Euripides Hippolytus Essay Example For Students

Euripides Hippolytus Essay A monologue from the play by Euripides NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from The Plays of Euripides in English, vol. ii. Trans. Shelley Dean Milman. London: J.M. Dent Sons, 1922. NURSE: O queen, at first, an instantaneous shock,I, from the history of thy woes, received:Now am I sensible my fears were groundless.But frequently the second thoughts of manAre more discreet; for there is nothing strangeNought, in thy sufferings, foreign to the courseOf nature: thee the goddess in her rageInvades. Thou lovst. And why should this surprise?Many as well as thee have done the same.Art thou resolved to cast thy life awayBecause thou lovst? How wretched were the stateOf those who love, and shall hereafter love,If death must thence ensue! For though too strongTo be withstood, when she with all her mightAssails us, Venus gently visits thoseWho yield; but if she light on one who soarsWith proud and overweening views too high,As thou mayst well conceive, to utter scornSuch she exposes; through the boundless tractsOf air she glides, and reigns midst oceans waves:All things from her their origin derive,Tis she that in each breast the genial seedsOf potent love infuses, and fro m loveDescends each tribe that fills the peopled earth.Thy who with ancient writings have conversed,And ever dwell among the tuneful Nine,Know how to Theban Semeles embraceFlew amorous Jove, how bright Aurora stoleYoung Cephalus, and placed among the godsThe object of her passion: yet in HeavenThey still reside, where unabashed they meetTheir kindred gods; those gods, because they feelA sympathetic wound, I deem, indulgeTheir weakness: and wilt thou refuse to bearLike imperfections? Nature on these termsDecreed thou from thy father shouldst receiveThy being: look for other gods, or yieldSubmission to these laws. Hast thou observed,How many husbands, men who are enduedWith a superior wisdom, when they seeThe nuptial bed by secret lust defiled,Appear as though they saw not: and how oftThe fathers, if their sons transgress, conniveAt their unhappy passion? To concealUnseemly actions is no trifling partOf human wisdom; nor should man his lifeForm with too great precision; for the roof,T he covering from the storm, the builder leavesLess fair, less highly finished. If immersedIn evils great as those thou hast described,How canst thou hope to scape? But if thy virtues,Since thou art only human, far exceedThy failings, it is well with thee: desist,O my loved daughter, from thy evil purpose,And cease to utter these reproachful words:For there is nought but contumelious prideIn thy endeavour to be yet more perfectThan the immortal gods: endure thy passionWith fortitude, since twas the will divineThat thou shouldst love: but give a prosperous turn,If possible, to thy disease. For songsThere are with magic virtues fraught, and wordsWhich soothe the soul: hence an effectual cureMay be obtained: in such discovery manWould long in vain be busied, to our sexIf no spontaneous stratagem occur.