About the work
Britannicus is a five-act tragedy in verse by Jean Racine, first performed on 13 December 1669 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. It is Racine's first play drawn from Roman history: it shows the young Emperor Nero at the outset of his reign, a tyrant only gradually taking shape.
Plot
Nero, seized by passion for Junie, has her betrothed Britannicus, the rightful heir, kept under watch. His mother Agrippina, who once helped him to power, tries in vain to restrain him, while the courtier Narcissus goads Nero toward ever more ruthless acts. In the end Nero has Britannicus poisoned; Junie flees to the Vestals, and Agrippina senses the crimes still to come from her son.
Cultural significance
In his own preface, Racine said he wanted to portray not a finished tyrant but a "monstre naissant" – a monster still taking shape, not yet arrived at his cruelties. Alongside Andromaque and Phèdre, Britannicus counts among Racine's central political tragedies and was fiercely debated between Racine's and Corneille's partisans.