The nature of women in ancient drama is one of the most exciting topics, where women are portrayed as inherently deceptive and manipulative - the principle cause of (men’s) misfortune. Suzy’s paper does well to incorporate instances of female trickery in Hippolytus by Euripides and demonstrates how it leads to the demise of Hippolytus, Theseus and even Phaedra, one of the practitioners of treachery. One of the most interesting aspects of her paper is the concept of divine deceit, as in the case of Aphrodite, whose curse leads to all the events that culminate in disaster. When plotting her revenge on Hippolytus, Aphrodite states, "He does not know that the doors of death are upon him, that he is looking at his last sun" (line 55), displaying the vengeful nature that is associated with women. The concept of divine deceit is visible in both Greek and Roman texts. It also highlights on gender bias as it glorifies masculinity by depicting female characteristics as being responsible for chaos which in most instances, is corrected through masculine intervention.

In keeping with the theme of divine deception in Hippolytus, it is Juno who is responsible for Aeneas’ plight. Like Aphrodite in Hippolytus, Juno is depicted as a goddess scorned. Juno feels nothing but intense hatred towards the Trojans because of Paris’ judgment against her. "Baleful Juno in her sleepless rage" (Pg 3, line 8) seeks revenge by plaguing Aeneas’ throughout the poem. Juno’s anger against Aeneas is surged by her desire to put Venus to shame and she makes many underhanded attempts to accomplish her goal, wreaking havoc on the lives of Aeneas and Dido. Juno uses her powers to throw Aeneas off course towards Carthage and she counters Venus’ love spell on Dido and arranges the consummation of the queen’s love, all in attempts to keep Aeneas from fulfilling his destiny of founding Rome. Juno is even deceptive in her words. "That task will rest with me," (99, 163) — while it appears that she is thinking of Aeneas and Dido’s happiness by offering to arrange their marriage, it is "all pretence" she is actually furthering her personal goal "all to divert the future power from Italy / to Libya" (99, 149-150). Like Aphrodite, Juno’s anger is so great and she is so driven by vengeance that she relies on deceit and treachery to avenge the wrongs that she believed was done to her.

Aeschylus takes a different approach in the Oresteia to demonstrate gender bias in deceit. He uses the figure of Apollo, god of justice and of prophecy to be the cause of ruin for Orestes. "I commanded you to murder your mother" (154) says Apollo to Orestes. It is Apollo who urges Orestes to take revenge on Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, an act which brings immeasurable anguish to Orestes as he runs from the ever-plaguing Furies. Finally, it is Athene, daughter of Zeus, goddess of wisdom, who delivers Orestes from his plight. Interestingly, in Greek mythology, Apollo is looked upon as the most feminine of gods and Athene as the most masculine of goddesses as they embody some female and male characteristics respectively. By making Apollo the cause of Orestes’ downfall, Aeschylus once again asserts that female characteristics are the cause of chaos and men have the power to restore order, as depicted by Athene who exemplified certain masculine traits.

In both Greek and Roman tragedy, female and divine deceit, demonstrated in many ways, contributed to the downfall of characters and brought about the ruin of men.