Iphigenia, Phaedra, Athaliah by Jean Racine

Author:Jean Racine [Racine, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Drama, European, French, General, Literary Criticism, Classics
ISBN: 9780141909349
Google: 9zegcOEcqD8C
Amazon: B002XHNNWU
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2004-12-02T06:00:00+00:00

HIPPOLYTUS

Theramenes, I go to seek the King.

THERAMENES

And will you see Phaedra before you leave,

140 My lord?

HIPPOLYTUS

I mean to. You may tell her so.

See her I must, since duty so commands.

But what new burden weighs Oenone down?

Scene Two

HIPPOLYTUS, OENONE, THERAMENES

OENONE

Alas, my lord, what cares can equal mine?

The Queen is almost at her destined end.

145 In vain I watch over her night and day.

She’s dying from a hidden malady;

Eternal discord reigns within her mind.

Her restless anguish tears her from her bed.

She longs to see the light, and yet, distraught

150 With pain, she bids me banish everyone…

But here she comes.

HIPPOLYTUS

Enough. I’ll take my leave

And will not show her my detested face.

Scene Three

PHAEDRA, OENONE

PHAEDRA

No further. Here, Oenone, let us stay.

I faint, I fall; my strength abandons me.

155 My eyes are dazzled by the daylight’s glare,

And my knees, trembling, give beneath my weight.

Alas!

OENONE

May our tears move you, mighty gods!

PHAEDRA

How these vain jewels, these veils weigh on me!

What meddling hand has sought to re-arrange

160 My hair, by braiding it across my brow?

All things contrive to grieve and thwart me, all.

OENONE

How all her wishes war among themselves!

Yourself, condemning your unlawful plans,

A moment past, bade us adorn your brow;

165 Yourself, summoning up your former strength,

Wished to come forth and see the light again.

Scarce have you seen it than you long to hide;

You hate the daylight you came forth to see.

PHAEDRA

O shining founder of an ill-starred line,

170 You, whom my mother dared to boast her sire,

Who blush perhaps to see me thus distraught,

Sungod, for the last time, I look on you.

OENONE

What? you will not give up this fell desire?

And will you, always saying no to life,

175 Make mournful preparation for your death?

PHAEDRA

Would I were seated in the forest’s shade!

When can I follow through the swirling dust

The lordly chariot’s flight along the course?

OENONE

What?

PHAEDRA

Madness! Where am I, what have I said?

180 Whither have my desires, my reason strayed?

Lost, lost, the gods have carried it away.

Oenone, blushes sweep across my face;

My grievous shame stands all too clear revealed,

And tears despite me fill my aching eyes.

OENONE

185 If you must blush, blush for your silence, for

It but inflames the fury of your ills.

Deaf to our wild entreaties, pitiless,

Will you allow yourself to perish thus?

What madness cuts you off in mid career?

190 What spell, what poison, has dried up the source?

Thrice have the shades of night darkened the skies

Since sleep last made its entry in your eyes,

And thrice the day has driven forth dim night

Since last your fainting lips took nourishment.

195 What dark temptation lures you to your doom?

What right have you to plot to end your life?

In this you wrong the gods from whom you spring,

You are unfaithful to your wedded lord;

Unfaithful also to your hapless sons,

200 Whom you would thrust beneath a heavy yoke.

Remember, that same day their mother dies,

Hope for the alien woman’s son revives,

For that fierce enemy of you and yours,

That youth whose mother was an Amazon,

205 Hippolytus…

PHAEDRA

God!

OENONE

That reproach struck home.

PHAEDRA

Ah! wretched woman, what name crossed your lips?

OENONE

Your anger now bursts forth, and rightly so.

I love to see you shudder at the name.

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