Frozen in the Post-Heroic Age Mirrors Female Initiation, Telos Essay

In this essay, I will argue that the story of Hippolytus re-enacted by girls at Trozen in the post-heroic age mirrors female initiation, telos. Examining two contexts of telos for Hippolytus, as well as the trouble with Hippolytus, and from native Trozenian ritual to the drama of Athenian State Theater are all important in understanding female initiation.

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To begin with, girls at Trozen in the post-heroic age mirrors female initiation, telosexpress their empathy for the experience they are going through. The empathy from the chorus projects the female experiences, and it focuses on the pain they are feeling in the uterus. The pains are presided over by the goddess Artemis. A metaphor connecting a woman who is in pain because of her uterus to the stringed instrument out of tune is seen from the lines of the poem. Women are likened to the stringed instrument that has lost its tune (Nagy, 2008). The woman blames the uterus for her experience and thinks that it is the cause of her trouble.

Followingly, the two contexts of telos for Hippolytus are understood differently. For instance, in the second context, the word telo and I am can also be understood in two different ways. The speaker, Hippolytus, intends to translate the telos as the end. This translation is, however, is overly restrictive from the perspective of what is meant by the myths and the rituals concerning Hippolytus. The myths are directly linked to the female initiation rituals. Therefore, the word telos here means initiation as from the link between the myth and the ritual.

Next, the trouble with Hippolytus arises due to the rituals. Although there should be no trouble in making a transition from Artemis to Aphrodite for female initiates, the myth of Hippolytus is most troubled.When Hippolytus is dying, Artemis consoles her that thoughts that come along with the song making will be directed at him by the virgin girls.Indeed, Hippolytus cannot make the transition from a phase of virginity into the phase of heterosexuality. This transition is purely facilitated in the ritual of initiation, and this leads to social equilibrium. However, the same ritual is blocked in myth, and this leads to personal disequilibrium for the Hippolytus which is his trouble.

Lastly, from native Trozenian ritual to the drama of Athenian State Theater, a full-scale dramatic re-enactment of the Hippolytus myth is featured. The choral aspect of the wording from the myth of Hippolytus is a reference to the women's intimate experience. The collective voice of the chorus reveals the pain the woman suffered at the moment of childbirth. Also, the pains of menstruation are revealed in the wordings when the woman laments of the rush felt in her womb. From this, it is clear that the goddess Artemis who controls the winds also controls all the functions of the uterus.The labor pains are also mentioned and lead to the interpretation that the chorus is an ensemble of young married women. The choral lyric performance of the real-life girls in the real community of Trozen shows the experience of the girls in their real initiation through of singing and dancing the death of Hippolytus. The love of Phaedra was translated into the stylized ritual experience of Athenian State Theater. The songs of initiation which were performed seasonally in the recurring festival in Trozen were replayed by young men to show the tragedy of Euripides.

Reference

Nagy, G. (2008). Hour 20. The hero as a mirror of men's and women's experiences in the Hippolytus of Euripides. Retrieved April 20, 2018, from https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5963.part-iii-hour-20-the-hero-as-mirror-of-men's-and-women's-experiences-in-the-Hippolytus-of-Euripides