Phaedra by Jean Racine
"Phaedra" is a classic tragedy by the French playwright Jean Racine, first performed in 1677. The play is rooted in Greek mythology and tells the story of Phaedra, the wife of Thésée, who develops an illicit and overwhelming passion for her stepson, Hippolyte. This forbidden love leads Phaedra to a series of tragic decisions, as she initially attempts to conceal her feelings through hostility. As the narrative unfolds, misunderstandings and manipulations culminate in catastrophic consequences, including the banishment and tragic death of Hippolyte, driven by the false accusations of his father, Thésée.
Phaedra’s emotional turmoil and the complex web of relationships highlight themes of love, desire, guilt, and fate. The play’s exploration of internal conflict and moral dilemmas reflects the intense emotional depth characteristic of Racine's works. With its focus on human psychology and the tragic flaws of its characters, "Phaedra" remains a poignant study of the destructive power of passion and the interplay of personal and social obligations. This play not only exemplifies the conventions of classical tragedy but also invites reflections on gender roles and moral responsibility, making it a significant piece in the canon of Western literature.
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Phaedra by Jean Racine
First produced:Phèdre, 1677; first published, 1677 (English translation, 1701)
Type of work: Drama
Type of plot: Tragedy
Time of plot: Antiquity
Locale: Troezen, ancient Greece
Principal characters
Thésée , king of AthensPhèdre , his wifeHippolyte , Thésée’s sonAricie , an Athenian princessOenone , Phèdre’s nurse
The Story:
After the death of his Amazon queen, Thésée marries Phèdre, the young daughter of the king of Crete. Phèdre, seeing in her stepson, Hippolyte, all the bravery and virtue of his heroic father, but in more youthful guise, falls in love with him. In an attempt to conceal her passion for the son of Thésée, slayer of the Minotaur, she treats him in an aloof and spiteful manner until at last Hippolyte decides to leave Troezen and search for his father, who is absent from the kingdom. To his tutor, Théramène, he confides his desire to avoid both his stepmother and Aricie, an Athenian princess who is the daughter of a family that opposes Thésée. Phèdre confesses to Oenone, her nurse, her guilty passion for Hippolyte, saying that she merely pretends unkindness to him to hide her real feelings.
Word comes to Troezen that Thésée is dead. Oenone talks to Phèdre in an attempt to convince the queen that her own son, not Hippolyte, should be chosen as the new king of Athens. Aricie hopes that she will be chosen to rule. Hippolyte, a fair-minded young man, tells Aricie that he will support her for the rule of Athens. He feels that Phèdre’s son should inherit Crete and that he himself should remain master of Troezen. He also admits his love for Aricie, but says that he fears the gods will never allow it to be brought to completion. When he tries to explain his intentions to his stepmother, she in turn drops her pretense of hatred and distrust and ends by betraying her love for Hippolyte. Shocked, he repulses her, and she threatens to take her own life.
The people of Athens, however, choose Phèdre’s son to rule over them, to the disappointment of Aricie. There are also rumors that Thésée still lives. Hippolyte gives orders that a search be made for his father. Phèdre, embarrassed by all she had told Hippolyte, broods over the injury she now feels, and wishes that she had never revealed her love. Phèdre is proud, and now her pride is hurt beyond recovery. Unable to overcome her passion, however, she decides to offer the kingdom to Hippolyte so that she might keep him near her. Then news comes that Thésée is returning to his home. Oenone warns Phèdre that now she must hide her true feeling for Hippolyte. She even suggests to the queen that Thésée be made to believe that Hippolyte had tempted Phèdre to adultery.
When Thésée returns, Phèdre greets him with reluctance, saying that she is no longer fit to be his wife. Hippolyte makes the situation no better by requesting permission to leave Troezen at once. Thésée is greatly chagrined at his homecoming. When scheming Oenone tells the king that Hippolyte had attempted to dishonor his stepmother, Thésée flies into a terrific rage. Hippolyte, knowing nothing of the plot, is at first astonished by his father’s anger and threats. When accused, he denies the charges, but Thésée refuses to listen to him and banishes his son from the kingdom forever. When Hippolyte claims he is really in love with Aricie, Thésée, more incensed than ever, invokes the vengeance of Neptune upon his son.
Aricie tries to convince Hippolyte that he must prove his innocence, but Hippolyte refuses because he knows that the revelation of Phèdre’s passion will be too painful for his father to bear. The two agree to escape together. Before Aricie can leave the palace, however, Thésée questions her. Becoming suspicious, he sends for Oenone to demand the truth. Fearing that her plot has been uncovered, Oenone commits suicide.
Meanwhile, as Hippolyte drives his chariot near the seashore, Neptune sends a horrible monster, part bull and part dragon, which destroys the son of Thésée. When news of his death reaches the palace, Phèdre confesses her guilt and drinks poison. Thésée, glad to see his guilty queen die, wishes that the memory of her life might perish with her. Sorrowfully, he seeks the grief-stricken Aricie to comfort her.
Bibliography
Abraham, Claude. “Phèdre.” In Jean Racine. Boston: Twayne, 1977. Focuses on Racine’s radical alterations of the characterizations from his sources, Euripides and Seneca. Emphasizes the musicality of Racine’s language and his emphasis on the importance of the human eye.
Campbell, John. Questioning Racinian Tragedy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. Analyzes individual tragedies, including Phaedra, and questions if Racine’s plays have common themes and techniques that constitute a unified concept of “Racinian tragedy.”
Clark, A. F. B. “Phèdre.” In Jean Racine. 1939. Reprint. New York: Octagon Books, 1969. An overview of Racine’s work that includes chapters on the age of Racine, classical tragedy before Racine, Racine’s life, and each of his plays. Clark demonstrates that Phaedra marks Racine’s transition from secular to sacred plays, as the protagonist is a “Greek woman with a Jansenist conscience,” with full awareness of her sin.
Desnain, Véronique. Hidden Tragedies: The Social Construction of Gender in Racine. New Orleans, La.: University Press of the South, 2002. Analyzes Phaedra and four other plays from a feminist perspective. Argues that the strength of Racine’s plays is not their universality but their emphasis on gender differences, with different standards imposed on men and women.
Mourgues, Odette de. Racine: Or, The Triumph of Relevance. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1967. Focuses on the patterns created by the interdependence and function of Racine’s tragic components. Mourgues praises Racine’s poetic depth and asserts that, in his tragedies, language reigns supreme.
Racevskis, Roland. Tragic Passages: Jean Racine’s Art of the Threshold. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 2008. Examines Phaedra and Racine’s other secular tragedies, demonstrating how these works construct space, time, and identity. Argues that the characters in these plays are in various stages of limbo, suspended between the self and the other, onstage and offstage, or life and death.
Weinberg, Bernard. “Phèdre.” In The Art of Jean Racine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Contains one chapter for each of Racine’s plays. Declares Phaedra to be the author’s most complete dramatic achievement because of the play’s originality, unity, and characterization.
Yarrow, Philip John. “From Mithridate to Phèdre.” In Racine. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1978. In this chapter of his exhaustive study of Racine’s oeuvre, Yarrow examines Racine’s motivations for writing Phaedra, explores Racine’s debt to Euripides and Seneca, and proclaims that the play is the culmination of Racine’s work.