Dec 21, 2009

Bérénice | Bérénice

At a glance:

Author: Jean Racine
First Published: 1671
Type of Work: Play
Type of Plot: Tragedy
Time of Work: 79
Setting: Rome
Genres: Drama, Tragedy
Subjects: Love or romance, Duty, Kings, queens, or royalty, Greek or Roman times, Rome, Heads of state
Locales: Rome, ancient

Characters Discussed

Bérénice (bay-ray- NEES), the beautiful queen of Palestine, deeply in love with Titus, who has succeeded Vespasian, his father, as emperor of Rome. This love obliterates everything about her and makes her neglectful and unfair in her treatment of Antiochus, the king of Commagene, who also loves her and who seems better fated than Titus to answer her passion. When Titus learns that Bérénice, as empress, would be unacceptable to the people of Rome, he realizes that he cannot tell her the truth. Blaming his father’s death for the delay in announcing his...

[The entire page is 837 words long]

Bérénice | Bérénice

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

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