Near the end of Euripides'
Hippolytus, the title character is in the throes of death. He has
been involved in a chariot accident that resulted in him being hurled out of the chariot
car, tangled in the reins, and being dragged by his own
horses.
Thus, at the end of the play, the dying Hippolytus
is brought in for a final encounter with his father, Theseus, whose curse of Hippolytus
prompted the chariot accident.
Before Theseus encounters
his dying son, the goddess Artemis appears and tells Theseus about his wife Phaedra's
false accusation of Hippolytus. Phaedra had hanged herself when Hippolytus rejected her
sexual advances toward him, but, before she died, she wrote a letter falsely accusing
Hippolytus of sexually assaulting her.
When Theseus learns
the truth about what happened, he laments having actions toward his son. Thus, Theseus
moves from being a man certain of the rightness of his actions to being a man who needs
forgiveness from his son.
As for Phaedra, it is difficult
to see how her character changes, since she has been dead for some time. I suppose,
though, one might argue that in Theseus' eyes Phaedra moves from someone who had her
husband's trust to someone who could not be trusted.
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