Orestes loves Hermione, who loves Pyrrhus, who loves Andromache, who loves only her late husband and young son. The play only pits against four characters, among which the women, Andromache, Hermione, dominate. Madness takes Hermione and Orestes, and the play ends with the victory of purity. So much violence and so much stripping, and the shadow of Troy, these are the causes of the success of Racine's first great tragedy.