Ambrose Philips’ "The Distrest Mother": The myth of Andromache in English (Neo)classicism

Abstract

The focus of this paper is an analysis of the Ambrose Philips (1674- 1749) neoclassical tragedy “The Distrest Mother” (1712). This play is an adaptation of Jean Racine’s (1639-1699) “Andromaque”(1667), which is, in turn, an adaptation of the Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy “Andromache” (ca. 426 BC). Philips’ tragedy is an example of an early English adaptation from Racine. Philip took Racine’s play and moulded it to appeal to English taste. Therefore, this study shall analyse Philips’ play focusing on his innovations, mainly in comparison with the Racine version, but also with the ancient Greek myth.