Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019
Hippolytus
Euripides (485 (or 480) - 406 BC e)
In ancient Athens governed the king of Theseus. Like Hercules, he had two fathers - the earthly, king Aegeus, and heavenly, god Poseidon. He made his main feat on Crete Island: he killed in the labyrinth of the monstrous Minotaur and freed Athens from his tribute to him. He was the patron of Ariadne's Cretan prince: she gave him a thread, following which he left the labyrinth. He promised Ariadne to be married, but God Dionysi demanded it for himself, and for this Thesee hated the goddess of love of Aphrodite.
The second wife of Theseus was a warrior-amazon; she died in battle, and He left the son of Hippolyte. Son of the Amazon, he was not considered lawful and brought up not in Athens, but in the neighboring city of Trezzane. Amazons did not want to know men - Hippolyte did not want to know women. He called himself the servant of the virgin goddess hunter Artemis devoted to the underground sacraments, of which the singer Orpheus told people: a man must be pure, and then he will find bliss behind the coffin. And for this he too hated the goddess of love Aphrodite.
The third wife of Theseus was Phaedra, also from Crete, the younger sister of Ariadne. Theseus took her to wife to have legal children-heirs. And here begins the revenge of Aphrodite. Phaedra saw her stepfather Hippolyte and fell in love with him in mortal love. At first she overcame her passion: Hippolyte was not there, he was in Trezzano. But it happened that Theseus killed the relatives who had rebelled against him and had to leave for a year in exile; together with Fedra he moved to the same Trezzan. Here the love of the stepmother to the steppe broke out again; Phaedra was crazy about her, got sick, left, and nobody could understand that with the queen. Theseus went to the oracle; in his absence and there was a tragedy.
Actually, Euripides wrote about this two tragedies. The first is not preserved. In her, Phaedra opened herself in love with Hippolyte, Hippolyte in horror rejected her, and then Fyodra slandered Tseyya, who had returned to Hippolytus: as if this stepmother fell in love with her and wanted to defile her. Hippolytus perished, but the truth was revealed, and only then Phaedra decided to commit suicide. It was this story that best remembered the offspring. But he did not like the Athenians: Phaedra was too shameless and angry. Then Euripides wrote about Hippolyte the second tragedy - and she is before us.
The tragedy begins with the monologue of Aphrodite: gods punish proud people, and she will punish the proud Hippolytus, who is bent on love. Here it is, Hippolytus, with a song in honor of virgin Artemis on his lips: he is glad and does not know that today a punishment will fall upon him. Aphrodite disappears, Hippolyte comes out with a wreath in his hands and dedicates him to Artemis - "pure from the pure." "Why do not you also respect Aphrodite?" - asks his old slave. "Good, but from afar: night gods are not in my heart", - answers Hippolytus. He leaves, and the servant prays for him Aphrodite: "Forgive his youthful haughtiness: for this you are gods and wise men to forgive." But Aphrodite will not forgive.
The choir of the trienne women comes in: a rumor came to them that the queen of Phaedra was sick and wretched. Why? Wrath of the gods, evil jealousy, bad news? Fredr, who rushing to the bed, comes to meet them, with her an old nurse. Phaedra laughs: "In the mountains would be hunting! Flower Artemidin Meadow! to the coastal horseradish "- all these are Hippolytus places. The breadwinner persuades: "Behold, open yourselves, if it is not for yourself, then for children: if you die, they will not reign, but Hippolytus". Phaedra shudders: "Do not call this name!" The word for the word: "the cause of the disease is love"; "The cause of love - Hippolyte"; "One salvation is death." The bodybuilder opposes: "Love is a universal law; Resist love - fruitless pride; but from any illness there is a cure. " Phaedra understands this word literally: maybe the nurse knows some healing potion? The fodder leaves; choir sings: "Oh Because of the scene - the noise: Phaedra hears the voices of the nurse and Hippolyte. No, it was not about the potion, it was about the love of Hippolytus: the nurse discovered everything to him - and in vain. Here they go to the stage, he is indignant, she prays for one thing: "Just no words to anyone, you swore!" - "My tongue swore, my soul is not at all", - answers Hippolytus. He pronounces the cruel treatment of women: "Oh, if women could continue their genera without women!" Her husband is wasting for a wedding, a husband accepts the owners, a dumb wife is hard, a wise wife is dangerous; I will keep an oath of silence, but I curse you! "He leaves; Phaedra desperately branded a nurse: "Curse you! By death I wanted to be saved from dishonor; Now I see that death can not be saved from him. Left alone, last resort "- and she leaves, not naming him. This means - to eradicate Hippolyte guilty before his father. Chorus sings: "This world is terrible! running from him, running!"
Because of the scene - weeping: Phaedra in the loop, Phaedra died! On the stage - anxiety: is Theseus, he is terrified of an unexpected calamity. The palace is spreading, a common cry begins over Phaedra's body, But why did she commit suicide? In her hand she has a letter board.
Theseus reads them, and his horror is even more. It turns out that this Hippolyte, a criminal stepmate, caught on her bed, and she, unable to bear the dishonor, laid hands on herself. "Father Poseidon! - exclaims Theseus. "You once promised me to fulfill my three desires - the last of them: command Hippolytus, let him not survive this day!"
Hippolyte appears; he is also amazed by the kind of dead Phaedra, but even more so - by the reproaches that his father crashed on him. "Oh, why we are not allowed to recognize the lie on the sound! Shouting Theseus. - Sons are false fathers, and grandchildren are sons; soon there will not be enough space for criminals on the ground. "Lies are your holiness, your lie is your purity, and here is your accuser. Get away from my eyes - step into exile!" - "Gods and people know - I've always been clean; my oath is for you, and I'm silent about other excuses, "answers Hippolyte. - No lust did not push me to Fedore-macheh, nor vanity - to Fedre queen. I see: the wrongdoer came out clean, but not clean and truthfully saved. Follow me if you want. " - "No, death would be gracious to you - step into exile!" - "Sorry, Artemis, sorry, Trezine, sorry, Athens! There was no man in you more pure heart than me. " Hippolyte leaves; chorus sings: "Fate is changeable, life is terrible; Do not let God know the cruel laws of the world!"
The curse is fulfilled: the messenger comes. Hippolyte traveled from Trezena on a chariot trail between the rocks and the shore of the sea. "I do not want to live a criminal," he cried to the gods, "but I just want my father to know that he is wrong, but I'm right, alive or dead." Here the sea roared, a shaft rose above the horizon, a monster emerged from the shaft, like a sea bull; the horses slammed and carried, the chariot hit the rocks, the young man dragged on the rocks. The dying carry back to the palace. "I am his father to him, and I despised them," says Theseus, "though he does not expect me to feel sympathy or joy."
And then over the stage is Artemis, the goddess of Hippolyte. "He's right, you're wrong," she says. - Not Phaedra was right, but she was driven by the evil Aphrodite. Cry, king; I share your sorrow with you. " On the stretchers, Ippolit comes, he moans and prays to finish him; for whose sins he pays? Artemis leans over it from a height:
"This is the anger of the Aphrodite, that she ruined Phaedra, and Phaedra Hippolyte, and Hippolyte leaves the despondent Thesee: three victims, one is more unfortunate than another. Oh, how sorry Gods are not paying for the fate of people! There will be grief and Aphrodite - she also has a favorite hunter Adonis, and he will fall from my Artemidine, an arrow. And to you, Hippolytus, there will be eternal memory in Trezzina, and every girl before the marriage will sacrifice you a strand of volos. Hippolyte dies forgiving father; the choir finishes the tragedy with the words: "There will flow tears about him - / If the husband of the great rock is overthrown - / His death is unforgettable forever!"