Hippolytus
 
by Euripides
 
The Greeks Vs. Their Gods
 
The play "Hippolytus" by the Greek playwright Euripides is
one which explores classical Greek religion. Throughout the
play, the influence of the gods on the actions of the
characters is evident, especially when Aphrodite affects
the actions of Phaedra. Also central to the plot is the
god-god interactions between Artemis and Aphrodite. In this
essay, I hope to provide answers to how the actions of
Hippolytus and Phaedra relate to the gods, whether or not
the characters concern themselves with the reaction of the
gods to their behavior, what the characters expect from the
gods, how the gods treat the humans, and whether or not the
gods gain anything from making the humans suffer.
 
Before we can discuss the play, however, a few terms need
to be defined. Most important would be the nature of the
gods. They have divine powers, but what exactly makes the
Greek gods unique should be explored. The Greek gods, since
they are anthropomorphic, have many of the same
characteristics as humans. One characteristic of the gods
which is apparent is jealousy. Aphrodite seems to be
jealous of Artemis because Hippolytus worships Artemis as
the greatest of all gods, while he tends to shy away from
worshipping Aphrodite (10-16). This is important because it
sets in motion the actions of the play when Aphrodite
decides to get revenge on Hippolytus. The divine
relationship between the gods is a bit different. Over the
course of the play, Artemis does not interfere in the
actions of Aphrodite, which shows that the gods, while
divine, do have restrictions; in this case, it shows the
gods cannot interfere with each other. (1328-1330) The gods
are sometimes evil and revengeful, though, as can seen by
what Artemis has to say about Aphrodite: "I'll wait till
she loves a mortal next time, and with this hand - with
these unerring arrows I'll punish him." (1420-1422)
 
The relationship of mankind and the gods also needs to be
discussed. This relationship seems to be a sort of
give-and-take relationship, in part. The Greeks believed
that if they gave to the gods, through prayer and
sacrifices, that the gods would help them out. This is
especially true of Hippolytus and his almost excessive
worship of Artemis. Theseus praying to his father Poseidon
is another example of this. (887-890) On the other
hand,even though mankind worshipped the gods, they were in
no way obligated to help out the humans. This can be seen
when Artemis did nothing to protect Hippolytus from being
killed or when Aphrodite decides to punish Hippolytus 
 
The thoughts and actions of Hippolytus and Phaedra
certainly are irrational at times. After all, a stepmother
falling in love with her stepson is unlikely, but probably
even less acceptable. This is directly related to the gods.
What Aphrodite does to Phaedra certainly causes her to do
some strange things. For instance, first Phaedra seems to
go crazy, and then she decides to hide her new-found love
for Hippolytus from the nurse. Later, though, she decides
to tell the nurse, and when she finds that the nurse has
told Hippolytus, decides that the only logical course of
action is to kill herself. This action is certainly related
to the gods because Aphrodite makes it look as if Phaedra's
suicide is really the fault of Hippolytus. Some of
Hippolytus' actions are related to the gods as well. When
Theseus discovers that Phaedra is dead and decides to exile
Hippolytus, Hippolytus does object to his banishment, but
eventually he stops arguing with his father. At this point,
he prays to the gods that he be killed in exile if he is
guilty of the death of Phaedra. It is also possible he may
be expecting Artemis to help him out, though she does
nothing until he is on the verge of death. 
 
The characters do worry about how the gods react to them at
times. Hippolytus does not seem to concern himself much
with how Aphrodite reacts to his behavior. At the beginning
of the play, the old man questions Hippolytus' decision not
to worship Aphrodite, but Hippolytus really does not worry
that he may be making Aphrodite angry. He does care how
Artemis reacts, however, because he is hoping to keep her
happy so that she may help him out if he should need it.
Theseus certainly concerns himself with how the gods react,
since he needs Poseidon to send a bull to go kill his son.
At the end of the play he does care what Artemis has to say
about him killing his son. He believes that he should be
the one to die, though Artemis is able to convince him that
he was fooled by the gods. Phaedra, on the other hand,
really is in no position to care much about how the gods
react to what she does. This is because she is under the
control of Aphrodite who makes her love Hippolytus.
 
As far as what the characters expect from their gods,
varies from person to person. Theseus, being the son of
Poseidon, was supposedly given three curses by his father,
and he expects Poseidon to help him out and kill
Hippolytus. (887-889) Hippolytus never really expects
anything specific from Artemis during the play, but he does
tell the gods that he should die in exile if he is guilty
of the rape of Phaedra. Even as he is dying , he does not
expect Artemis to help him. Interestingly, he even
apologizes to his father and to Artemis for causing them to
suffer because of his death. Phaedra wishes that her
judgment had not be interfered with by Aphrodite, because
she is the one who caused Phaedra to fall in love with
Hippolytus. 
 
The gods treat human beings more or less as pawns to do
with as they please. It seems as if it is a game to them.
In Hippolytus, it is game of revenge between Aphrodite and
Artemis. Aphrodite interferes in the life of Hippolytus,
someone loved by Artemis, then Artemis vows to take revenge
on Aphrodite to avenge the death of Hippolytus. Despite the
fact that he worships her above all others, she still does
not help him out throughout the entire play. This indicates
that Artemis may not care for him as much as we are led to
believe. She says she would take revenge, but there is no
guarantee it will happen. 
 
Why the gods would treat the humans this way is a somewhat
complicated question. An easy answer would be that they
have the power to do to the humans what the please. But
there are other reasons as well. For instance, the theme of
revenge plays a major role in the plot. The actions of
Aphrodite against Hippolytus are motivated by revenge. The
gods, at least in Hippolytus, are not malicious and want
humans to suffer for no good reason. Therefore, the most
important reason for gods treating humans the way they do
is that they are reacting to the actions of humans; this is
especially true of Aphrodite's reaction to Hippolytus's
failure to worship her.
 
The gods must derive something from the suffering of the
humans; otherwise there is no point in making them suffer.
In this case, the gods derive both sorrow and joy from the
suffering of the characters. Aphrodite certainly is happy
that Hippolytus suffered and died through her own actions,
and that she causes Theseus to suffer as well by taking his
son away. On the other hand, she probably does not care
much that she also caused the death of Phaedra. Phaedra
only serves as a pawn to get revenge on Hippolytus.
Aphrodite only cares to punish Hippolytus, and she would
have used Phaedra in whatever capacity necessary to get
that revenge. Artemis, however, is saddened by the loss of
Hippolytus: "You and I are the chief sufferers Theseus."
(1337) Because of this, she vows to avenge Hippolytus'
death, and also tells him that he will not be forgotten by
future generations of Greeks, that his name will live on in
glory.
 
Interestingly, Hippolytus was able to forgive his father
even though his father caused his death. That should not be
a surprise, because he realizes that his father was fooled
by the gods, and being an irrational human, could not
really be expected to know he was being tricked. Also,
Artemis does not blame Theseus for the death of his son:
"It is natural for men to err when they are blinded by
gods." (1433-1434) The most important thing that the ending
shows is that sometimes the gods do care what happens to
the humans. It also shows how easily the power of the gods,
particularly that of Poseidon, could be misused because
Theseus gets what he prays for, the death of his son, but
it is not really what he wanted.
 
Two major themes are present in Hippolytus: revenge and
forgiveness. Almost the entire plot of the play is based on
revenge. There is the revenge between gods and humans, and
humans and humans. Initially, we have Aphrodite wanting
revenge on Hippolytus for worshipping Artemis and not her,
which of course sets in motion the actions of the play.
Then we have the revenge of Theseus against Hippolytus,
when he believes that his son raped his wife and killed
her. This does not end up as revenge, however, as Theseus
eventually suffers as a result of his son's death. One
final form of revenge comes at the end of the play, when
Artemis vows to avenge the death of Hippolytus by
interfering with a human loved by Aphrodite. It is all a
vicious cycle of revenge. This same story could very easily
happen again if Artemis does avenge his death. Also,
forgiveness is an important theme. Even though his father
is responsible for his death, Hippolytus is nevertheless
able to forgive him. This comes from the realization that
his father had been deceived by the gods. In the end, this
proves once again that the Greeks were at the mercy of
their gods and that they had to try to live their life the
best they could in spite of that fact.