Misogynistic Nature Of Hippolytus In The Iliad

Virtuous Hippolytus initially seems like the perfect example of innocence and righteousness; his love and devotion to Artemis coupled with his piety makes him seem above reproach. However, as the story continues the audience gets a taste of his misogynistic mindset and how prideful he was of his devotion to the gods and his virginity. Though Hippolytus was misogynistic and arrogant, he was also forgiving and remained true to his word. On the surface the average reader may say he did not deserve his fate; however, reading in the context of ancient Greek society makes the matter a little more ambiguous. Hippolytus conceivably may have been deserving of his fate, considering the fact the he was extremely prideful and that he offended the gods.

It is made clear in both Hippolytus and Phaedra that Hippolytus is not fond of women. He even goes so far as to state that they are all evil and that men would be better off without them (Eur. Hip. 616- 668). He thinks that intelligent women are troublesome and that only simpleminded women have any use (Eur. Hip. 638-649). Knowing what an ancient Greek audience would have been like, they probably would have agreed with his statements. However, from a modern perspective, this misogynistic attitude makes

He scorned Aphrodite, who in turn made Phaedra fall in love with him. Even though he had the audacity to blame Phaedra for her feelings when he was the causation of them. If Aphrodite had not made Phaedra fall in love with Hippolytus, then she never would have accused him of raping her and he would never have died the gruesome death that he did. It all could have been avoided if he had just paid heed to all of the gods properly. While on a base level it may seem like Phaedra or Aphrodite were the reason for his demise, it was really Hippolytus himself who was responsible. Not only that, but his lack of worship lead to the demise of others around