic dimensions of a great passion would be reduced to mere wantonness. I read the 1970 edition, published by penguin books, which includes an introduction to each play by the translator john cairncross and racine s preface to each play, all of which are informative and helpful.
Rather you yourself, if you have the heart to, thrust me forth from the land. Ebook phaedra after racine as pdf download portable. Phedre, classical tragedy in five acts by jean racine, performed and published in 1677. Phaedra and the nursephaedra and oenone in reading senecas play racine is exposed to the blatantly evil phaedra, consequently he cannot disassociate her from the purer character who appears in euripides play. Therefore, there are no stage directions, only a list of the characters on stage for each scene. Read the monologue for the role of hippolytus from the script for phaedra by racine. When news comes of the death of theseus, phaedra, urged on by her nurse oenone, declares her love for hippolytus, but is rebuffed. Sophocles quoque phaedram scripserat hodie deperditam. The epistles of ovid, translated into english prose, as near the original as the different idioms of the latin and english languages will allow. In the court of louis xiv, adaptations of greek tragedies were very popular. Hippolytus euripides translated by david kovacs aphrodite hippolytus servant chorus nurse phaedra theseus messenger artemis aphrodite enters above the skene. Hence racine made of hippolytus a distinctive and memorable character. According to some sources, hippolytus had spurned aphrodite to remain a steadfast and virginal devotee of artemisand aphrodite made phaedra fall in love with him as a punishment. O how luckless i am, seeing that i know the truth but not how i may.
Racine s phaedra is a neoclassical french play from the 17th century 1677. The story of hippolytus and phaedra as recounted by. Both plays tell the story of phaedra, the wife of king theseus and her passion for her stepson hippolytus. Sensing jran, she leaves in a wild frenzy, demanding hippolytus sword to end her torment. In phaedra 1962 director jules dassin presents phaedra as a woman overwhelmed by passions she cannot control.
Euripides hippolytus, senecas phaedra, andor racines phedre provides a unique mechanism within which to explore such questions. Phaedra the wife of theseus, who falls in love with but is spurned by her stepson hippolytus, then commits. The text of the actual play, which is called hippolytus in greek. At first phaedra, panicstricken, again threatens suicide, then yields to oenones.
To theseus physical qualities, he adds a nobility of spirit made up of magnanimity, tenderness, and compassion, his refusal to defend himself endows him with the aura of martyrdom. Phaedra, the tormented queen, has a terrifying secret that will shake athens to its core. Describe one way that racine s phaedra is different from euripides s hippolytus. Racines work is based on the play hippolytus by the greek playwright euripides and addresses the same story, but it changes the focus from hippolytus hippolyte, the stepson, to phaedra phedre, the stepmother. It is loosely adapted from the play hippolytus, by the greek playwright euripides, and was written at the time of the roman empire, prior to 54 c. With britannicus performedpublished racine warmed to the challenge to fashion a play with substantial political and historical dimensions. Phaedra sometimes known as hippolytus is a tragedy by the roman playwright seneca the younger, written around 50 ce. In racines work, a new scene begins whenever a character enters or exits. It is the tale of phaedra, wife of king theseus of athens, and her forbidden obsession with her stepson hippolytus. Through the ages, the play has provoked strongly differing responses and interpretations, with scholars still arguing about what kind of message the audience is supposed to take away with them. Humiliated, she falsely accused him of having raped her.
Lattimore, euripides phaedra and hippolytus 288 the further question for our. As phaedra specifically indicates, he compares favorably with his father. Ebook phaedra after racine as pdf download portable document. When hippolytus went to athens two years previously aphrodite inspired phaedrahippolytus stepmother, to fall in love with him. Hippolytus is a mortal prince who prefers chastity and hunting to the pursuits under aphrodites purview. When the horrified hippolytus rejects phaedra, she. Theseus queen, phaedra, fell in love with hippolytus. Phaedra and hippolytus top results of your surfing phaedra and hippolytus start download portable document format pdf and ebooks electronic books free online rating news 20162017 is books that can provide inspiration, insight, knowledge to the reader. Hippolytus study guide contains a biography of euripides, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Where euripides allows for her complete vilification. You may wish to read tony klines translation of this play into english hereand senecas phaedra translated by f. Pdf staging in the central scene of the hippolytus authors is mu phedre,phaedra seneca pdf,racine phedre english translation pdf,phaedra act 3,phaedra monologue,seneca phaedra full text,critical analysis of phaedra,phedre racine resume, phaedra mythology,phedre jean racine,phaedra seneca,phaedra,phaedra film,phaedra the movie,phaedra imdb,phaedraparks instagram, phaedra then swears the.
An investigation of loves changing characterization in racines. Seneca the younger, phaedra theoi classical texts library. Ebook phaedra and hippolytus as pdf download portable. This play, heavily influenced by euripides hippolytus, deals with love that violates social taboos. Phaedra, by jean baptiste racine project gutenberg.
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