listens patiently and tries to understand Phaedra s pain At this stage the Nurse seems loving and responsible She feels sympathy for Phaedra s suffering She wants to protect her from shame and ruin She warns Phaedra Sinners are worse than monsters The Nurse as the Voice of Reason In the beginning the Nurse acts as a voice of wisdom and moral sense She clearly understands that Phaedra s love is unnatural and dangerous She advises Phaedra to control her emotions and fight against her passion She warns her that desire if unchecked can destroy honor and life The Nurse wisely says Check O my child the rush of thine unbridled spirit control thy passion This advice shows that the Nurse knows what is right At this moment she represents reason and self-control But Phaedra cannot control her passion She says What can reason do Passion passion rules The Nurse s Moral Weakness and Change The Nurse soon fails to stand by her own advice When she sees that Phaedra is determined and emotionally broken she changes She chooses obedience over morality She convinces herself that serving her queen is more important than honor She knowingly chooses the wrong path Her wisdom becomes corrupted Her loyalty turns blind and dangerous The Nurse as a Deceiver and Plotter The Nurse becomes most destructive when Hippolytus rejects Phaedra with anger and disgust Instead of accepting the truth and stopping the sin the Nurse plans a lie to protect Phaedra s reputation She decides to accuse Hippolytus of an incestuous crime She clearly says We must throw the crime back on him himself and ourselves charge him with incestuous love This false accusation becomes the turning point of the play Because of the Nurse s lie Theseus curses his own innocent son Hippolytus is killed brutally The Nurse s deception directly leads to this tragic death The Nurse as a Catalyst of Tragedy The Nurse acts as a tragic catalyst She does not kill anyone herself but her actions push the tragedy forward Without her support Phaedra might have resisted or confessed her sin The Nurse helps sin to grow and crime to succeed In the end even she cannot escape guilt Phaedra finally confesses the truth and admits that Hippolytus was innocent Later she kills herself because of guilt and shame The Nurse s role is thus closely linked with the deaths of Hippolytus and Phaedra In conclusion the Nurse in Phaedra is a complex and powerful character She begins as a caring guide and a voice of reason but her moral weakness turns her into an agent of destruction Her misguided loyalty fear and deception play a crucial role in the tragic outcome Through the Nurse Seneca shows that wisdom without moral strength is dangerous