AUTHOR: Sarah Kane
TITLE: Phaedra’s love
EDITORIAL:
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1996
PLACE OF PUBLICATION:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
HIPPOLYTUS: He is a prince. His physical appearance is not nice. He is fat and his behaviour is very unpleasant. This character is very surprising. He seems not to have common sense. All that he says is unfair and it has no sense. From my point of view, he is totally repugnant. He hates everybody, he does not do anything important to help his family and his relationship with the other characters is quite distant.
DOCTOR: This character is not very important. He appears on stage at the beginning of the play talking to Phaedra about Hippolytus. He gives some advice to deal with Hippolytus.
PHAEDRA: She is Hippolytus’ stepmother. She is married to his father. This woman is in love with her stepson and, for this reason, she is interested in him. She wants him to go out to the street because he spends his time eating, watching TV, playing and having sex. Her personality is not violent. It is quite peaceful, but she seems distressed and worried about Hippolytus’ life.
STROPHE: She is Phaedra’s daughter. This is the most reasonable character in this play at the beginning of the play. She knows how Hippolytus is because she had already been with him. She advises her mother and argues with Hippolytus, although at the end of the play Strhophe defends him.
PRIEST: He is a man who seems to be interested in confessing Hippolytus. First, his appearance is good, but later we can see how he is able to have sex with somebody, although he is a priest. He wants to save a soul before being condemned.
THESEUS: He is Hippolytus’s father. His presence takes place at the end. He is who orders to kill Hippolytus and Strophe because he does not really know who they are.
DEVELOPMENT
The play is about a Real scandal. The central character of this story is Hippolytus, an inhuman man who is only thinking about eating, sleeping and having sex with somebody. His relationship with Phaedra and Strophe is not good. It is quite distant and superficial. He is only interested in both of them for sex and he seems to be no sense because he hates life. Phaedra loves him and asks Doctor how she can help him. Strophes talks to her about how he is, but she does not mind. After it, she talks to Hippolytus and confesses to him she wants to have sex because she is in love with him and wants him to be happy. The problem is that Phaedra is his stepmother. She is married to his father and this relation is something scandalous. This sex relation takes place, but it is empty. There are not feelings. For this reason, Phaedra dies and all people accuse him with raping her. Finally, Hippolytus is judged by the crowd and killed by his own father, who does not know he is his own son. Strophe tries to defend him, but she also dies. When Theseus knows that both of them, who are dead, are his son and his stepdaughter, cuts his own throat and dies, too.
SPACE: This place is performed in a royal palace. Here, we can find different places as a dark room,, where Hippolytus is watching TV and eating hamburguers; a prison cell, in which Hippolytus and a priest are; and outside the court, where Hippolytus and Strophe are judged. This last space is open. Other spaces are closed.
TIME: Time is developed progressively. There are no jumps. It is performed according to how actions are occurring.
PERSONAL OPINION: My point of view about this play is that author wants to transmit corruption in our society. Hippolytus represents a basic human. She wants to satisfy his biological necessities and his human instincts without having interest in knowing really well people. Priest is not really a perfect example to follow. He is a corrupt priest who has oral sex with Hippolytus. He is not a good example like a priest. I also think characters wear a mask during the play. Strophe does not want her mother to intimidate with Hippolytus because, according to her, he is a repugnant man, and later, she defends him and tries to help him. It is a hypocritical attitude. To conclude, I like this play because it seems to me very surprising.