Oenone says that the queen has risen from her sickbed but wants to take the air alone. The two men retire, and Phaedra arrives; she has barely the strength to walk, but it is not clear whether her weakness is physical or mental. Her train of thought is incoherent, and her words are not so much uttered as forced from her. She addresses the sun, her mythical ancestor, and says it is the last time she will see him; immediately afterward, she involuntarily cries, "If I were only sitting in the forest shade, watching a swift chariot flying in the dust."
Oenone, who has in effect been Phaedra's foster-mother, is alarmed for the life of her child, and anxiety sharpens her tongue. She reproaches Phaedra for her secrecy about the cause of her illness and reminds her that if she dies, she will leave her two young sons to the mercy of her enemy, Hippolytus. Phaedra reacts violently to the name, and Oenone is encouraged. But Phaedra is still bent on death; her guilt, she says, leaves her no other alternative. Dismayed and angry, Oenone turns on her. Is this the reward she receives for her years of devotion? She has left her own children to nurse Phaedra; will her foster-child leave her so callously?
