ABSTRACT
The symbolic value for both Phaedra and the nurse of the covering of the queen’s head in the crisis of choice is a faultless piece of observation. We must turn for light to the history of Phaedra’s soul, already revealed with a rare precision of touch in the dialogue with the nurse, and presently summed up for us by Phaedra herself. Phaedra’s hidden love translates itself into a succession of cravings ; and it is no accident that all these cravings are for scenes intimately associated with Hippolytus—the rest in the meadow by the spring, the forest hunt, the racecourse and the Enetian horses. The verses from Phaedra’s great speech to the women have engaged the attention of many editors, but have never, the author venture to think, been fully understood. If he is right, they are cardinal not only for the psychology of Phaedra, but for the significance of the play as a whole.
