Beaudoin |1

Suzette Beaudoin

Professor Johnson

HUM 2052 Civilization 2: Renaissance through Modern

30 October 2014

Age of Reason

It is clearly evident that Racine’s play, Phedre, displays femme fatale. Femme fatale is a

stereotype woman as a destructive force of nature. Phedre shows a good example how men were

toward woman in the Age of Reason and political Absolutism. During this time men seem to

exhibit the logic, order, and strength while, at the same time, women seem to exhibit weakness,

disorder, and emotions. The stereotype roles in this play were Hippolytus, the main male

character, and Phedre, the main female character.

Racine is a well-known French classical tragedy writer. Much of his writings were made

up from the biblical and classical models of literature. Since Phedre is the main character of the

play, we as readers and listeners would have to understand with illustrating her desire over

logical thinking especially when she chooses to bring back a sensation for love, uncovering an

agonizing plan, and refusing to see the lie that her life has brought her. She fits the femme fatale

role perfectly. She shows emotion, weakness, and disorder. Throughout the play she is overcome

by mixed emotions, in the form of jealousy, rage, grief, and love. At the beginning of the play,

Phedre is overcome by the grief of thinking that she had lost her husband and at the same time

for in love with her stepson. She decides that she wants to end her life, thinking that this would

solve the issues with the emotions. This shows she has great weakness in addition to being very

emotional. Oenone talks Phedre out of ending her life. When Phedre to confess to Hippolytus

that she was in love with him, he in return denied her love. She got very jealous and raged about
 Beaudoin |2

Hippolytus being in love with some other woman. She stated to Oenone: “Would you believe it?

I have a rival.” (Racine 242) Phedre’s emotions seem to controls her so much that she lashes out

at Oenone at the time she grieving: “You knew! You knew it! Oenone, Why did you let me be

fooled?” (Racine 242) After Hippolytus denied her his love Phedre took his sword and threated

to take her life, once again showing her weakness. At the end of the Phedre, Phedre confesses to

Theseus that Hippolytus was unjustly accused of the crimes that she committed. After she

confessed to Theseus about the crimes she poisoned herself and dies. Phedre’s emotions seem to

take her from one extreme to another. One minute she seems to love Hippolytus and then she

hates him so much that she contributed to his death.

Hippolytus is Theseus’ son, and is always compared to his father. He shows great

strength, just like men of this time are supposed to possess. “You are right: he is not dead. I see

him. Theseus is alive. He lives in you. I look at you and I see him.” (Racine 224) Hippolytus

shows Theseus’ incredible strength. He also shows the characteristics of the males of this time,

like logic and order. Hippolytus showed logic when he left Troezen in order to avoid the he

loved, Aricia. When Hippolytus showed order and logic when Phedre confessed that she loved

him and denied her his love because she was his father’s wife.

All through the play Phedre shows characteristics of femme fatale. She seems to bring

disaster to every man that she associates with. Hippolytus has endless grief throughout the play

being associated with her and he winds up dead at the end of the play. Not only did Phedre bring

disaster to Hippolytus, she also brought disaster to Theseus by ruining his life. Theseus cursed

Hippolytus to be thrashed by the God of Neptune because he made passes at Phedre. Only after

Hippolytus’ death did Phedre confess to Theseus that she had deceived him. All of this news
 Beaudoin |3

destroys Theseus. He becomes overwhelmed with grief because he was the one that had the gods

to thrash Hippolytus.

Oenone, Phedre’s nurse, was another character that was a femme fatale in the play. Her

femme fatale showed up behind the scenes. She is the one that convinces Phedre to go and

confess her love to Hippolytus. Then she goes to Theseus and tells him that his son had

committed adultery.

In conclusion, Racine’s play, Phedre, is a perfect example of stereotypes of men and also

women during the Age of Reason time. It highlights how stereotype women can be the

destructive for of nature which is known as a femme fatale. Hippolytus seems to show true logic,

order, and strength of men during the Age of Reason time. The roles of the women being weak,

disorder, emotional show the characteristics of a femme fatale, which the actions of both Phedre

and Oenone had these characteristics.

 Beaudoin |4

Work Cited

Racine, Jean. “Phedre.” The Norton Anthology Western Literature. London: W. W. Norton &

Company, 2014. pp 205-256.