The reception of the biblical legend of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife and Euripides drama «Hippolytus» in M. Tsvetaeva’s tragedy «Phaedra»

In this article, the author explores the similarities and differences between the biblical story of St. Joseph and Potiphar’s wife and drama by Euripides “Hippolytus.” The author compares these ancient texts with the modern interpretation of this plot in M. Tsvetaeva’s tragedy “Phaedra.” By comparing them, the author compares the specifics of the conflict and the imagery in these works. The author notes that the character of Potiphar’s wife is closer in wholeness and motivation to the archetype of the temptress seducing the righteous man than Euripides or Tsvetaeva’s Phaedra, and has undergone the least changes. This character lacks the dynamics of moral change, reflection, or repentance. The Bible paints a portrait of a woman motivated only by his passions. The author in his investigation suggests that even in ancient times Euripides had to “deepen” the character of Phaedra to meet the requirements of Greek tragedy and arouse sympathy. Thus, the character of the “temptress” became ethically motivated by feelings such as shame, duty, and honor, and their conflict with the passion induced by the vengeful Aphrodite led to a tragic final. The author concludes that M. Tsvetaeva modernized the conflict and system of images in her drama “Phaedra,” removing the epicness from the conflict and making it an intimate collision of personalities rather than political forces or city-states patronized by the gods. M. Tsvetaeva weakens the religious line of conflict between the cults of Artemis and Aphrodite, which is central to the myth, and the love conflict of her drama, the “tragedy of separations,” is based on the biography of the poet, who was acutely experiencing separation from loved ones at the time of writing this work.