Exercise in Shame:
The Messenger’s Influence in Euripides’ Hippolytus

Sean W. Larson (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)

Although the sub-genre of messenger speeches has been the focus of considerable research, few scholars have examined individual speeches to determine their effect within specific Athenian tragedies.  Julia Caverno discussed the grisly details found in messenger speeches and how they affect audience sensibilities, but her analysis made only passing reference to individual speeches (“The Messenger in Greek Tragedy” 1917).  In a more recent study, Irene de Jong discussed narrators in messenger speeches and how they differ across the extant Euripidean plays (Narrative in drama: the art of the Euripidean messenger-speech 1991).  This is an important study, but de Jong does not discuss how individual speeches fit within their plays or how they impact audience reaction for the climax.  I propose to examine the messenger speech of Euripides’ Hippolytus to highlight the importance of the speech not only as a means for relaying information about events off-stage, but for creating expectation in the audience about future events in the play.

I will argue that the identity of the messenger, as a horse-groom and friend of Hippolytus, is crucial to evaluating his speech.  The messenger’s language reveals him to be a slave and a groom attached to the royal household, with a deep affection for Hippolytus.  .  These details are important, because they explain why the messenger focusses so much on Hippolytus’ skills in horsemanship before and after his encounter with the bull, and why he is the only character to openly defend Hippolytus against Phaedra’s accusations.  Through his language, the messenger reveals that his version of events is not neutral or unbiased; the playwright uses his emotionally charged speech to arouse audience emotion against Theseus and to intensify the contrast with the reconciliation scene at the play’s end.