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{{Short description|1677 tragedy by Racine}}
{{Other uses|Phaedra (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox play | name = Phèdre
| image = Racine - Phèdre Act5 sc6 1677 - césar.jpg
| caption = Title page from the first edition of {{Nowrap|''Phèdre et Hippolyte''}}
| writer = [[Jean Racine]]
| characters = [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phèdre]]<br />Œnone<br />[[Hippolytus (son of Theseus)|Hippolyte]]<br />[[Theramenes|Théramène]]<br />[[Theseus|Thésée]]<br />[[Aricia (mythology)|Aricie]]
| setting = The royal palace at [[Troezen|Trézène]]
}}
'''''Phèdre''''' ({{IPA|fr|fɛdʁ|lang}}; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic [[tragedy]] in five acts written in [[French alexandrine|alexandrine]] verse by [[Jean Racine]], first performed in 1677 at the [[theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne]] in Paris.

==Composition and premiere==
With ''Phèdre'', Racine chose once more a subject from [[Greek mythology]], already treated by Greek and Roman tragic poets, notably by [[Euripides]] in ''[[Hippolytus (play)|Hippolytus]]'' and [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] in ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]''.

As a result of an intrigue by the [[Marie Anne Mancini|Duchess of Bouillon]] and other friends of the aging [[Pierre Corneille]], the play was not a success at its première on 1 January 1677 at the [[Hôtel de Bourgogne (theatre)|Hôtel de Bourgogne]], home of the [[wikt:royal|royal]] troupe of actors in [[Paris]]. Indeed, a rival group staged a play by the now forgotten playwright [[Jacques Pradon|Nicolas Pradon]] on an almost identical theme. After ''Phèdre'', Racine ceased writing plays on secular themes and devoted himself to the service of religion and the king until 1689, when he was commissioned to write ''[[Esther (drama)|Esther]]'' by [[Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon|Madame de Maintenon]], the [[Morganatic marriage|morganatic]] second wife of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.bookrags.com/biography/jean-baptiste-racine/|title=Jean Baptiste Racine Summary|accessdate=August 9, 2024|via=www.bookrags.com}}</ref>

==Characters==
[[File:Hippolytus Phaedra Louvre Ma 2294.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Phaedra and Hippolytus, c. 290 AD]]

Names of characters in French, with their equivalents in English:
* Thésée, or [[Theseus]], King of Athens
* Phèdre, or [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]], wife of Thésée, daughter of [[Minos]] and [[Pasiphaë]] and sister of [[Ariadne]]
* Hippolyte, or [[Hippolytus (son of Theseus)|Hippolytus]], son of Thésée and [[Antiope (Amazon)|Antiope]], Queen of the [[Amazons]]
* Aricie, or [[Aricia (mythology)|Aricia]], princess of the royal blood of Athens
* Œnone, or Oenone, nurse and confidante of Phèdre
* Théramène, or Theramenes, tutor of Hippolyte
* Ismène, confidante of Aricie
* Panope, lady-in-waiting to Phèdre

==Synopsis==
The play is set at the royal court in [[Troezen]], on the [[Peloponnesus]] coast in [[Southern Greece]]. In the absence of her royal husband Thésée, Phèdre ends by declaring her love to Hippolyte, Thésée's son from a previous marriage.
[[File:Bakst-PhedreThesee.jpg|thumb|left|''Phèdre and Thésée'' (1923), [[Léon Bakst]]]]
'''Act 1'''. Following Theseus's six-month absence, his son Hippolytus tells his tutor Theramenes of his intention to leave Troezen in search of his father.
When pressed by Theramenes, he reveals that the real motive is his forbidden love for Aricia, sole survivor of the royal house supplanted by Theseus and under a vow of chastity against her will. During her husband's absence, Phèdre has become consumed by an illicit but overpowering passion for her stepson Hippolytus, which she has kept as a dark secret. Close to death and reeling about half-dementedly, under pressure from her old nurse Oenone she explains her state, on condition that she be permitted to die rather than face dishonour. The death of Theseus is announced with the news that his succession is in dispute. Oenone urges her mistress that, since her love for her stepson is now legitimate, she should form an alliance with him, if only for the future benefit of the infant son of her own flesh.

'''Act 2'''. With fresh hope for her liberty, Aricia reveals to her maidservant Ismène her feelings towards Hippolytus, who promptly appears to declare his love for her. Their discourse is interrupted by Phèdre, who distraughtly pleads for the rights of her infant son, explaining her coldness and personal despair. Suddenly entering a trance-like state overcome by emotion, she involuntarily confesses her hidden passions to her horrified dumb-struck stepson. Sensing rejection, she leaves in a wild frenzy, demanding Hippolytus' sword to end her torment. Theramenes brings news to Hippolytus that Theseus might still be alive.

'''Act 3'''. In desperation Phèdre sends word to Hippolytus inviting him to share the crown of Athens. However, Oenone brings her the devastating news that Theseus has returned in perfect health. To avert Phèdre's deathwish and her possible betrayal by Hippolytus, Oenone urges that a story should be concocted around his abandoned sword. Seeing Hippolytus by Theseus' side, Phèdre grants Oenone free rein. After his long period in captivity, Theseus is surprised by the cold reception from his wife and son, each anxious to conceal their passions: Phèdre, consumed by guilt; and Hippolytus, anxious to distance himself from his stepmother's advances, but unable to tell his father of his love for Aricia.

[[File:Guérin Andromaque et Pyrrhus 1810.jpg|thumb|''[[Andromache and Pyrrhus]]'' by [[Pierre-Narcisse Guérin]], 1810]]
'''Act 4'''. Theseus has just been told by Oenone that Hippolytus has attempted to take Phèdre by force. Overcome by rage, Theseus banishes Hippolytus and invokes the god [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]], who has promised to grant any wish of Theseus, to avenge him by his son's death. Protesting his innocence, Hippolytus discloses his secret love for Aricia to his incredulous father and leaves in despair. Fearing that she might be guilty for Hippolytus' death, Phèdre determines to reveal the truth to her husband, until she is told of Hippolytus' love for Aricia. Consumed by jealousy, she refuses to defend Hippolytus further, leaving his father's curse to run its course. When Oenone tries to make light of her mistress's illicit love, Phèdre in a towering rage accuses her of being a poisonous scheming monster and banishes her from her
presence.

'''Act 5'''. Hippolytus takes his leave of Aricia, promising to marry her in a temple outside Troezen. On witnessing the tenderness of their parting, Theseus begins to have doubts about his son's guilt. He decides to question Oenone, but it is too late: Oenone has thrown herself to the waves. Theramenes brings news of his son's death: Hippolytus' departing chariot has been interrupted by a terrifying horned monster rising from the waves; mortally wounded by Hippolytus, its death throes drive his horses into a wild frenzy; in their flight, the chariot is dashed against the rocks and their master dragged helplessly to his death. In the closing scene, Phèdre, now calm, appears before Theseus to confess her guilt and to confirm Hippolytus's innocence. She finally succumbs to the effects of a self-administered draught of [[Medea]]n poison, taken to rid the world of her impurity. As an act of atonement and in respect for his son's parting promise, Theseus pardons Aricia and adopts her as his daughter.

==Phèdre's ancestry and its curse==
The genealogy of Phèdre gives a number of indications as to her character's destiny. Descended from [[Helios]], god of the Sun, and [[Pasiphaë]], she nevertheless avoids being in the judgmental presence of the sun throughout the play. The simultaneous absence of a god-figure combined with the continual presence of one has been extensively explored in [[Lucien Goldmann]]'s ''Le Dieu caché''. This sense of patriarchal judgment is extended to Phèdre's father, [[Minos]], who is responsible for weighing the souls of the dead upon their arrival in [[Hades]].

Phèdre is right to fear judgment; she is driven to an incestual love for her stepson Hippolytus, much like the other women in her family, who tended to experience desires generally considered taboo. Her mother, Pasiphaë was cursed by [[Aphrodite]] to fall in love and mate with a white bull, giving rise to the legendary [[Minotaur]]. Phèdre meets [[Theseus]], her future husband, when he arrives on the Minoan scene to kill the monstrous Minotaur; by doing so, he is killing her half-brother.

==Reception==
''Phèdre'' has been widely regarded as masterly, due to its tragic construction, deeply observed characters, richness of the verse, as well as the interpretation of the title role by [[Marie Champmeslé]].{{opinion|date=April 2019}} [[Voltaire]] called it "the masterpiece of the human mind."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4UpzqetjIyMC&pg=PA170|title=Rethinking Tragedy|last=Felski|first=Rita|date=2008|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=9780801887390|pages=170|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJpr9_FYroEC&pg=PA14|title=Phaedra|last=Racine|first=Jean|date=1958|publisher=Librairie Droz|isbn=9782600044721|pages=14|language=en}}</ref> Contrary to Euripides, Racine has Phèdre die on stage at the end of the play; she thus has had time to learn of the death of Hippolyte. The character of Phèdre is considered one of the most remarkable in Racine's tragic [[wikt:oeuvre|oeuvre]]. The instrument of others' suffering, she is also the victim of her own impulses, a figure that inspires both terror and pity.

Certain lines from the play, such as "{{lang|fr|la fille de [[Minos]] et de [[Pasiphaë|Pasiphaé]]}}" ("the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë"), have become classics in the French language; but despite the celebrated musicality of the alexandrine, Racine never wrote poetry just for the sake of beauty of sound. In the character of Phèdre, he could combine the consuming desire inherited from her mother with the mortal fear of her father, [[Minos]], judge of the dead in [[Hades]]. Despite its author's silence from 1677 to 1689, as time progressed ''Phèdre'' became one of the most famous of his plays. It is now one of the most frequently staged tragedies from the seventeenth century.

In his work ''Le Dieu caché'', the 20th century author [[Lucien Goldmann]] extrapolates social theories of the role of the divine in French consciousness from thematic elements in ''Phèdre''. Although ''Phèdre'' is perhaps less often studied at high school level in France than ''[[Britannicus (play)|Britannicus]]'' or ''[[Andromaque]]'', it is still frequently performed, and the eponymous role has been played by actresses such as [[Sarah Bernhardt]] and [[Isabelle Huppert]].

==Adaptations==

===Stage===
[[File:Alexandre Cabanel Phèdre.jpg|thumb|''Phèdre'' (1880), [[Alexandre Cabanel]]]]
The French [[baroque]] composer [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]]'s first [[opera]] ''[[Hippolyte et Aricie]]'' (1733) was based on Racine's ''Phèdre'', as was [[Simon Mayr]]'s 1820 opera ''[[Fedra (Mayr)|Fedra]]''.

The British poet laureate [[Ted Hughes]] produced a highly regarded [[free verse]] translation of ''Phèdre''. This version was staged shortly before his death with [[Diana Rigg]] playing the title role. Another English production of the Hughes translation premiered at the [[Royal National Theatre]] in June 2009, with a cast including [[Helen Mirren]] as Phèdre, [[Dominic Cooper]] as Hippolytus, and [[Margaret Tyzack]] as Oenone. This production was digitally telecast live to cinemas around the world.<ref>{{cite news|first=Charlotte|last=Higgins|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/sep/24/theatre2|title=Tyzack to play Mirren's sidekick|date=24 September 2008|access-date=24 September 2008|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

A new translation by [[Timberlake Wertenbaker]] premiered at the [[Stratford Shakespeare Festival]] in Autumn 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/plays/phedre.cfm |title=Phedre in Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival 2009 Season |access-date=2009-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308113759/http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/plays/phedre.cfm |archive-date=2009-03-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Polish composer [[Krzysztof Penderecki]] announced that he was working on an opera of Phèdre for 2014.<ref>[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0908/1224278430170.html "A composer for all seasons"], ''[[The Irish Times]]'' (9 September 2010) {{Subscription required}}</ref>

===Novels===
In the nineteenth century, [[Émile Zola]] loosely based ''[[La Curée]]'', one of his books from the ''[[Les Rougon-Macquart|Rougon-Macquart]]'' series (an exploration of genealogical and environmental influences upon characters), on Racine's ''Phèdre''. [[Marcel Proust]] devotes 20 pages of ''[[In Search of Lost Time#Volume Two: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower|In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower]]'' to his experience of the [[Sarah Bernhardt]] ''Phèdre'' at the [[Opéra-Comique]] in Paris.

===Translations===
[[Robert Lowell]]'s English translation ''Phaedra'' was published in 1961.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

[[Robert David MacDonald]]'s English translation, titled ''Phedra'', was produced at [[The Old Vic]] in November 1984, designed and directed by [[Philip Prowse]] and with [[Glenda Jackson]] in the title role and [[Robert Eddison]] as Theramenes.<ref>{{cite book|title =Phedra [theatre programme] |date =1984|publisher =Proscenium, for The Old Vic }}</ref><ref>{{cite web  | title=Theatre Costume, 1984, [by] Prowse, Philip | website=[[Victoria and Albert Museum]] | date=1984 | url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102297/theatre-costume-prowse-philip/ | access-date=8 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=London The Old Vic Theatre - Phedra - 1984 | website= Theatre Memorabilia .co.uk | url=https://www.theatrememorabilia.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2642 | access-date=8 April 2022}}</ref>

''Phèdre'' was translated by Scottish poet [[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]] (1920–2010) into [[Scots language|Scots]] in 2000, and won the 2001 [[Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Previous Prize Years | website=oxford comparative criticism + translation | url=https://occt.web.ox.ac.uk/past-winners#collapse4107446 | access-date=19 November 2024}}</ref>

===Musical settings===
François Mensonguée (1806-1877), the French [[Romantic music|Romantic]] composer, set a section of the second act to music for choir and organ in 1829 as his first published work.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.classicalarchives.com/newca/#!/Search | title=Classical Archives }}</ref>

===Selected editions ===
*{{citation |last =Racine | first = Jean| title = Phèdre |publisher= [[Éditions Gallimard]]|series = Folio Editions|year=1995|
isbn = 978-2-07-038763-2}}
*{{citation |last= Racine |first= Jean |title= Iphigenia/Phaedra/Athaliah |publisher= [[Penguin Books]] |year= 1963 |isbn= 0-14-044122-0 |url= https://archive.org/details/iphigeniaphaedra00raci }} (English translation by J. Cairncross)
*{{citation |last= Racine |first= Jean |title=Phèdre|publisher= [[Dover Publications|Dover Books]] |year= 1962
|isbn= 0-486-41927-4}} (English translation by [[Wallace Fowlie]])
*{{citation |last= Racine |first= Jean |title=Britannicus, Phaedra, Athaliah|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]|year= 2001
|isbn=0-19-283827-X }} (English translation by Charles Sisson)
*{{citation |last= Racine |first= Jean |title=Phèdre|publisher= [[Nick Hern Books]]|year= 2001
|isbn=978-1-85459-094-7 }} (English translation by Julie Rose)
*{{citation |last= Racine |first= Jean |title= Phaedra : tragedy in five acts, 1677 |publisher= Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |year= 1987 |isbn= 015675780X |url= https://archive.org/details/phaedratragedyin00raci }} (translated into English verse by [[Richard Wilbur]])
*{{citation |last= Racine |first= Jean |title= Racine's Phèdre |year= 2010 |publisher= CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn= 978-1453629352 }} (translated into English verse by Harold Anthony Lloyd)

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Phèdre (Racine)}}
{{Wikisourcelang|fr|Phèdre (Racine)|''Phèdre'' (Racine)}}
*[http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Phaedra.html#Top Phaedra (Phèdre): A Study Guide]
* [http://abu.cnam.fr/cgi-bin/donner_html?phedre2 Text of play, in French]
{{Gutenberg|no=1977|name=Phaedra}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060302091630/http://www.biblioweb.org/Phedre.html Analysis, Plot overview] {{in lang|fr}}
* {{librivox book | title=Phaedra | author=Jean RACINE}}

{{Jean Racine}}
{{Phèdre}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phedre}}
[[Category:Plays by Jean Racine]]
[[Category:1677 plays]]
[[Category:Plays based on ancient Greek and Roman plays]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Theseus]]
[[Category:Plays set in ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Tragedy plays]]
[[Category:Phaedra (mythology)]]
[[Category:Plays based on works by Euripides]]
[[Category:Plays based on classical mythology]]
[[Category:Works based on Hippolytus (play)]]