Hippolytus has also heard the news about Theseus and for him, too, it means freedom. He goes to release Aricia, who has been held prisoner under his father’s orders. The politics of who will succeed Theseus as king of Athens – the consequences for Hippolytus as both potential ruler and potential lover – expand to fill the space left by the absence of those Euripidean goddesses. Hippolytus declares his love to Aricia. But then Phaedra arrives and tells him – in a rather roundabout way – that she loves him. Specifically, she loves how much like a younger Theseus he is. Hippolytus is shocked by her declarations of passion and Phaedra tells him she detests herself ‘more than you can ever detest me’。 Hippolytus has his sword in hand and she begs him to stab her: ‘This heart is utterly corrupt.’ The nurse breaks up this painfully awkward scene and Hippolytus tells Théraméne they must leave. Théraméne explains that Athens has chosen Phaedra’s son as their new king: in politics at least, Hippolytus has been outplayed.
Act Three begins with Phaedra writhing in mortification at the disgust Hippolytus clearly felt for her. The nurse consoles her: he hates all women, so at least you don’t have a rival. But then news comes that Theseus is alive after all, and will arrive at any moment （as with Greek plays, setting the action in one day does occasionally make for a dizzying pace）。 Phaedra is devastated: having revealed her love to Hippolytus when she thought she was a widow, she will now stand accused of infidelity. She is especially troubled by the damage this will wreak on her children’s reputation. The nurse, however, has a plan.
Theseus arrives with Hippolytus, but Phaedra refuses to speak to him and walks offstage. Hippolytus won’t explain, so Theseus goes after his wife to find out what is going on. But at the start of Act Four, we discover that Theseus believes his wife has been raped by his son: the nurse has already enacted her plan. Theseus criticizes his wife to the nurse only for having tried to spare Hippolytus, having ‘deferred his exposure for too long’。 It is a huge change in the story: the nurse makes the false allegation, not Phaedra.
Theseus and Hippolytus argue, and Theseus curses his son, just as in Euripides’ version. But, here, Phaedra is still alive. Hippolytus storms off, and she comes onstage to admit the nurse’s deceit and defend her stepson’s reputation. But when Theseus tells her that Hippolytus loves Aricia, jealousy overwhelms her. This man who had been so repulsed by her does have feelings for a woman; she has a rival after all. Having been on the verge of destroying her reputation to protect the innocent young man she loves, she changes her mind. ‘I am the only one he cannot stand! And I came rushing here to defend him!’
While we might – again – sympathize with Phaedra’s battered emotions, there is no excusing what she does next. She does not tell Theseus of his mistake and instead rages at the nurse: her jealousy means she also wants Theseus to kill Aricia. Ted Hughes gives this monologue absolutely everything: ‘My own hands are twitching/ To squeeze the life out of that woman,/ To empty that innocent blood out of her carcase/ And smash her to nothing.’
In Act Five, we find Hippolytus and Aricia trying to work out what they should do, given that Hippolytus is cursed and his reputation is ruined. Hippolytus leaves and Theseus arrives, whereupon Aricia attempts the role that Artemis played in the Euripides version. She tells Theseus that Hippolytus is the victim of slander, but Theseus despises her family and, anyway, she does not have the authority of a goddess so he doesn’t believe her. Panope – the all-seeing servant – appears on stage to say that the nurse has thrown herself into the sea and that Phaedra wishes to die. Theseus realizes that his son may be innocent after all, and calls for him to be brought back. But Théraméne appears alone because – as in Euripides – a bull has risen from the sea and wiped out Hippolytus. The king’s son is dead. His last words were much as in Euripides: ‘“The gods have taken my life,” he whispered.’
But Théraméne and Theseus are much less forgiving: both blame Phaedra for the death of Hippolytus. ‘He is your victim,’ Theseus tells her. She confesses the lie and calls herself a monster, ‘insane with an incestuous passion’。 And with her confession, she dies. Theseus wishes that the results of her evil could die with her. But the play ends with him adopting the previously despised Aricia as his daughter.
The central conflict of Euripides’ play is essentially linear: where on the line drawn between chastity, personified by Artemis, and overwhelming, indiscriminate sexual passion, personified by Aphrodite, do we place ourselves? For Hippolytus, it’s right at one end: total chastity. For the other characters in the play, things are more nuanced. But in Racine’s play, the structure has multiple dimensions: Phaedra loves Hippolytus, so pretends to hate him; Hippolytus loves Aricia, so pretends to ignore her; Aricia loves Hippolytus, but is hated by his father, Theseus, who loves Phaedra and doesn’t trust Hippolytus. And then there is the nurse, who loves Phaedra but who cannot save herself or her mistress from disaster. The politics of who rules when a king dies, and who is caught out if he then returns alive – this is a major change from the absolutes we find in Euripides. His Phaedra is motivated to make her false allegation by the belief that her children will be ruined if she does not. Racine’s Phaedra certainly cares about her children, but she is motivated to let the false allegation stand because of the sexual jealousy she feels for Aricia.