Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. So, let us talk about Ms. Haynes and her book ‘Pandora’s Jar’ once more, or, more specifically, about the Phaedra entry.
Now, who is Phaedra? Ariadne’s younger sister, who did marry Theseus and it cost all of
them dearly. More generally, she is a one-story character – she is here to mess
Theseus’ established family, to cause the death of his son Hippolytus from Theseus’
previous relationship, and that is it. She is done and gone… but Ms. Hayes is
not.
By now, people are beginning to accept/realize
officially that in some aspects, women are not different from men; they have
had a piece of the power pie for a few decades now, and the world has not
become a better place. Sure, it is all the fault of men, no doubt, but even KK’s
Netflix series, ‘All’s Fair’, was unable to sell itself on this premise. Maybe
all is the fault of men, but the society did not care, and ‘All’s Fair’ is a
failure rather than a success.
Ms. Haynes takes a somewhat different approach than
KK and the rest of the K-clan; her fiction (like ‘Stone Blind’ and ‘1000 Ships’)
often portrait women as a part of an all-encompassing sisterhood; almost all of
them can get along, regardless of the meddling men, but her language is smooth
and politically correct and detached; almost emotionless, (more Athena than
Medusa) and easily forgettable.
‘PJ’ is largely like this too, even though it is
non-fiction; some of the women discussed in this essay collection, such as Clytemnestra
and Medea, are ambiguous, but Ms. Haynes is not ruffled, she deals with them as
they come along. Then there is Phaedra, and unexpectedly Ms. Haynes’ tone
shifts – now she is quite loud and driven and makes her point clearly: Phaedra is
not wicked or a liar, (not really); the men who proclaim her so are the true
villains and misogynists; just look at their treatment of Hades and Persephone!
…What Hades and Persephone have to do with Phaedra
and co.? Here is the thing. Each entry in ‘PJ’ goes as follows: first Ms. Haynes
retells the story of each female character (using info that is easily found on
Wiki or Google), then she lists and/or re-tells one or another famous ancient play
where this character starred; then she talks (or re-tells) a more modern
adaptation of the play; and then she discusses some of the artwork – ancient or
otherwise – that also feature this character. Pause.
More precisely, a lot of information Ms. Haynes
tells us is either available in public domains, or she is just re-telling one
or another ancient play (or modern movie, etc.), in her own words. Not quite
the champion that girl power needs. She is better than KK who just has
beautiful aesthetics covering up an empty void, but then again, it is KK. Anyone
is better than she is.
The ‘Phaedra’ entry, meanwhile, is not too different
from the other entries; the complication here is that there is not a lot of
information about Phaedra, unlike, say, Medea or Penelope, so Ms. Haynes spends
a lot of time discussing, first, the fate of Hades and Persephone, and then
re-telling the Euripides’ play ‘Hippolytus’.
Again, this is not unique; a big amount of the ‘Eurydice’
chapter is given to Admetus and Alcestis; there is not a lot to tell about Eurydice
either, and Ms. Haynes was paid by page, or was commissioned to write a set
number of pages (and about a certain list of characters), so she had to
improvise. She did, but she was nowhere as fired up about Eurydice as she was
about Phaedra. Maybe something about Phaedra’s situation hit Ms. Haynes close
to home? Who knows, we will never do.
As for Phaedra’s story per se… For a start, the main
trio of characters are not exactly human. Theseus is the demigod son of
Poseidon, of course, and his son Hippolytus is Poseidon’s grandson, true, but
his mother was an Amazon.
The Amazons were liminal figures In the Greco-Roman culture;
they dwelled in the space between RL and fiction. The meetings of Greeks and
Romans with women of other cultures – Scythians, Celts, Teutons, who did not
believe, or could not afford, the Greco-Roman sexual-social segregation inspired
them. See, this way of life is taxing on both men and women – women have no independence
and are completely dependent on men (a humiliating position), while men have to
carry out all of the financial strain of their family – a position that is not
much better. Therefore, it is safe to say, that in the ancient times sexism and
misogyny were features of the elite – the lower classes could not afford them
and so they were not as sexist or misogynist as their superiors, who ignored
them. Pause. What about the Amazons?
The Amazons did not fit into this worldview at all –
they distorted or challenged it. Their kingdom was a kingdom of women who were
the ones in charge, the politicians, the warriors, and so on, and the men were
subservient, if they were there at all. If the Amazons were cats, frogs, or
something similar, it would not be a problem, but the Amazons were humans and
that what made the Greeks (and the Romans, and the other Europeans) so angry:
here was an alternate society that worked. Of course, it was also a work of
fiction, and so the ancient authors had no problem in sending various male
heroes, such as Heracles and Theseus, against the Amazons, and defeat them,
even though the Amazons were supernaturally strong and supernaturally beautiful
– no glory in defeating a land full of homely women, now is there?
Of course, sometimes it went the other way around –
after Theseus married his Amazon lover, and the pair had had Hippolytus, the
Amazons got their act together to invade Greece and besiege Athens, all in
proper, military manner. The Amazons have to be formidable and competent, or
else there is no glory in defeating them, you know? Only, in this case, the
victory came with an unexpected cost – Theseus’ own Amazon wife died, leaving
behind a son, Hippolytus, who was slightly more than an ordinary puny mortal –
this is why Aphrodite became so peeved when Hippolytus threw his lot with
Artemis, not with her.
However, this is also why she has to be subtle –
Hippolytus is also the grandson of Poseidon, and everyone on Olympus treated
the earth-shaking god-king of the sea gently, (except for Zeus – but he does
not feature here, so let us bypass him). The direct approach wouldn’t work here
– there was a chance, no matter how slim, that Aphrodite’s meddling would get
back to Poseidon, who might decide to come over to Aphrodite’s home one night
with his trident, his crown, and a pack of condoms to do onto her what he did
onto Medusa, since Aphrodite’s meddling with Theseus and Hippolytus gave him a
legitimate opening and who can resist the goddess of Love? Therefore, Aphrodite
went with the roundabout option via Phaedra.
Phaedra is a one-story character, but she is also a
member of the Cretan royal house. Her father is Minos … whether or not the same
Minos who was the son of Zeus and Europa is open to debate, but Phaedra still
has the blood of Zeus on her father’s side, and her mother’s Pasiphae, the
queen of Crete, the daughter of Helios and a sea nymph, a demigoddess who was
able to get intimate with Poseidon’s white bull and bear the Minotaur. A
daughter of such a woman (and a man), you would think that Hippolytus would
have no chance against her, but Hippolytus did not succumb, and rejected his
stepmother, (whose age in regards to him is unknown); he did not bring shame
onto his father’s home – and died.
Phaedra left a note accusing Hippolytus of raping her,
and committed suicide. Theseus invoked Poseidon and cursed Hippolytus,
proclaiming that his son should die. He is the asshole here, not Phaedra or
Hippolytus, and Poseidon, who granted his wish, is barely better – of all the
gods that could have issue with sexual abuse he is in the far end of the line…
Regardless, a bull of sea – maybe the same one who
fathered the Minotaur, cough, came from the sea and caused Hippolytus to perish
from a chariot crash. The truth about Phaedra's lie was revealed too late. The
scene was set for Theseus’ further (and final) fall from grace. How Hippolytus
and Phaedra fare on the other side is unknown. What is left?
…The pointedly partisan stance of Ms. Haynes on the
story – she is normally not like this, but pointedly fair and neutral, this is
why her fiction is quite forgettable. Yes, the women are in general good and
better than the men are, but some men are also decent fellows – and this
approach takes the bite from her bark, makes her fiction, well, into fiction…
as in fan fiction, written about ancient Greek (and Roman) myths. She is trying
to revolutionize the world’s view about via re-telling of the ancient classical
myths. She gets accolades for that, but no lasting impact, it looks like. Pity,
if she was more as how she was in ‘Phaedra’ and less like how she is via ‘Stone
Blind’ or ‘1000 ships’, she might have actually succeeded. Instead, she is more
successful than KK was, but only just. The patriarchy – or rather, the
patrilinage – will go on. Real life sucks, you know?
Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!
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