Phaedra – Jean Racine Essay, Research Paper

Jean Racine

“Phaedra” is filled with irony. It is irony that serves as the faulty foundation for the entire story. There exists great care in following the right social morays. Although nothing physical has transpired between Phaedra and Hippolytus, the idea that one was thinking of the other inappropriately is punishable as if they had carried on in a torrid affair. Phaedra’s thoughts, which are unacceptable, will be acceptable if Theseus is dead. It is ironic that her thoughts and following actions are instantly redeemed if Theseus is dead. The fact remains that she is his stepmother. Although, no longer legally his stepmother, the social and emotional lines have been drawn between them. It should remain wrong, even in Theseus’s death, for Phaedra to harbor feelings for his son. The greatest irony lies in that Theseus has been excused for all of his misdoings. He faces no punishment for taking one sister as his wife, abandoning her and then taking Phaedra. It is noble of Hippolytus to take responsibility for something he is not guilty of. As it often happens, Phaedra’s cowardly lies still cause her to lose the game in the end. Hippolytus loves Aricia, who is her husband’s enemy and her son’s rival for the throne. Later, Hippolytus’s death is on Phaedra’s hands. Phaedra loses favor with her husband and dies knowing that Aricia will be pardoned. By its end, the story proves the importance of following the basic rules of trust among each other. Thoughts are just as dangerous as actions and lies do not make anything better. In this case, the ignorance of these basic rules ends in deaths.