Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Phaedra
    Phaedra
    Phaedra
    Ebook84 pages57 minutes

    Phaedra

    By Jean Racine

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The 17th century dramatist Jean Racine was considered, along with Molière and Corneille, as one of the three great playwrights of his era. The quality of Racine's poetry has been described as possibly his most important contribution to French literature and his use of the alexandrine poetic line is one of the best examples of such use noted for its harmony, simplicity and elegance. While critics over the centuries have debated the worth of Jean Racine, at present, he is widely considered a literary genius of revolutionary proportions. In this volume of Racine's plays we find "Phaedra", the tenth of twelve plays by the author. In "Phaedra" Racine returns to Greek mythology for his subject matter. This classic story concerns its titular character who though married to Theseus falls in love with Hippolytus. "Phaedra" was incredibly well received with praise from the likes of Voltaire who described the work as "the masterpiece of the human mind." The drama remains to this day as one of Racine's most highly regarded works.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2013
    ISBN9781596743397
    Author

    Jean Racine

    Jean Racine, né le 22 décembre 1639 à La Ferté-Milon et mort le 21 avril 1699 à Paris, est un dramaturge et poète français. Issu d'une famille de petits notables de la Ferté-Milon et tôt orphelin, Racine reçoit auprès des « Solitaires » de Port-Royal une éducation littéraire et religieuse rare.

    Read more from Jean Racine

    Related to Phaedra

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Phaedra

    4/5

    245 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I had a hard time with the inevitability of Phaedra's love for Hippolytus - I'm not a believer in love that you can't resist. This play demonstrated to me the importance of integrity. Phaedra knew what she felt was wrong - but she "gave in" to to the bad advice of her confidant and destroyed the lives of all those around her. While the story may seem old and out of touch with the modern world, I find it particularly timely given our modern inclination to just follow our desires without regard to who may get hurt.
    • 5/5
      A Greek tragedy by Racine, a web of interlocking and tragic loves and misunderstandings propels this play from beginning to end. Although I enjoyed Andromache more, this was also a pleasure from beginning to end. And like Andromache, added greater psychological depth and complexity to characters caught in what would otherwise appear to be the inevitably unfolding clockwork gears of their fates.
    • 4/5
      Made me want to read more Ted Hughes. Never thought I would say that.
    • 4/5
      Absolutely hilarious modern translation (performed in NY) of a Frenchman's rendition of the Greek tragedy. Each main character has one exceptional part: Aricia, Hipplytus, Phedre, and Theseus. The story of Hippolytus' death is told very clearly relative to the Greek, with Neptune coming out of the sea after Hippolytus slays the beast.
    • 4/5
      Let's see: thwarted love, betrayal, implied incest, heinous lies, father-son love triangle with wife/stepmother, and a whole lot of death at the end. Um, yeah, that's the recipe for a pretty awesome story. Phaedra, married to Theseus, has always nurtured a secret love for his son, Hippolytus. When she receives news that Theseus is dead, she finally confesses her love to Hippolytus, who is in love with Aricia and is disgusted by his step-mother's advances. But, hey, guess what? Theseus isn't dead and returns just in time for all Hades to break loose . . .Soap operas have nothing on ancient Greek drama. Plus, on All My Children, you never get a half bull/half dragon sea beastie sent by Neptune to torch our hero into a crispy critter before his horses go mad, crash the chariot, and then drag him to death.
    • 4/5
      Racine's tragic dramatization of the Theseus-Phaedra myth is very classical in form and style. He reads more like a Jonsonian tragedian than a Shakespearean one. The play is full of long speeches of florid, classical language, and all of the real action in the play occurs off-stage. Still, the emotion of the main characters--Phaedra, Theseus and Hyppolitus--shines through the language and brings the characters to life. The more minor characters like Phaedra's maid are less well drawn (a weakness in this play because Phaedra's maid is the catalyst for much of the language). I enjoyed the play well enough to seek out other works by Racine.
    • 3/5
      It is stated in the introduction to Phèdre that Racine did not intend to challenge any of the conventions to playwriting with this work, but merely write the strongest possible play while adhering to the established structure of five act dramatic tragedies. Because of this, the play Phèdre by Racine and Hippolytus by Euripides are similar, not only in subject matter, but in structure as well, despite being written over 2,000 years apart. Unfortunately for Racine, this allows a direct comparison between the plays, and for me Hippolytus easily comes out on top.

      Racine makes Phèdre a longer play, focusing on the passions that are driving the characters, and adds a plotline where Hippolytus and Aricia fall in love and attempt to elope. The longer length means that things that happened in the heat of the moment in Euripides’ play (and made sense in that context) are stretched over a longer span of time (and therefore defy common-sense). Euripides’ Theseus believes the accusations against his son only when he finds a note alleging them clutched in the cold hand of his wife, who has just killed herself. In a rage, and with his wife’s suicide putting her accusations almost beyond reproach, he curses his son and seals his fate. Racine’s Theseus believes accusations brought against his son by his wife’s nurse, and holds onto them stubbornly while one character after another tells him the accusations are false. “Can nothing clear your mind of your mistake?” asks Hippolytus. Obviously not, for the sake of the story, but such a refusal does strain credulity. Racine also has characters take other actions that aren’t very believable, and his commitment to making his characters voice their motivations draws attention to just how unbelievable these actions are. Toward the end of the play Hippolytus states “[l]et us trust to Heav'n my vindication, for the gods are just.” No they aren’t, and Hippolytus should know this based on the earlier parts of the play (and nowhere is Hippolytus previously portrayed as stupid or naïve). Euripides would never have written such a nonsense and cliché line.

      The Hippolytus-Aricia subplot must have been added as a crowd-pleaser, because it adds little to the story. There are thousands of plays about forbidden romance, death separating young lovers, and everything else this plotline does, and it distracts from the play’s portrayal of a woman’s love spurned and a father harboring such rage for his son that he calls on the gods to kill him. Alicia’s introduction changes Phaedra’s actions to ones of jealousy just as much as uncontrollable passion, and thus waters down an interesting character. In general Phèdre does a disservice to the character Phaedra, giving many of the key actions to her nurse instead of having Phaedra perform them herself. It is the nurse Oenone who makes the accusations against Hippolytus, which absolves Phaedra of blame in his death but also turns her character into one doomed always to react and never to act of her own volition.

      Euripides’ take on this tale is the better one, and is one of his strongest plays. Comparatively, Phèdre is less impressive, and despite Racine’s attempt to imbue the characters with uncontrollable passion, in fact he turns them duller than they had been for the 2,000 years before him. It’s not bad, just not as good as the classic version.

    Book preview

    Phaedra - Jean Racine

    cover.jpg

    PHAEDRA

    BY JEAN RACINE

    TRANSLATED BY ROBERT BRUCE BOSWELL

    eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-59674-339-7

    Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4906-3

    This edition copyright © 2013

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    INTRODUCTION TO PHAEDRA.

    CHARACTERS.

    ACT I.

    ACT II.

    ACT III.

    ACT IV.

    ACT V.

    PHAEDRA.

    INTRODUCTION TO PHAEDRA.

    Jean Baptiste Racine, the younger contemporary of Corneille, and his rival for supremacy in French classical tragedy, was born at Ferté-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, Bérénice, Bajazet, Mithridate, Iphigénie, and Phèdre, 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 Phèdre, 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.

    CHARACTERS.

    THESEUS, son of Aegeus and King of Athens.

    PHAEDRA, wife of Theseus and Daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë.

    HIPPOLYTUS, son of Theseus and Antiope, Queen of the Amazons.

    ARICIA, Princess of the Blood Royal of Athens.

    OENONE, nurse of Phaedra.

    THERAMENES, tutor of Hippolytus.

    ISMENE, bosom friend of Aricia.

    PANOPE, waiting-woman of Phaedra.

    GUARDS.

    The scene is laid at Troezen, a town of the Peloponnesus.

    ACT I.

    SCENE I. HIPPOLYTUS, THERAMENES.

    HIPPOLYTUS. My mind is settled, dear Theramenes,

    And I can stay no more in lovely Troezen.

    In doubt that racks my soul with mortal anguish,

    I grow ashamed of such long idleness.

    Six months and more my father has been gone,

    And what may have befallen one so dear

    I know not, nor what corner of the earth

    Hides him.

    THERAMENES. And where, prince, will you look for him?

    Already, to content your just alarm,

    Have I not cross'd the seas on either side

    Of Corinth, ask'd if aught were known of Theseus

    Where Acheron is lost among the Shades,

    Visited Elis, doubled Toenarus,

    And sail'd into the sea that saw the fall

    Of Icarus? Inspired with what new hope,

    Under what favour'd skies think you to trace

    His footsteps? Who knows if the King, your father,

    Wishes the secret of his absence known?

    Perchance, while we are trembling for his life,

    The hero calmly plots some fresh intrigue,

    And only waits till the deluded fair—

    HIPPOLYTUS. Cease, dear Theramenes, respect the name

    Of Theseus. Youthful errors have been left

    Behind, and no unworthy obstacle

    Detains him. Phaedra long has fix'd a heart

    Inconstant once, nor need she fear a rival.

    In seeking him I

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1