Gulliver’s Travels and Phaedra – Passion or Reason Do you base your decisions on passion or reason? The way one bases his or her decisions affects the quality and happiness of his or her life. Neither passion nor reason should be the sole basis for one's philosophy or lifestyle, because passion without reason is uncontrollable, and reason without passion takes the spark out of life. Works such as Phaedra and Gulliver's Travels show that either extreme will likely result in chaos and unhappiness
Phaedra, a tragedy written by Jean Racine, tells the tale of forbidden relationships and the consequences of following one’s passion rather than abiding by the neoclassical virtue of reason. The comedy, Tartuffe, written by Molière also displays a set of forbidden relationships and the consequences of pursuing passion. In each play, there exists a father/son relationship that is either saved or broken by the actions of the characters in the play. While the father/son relationships in Phaedra and
from the moment he was created. He was fated to marry his mother and kill his father. Phaedra is not controlled by fate. She is possessed by a frivolous deity ("the goddess' anger has landed on your head" p142), stung by her lack of praise and with a grudge against Phaedra's stepson Hippolytus. Thus it is the goddess, Aphrodite, that causes Phaedra to fall in love with the young Athenian prince. The suicide of Phaedra, and her lying words on the note she writes before she dies, brings destruction on
Deception in Tartuffe, Phaedra, and The Marriage of Figaro In literature, deception can provide motivation for the characters, provide comedy, play a part in the advancement of plot or exist as a sub-theme. The works considered in our studies thus far provide prime examples of the use of deception in the aforementioned ways. This essay will focus on the act or acts of deception in Tartuffe by Molière, Phaedra by Racine, and The Marriage of Figaro by Beaumarchais. In Molière's Tartuffe, the
(Racine 193) Phaedra has a huge secret: she is in love with her stepson, Hippolytus. She has reoccurring thoughts of suicide, and a desire for this burden to be lifted. Her forbidden passion has a gigantic affect on her mental capability and her ability to be independent. She does not want anyone to know about her repugnant desires for Hippolytus and her mental health slowly begins to weaken as she maintains this information to herself. As we look closer into the life of Phaedra, we find she
religion. Throughout the play, the influence of the gods on the actions of the characters is evident, especially when Aphrodite affects the actions of Phaedra. Also central to the plot is the god-god interactions between Artemis and Aphrodite. In this essay, I hope to provide answers to how the actions of Hippolytus and Phaedra relate to the gods, whether or not the characters concern themselves with the reaction of the gods to their behavior, what the characters expect from
middle of paper ... ...vice of gods and other powerful individuals. In some instances, the advice given by the higher power is not always the best option or right thing to do, as in the case with Philocteses. Other times, characters such as Medea, Phaedra, Theseus, and Hippolytus, are given advice that could potentially help them, but choose to maintain their honor, regardless of the consequences. Though the characters strive to be virtuous with their honor, it also leads them to their eventual doom
runs though Euripides theatrical tragedies Alcestis and Hippolytus. In each play the lead female character forgoes her life for the sake of love. In Alcestis, Alcestis willingly gives her life to prevent her husband Admentus' death. In Hipplytus, Phaedra chooses to commits suicide as a result of falling in love with her husband’s son and refusing to be deceitful to her husband. Consequently, is self-professed death a venue for the women to assert authority and gain status and agency? How do their
In using evidence from the play Racine's Phaedra, clearly exhibits the stereotype woman as a destructive force in nature, known as a femme fatale. Phaedra is a good example of men toward woman in the Age of Reason and political Absoulutism, where men exhibit the logic, strength, and order while woman exhibit their weakness, emotions, and disorder. Therefore, without a doubt the fact that Phaedra tends to have an effect on everyone that is involved around with her charm. Racine, is a well known
five there are powerful revelations detected in this portion. Phaedra is ultimately on a quest to declare her immense love for Hippolytus at all cost. She has this insatiable desire to protest how she feels because she can no longer conceal it. The scene consists of intense emotions and Racine’s writing style conveyed in this scene is to demonstrate how erratic and unstable Phaedra’s emotion has become. This is the scene in where Phaedra can no longer control her emotions. Her emotions become too
Using the characteristics of the neoclassical ideal, examine the usage in Moliere’s Tartuffe or Racine’s Phaedra. The neoclassical ideal really focuses on preserving the ideals of the classical period of tragedy. These characteristics include the appearance of a tragic hero, the tragic flaw that is present in our hero, evoking pity and fear for the hero, the recognition scene, and how the pace of the play follows the actions of the protagonist. Tartuffe is a comedy, but it still follows these
The Odyssey, Phaedra and Things Fall Apart are works of art that have a common and important theme. These works have a single hero who is characterized by a personal strength, respect and highest moral obligations and ethics. As such, the theme of a hero is still attributable to the modern times because people value morality, ethics and individual strength. Another major theme is the burden that these heroes have to carry and in some cases, they have to take it without complaining to others of
to assert authority and acquire power over Hippolytus' destiny. Phaedra feels helpless when faced with feelings of involuntary lust for Hippolytus. Her position is an impossible one: she is ashamed to confess her feelings and she is afraid that her inappropriate feelings will destroy her. She is powerless and overwhelmed by her emotions, so the only reasonable way she sees in dealing with her problem is to commit suicide. When Phaedra falls in love with her stepson, she feels "sick with shame" (p
some time. This is how the Romantic and Enlightenment period lived life every day. However, one will see there is a vast difference between the two periods. In the play Phaedra by Jean Racine, we see a glimpse of the Enlightenment period. The Enlightenment period is mostly known as the “Age of reason.” Inevitably Phaedra is seen as the desperate tragic hero who is the cause for everyone’s misery. Tintern Abbey is written by poet William Wordsworth. One will see a more imaginative, natural beautiful
Symposium and the lyric poetry of Theognis and Anacreon. Homoerotics are mentioned in several speeches in Plato's Symposium but I will focus on those statements made by Phaedras and Pausanias. The reason for the use of these two sources is to elucidate the numerous representations of homoerotics in Athenian Greece. Phaedras begins by stating that everyone can agree that, the greatest benefit, to my mind, that a young man can come by in his youth is a virtuous lover, and a virtuous boyfriend is
portrayed differently between the two plays.In Medea and Hippolytus, the women we spend the most time with are Medea and Phaedra. These women have vastly different values, but the cunning and determination they use to get their ways are not as different as one may believe. Phaedra’s values are much more closely aligned with what was expected of Greek women at the time than Medea’s. Phaedra believes that her children’s future is far more important Medea shows this by masterfully manipulating those around
Hippolytus is really quite selfish. She is extremely angry with him because he has sworn off physical love and he honors Artemis, the goddess of chastity rather than her, Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Scheming Aphrodite who made Phaedra, Hippolytus' step-mother, Phaedra, fall in love with Hippolytus, decides to reveal Phaedra's love because she knows that if Theseus, Hippolytus' father, discovers Phaedra's secret, "all shall come out," the truth will be revealed, "father shall slay son with curses
When Sir Bob of Schneizereindeer returns from Zimbabwe, his knights organizes a meeting to tell Sir Bob some terrible news. His wife, Queen Phaedra, has been taken away by a dragon and locked up in its castle. As the bravest knight in all of Schneizereindeer, Sir Bob undoubtedly chooses to go on an adventure to save his lover from the devilish dragon. From where Sir Bob’s from, every knight possesses a special ability, and for Bob, he could fly. Sir Bob wastes no time and packs up for his journey
Hippolytus depicts the tragic fate and ultimate destruction of one family of Greek nobility. Offended by Hippolytus’ reverence and servitude to her rival goddess Artemis, Aphrodite castigates Hippolytus by fostering an intense passion and lust for him in Phaedra, his stepmother. Phaedra’s shame and humiliation, the results of Aphrodite's anathema, galvanize her to confide in the Nurse, who attempts to rectify the situation by brewing a potion derived from Hippolytus’ hair. Dawning after Hippolytus’ discovery
Initially, I did not like Racine’s retelling of Hippolytus, Phaedra. The text was too wordy, and the lack of script notes made it difficult to visualize how the story would have been played out. My first attempts to read the play were met with resistance, either I’d find a reason to stall, take long “breaks”, or simply fall asleep after reading half a page. Three days before class, I managed to get half-way through the assigned pages. It was a pain to read the through the whole play, but I managed