Hippolytus

This is an English translation of Euripides’ tragedy Hippolytus about how Phaedra unsuccessfully fights her desire for Hippolytus, while he risks his life to keep her passion secret. Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays.

No play of Euripides is more admired than Hippolytus. The tale of a married woman stirred to passion for a younger man was traditional, but Euripides modified this story and blended it with one of divine vengeance to create a masterpiece of tension, pathos, and dramatic power. In this play, Phaedra fights nobly but unsuccessfully against her desire for her stepson Hippolytus, while the young man risks his life to keep her passion secret. Both of them, constrained by the overwhelming force of divine power and human ignorance, choose to die in order to maintain their virtue and their good names.