Seneca was a
Roman philosopher, dramatist and
statesman. His tragedies based on Greek models, provided one of the foremost
influences on the Elizabethan
revenge tragedy. Written in an atmosphere of gloom, Seneca’s plays strongly
emphasized blood revenge for murder or flagrant injury, or less serious revenge
out of jealousy. His plays were filled with horrifying events such a
cannibalism, incest, rape, and violent death. His rhetoric and bombast, and his
stoicism, were important contributions to the Elizabethan form.
The features
of the revenge tragedy are horror,
revenge, blood-shedding supernatural elements and murders etc. The other traits
of such a tragic play are-
-
emphasis on
violence, horror and gruesome scenes
-
violence staged
before audience
-
employment of the
supernatural, ghosts, demons etc.
Because
of the above characteristics, Senecan
tragedies are regarded as melodramatic.
As many of them deals with the theme of revenge, they are called revenge
tragedies.
In Seneca’s
“Phaedra”, the central theme is
revenge- that by Theseus against his
son Hippolytus for his alleged rape
against his step-mother and that by Phaedra against her husband, Theseus for his abandonment of her soon
after her marriage and his unexpected appearance from the underworld which
thwarts her love for her step-son. The play contains some other feature of
revenge tragedy which we point out now.
The suicide
of Phaedr, is another event of horror
and sentimentalism in the play. Throughout the play, it seems that Seneca has
put continuous emphasis on incidents of horror and gory details.
Sensationalism is another characteristic of a melodrama. In ‘Phaedra’, there is sensationalism in
the description of Hippolytus’
hunting scene, which talks about knifing the innards of the hunted animals and
blooded mouths of the ferocious dogs. Sensationalism is also found in the
description of the bull-shaped monster. Again Phaedra’s suicide on the stage before the audience is another
sensational event in the play.
In a
melodrama, the appearance of ghost or other supernatural agencies is
a common phenomenon. Though no ghost appear in the play ‘Phaedra’, the
supernatural beast having horrifying shape plays an important role in bringing
the catastrophe of the play. However, it should be mentioned here that in this
play no supernatural being make physical appearance on the stage though there
are numerous references of them.
Thus we see that the play
‘Phaedra’ contains several melodramatic elements such as the use of
supernatural, sensationalism, gruesome scenes, imagery of violence etc.
Moreover, the theme of revenge has been dramatized in this play.
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