tion, the longing the goddess has planted in her heart, mind and body is more a complete curse than a simple temptation: "Phaedra groans in bitterness of heart and the goads of love prick her cruelly, and she is like to die" (Euripides 164).
That is not enough for Aphrodite, however: "I will reveal the matter to Theseus and all shall come out. Father shall slay son with curses--this son that is hateful to me" (Euripides 164). With Aphrodite using all of her cruel goddess's power to drive Phaedra to long for her stepson, Phaedra is helpless to resist the feelings of longing, but she exhibits full awareness of the "shame" and "madness" of those feelings (Euripides 173). In addition, she does everything she can to keep the feelings secret, refusing to tell her nurse and the chorus what is so terribly wrong with her. Phaedra even seeks death as an alternative to acting on the feelings, trying to starve herself (Euripides 174). She declares, "My honor lies in silence" (Euripides 177).
When the nurse discovers it is Hippolytus whom Phaedra pines for, the nurse's declaration once more emphasizes the paramount role of Aphrodite in this tragedy: "Cypris [Aphrodite], you are no God. You are something stronger than God if that can be. You have ruined her and me and all this house" (Euripides 179).
From Hippolytus's first words in the play, it is obvious that there will be no incest taking place, whatever Aphrodite's powers, whatever Phaedra's feelings:
O Mother Earth! O Sun and open sky!/ What words I have heard from this accursed tongue! . . . You cannot/ expect that I hear horror and stay silent. . . . I'll hate you women, hate and hate and hate you,/ and never have enough of hating (Euripides 188, 190).
Hippolytus's curses fall on all women, blaming that gender for the current situation and, apparently, for all evils in the world. Certainly he has no sympathy for Phaedrus's terrible plight, nor for her nurse who, against P...