Octavia Summary

In the background information, the reader learns that this play takes place over two days in Rome in the year 62AD as Nero condemns Octavia to exile and death after marrying his mistress, Poppaea. There is a large amount of retrospection in the play concerning Octavia and Nero's pasts. Seneca has been recalled from exile to serve as a tutor to Nero and now acts as one of Nero's principal advisers.

The play opens with Octavia mourning her sorrows. She laments her vile stepmother's plot against her father, Claudius. In another room, Octavia's nurse praises Claudius' deeds, mourns the murder of Brittanicus and worries about Octavia's fate. When the nurse hears Octavia's lament, she joins Octavia and comforts her as Octavia expresses her desire for death. Octavia is miserable; she hates her husband, Nero, and rails against his crimes toward her family. She...