Truth, Falsehood, and Reputation Theme Analysis

As the tragedy unfolds, the audience knows everything, sharing the perspective of the gods, and we watch as characters slowly discover truths about each other. This manipulation of truth and falsehood is another commonplace in the ancient Greek theater, and it turns the drama into a kind of detective tale. In the play’s opening lines, Aphrodite tells the audience that Phaidra is sick with desire, but the nurse struggles over a long scene to discover the same truth. Phaidra’s letter, engraved in a wax tablet that Theseus finds in her dead hands, says that Hippolytus raped her. This falsehood dominates the rest of the tragedy only because those who know the truth have sworn oaths to keep silent, which, in ancient Greek culture, is very seriously binding. The nurse swears Hippolytus to secrecy before confessing Phaidra’s love, and Phaidra herself puts the chorus under oath with some of her last words. The consequence is that, ironically, the only character unable to speak (the dead Phaidra) persuades Theseus, while those characters who still can speak must remain silent. “She gives her dead body as proof,” says Theseus (1444). It takes Artemis and the dying Hippolytus, at the end of the play, to prove the truth to Theseus, and his discovery of what really happened makes for a dramatic climax.

This interplay of truth and falsehood connects the characters of this play to a major concern for characters of Greek tragedy in general: one’s reputation. As members of the nobility, the three primary characters of the play each cares deeply about what general society thinks of him or her. This powerful emotion pairs with the feeling of shame at one’s actions, which is the judgment about oneself, rather than the judgment of an entire society. Phaidra hides her love, and then frames Hippolytus, in order to save her own reputation. Similarly, Theseus explains that he has to fiercely punish Hippolytus in order to uphold his reputation as a strong leader, while Hippolytus fears that his own reputation will be tarnished by Phaidra’s accusation. By the end of the play, once the truth comes out, Phaidra’s own reputation falls, and Artemis works to restore Hippolytus’ story – but this repair comes too late to save his life.