As he has done in Phaedra, here Racine tackles the difficult problem of presenting by dialogue alone the struggle between an insincere posture and the assertion of emotions buried in the subconscious. On the surface Pyrrhus has overcome his love for Andromache, and he celebrates it as an emancipation. But neither his self-congratulation nor his confidant's approval can prevent him from thinking about Andromache.
Whatever is said — his own meditations, Phoenix's comments — becomes a pretext to talk about Andromache, to wonder about her fidelity to her husband, to rail at her arrogance, and at last to recoil at the cruelty of his decision. In other words, Pyrrhus imperceptibly comes around full circle. Not sufficiently inconsistent to change his mind again, he then allows Phoenix to be the arbiter of his fate. His lukewarm agreement to marry Hermione warns us of his uncertainty.
