Abstract
The present analysis proposes a reading of Racine's Greek tragedy Andromaque (1667) through the guiding metaphor of addictive patterns. The author juxtaposes the behaviours of the two primary male characters, Oreste and Pyrrhus, in order to demonstrate how their resistance to their respective passions for Hermione and Andromaque can be compared to the process of recovery from substance abuse. At specific moments throughout the play, these characters each attempt to summon their willpower and overcome a desire that they know is harmful, only to end up succumbing to its intoxicating influence. Oreste and Pyrrhus alternate in their struggles to avoid relapse: as one character resists his passions, the other acquiesces, and vice versa. This vicious cycle of need drives the action of this pathetic tragedy leading up to its dénouement, in which Racine presents the repercussions of tyrannising love: insanity for Oreste, death for Pyrrhus, and political upheaval for Greece
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