The reason Wilde wrote this poem to
Sarah Bernhardt was because she usually played
Racine's Phedre, a
French classic about Greek figures. The list of characters goes as follows:
Thesee: King of
Athens, son of Egee, raped Antiope resulting in the birth of Hippolyte, married to Phedre.
Phedre: Wife of Thesee, mother of two, loves Hippolyte.
Hippolyte: Son of Thesee and Antiope, in love with Aricie.
Aricie: Daughter of Egee's sister (making her cousins with Thesee), in love with Hippolyte.
Antiope: Queen of the Amazones.
Theramene: Gouvernor of Hippolyte.
Oenone: Phedre's confident.
Ismene:Aricie's confident.