Nelle braccia della nutrice: contatto, distacco e maternità tragica nell’Ipsipile di Euripide

This paper examines the central role of the onstage interaction between Hypsipyle and Opheltes in Euripides’ Hypsipyle. Their bond of contact and separation is a key thematic and emotional focus of the tragedy. Opheltes is not merely a child, but a symbol of Hypsipyle’s transformation from queen to slave and nurse. Through their relationship, Euripides stages the interplay of motherhood, loss, and identity, highlighting the protagonist’s condition as a mother seemingly deprived of her biological children. Holding the child in her arms and then laying him down at a fateful moment is not only a dramatic gesture, but also a powerful mode of scenic communication, drawing the audience into Hypsipyle’s experience of surrogate motherhood. This essay analyzes the theatrical and symbolic significance of this relationship, while also calling attention to other nurses in Greek tragedy and epic.