Posted by Phil on June 08, 19104 at 15:36:57:

In Reply to: Re: Plays of Medea and Hippolytus by Euripides posted by Jaclyn Power on March 19, 19104 at 18:59:00:

Summary of Hippolytus:

Hippolytus, son of Theseus (who is the King of Athens and son of Poseidon) is the favourite of Artemis and remains chaste. Aphrodite gets annoyed at him because of it and makes Phaedra (Theseus's wife, but not Hippolytus's mother) fall in love with him. Phaedra tries to resist it, but in the end Hippolytus finds out, but he swears an oath not to tell his father. However, the rumour starts to get out, so Phaidra hangs herself with a letter to Theseus saying that Hippolytus violated her. So Theseus believes the letter, even though Hippolytus tells him it's not true. Theseus prays to Poseidon to kill Hippolytus, and exiles him from Athens. Hippolytus leaves and gets killed by Poseidon. Artemis goes to Theseus and tells him that Hippolytus, who is still half-alive, didn't do it. So Theseus tries to apologise, and Hippolytus forgives him, then dies.

The End.

Summary of Medea:

Jason has left Medea, his wife with their two children and has married the daughter of Creon, king of the region. Medea is jealous, and plots against them (this isn't helped by Jason saying that he's marrying the princess for Medea). Creon also banishes her from the land, giving her just one more day. However, Medea doesn't want her two children to be killed by her enemies, in case they laugh at her, and she wants to hurt Jason as bad as she can. So she thinks about killing her own children to hurt Jason. She then meets Aegeus, who is childless, and also the King of Athens. Medea promises to help him have kids if he gives her a home in Athens, which Aegeus agrees to. Medea then pretends to apologise to Jason, and sends her two children bearing a posoinous crown and cloak to Creon's daughter, which kills her. Creon, holding the body of his daughter, also gets affected by the poison, and dies himself. Medea then has a conflict as to whether she really should kill her children, but in the end does so. She then leaves in the chariot of Helios, her great-grandfather, and the play ends.

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