haedrus' wishes, carries the message of Phaedrus's lust, essentially doing Aphrodite's dirty work, if inadvertently, in order to stir up trouble. Hippolytus says, "Now at home the mistress plots the mischief, and the maid carries it abroad" (Hippolytus 190).
Phaedra makes good on her pledge to kill herself (Euripides 195). The unfulfilled longing for sexual relations with her stepson, and the danger of that longing being publicized to Theseus and all others, has driven Phaedra to suicide. One might assume that her love for her husband is in part the cause, driving her mad with fear of exposure of the longing for her stepson. However, Phaedra leaves Theseus a letter in which she claims Hippolytus has raped her. Theseus immediately believes the letter and calls on Poseidon to fulfill an old promise to grant the king three wishes. He wishes for the death of his son. When Hippolytus appears, Theseus declares his belief that Hippolytus has raped Phaedra and hurls the issue of illegitimacy in his son's face:
What oath that you swear,/ what speech that you can ma
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