Scene 2 completes Hermione's portrait, the portrait of inextinguishable love. Even at this late moment, when Pyrrhus cruelly demonstrates his preference for Andromache, she cannot resign herself to his indifference and hopes for at least a sign of remorse.
Anxious to extract from the situation the maximum of horror, Racine adds to Pyrrhus' rejection the apparent betrayal by Orestes. Hermione is confronted for a moment with the ignominious prospect of a double slight. The thought is unbearable and Hermione is possessed with the primitive desire to kill.
Orestes, who momentarily has disappeared from view, but in whose actions we are intensely interested at this critical juncture is indirectly brought back on stage by the confidante. We are informed by Cleone, in terms that for all their brevity speak volumes, of the moral struggle that he is waging. She also gives us the essentials of Pyrrhus' wedding. We must admire the economy and skill with which Racine sustains several parallel actions and psychological developments.
