Gender Roles In Phaedra's Life

The value of a woman’s role in society was often measured by the purity of marriage in which one partook. “The myths locate fears about women’s roles in exchange within the context of marriage, or rather its failure, showing how deeply intertwined with anxiety about women’s fidelity.” (Lyons 109) In Greek Mythology, rules don’t always apply to the Gods and Goddesses and can avoid or intervene in the affairs of mortals. One mortal, Phaedra, received this divine interference, but the practice of Greek law, also, was not her favor. Due to the social constructs of everyday Hellenistic activity, the transfer into a written medium sealed Phaedra’s fate in more ways than one.

Though mythology is seen as fantasy and governing morals, it gives us further insight on women and the male expectation. A woman’s life is overseen by her male guardian. The respective male figure in her life would contribute to her way of living and counsel her. A woman’s prospects only afforded her the right to maintain the home. “A marriage did not bring about any change in legal or political

Phaedra’s mother and she were visited by such a character. Aphrodite damned her mother to fall for a bull, in which she bore the Minotaur. (Myth tends to be inconsistent and the derivations change, the outcome more than not stays the same.) In Racine’s interpretation, Phaedra references Venus which is the Roman version of Aphrodite. “Implacable Venus, is your vengeance ended?” (Thalmann et al. 181) She goes on to end her rhetoric with “Take vengeance, Goddess; our causes are the same. Force him to love…” (Thalmann et al. 181) Although, not mentioned in the book, the myth as witnessed in the first chronicle, Hippolytus, Euripides uses Aphrodite to demonstrate her jealous, as Hippolytus refused to acknowledge her woos and instead celebrates Artemis, the goddess that represents chastity and