CHAPTER ONE

THE FACE AND THE MASK, SEEING AND KNOWING

9ta.croµcit 6t auv it«'tpo~ µo).wv 1to6t ltW~ VtV 1tpocr6qi-n x«t au K«L 6iCJ1tot11« criJ. (661-2) There is probably too much evidence in ' , too many inadequate witnesses1 , and too much talk about getting to the truth, talk which frustrates itself short of its goal. In the prologue announces her plan and promises to show the truth of her statements (9). The scenes between Nurse and are focused on getting information. Phaedra fears the beams of the house as witnesses (418) and Hippolytus wishes the house would speak for him (1075). dreams of a world where men had two (928-31) and Hip• polytus wishes he could be two people and bear witness for himself ( 1078- 9). Time is an informer to Phaedra (430), Hippolytus (1051),

An earlier version of part of this chapter has been published under the title, "Time's Mir• ror: A Reflection of Phaedra's Isolation and Self-Consciousness," in Classical Texts and their Traditions: Studies in Honor of C. R. Trahman, Scholars Press, 1984, 139-46. 1 On the inadequacy of the witnesses in the Hippolytus, consider the following: 404, Phaedra wishes not to have many witnesses to her shameful deeds, a wish that does not come true: we all become witnesses (after her death) to her lie about Hippolytus. The shameful deed she is thinking about here (not a deed at all, but a potential disgrace) is to be memorialized in cult (1429-30, cf. 30-33). 972, Theseus refers to the corpse as a witness, but it is a silent witness, testifying to a lie, or to a truth reversed or wrongly interpreted. 1022, Hippolytus cries, "If only I had a witness like me!" But Hippolytus is sworn to secrecy and even if he were not or had a witness like himself, what he knows and could tell is not the whole truth. His tirade (cruel or naive) tells us what kind of witness he would make. 1075-6, Hippolytus wishes the house could speak and bear witness for him. Theseus mocks him for calling on mute witnesses. 977, Theseus fears that the monsters he defeated and killed and the places where they dwelt will not bear witness for him if he lets his son prevail over him, witnesses as silent in death and petrification as Phaedra's body (the witness he believes) and the palace (the witness he mocks his son for invoking). 286, Nurse is grateful for the chorus to witness her pains on behalf of her mistress. The chorus might be a good witness, being present to the whole action and being sympathetic, except that they are sworn to secrecy and lie about what they know (804-5). They would not be good witnesses for the defense for Nurse. 1451, Hippolytus, with one of his last breaths, calls upon Artemis to witness his oath. Artemis has already left. The audience is taught its purpose by the play, as the participating witnesses, as the subjects, not the objects of epistemology. 4 THE FACE AND THE MASK, SEEING AND KNOWING

(1322). The talk of evidence is often abstract ( cf. Nurse 191-97, Theseus 925-31, 936-42) and ignores what is present. The Hippolytus abounds in words referring to knowledge, thought, and sense perception, not only seeing and hearing, but even smelling (1391) and tasting (663). 2 Though taste may be the most direct, sight is, of course, the sense synonymous with living in Greek. The play opens with a reference to sight in that sense (line 4 ): those seeing the light of the sun are under Aphrodite's power. Her speech closes by sending us back to her introduction with the statement that Hippolytus does not know that he is looking for the last time on the light (57). Only in death, if even then (lines 32-3; 1425-7), will Hippolytus be free of Aphrodite's power. And the drama closes with the covering of Hippolytus' face (1456): no longer will he see or be seen. The two goddesses announce their depar• tures in similar ways (Aphrodite, eisorii 51; Artemis, horii 1439); they leave because of what they see, Hippolytus coming, Hippolytus dying. Seeing and being seen are necessary to Aphrodite's modus operandi. The chorus sings the first stasimon on and eyes (525). We are told that Phaedra loved Hippolytus at sight (idousa 27) when he came to see and be initiated (opsin 25) and that she built a temple looking out toward Trozen (katopsion 30). The temple is a public monument to her private that looks away from home. 3 Aphrodite, we may say, is the power of Phaedra's feelings: she is mighty and conspicuous in our world and she has brought the two together or, at least, she has used to her advantage their being thrown together. 4 The temple is a kind of wish or , giving a grand and lasting scale to a private and-as it turns out to be• temporary feeling. But her love, coming as it does, from sight, lacks knowledge or intimacy. Knowledge comes, however, when the unspoken wish, the visible sign of which is the temple looking toward the place where Hippolytus lives, is fulfilled. 5 Knowledge of Hippolytus comes when she hears him damning her; and her love, overwhelmed by fear and loathing, ceases. The visual aspect of her love is made clear in her fan• tasy: it is a picture without words, only hunting calls and the sensuous sounds of nature breaking the silence. 6 In the picture she sees herself and

2 '' I shall know your boldness, having tasted it!'' This is a strong statement from Hip• polytus, who thinks he has the most direct kind of evidence. Unlike the chorus, he hears from a third party but does not try to find out more directly. 3 Barrett, 160-2, on the local significance. • See Sale, esp. 41-4, on Aphrodite as the goddess who brings together (a function appropriate to the action described in the prologue). 5 Knox (208) notes that in her delirium Phaedra "has for the first time put her desire into words." But she has already built the temple, putting her desire into a monument for all to see. 6 See Glenn on the erotic significance of Phaedra's outcries.