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Phaedra

by Jean Baptiste Racine

Translated by Robert Bruce Boswell




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

JEAN BAPTISTE RACINE, the younger contemporary of Corneille, and his
rival for supremacy in French classical tragedy, was born at Ferte-
Milon, December 21, 1639. He was educated at the College of Beauvais,
at the great Jansenist school at Port Royal, and at the College
d'Harcourt. He attracted notice by an ode written for the marriage of
Louis XIV in 1660, and made his first really great dramatic success
with his "Andromaque." His tragic masterpieces include "Britannicus,"
"Berenice," "Bajazet," "Mithridate," "Iphigenie," and "Phaedre," all
written between 1669 and 1677. Then for some years he gave up dramatic
composition, disgusted by the intrigues of enemies who sought to
injure his career by exalting above him an unworthy rival. In 1689 he
resumed his work under the persuasion of Mme. de Maintenon, and
produced "Esther" and "Athalie," the latter ranking among his finest
productions, although it did not receive public recognition until some
time after his death in 1699. Besides his tragedies, Racine wrote one
comedy, "Les Plaideurs," four hymns of great beauty, and a history of
Port Royal.

The external conventions of classical tragedy which had been
established by Corneille, Racine did not attempt to modify. His study
of the Greek tragedians and his own taste led him to submit willingly
to the rigor and simplicity of form which were the fundamental marks
of the classical ideal. It was in his treatment of character that he
differed most from his predecessor; for whereas, as we have seen,
Corneille represented his leading figures as heroically subduing
passion by force of will, Racine represents his as driven by almost
uncontrollable passion. Thus his creations appeal to the modern reader
as more warmly human; their speech, if less exalted, is simpler and
more natural; and he succeeds more brilliantly with his portraits of
women than with those of men.

All these characteristics are exemplified in "Phaedre," the tragedy of
Racine which has made an appeal to the widest audience. To the legend
as treated by Euripides, Racine added the love of Hippolytus for
Aricia, and thus supplied a motive for Phaedra's jealousy, and at the
same time he made the nurse instead of Phaedra the calumniator of his
son to Theseus.





PHAEDRA




CHARACTERS

THESEUS, son of Aegeus and King of Athens.
PHAEDRA, wife of Theseus and Daughter of Minos and Pasiphae.
HIPPOLYTUS, son of Theseus and Antiope, Queen of the Amazons.
ARICIA, Princess of the Blood Royal of Athens.
OENONE, nurse of Phaedra.

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