Who Is This Monster?

This semester I am in a World Literature class. We have read novels, poems, and short stories written all over the world in different languages that have been translated into English. My favorite reading so far is Jean Racine's famous play Phaedra. Hippolytus, a main character, is killed by a sea-monster at the end of the play. An idea brought up in my class discussion was that maybe the "sea monster" is actually personifying another character. This essay explores the possibilities of who, or what, that monster could be.

A story of passionate and forbidden love, Jean Racine’s Phaedra follows the dramatic demise of a queen, Phaedra. The prohibited love of the queen, Hippolytus (Phaedra's step-son), suffers an enormous fate: drowning and being eaten by a sea monster at his father, Thesus', will.

After the death of Hippolytus, Racine's lines of poetry read:
"before our eyes a raging monster on the shore." I have decided to dive deeper into the idea of “a monster.” This sea-monster could in fact just be a serpent, but I feel it is symbolic of something larger, a different kind of monster.

In one sense Theseus, Hippolutus' father, can be the monster. He is the ultimate picture of a womanizer, using and abusing women along every shore. He is quick to judge and finds it hard to forgive. He has taken Aricia, the love of his dead son, as a prisoner and treats her like a lowly slave girl, when she is the true royalty throughout the play. Not only does Theseus use women and see them as disposable objects, he also has a quick temper. He immediately banishes his son from his kingdom by believing he is in love with his wife. He takes the servant Oenone’s word over his own son’s when Hippolytus tries to explain that he has absolutely no love in his heart for Phaedra. The final way that we can view Theseus as a monster is that he is ferocious in battle. Having slain thousands of fellow warriors and vicious beasts, Theseus can be seen as a villainous monster. It is quite easy to picture Theseus as a monster, because from what we see of him in the play, he becomes not human, more of something to be feared.

Phaedra, the fair queen, can also be seen as the monster, not necessarily to the other characters, but to herself. It appears Phaedra is her own worst enemy. Constantly torturing herself by reliving the thoughts and feelings of falling in love with her stepson make her suicidal. She becomes a monster, destroying herself over emotions that cannot be helped.

The final trait that can be considered “the monster” is not a character at all, but a reoccurring theme throughout the play. Guilt seems to be the most logical characteristic to be named “the monster.” Each character in the story carries sufficient weight on his or her shoulders, constantly worrying about the secrets they know and the harm they have caused others. Phaedra’s guilty conscience will not allow her any rest. Theseus’ guilt over causing his son’s death leads him to take Aricia, his once hated enemy, as his heir. The servant Oenone’s guilt of lying to the king and feeling as if she had a hand in the death of her dear friend Phaedra, leads to her own demise. Aricia feels guilty about running away with Hippolytus before they are married, so she chooses to stay captive.


This classic play is one of many that leaves the reader to make their own conclusions. Some may think Jean Racine wrote his play without a concrete definition of "the monster" to instill imagination in his readers; and many readers have found it is working.