Desire, Sexuality, and Chastity Theme Analysis

Ancient Greek literature and philosophy often depicts sexual desire as a god (Eros), and as a force that takes control of a human soul powerless against it. The resistance to its force, ‘chastity’ or ‘temperance’ in modern terms, stood as a cultural ideal in Greek society. Hippolytus explores the tension between sexual desire and chastity, as represented by the statues of Artemis and Aphrodite, the goddesses of chastity on the one hand and sexual love on the other.

The play explores this tension not through a normal devotion to chastity or normal sexual desire, but rather through radical extremes of both. Hippolytus’s chastity is not humble or merely devotion to Artemis. Instead, he is proud and haughty in his chastity, arrogantly defying love or desire. Aphrodite, like many gods in Greek literature, take such haughtiness from a mortal as an affront, and punishes Hippolytus (and sets the plot in motion) by overwhelming Phaidra, his step-mother, with sexual desire for him. So Hippolytus’s chastity is arrogant, while Phaidra’s sexual desire for her step-son is incestuous and monstrous. Both Phaidra’s desire and Hippolytus’ cruelty transgress human laws and ideals and are violations of the social rules enforced by the gods. And the results of this clash are therefore extreme as well: Hippolytus viciously lashes out against his step-mother’s advances, to which Phaidra then tries to protect her own reputation by killing herself and claiming in a note that she committed suicide because Hippolytus raped her.

After the abnormal or criminal sexual experiences that drive the tragedy, the end of the play attempts to restore the normal interaction of these conflicting motivations. For the audience, both Phaidra and Hippolytus, and their dire fates, will be valuable lessons in moral conduct. When Artemis announces at the end of the play that from now on, girls, “in their thoughtful hours before marriage” (2154), will pray to Hippolytus, she imagines Hippolytus’ story inspiring regular Athenian citizens to both recognize the value of chastity even as they accept their own sexuality.