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GLORY, HEROISM AND MORAL CONFLICT
Sri Lanka
Sunday Observer
May 8, 2011 Sunday
Sri Lanka, May 8 -- Overcoming his discouragement, Corneille wrote
the successful tragedy Horace (1640), which was soon followed by Cinna
(1640) and Polyeucte (1642).
In these tragedies he continued to explore the concepts of glory,
heroism, and moral conflict. Based on an incident from early Roman
history, Horace depicts a young man who with his brothers, the
Horatii, is obliged to defend Rome in combat against three brothers
(the Curatii) from an enemy town.
Horace's wife, however, is a sister of the Curatii, and his own sister
is engaged to one of them.
In Cinna a conspirator hesitates between his fidelity to the state and
the desire for vengeance of the woman he loves; and the Roman emperor
Auguste, who discovers the conspiracy, must choose between vengeance or
clemency for the conspirators. inna, we are presented with a situation
that, for all intents and purposes, begins on a path to tragedy.
As the suspense builds and true battle-lines are drawn, we, familiar
with tragic convention, expect deaths, retribution, and drawn-out
laments over foolishly squandered lives, but Corneille does not
deliver what we expect.
At 'Cinna's end there is no tragedy at all, rather, we are given the
happiest ending possible, with not one person dying, or even suffering
punishment, and the benevolent Augustus surrounding by his smiling,
grateful, friends.
He even announces the wedding of Cinna and Emilia. While this play
begins in a way that leads us to expect tragedy, it certainly does
not end in a tragic way, so it cannot be, in the Aristotelian sense
or any other, regarded as a proper tragedy.
In Polyeucte the hero is converted to Christianity during the Roman
persecution of the Christians. He openly attacks the pagan religion,
and thus he, his wife, his father-in-law (the Roman governor), and a
noble Roman envoy must reconcile personal feelings and religious or
political duty.
The drama is set in Armenia during a time when Christians were
persecuted there under the Roman Empire. Polyeucte, an Armenian
nobleman, converts to Christianity to the great despair of his wife,
Pauline, and of his father-in-law, Felix.
Despite them, Polyeucte becomes a martyr, causing Pauline and Felix
to finally convert as well.
There is also a romantic subplot: the Roman Severus is in love with
Pauline and hopes she will be his after the conversion of Polyeucte.
However, she chooses to stay at the side of her husband. Before dying,
Polyeucte entrusts Severus with Pauline.
This tragedy departs radically from the dramatist's named sources,
more so than in any other of his works. It is argued here that the
plot is altered in order to avoid any potentially subversive readings.
Le Menteur by Corneille
There is an obvious political agenda - that the monarch is not
criticized at any point, yet one factor that has been overlooked may
be a desire to neutralize the suggestion of homo eroticism.
Thus, the play represents an apologia for Christian marriage and
intimate relations between the sexes. This manipulation amounts to the
portrayal of a heterosexual hero, far removed from a virgin-martyr
stereotype, and from the saint's legend as presented in standard
narratives.
Overall, Corneille's intense focus on human will, the will striving
for freedom, and the fashioning of one's own destiny distinguishes his
tragedies from classical Greek dramas, in which humans are depicted
as helpless victims of fate.
From: A. Papazian
Sri Lanka
Sunday Observer
May 8, 2011 Sunday
Sri Lanka, May 8 -- Overcoming his discouragement, Corneille wrote
the successful tragedy Horace (1640), which was soon followed by Cinna
(1640) and Polyeucte (1642).
In these tragedies he continued to explore the concepts of glory,
heroism, and moral conflict. Based on an incident from early Roman
history, Horace depicts a young man who with his brothers, the
Horatii, is obliged to defend Rome in combat against three brothers
(the Curatii) from an enemy town.
Horace's wife, however, is a sister of the Curatii, and his own sister
is engaged to one of them.
In Cinna a conspirator hesitates between his fidelity to the state and
the desire for vengeance of the woman he loves; and the Roman emperor
Auguste, who discovers the conspiracy, must choose between vengeance or
clemency for the conspirators. inna, we are presented with a situation
that, for all intents and purposes, begins on a path to tragedy.
As the suspense builds and true battle-lines are drawn, we, familiar
with tragic convention, expect deaths, retribution, and drawn-out
laments over foolishly squandered lives, but Corneille does not
deliver what we expect.
At 'Cinna's end there is no tragedy at all, rather, we are given the
happiest ending possible, with not one person dying, or even suffering
punishment, and the benevolent Augustus surrounding by his smiling,
grateful, friends.
He even announces the wedding of Cinna and Emilia. While this play
begins in a way that leads us to expect tragedy, it certainly does
not end in a tragic way, so it cannot be, in the Aristotelian sense
or any other, regarded as a proper tragedy.
In Polyeucte the hero is converted to Christianity during the Roman
persecution of the Christians. He openly attacks the pagan religion,
and thus he, his wife, his father-in-law (the Roman governor), and a
noble Roman envoy must reconcile personal feelings and religious or
political duty.
The drama is set in Armenia during a time when Christians were
persecuted there under the Roman Empire. Polyeucte, an Armenian
nobleman, converts to Christianity to the great despair of his wife,
Pauline, and of his father-in-law, Felix.
Despite them, Polyeucte becomes a martyr, causing Pauline and Felix
to finally convert as well.
There is also a romantic subplot: the Roman Severus is in love with
Pauline and hopes she will be his after the conversion of Polyeucte.
However, she chooses to stay at the side of her husband. Before dying,
Polyeucte entrusts Severus with Pauline.
This tragedy departs radically from the dramatist's named sources,
more so than in any other of his works. It is argued here that the
plot is altered in order to avoid any potentially subversive readings.
Le Menteur by Corneille
There is an obvious political agenda - that the monarch is not
criticized at any point, yet one factor that has been overlooked may
be a desire to neutralize the suggestion of homo eroticism.
Thus, the play represents an apologia for Christian marriage and
intimate relations between the sexes. This manipulation amounts to the
portrayal of a heterosexual hero, far removed from a virgin-martyr
stereotype, and from the saint's legend as presented in standard
narratives.
Overall, Corneille's intense focus on human will, the will striving
for freedom, and the fashioning of one's own destiny distinguishes his
tragedies from classical Greek dramas, in which humans are depicted
as helpless victims of fate.
From: A. Papazian