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    Phaedra
    Phaedra
    Phaedra
    Ebook74 pages48 minutes

    Phaedra

    By Jean Racine

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    About this ebook

    The King is missing, presumed dead. His warrior son is braced for inheritance but is betrayed by his heart. Phaedra, the tormented Queen, has a terrifying secret that will shake Athens to its core.

    Based on Euripides' Hippolytus, Racine's Phaedra reveals the devastating potential of love and the brutality of human nature.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJH
    Release dateMar 30, 2019
    ISBN9788832564570
    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.

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      Book preview

      Phaedra - Jean Racine

      Phaedra

      Jean Racine

      Translated by Robert Bruce Boswell

      .

      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.

          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 shall but do my duty,

                And leave a place I dare no longer see.

                THERAMENES

                Indeed! When, prince, did you begin to dread

                These peaceful haunts, so dear to happy childhood,

                Where I have seen you oft prefer to stay,

                Rather than meet the tumult and the pomp

                Of Athens and the court? What danger shun you,

                Or shall I say what grief?

                HIPPOLYTUS

                That happy time

                Is gone, and all is changed, since to these shores

                The gods sent Phaedra.

                THERAMENES

                I perceive the cause

                Of your distress. It is the queen whose sight

                Offends you. With a step-dame's spite she schemed

                Your exile soon as she set eyes on you.

                But if her hatred is not wholly vanish'd,

                It has at least taken a milder aspect.

                Besides, what danger can a dying woman,

                One too who longs for death, bring on your head?

                Can Phaedra, sick'ning of a dire disease

                Of which she will not speak, weary of life

                And of herself, form any plots against you?

                HIPPOLYTUS

                It is not her vain enmity I fear,

                Another foe alarms Hippolytus.

                I fly, it must be own'd, from young Aricia,

                The sole survivor of an impious race.

                THERAMENES

                What! You become her persecutor too!

                The gentle sister of the cruel sons

                Of Pallas shared not in their perfidy;

                Why should you hate such charming innocence?

                HIPPOLYTUS

                I should not need to fly, if it were hatred.

                THERAMENES

                May I, then, learn the meaning of your flight?

                Is this the proud Hippolytus I see,

                Than whom there breathed no fiercer foe to love

                And to that yoke which Theseus has so oft

                Endured? And can it be that Venus, scorn'd

                So long, will justify your sire at last?

                Has she, then, setting you with other mortals,

                Forced e'en Hippolytus to offer incense

                Before her? Can you love?

                HIPPOLYTUS

                Friend, ask me not.

                You, who have known my heart from infancy

                And all its feelings of disdainful pride,

                Spare me the shame of disavowing all

                That I profess'd. Born of an Amazon,

                The wildness that you wonder at I suck'd

                With mother's milk. When come to riper age,

                Reason approved what Nature had implanted.

                Sincerely bound to me by zealous service,

                You told me then the story of my sire,

                And know how oft, attentive to your voice,

                I kindled when I heard his noble acts,

                As you described him bringing consolation

                To mortals for the absence of

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