When was Voltaire's play Mahomet first performed?
Mahomet received its debut performance in Lille on the 25th of April 1741. Voltaire had written the play in 1736, five years before it reached the stage.
Questions about Mahomet (play)
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is the plot of Voltaire's Mahomet?
The play is set during Muhammad's post-exile siege of Mecca in 629 AD. Mahomet manipulates a young follower named Seid into assassinating Zopir, a Meccan leader of free will, concealing the fact that Zopir is the father of both Seid and the captive Palmira. When the deception is revealed, Palmira takes her own life rather than submit to Mahomet.
What was Voltaire's stated purpose in writing Mahomet?
In a 1742 letter, Voltaire wrote that he tried to show "into what horrible excesses fanaticism, led by an impostor, can plunge weak minds." He also indicated in a second letter from the same year that the assassination plot was an implicit reference to Jacques Clement, the French monk who killed Henri III in 1589.
How did Pope Benedict XIV respond to Voltaire's play Mahomet?
Voltaire sent the Pope a copy of the play along with a Latin couplet and a request for two holy medals. Pope Benedict XIV complied, returning the medals and a letter praising Voltaire's "very beautiful tragedy of Mahomet." Voltaire published this correspondence in every subsequent edition of the play.
What did Napoleon say about Voltaire's Mahomet?
During his captivity on Saint Helena, Napoleon criticized Voltaire for having "degraded Mahomet" by depicting a man who changed the face of the world as a petty schemer. He argued Voltaire had made him act "like a scoundrel, worthy of the gallows" and had similarly caricatured the historical figure of Omar.
What controversy did Voltaire's Mahomet cause in 2005?
A reading of the play in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, Ain, France in 2005 prompted demands for cancellation and street disturbances outside the performance. Mayor Bertrand refused to cancel the event, citing free speech as modern Europe's "foundation stone," and the reading went ahead.