#hippolytos

PHAIDRA: What is this thing they call falling in love? NURSE: Something absolutely sweet and absolutely bitter at the same time.

"She... longs to run herself aground in a sad secret death. Is it a god inside you, girl?"

PHAIDRA There are two kinds of shame. One is harmless, the other kills a house. If right action were ever clear, these two things wouldn’t have the same name. So much for my views. No love-charm can change them. But I’ll tell you the path my reasoning took. When desire first wounded me I considered how best to bear it. I began with silence and secrecy—there’s no trusting the tongue, it loves to punish others and draw disaster on itself. Second, I tried to suppress my mad feelings. That didn’t work. You can’t suppress Aphrodite. So third, my plan is to die.

“Bitter the love by which I’m beaten.”