Phaedra
...nd passion for her step son. The assumption that her husband is dead, and she is thinking about the next person she feels intimate about, further proves that her character is a low and deceiving person, yet her reason remains as a check on her passion. The way that Phaedra lets her passion get the best of her is the main characteristic that allows her to do the things she does throughout the play. The first act of passion that Phaedra acts out on is her sharing her feelings for Hippolytus with him. Even when Hippolytus is still disturbed by his fathers disappearance, Phaedra continues to tell him how much she wants to be with him. He tells Hippolytus that because Thesias is away she wants Hippolytus to be with her in order to remind her of him. She goes on by telling Hippolytus that he reminds her of him, which in result infuriates Hippolytus. Phaedra’s infatuation with her step son is so great that the loss his father does not stop her from informing him of her feelings. When Thesias surprisingly returns home, Phaedra commits her next dishonorable act by telling Thesias that Hippolytus has sexually abused her. This lie is Phaedra’s way of trying to turn Thesias against Hippolytus so he would not believe that she had in fact fallen in love with him. Because of Phaedra’s lie Thesias bans ...