Love and Monstrosity in Racine’s Tragedy Phaedra

Abstract

In Racine’s tragedy Phaedra, love is repeatedly associated with monstrosity and elicits destructive acts of hatred. From a literary studies perspective, it will be discussed how, in drawing on literary topoi from ancient Greece, erotic love is portrayed in Racine’s play as a foreign, ‹monstrous› force that affects the body in disturbing ways, manifesting itself, for instance, in hindrances to and interferences with speech. By reintroducing the undisciplined, unorganized body into the sphere of the social, thus destabilizing socio-symbolic order, love takes on a deeply troubling quality. Love is also associated with the sphere of the gods, albeit not in a positive way: it is described as a «curse» or «revenge» of the gods. It appears thus as a non-human, ‹monstrous› force intruding into and haunting the human realm. The ‹monstrosity› of love thereby becomes the site of negotiation not only of identity but also of ontological difference. The hunting and killing of the monstrous Minotaur, which is a motif central to the play, condenses the aspects of monstrous love (the Minotaur is the fruit of a transgressive passion) and destructive hatred. The hunt for the Minotaur taking place in a labyrinth points to the disorientation caused by the ontological difference that the Monster embodies – and which is at stake in love. The article aims to show how the themes of love and monstrosity also relate to a negative dialectic of the political in Racine’s tragedy.