 The centrality of hunting to the plot is, furthermore, demonstrated by the fact that Diana, the goddess of the hunt, is the only deity who has an altar on stage, and the altar is important enough to be referenced four times in the course of the play.Stepmothers and mothers

In "Phaedra", Seneca addresses the pervasive Roman stereotype of the amoral and wicked stepmother.Phaedra is referred to as a stepmother four times throughout the course of the play, each time at a moment of climactic action.