Bérénice

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Bérénice is a tragedy by the French 17th-century playwright Jean Racine.

It was first performed in 1670. Racine seems to have chosen the subject in competition with Pierre Corneille, who was working on his drama Tite et Bérénice at the same time.

The subject was taken from the Roman historian Suetonius, who recounts the story of the Roman emperor Titus and Berenice of Cilicia, the sister of Herod Agrippa. Because Rome opposed their marriage, Titus had to renounce Berenice despite their love for each other. Racine raises the affair to a level of absolute and tragic love.

The tragic situation results from two irreconcilable demands. Titus cannot sacrifice his mission as the head of Rome for his passion for Berenice. The drama could have been based on events which conspire to separate the lovers, but Racine chose rather to eliminate all events that could overshadow the one action that he retains: the announcement by Titus that he is leaving her. He has in fact already made his decision before the play begins, and all that remains is for him to announce it to her and for her to accept it. Their love for each other is never in doubt, there is never any personal danger, nothing distracts the attention of the audience. The great art of Racine is to make something out of nothing, as he says himself in the preface to the play. The tension reaches its climax at the end of the fourth act, when Titus explains his dilemma, and Berenice refuses his decision. In the fifth act, they both come to terms with their duty; contrary to other plays by the same author, neither seeks escape through death.

Bérénice was not played often between the 17th and the 20th centuries. Today it is one of Racine's more popular plays, after Phèdre, Andromaque and Britannicus.

[edit] External links

• Analysis, Plot overview (in French)

The Plays of Jean Racine
Alexandre, Andromaque, Athaliah, Bajazet, Bérénice, Britannicus, Esther, Iphigénie, La Thébaide, Les Plaideurs, Mithridate, Phèdre