Why do you think Phaedra commits suicide? How does that choice reflect both her powerlessness and her power? How do you think she will be remembered?

Why do you think Phaedra commits suicide? How does that choice reflect both her powerlessness and her power? How do you think she will be remembered?

Killing herself is the one choice Phaedra feels she can still make for herself—all the others have been made for her: who she would marry, that she would have children, and of course she would have no choice between life and death, or any freedom, once Theseus found out her love for Hippolytus. She has always been powerless; in this one last act, she can take power into her own hands. And she will die in less agony than what Theseus might put her through.

In the world of these myths, it is clear she would be remembered—was indeed remembered in most versions—as betraying Theseus and to blame for the death of his son. I understand there were different versions, in some her falling in love with her stepson was the way Aphrodite took revenge on Hippolytus for his rejection of her, his choosing to worship Artemis instead—knowing it would lead to his death as well as Phaedra’s.

Jennifer Saint gives Phaedra some dignity and empathy, making her a more tragic figure. She is not blameless, but she is a victim of the unbearable limitations of being a woman in a world dominated by brutal men (gods or humans). Even the goddesses appear to treat women as worthless pawns.

In this story, I think Phaedra commits suicide because she was angry and humiliated that she was rejected by Hippolytus and she could’t live with that so she really had no choice.This book made it somewhat ambiguous as to whether she meant to accuse him of rape or not. In some other versions it is obvious that she did.

Phaedra commits suicide because she has lost her love and her idea of love. She made a grave error in pursuing and confessing her love for Hippolytus. Afterward, she had nothing left. When she heard Theseus' return, she could face what happened or choose her own course. Suicide gave her the power to end her torment. Confessing again would only lead to more torment. In her position, suicide was the strongest choice she could make for herself--the only one she could control.

Phaedra commits suicide because she has been humiliated and because she despairs of finding real love. She realizes that Ariadne was right; her stepson does not love her romantically.

Phaedra’s suicide reflects powerlessness because it demonstrates her belief that there is literally nothing else she can do achieve her goals. It reflects power because it is her choice, not someone else’s.

She may be remembered as another tragic hero who, despite her many good qualities, is defeated by unrequited love and impulsive decisions.

Phaedra saw suicide as the only choice she could make to control her fate. Perseus would have made her life even more unbearable, her realization that her dream of love was shattered, and the shame she had escaped when she left Crete would be surpassed by the shame she would suffer. She felt powerless to control anything that would be done to her. I wonder if perhaps she could have found shelter with Ariadne had Phaedra been more clear headed. She will be remembered as a tragic person in the true sense.

I believe she felt she had no other options. Interestingly, in some versions of Ariadne's story, it is Ariadne who commits suicide by hanging after being left on Naxos by Theseus.

Phaedra committed suicide because she does not seem the way to have the "love" that she desires and sees suicide as her way of making a decision for herself.