is clear when passion becomes stronger than reason it brings ruin Through Phaedra s suffering he teaches that reason must guide the heart The play warns that blind desire leads to guilt shame and death Phaedra as the Victim of Passion Phaedra is both guilty and pitiful Her love for Hippolytus is unlawful yet she is not fully evil She cries A malady feeds and grows within my heart The image of sickness shows that passion is like a disease Phaedra does not want to sin but her emotion burns too deeply Her final suicide proves how passion can destroy both mind and body Seneca presents her as a victim of desire and moral weakness Thus her passion becomes her punishment The Moral Voice of the Nurse and Chorus Seneca s Phaedra is full of moral advice through the Nurse and the Chorus The Nurse warns Whoever at the outset has resisted and routed love has been safe and conqueror This teaches that early resistance to passion is wisdom The Chorus also reminds the audience that Love s cares overwhelm harsh stepmothers Both the Nurse and Chorus act as moral teachers They stand for reason order and virtue Their speeches make the play a moral discourse that condemns lust and praises self-control Hippolytus and the Stoic Ideal Hippolytus represents the Stoic ideal of reason and purity He says Away with thy impure touch from my chaste body His words express his hatred of passion and his devotion to virtue He loves nature and simplicity rejecting lust and power However his pride makes him too rigid He cannot feel pity or compassion Seneca uses him to show both the strength and the weakness of Stoic control His death shows that even virtue may suffer when passions rule the world Moral Reflection on Human Weakness Seneca uses every tragic event to teach a moral truth The Chorus says Fate without order rules the affairs of men This line shows that humans are weak before emotion and fate Phaedra s passion Hippolytus pride and Theseus anger all lead to disaster Seneca teaches that no one can escape suffering when passion wins over wisdom The play s moral force lies in its warning against the power of uncontrolled feelings The audience learns that only reason brings peace and balance In termination we can say that Phaedra is a true tragedy of passions and moral discourse Seneca uses the story to show the battle between desire and duty Phaedra s love Hippolytus pride and Theseus anger reveal human weakness The Nurse and Chorus guide the audience with moral lessons Thus the play becomes a mirror of the human heart where passion destroys peace and reason alone can save the soul