1. Play: Berenice Reader: Theresa Beckhusen
Playwright: Jean Racine, trans. Alan Hollinghurst Date: 9/21/12
Short Version: Because of a long-standing law in Rome that emperors cannot marry foreign
monarchs, Titus and Berenice, greatly in love with one another, cannot wed. Berenice decides to
leave Rome forever. A beautiful, moving translation. I recommend it for staging.
Synopsis:
Act One: Antiochus declares his love.
Antiochus, a noble soldier, decides to leave Rome for good; he cannot stand to be near Berenice,
the only woman he loves, as it seems certain she and soon-to-be-emperor Titus will wed. After
Antiochus shares his affections for Berenice, she chides him for bringing up his feelings toward
her when five years ago she ordered him silent on the matter. Antiochus, shamed, leaves, and
Berenice’s maid, Phenice, points out that Berenice should not spurn Antiochus. Phenice reminds
her mistress of Rome’s injunction against their emperors marrying foreign monarchs, but
Berenice is confident that Titus will dispense with such red tape.
Act Two: Titus tries to tell Berenice he must send her away but cannot.
At Titus’ request, Paulinus, his confidant, confesses that Rome will not accept Berenice as their
empress because she is a foreign queen. Titus recognizes that he must separate himself from
Berenice, a woman he has loved for five years, and put his duty to Rome first. Berenice demands
to speak with Titus, but Titus can only affirm his love for Berenice in what the queen considers
chilly tones. Her suspicions aroused, Berenice vows to discover what’s troubling Titus.
Act Three: Berenice does not believe Antiochus when he, charged by Titus, informs her of
their impending separation.
Titus summons Antiochus charges him to tell Berenice the news and to chaperone her back to
her kingdom. After Titus leaves, Arsace, Antiochus’ confidant, rejoices and believes that
Berenice will now submit to Antiochus’ love, but Antiochus doubts her affections will turn to the
messenger of such news. Berenice enters, and, after some difficulty, Antiochus tells her that she
and Titus must separate, that Rome will not accept her as empress; she must leave tomorrow.
Berenice does not believe him and forbids him from her sight, and she leaves to find Titus.
Act Four: Titus and Berenice argue her need for departure.
Phenice tells Berenice that Titus is near and will speak with her. Titus laments his duty to Rome
but knows he must obey its laws. The two debate the need for separation, Titus citing Rome’s
laws and Berenice citing their love, citing the possibility that Titus could change the old law. She
threatens suicide and departs. Titus is called away to the Senate.
Act Five: Berenice, Titus, and Antiochus depart from one another.
Arsace tells Antiochus that Berenice, renouncing Titus and Rome, has decided to leave that very
day. Titus rushes to Berenice to convince her a final time that he does still love her, but she
scorns him and asks if, after his swearing-in at the Senate, he is satisfied with his glory. Titus
finds and reads from a letter Berenice had written to him in which she shares her plan to kill
herself. Titus sends for Antiochus. In the interim, Titus tells Berenice how he has wrestled with
this decision, how he could not forsake his duty to Rome, how he is prepared to kill himself.

2. Antiochus arrives and confesses to Titus that he has loved Berenice for the last five years as well.
Berenice quiets both men and gives in: she recognizes Titus’ love but tells him she will leave and
he should not distress himself. To Antiochus, she says that she will not stop loving Titus.
Analysis: Racine is a master: in Berenice, he has removed an overwhelming amount of external
action and focused primarily on internal action, yet he still manages to build and ramp up the
most exquisite tension. The image that came to my mind was of a balloon already over-full being
pumped with still more air. It’s almost incredible that this works. Titus has pretty much already
decided before the play begins that he is going to send Berenice away from Rome, thereby
ending their relationship and their love. Normally, this decision would be the focus and lynchpin
of a tragedy, but Racine focuses instead on the difficulty Titus has just in telling Berenice they
must separate. Titus puts off saying it face-to-face until Act Four! Racine keeps the piece lean,
beautifully lean: everything before Titus’ declaration of separation is in service of that telling.
This is all in keeping with the classical unities, but instead of feeling forced or constrained,
Racine’s play bursts with tension because of the unities and singularity of action, time, and place.
Keeping the action confined to one space recalls a pressure cooker; the span of one day makes
sense in a decision as wrenching as this.
There is one major place where Racine departs from convention. The preface to the play
references the tragedy of Dido and Aeneas, which ends with Dido’s death after Aeneas abandons
her, and traces the similarities of that tale with that of Berenice. But Berenice does not die. No
one does. Everyone must go on living, loveless. This is a worse fate in my eyes, to live without
your love beside you, knowing that person is still alive but that circumstances prevent your
union. This ending is painful.
In presenting characters wrestling with such a decision, Racine is able to define character
through their reasoning, passions, and arguments. Paulinus and Arsace are sweet-talkers; they are
like the devil on the shoulder, whispering unhappy truths and convincing Titus and Antiochus to
break with Berenice and expect Berenice’s love, respectively. But we divine their personalities
from their words. Titus and Berenice reveal their noble natures through their logical and
impassioned debates. Berenice’s final acquiescence to Titus’ order for separation is the caving of
a dignified woman who knows when to give in. She must be satisfied with the fact that Titus
does love her, but that his duty to Rome is greater. Titus’ raw emotion and obvious love for
Berenice makes him human, keeps him from merely being a cardboard figure from history
puppeted into place by a playwright. He struggles through several acts and for a week before the
play begins with the task of telling Berenice, and the weight of this struggle takes a toll on him.
It is human to let guilt and grief bow you down, and Titus is bowed down.
Racine asks us to consider the costs of power, not necessarily to sympathize with all kings, but to
remember, perhaps, that love can hold equal if not greater sway. Titus wavers between Rome and
Berenice: he wants to be a good ruler and a good lover, but, in this instance, Rome sees those
roles as irreconcilable. Even Titus does when he utters, “Why am I emperor? Why am I in love?”
Antiochus, too, has struggled with duty and love for five years as he remained silent but steadfast
regarding his love for Berenice. What, I wonder, did Antiochus sacrifice during that time? He
probably had a lot of sleepless nights and dreary days. Racine’s inclusion of Antiochus spices up
the somewhat-formulaic plot with the best friend that is also a rival. But Antiochus isn’t

3. conniving; he isn’t the first to rejoice at the prospect of shepherding Berenice home. Arsace is
the one that points out how their proximity and Berenice’s sorrow might turn into love for
Antiochus. Even then, Antiochus has reservations, and it still pains him to think of Berenice and
Titus suffering. He can remain Titus’ friend while still loving Titus’ lover. This twist raises the
stakes on an otherwise he-loves-her-she-loves-him-they-can’t-be-together plot.
Almost needless to say, Alan Hollinghurst’s translation is beautiful. As mentioned above, Titus
and Berenice argue beautifully, their language is well-crafted and precise. There was never a
moment where I ever thought, “This is awkward. What was it in French?” No, his words flow
smoothly on the page and, in reading some of the language aloud, from the tongue as well.
Recommendation: A noble, punch-in-the-gut depiction of a crumbling love triangle in a
beautiful translation. I recommend it for staging.