The Tragedy of Phaedra: The Work of the Gods, or a Result of Her Own Weakness?

The subject of Racine's Phedre is Phaedra's forbidden love for her stepson Hippolytus, the affect it has on her, and her attempts at overcoming it. A question that is raised in Racine's version, though not in the original Greek, is that of Phaedra's actual role and power in her predicament. In the Greek text, it is made very clear that the gods are in charge of everything and that the characters have no chance in changing their destinies. But, Racine places the Gods in a more ambiguous role. Phaedra gives many accounts of her ill-fated family line and the tragedies that befell them, but she also makes several references to her own guilt and weakness, leading the reader to believe that she is responsible for the tragic outcomes of her situation.

The first signs of this confusion are given in act 1, scene 3, right before Phaedra's confession to Oenone. While Oenone is pressing Phaedra for information, she refuses and responds with such strange, vague lines as "Thanks be to heaven my hands are free from stain./ I wish my soul were innocent as they," and "When you shall know my crime and heavy fate/ I shall not die the less. I shall still die/ But blamed forever." These statements are obviously mysterious and deranged to Oenone, but to the reader who knows the story already, it is clear that Phaedra is extremely torn between believing that her own weakness has led her into this mess and believing that it is entirely the gods' doings. In the first lines above, she refers to her hands as clean, in that she has not yet acted on her desires, but that the mere presence of those desires incriminates her soul. She knows that her inclinations are wrong both because of her relation to Hippolytus and her duty to Theseus, but she cannot help them overwhelming her mentally and physically, and therein finds her own guilt. In the latter quote she refers to this crime of hers and her 'heavy fate' as passed on to her from her mother and sister. She knows that, were she to die in silence, she would at least escape the accusations of incest and betrayal, but in speaking of her situation, she will certainly die in shame.

But this, again, is a confusing matter involving her weakness and her fate. There is the question of whether or not she could actually keep quiet until her death. Knowing both the tragic outcome of this play and Phaedra's character, I would quickly answer no. But, as to which would be the primary cause, it is still difficult to say. Every now and then, I would like to place a little faith in Phaedra's character and vote that she is a strong woman, and if only Venus would ease up on her a bit, Phaedra would be able to maintain her honor and secrecy despite the plots of the gods. But, the role of the gods here is not inadmissible, and Phaedra makes a very strong, and pitiable, case for their blame in the story.

These examples are intermingled with her earlier statements towards Oenone, while she is still trying to keep her secret. When first she thinks she has let herself slip, she says "Where, where have I let stray/ My longings, and my self-control? Oenone! / The Gods deprive me of the use of it. / I've lost it. And my face is burning red; / I blush, for I have let you see too clear/ My shameful grief. Against my will my eyes/ Fill up with tears." Here she acknowledges her derangement as a ploy of the gods, but she also mentions her physical weakness, which comes up elsewhere too. Here the French text is, "Et mes yeux, malgre moi, se remplissent de pleurs," giving the idea with malgre moi that even her body is conspiring with the gods to destroy her. Another example of this is given just before this one, "Et mes genoux tremblants se derobent sous moi," in which she describes her knees derobent, or actually disassembling themselves in order to make her weaker, a reflexive verb which again places her body's actions out of her control and against her with the fates.

Her fate, she continues, is not merely hers, but is destined to her entire line. While Oenone presses her for information about her current distress, Phaedra can only relate those of her mother, who was made to fall in love with a bull, and her sister, whose love for Theseus left her stranded on an island. It seems that in her saying these, though, they are in a way replacing her own story. She sees her story of misfortune to be, in a way a mere repetition of the pains that Venus had already placed upon her ill-fated and sorrowful lineage.

When it comes to the gods, her accusations are directed very specifically and angrily at Venus, god of love, with such lines as, "Your fatal hatred Venus! Oh, your wrath!," and "Since Venus will is so, I perish now, / Of that doomed family, the last and most pitiable."

Perhaps the most sympathy-inducing speech of hers is response to Hippolytus' disapproval of her confession. She confides everything in him, describing the lengths she went to in order to avoid Venus' schemes- she worshiped her incessantly, built her a temple, and lit incense for her daily, but all to no avail. This is the first speech in which I actually felt pity for Phaedra; she is finally pushed to the limit of both her secrecy and it seems reason, and admits her love for Hippolytus. He is rightfully taken aback by this confession, but this is where she seems to let go all reserves. "But do not dare to think / that I - in love with you- believe that I/ am innocent, or of myself approve. / Nor that the mad love now deranging me like poison in the blood, is fed at all/ by cowardly connivance of my will. / Unlucky object of the spite of gods, / I am not so detestable to you as to myself." Then she goes on to recount how after all her attempts at appeasing Venus failed, she still tried to distance herself from the situation by trying to make Hippolytus hate her and exiling him from his father's land.

All of these efforts, these lies she went through in order to preserve herself and her family, were quite easily destroyed by the gods. I have a hard time admitting sympathy for Racine's character Phaedra, but when looking at these actions, which mostly stem from the original Greek text, it is difficult not to acknowledge the extent of her own efforts in remaining honorable and preventing, though really only postponing, the wills of the gods from taking over her life.

Speaking of her actions, though, there is also a negative side when looking at the entire plot. Regarding Phaedra's own weakness, there are several obvious places where she went wrong. First of all, Phaedra's idea to confess to Hippolytus was a terrible ideal, and there was no positive result to be foreseen. Did Phaedra actually think that Hippolytus, on her confession, would consent to this affair and take her as his own bride? Secondly, Phaedra consented to go along with Oenone's desperate and ridiculous plan to blame Hippolytus for everything. She blamed her mental weakness and confusion for this consent, which is almost plausible, but not nearly enough to forgive her for the tragic events resulting from her decision. Though she did make seemingly clear mistakes, all of her decisions resulted in furthering her destruction somehow because of the gods, as stated earlier. So, it is difficult to know whether, even if she had thought each action through clearly and logically, she would have made it out of this situation in any positive way.

Racine has, in creating this conflict between Phaedra's own power and that of the Gods, changed our impression of her, but I cannot tell if it is for the better or worse. In the Greek version it is easy to pity Phaedra as a tool of the gods, while Racine's version shows her confronting their power more obviously. When she speaks in the French text, there is an ambiguity and confusedness to her words preceding her confessions to both Oenone and Hippolytus, which shows a vulnerability and obvious distress in her character. The English translations I have read do not portray this subtlety well, and it is only clear in translating her words, especially in the lines stated previously. These are what leave me with a confusion regarding her character in Racine's text, with an almost overwhelming sense of pity and at the same time frustration at her weakness. This has emphasized the tragic aspect of the play for me, because we see that even where the characters struggle against the gods, their destruction is great. While I do not like most of the changes that Racine has made to Euripides' play, I appreciate seeing Phaedra as a more complex character, and the unresolved feelings for her which I am left with as a result.