tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post3218689250311026008..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Hippolytos by Euripides - I wish we men could curse godsAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-81935340831676925782022-04-25T19:33:15.099-05:002022-04-25T19:33:15.099-05:00Perhaps Racine thought the French would not believ...Perhaps Racine thought the French would not believe in the celibacy. <i>Phèdre</i> is so different than Euripides.<br /><br />Theseus is potentially of great interest. He is attached to such rich stories - mazes, minotaurs, kidnapping Helen, on and on. I know we will meet him at least once more in the plays, in <i>Herakles</i>.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-40378576835623217092022-04-25T16:40:06.784-05:002022-04-25T16:40:06.784-05:00Theseus is not explored in terms of this myth, tha...Theseus is not explored in terms of this myth, that is...the Minotaur theme is developed by many other artists.Mayahttps://mayachhabra.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-10512299732768963022022-04-25T16:38:33.829-05:002022-04-25T16:38:33.829-05:00I find Racine, by giving Hippolytus a girlfriend, ...I find Racine, by giving Hippolytus a girlfriend, to take out some of the most interesting stuff in the play. Hippolytus believes that because he is not interested in sex, indeed repulsed by it, that he therefore has the virtues of self-control and moderation. It's precisely his lack of these virtues in his confrontation with the Nurse that leads to everyone's downfall. Nevertheless, I have a lot of sympathy for him and his unwillingness to break his oath of secrecy even though it could save his life. Perhaps another example of lack of moderation, but certainly it takes a lot of self-control to keep secret the piece of evidence that could exonerate him.<br /><br />Theseus is an interesting character imo but not explored by future works as much as Phaedra is. I guess Mary Renault in The Bull from the Sea tackles his point of view, though.Mayahttps://mayachhabra.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50488767498386721062022-04-19T18:54:59.211-05:002022-04-19T18:54:59.211-05:00Returned from wherever I was, it is so nice to see...Returned from wherever I was, it is so nice to see these comments, including the invocation of the monstrous Sapersteins. I long ago concluded that almost all sitcom writers were humanities graduates from Ivies, or near-Ivies.<br /><br />Is <i>Hippolytos</i> the peak of the sexual theme in the tragedies? I am trying to remember. Of course Aristophanes is still on the way.<br /><br />Off to read about the house theme.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-45107621644949982922022-04-18T14:14:30.274-05:002022-04-18T14:14:30.274-05:00My thoughts on the "house" theme got pre...My thoughts on the "house" theme got pretty wordy, so I stuck them in a post on my own blog, <a href="http://sgfbailey.blogspot.com/2022/04/euripides-house.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. It didn't seem polite to dump so much rubbish into your comments.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-89773217227015896672022-04-16T09:11:06.689-05:002022-04-16T09:11:06.689-05:00One of the writers for the tv show Parks and Rec m...One of the writers for the tv show Parks and Rec must have been reading Hippolytus when he wrote a famous bit about an entitled brother and sister. At one point she says "I have done nothing wrong, ever in my life" and her father responds "I know this and I love you." (If you look up the line "I have not done one wrong act in my whole life" you'll get clips of the scene.)Jeannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975028272143207826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59703584517671332582022-04-15T17:16:45.722-05:002022-04-15T17:16:45.722-05:00There are indeed a lot of interesting strands here...There are indeed a lot of interesting strands here. It is certainly the most sexual of the plays we've read so far. Phaedra's first few "mad" speeches are rife with double entendre that seems to me to equate hunting with sex. "God, how I long to set the hounds on, shouting!... I would hold in my hand a spear with a steel point." And of course Hippolytus talks of his relationship with Artemis in the language of love, even if he is chaste: "Loved mistress, here I offer you this coronal... with no man else I share this privilege that I am with you and to your words can answer words." The fact that Aphrodite and Artemis bookend the action, each as petty as the other, furthers the equation.<br /><br />I like the old man, early on, warning Hippolytus to honor Aphrodite - he's straight out of a horror movie, with the words of foreboding that the protagonists ignore. His last line, to Aphrodite's statue - "You should be wiser than mortals, being gods" - gets a nice callback from the Chorus, at Hippolytus' banishment: "So I have a secret hope of someone, a God, who is wise and plans; but my hopes grow dim when I see the deeds of men and their destinies."<br /><br />In a tradition full of misogynists, Hippolytus stands out: "I hate a clever woman - God forbid that I should ever have a wife at home with more than woman's wits! Lust breeds mischief in the clever ones. The limits of their minds deny the stupid lecherous delights." It's something of a pity that he's basically right as far as Phaedra is concerned - but of course, the orchestrator of his doom is an even more clever woman in Aphrodite.dollymixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01613395912383039465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76597254640289572722022-04-15T15:21:12.752-05:002022-04-15T15:21:12.752-05:00I think the house theme is very important, not jus...I think the house theme is very important, not just structurally, but deeply thematically. I'll either write a longer comment here about it later today, or possibly even write a post of my own about it. What a terrific play, though. One of the best works in the history of theater.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.com