Phaedra

Racine’s doomed heroine—the legendary Queen of Athens—faces an impossible dilemma: yield to forbidden lust for a boy half her age, or preserve her honor and drown in overwhelming, unfulfilled passion. Neither entirely guilty nor absolutely innocent, Phaedra is trapped in a labyrinth of betrayal and desire that confounds easy moral judgment.

SYNOPSIS

Driven into deep despair, Phaedra confesses to her nurse Enone that she is in love with her stepson, Hippolytus. Word arrives that her long-absent husband, Theseus, king of Athens, has died, and Phaedra reveals her love to Hippolytus. Horrified by her admission, Hippolytus spurns Phaedra. Theseus unexpectedly returns. Fearing Hippolytus will seek retribution against her mistress, Enone secures permission from Phaedra to accuse Hippolytus of raping his stepmother. When confronted by his father Hippolytus denies the charges, but he reveals his own transgression in the form of his love for the captive princess, Aricia. Theseus banishes Hippolytus and calls on Neptune to punish his son. Phaedra wants to clear Hippolytus’s name, but she is sent into a jealous frenzy when she hears that he loves Aricia. After Hippolytus dies in a confrontation with a sea monster sent by Neptune, Phaedra poisons herself. Before dying she confesses her guilt to Theseus.