The Tear-Filled Gaze

As I read Andromaque, I was enjoying the preponderance of references to the eyes of the heroine. So much of the plot of the play seems to flow from the eyes of Andromque. Her sorrow about Hector and her son is always made manifest in her tears. Scene IV in Act I is a good example. Hermione is also beset by troublesome tears, but hers do not seem to have the same plot-changing power. As her confidente Cleone says to her in the second scene of Act II:

“Vous pensez que des yeux toujours ouverts aux larmes

Se plaisent a troubler le pouvoir de vos charmes,

Et qu’un coeur accablé de tant de déplaisirs

De son pesécuteur ait brigué les soupirs?” (449-452)

Andromaque’s tears, on the other hand, seem to be on the mind of Pyrrhus even before the fact. While contemplating the possibility with Phoenix of doing away with Andromaque’s son, he groans:

“J’abandonne son fils. Que de pleurs vont couler!” (695)

So, when it comes to the third act, the power of Andromaque’s “regard” is inextricably tied to her constant and manifest sorrow. It is a tear-filled gaze. She is completely sure of the power of her “larmes” to control Pyrrhus. As she says to Cephise in the sixth scene:

“Tu vois le pouvoir de mes yeux!” (891)

When Cephise tries to point out the “reality” of the situation, Andromaque falls back on an (ironically enough) blind confidence in her tears:

“Il a promis mon fils –Andromaque.

Il ne l’a pas donne. –Cephise

Non, non, j’ai beau pleurer, sa mort est resolue.” (896-8)

Her gaze becomes especially fascinating a bit later on in the third act, when Pyrrhus 1) owns up to the fact that she has a certain hold over him via her tears, and 2) he expressly asks for her gaze nonetheless.

“On peut vous rendre encor ce fils que vous pleurez.

Oui, je sens à regret qu’en excitant vos larmes

Je ne fais contre moi que vous donner mes armes.

Je croyais apporter plus de haine en ces lieux

Mais, Madame, du moins tournez vers moi les yeux:” (948-52)

Finally, in the last scene that we hear directly from Andromaque, she gives instructions to Cephise that are specifically related to 1) her eyes, and 2) the eyes of Cephise herself.

“Cephise, c’est à toi de me fermer les yeux.” (1100)

“Ne me suis point, si ton coeur en alarmes

Prévoit qu’il ne pourra commander à tes larmes.

On vient. Cache tes pleurs, Céphise...” (1126-1128)

I think that this is significant that the weeping is passed on to her surviving confidente, Céphise, but she instructs her to keep it hidden. I’m not exactly sure what it means, but it could be an effort of Andromaque to protect her friend. For, in Andromaque’s case, bringing her tear-filled gaze out into the open led to her death.

Am I, like, WAY reading into this, or does this seem like a possible interpretation?