... makes Phaedra fall in love with Hippolytus. Phaedra is highly disturbed by the feelings she has for Hippolytus and attempts to starve herself. Phaedra was the daughter of King Minos of Crete and his wife Pasiphae. This royal ancestry explains Phaedra's obsession with reputation. However, Euripides has not shown Phaedra as an evil woman but a passionate woman torn between her desires and her desire for a good reputation. Phaedra cannot bear to bring disgrace on herself and her family. She speaks about her mother's passion for a bull and how she gave birth to the Minotaur and then of her sister, Ariandne's disastrous passion for Dionysus. She says that she is third in line and is an inescapable taint in her bloodline. Phaedra's manipulative Nurse persuades Phaedra to tell her why she is doing so and advises her just to tell him, however Phaedra s not keen on this idea and ...

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