le, Agrippina, intent on preserving her position at court and fearful that Nero may execute her seeks an alliance with Burrus, who refuses and even reports her to Nero, out of loyalty to the imperial throne. She does ally with Britannicus, putatively to prevent Nero's marrying June. Burrus's loyalty persists even after he realizes that Nero is intent on taking June and (as he thinks) banishing Britannicus. Witnessing Britannicus and June meeting privately to reaffirm their love, Nero reveals his putative love as ordinary lust. He has Britannicus imprisoned and Agrippina detained. Against Burrus's advice, Agrippina confronts rather than conciliates with Nero; also against his advice Nero rejects Agrippina and allows Narcissus to poison Britannicus. June escapes from the palace, pursued by Narcissus, and obtains protection of the vestal virgins. The public kills Narcissus to protect her. As Agrippina's lady in waiting Albina reports, Nero, who will not violate the Vestals' sanctuary, is somewhat emotionally devastated and somewhat angered by June's escape, and somewhat politically isolated. Burrus out of loyalty and Agrippina out of expediency, seek an audience with Nero to comfort him. But they both know that the bleak future of Nero, Rome, and themselves has been sealed.
Critical judgment of Britannicus appears to emphasize that although the action of the play revolves around the fate of its title character, the real emphasis is on Agrippina and Nero. The fate of Britannicus is important because his murder sets in motion what could be called the moral fate of imperial Rome. Tilley says that because the murder of Britannicus was Nero's first, that is the reason the play is titled Britannicus (Tilley 29). Tilley also cites Racine's introduction to the play in summing up the focus of action on Nero and Agrippina: "The subject, as he himself says, 'is no less the disgrace of Agrippine than the death of Britannicus'. But the two is...