Phèdre’s confessions: speeches that condemn

Abstract

This paper proposes a reading of Phèdre, a tragic masterpiece by Jean Racine, focusing on three scenes portraying Phèdre’s confessions, the overflow of her emotions, and the revelation of her secret, which destroys her. These speeches characterize her love for Hippolyte. The tragedy develops from these revelations, once the poet organizes it in a triple sequence: Phèdre confesses to OEnone, to Hippolyte, and to Thésée. The protagonist is seized by the destiny, traced by mythical entities. The social and cultural context and the values of that time appear and exert some influence on the development of the theme – aspect that relates to the mythology characters referred to in the text. The author reproduces the myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus, playing with the Classic and the Modern. This study is based on Aristotle, Barthes, Fontes, Hubert, among others, whose reflections make it possible to contemplate Racine’s options.