Phaedra Lesson Plan

Seneca's Phaedra revolves around the titular character's sexual desire for her stepson, Hippolytus, during the years of her husband Theseus's absence and imprisonment in the underworld. The bulk of the play revolves around Phaedra's consideration of her own desire, depicted as a consumptive and destructive force with the power to eat away at her sanity. Phaedra's Nurse, a close advisor / servant, begs that Phaedra resist these impulses; Phaedra is certain she must pursue Hippolytus or commit suicide. At this bleak prospect, the Nurse resolves to help Phaedra win over the young and, by all accounts, misogynistic youth, who spends his days avoiding the palace and living a simple hunter's...