Phedre

Can love be seen as something as bad as a disease? Evidently so, as depicted in the greek tragedy Phedre. Ironically, it is quite interesting how love is portrayed throughout the script as if it was evil and cursed. This, I believe, is the main theme of the play, the forbidden love. From reading the script, it was apparent that, Phedre, is the main character. Phedre, married to her sister's ex-husband Theseus, is torn between faith and humility, and the lustful love for her stepson Hippolytus. Her shameless attraction to Hippolytus is obviously forbidden in that on the basis of incest (although not blood related), this I interpret as her super objective, making her the protagonist. Yet, seldomly, from interpreting the script, she too, is also the antagonist. This is clearly evident in that she's fighting within herself to rid her of these feelings. Against her will, she does everything she can to divest these feelings. "I prayed, I sacrificed, oh god, the blood and incense that I spilt!" (Racine,10). These confessions of forbidden love and obsession are not only scene through the eyes of Phedre, but also through other supporting characters. Interestingly, Racine structured this play in such a manner that we clearly see a correlation between scenes and themes amongst the characters. I for instance, saw the hidden relationship of Hippolytus and Aricia or Enone and Phedre, and they all lay along the same theme. Hippolytus, unsure whether to proclaim his devotion and love to Aricia in that she is a prisoner of his father, Theseus' greatest enemy, a rival family. You can clearly see the similar predicaments. Or the relation between Phadre's nurse, Enone, and Phadre, that Enone has this obsessive loyalty to Phadre. In turn, her actions of lying to Theseus, the king, that Phadre was raped by Hippolytus while Theseus was away in hell inorder to save Phadres life I believe, is the catalyst of not only Hippolytus' death, but also that of Phadre. For the reason that