Dawn’s Reviews > Hippolytus > Status Update

Love that the nurse is still in her corner. She would rather curse Aphrodite (which is not wise haha) than betray Phaedra, which is true devotion.

So what does she do? She begs and pleads to let her shame remain hidden, just like so many who have hidden struggles/addictions. Her beloved servant who feels sick with worry for her forces her to tell her her affliction (well, more so she guesses the nature of the affliction) and once Phaedra admits it she steadfastly remains true to her desire to die other than fulfill this sick longing for her stepson. (2)

Let me cook here but this feels like an addiction narrative. We’re presented with Phaedra as someone struggling with a malady that she is repulsed by and yet can’t escape, something that tears at her from the inside and drives her to utterly abandon her normal life. She can’t eat, can’t sleep, tries to fill this longing with other things because she knows what she desires is sick, twisted, and not right. (1)