Jean Racine

• 1. Orphaned At Port-Royal

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  Jean-Baptiste Racine was born on the 21st of December 1639 in La Ferté-Milon. This small town sat within the province of Picardy in northern France. His mother died in 1641 when he was only two years old. His father followed her into death in 1643. The four-year-old boy found himself under the care of his grandparents. He lived with them until his grandfather passed away in 1649. Marie des Moulins took him to the convent of Port-Royal that same year. This religious institution would shape his entire literary voice for decades to come. The academy taught classical education and Greek mythology. Jansenist theology ran through every lesson at this school. Blaise Pascal studied there alongside young Jean. The bishops condemned their theology as heretical. The Pope also rejected their views. These conflicts marked his early life with tension. He excelled in his studies despite the controversy surrounding his teachers.

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• 2. Rivalry And Betrayal

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  Molière produced Racine's first play on stage on the 20th of June 1664. The theater stood at the Palais-Royal in Paris. The tragedy bore the title La Thébaïde ou les frères ennemis. Molière's troupe performed it successfully. A second play called Alexandre le Grand followed the next year. Public feedback encouraged Racine to negotiate secretly with a rival company. The Hôtel de Bourgogne held a better reputation for tragedies. They premiered the play eleven days after its first showing. Molière never forgave this betrayal. Racine widened the rift by seducing Thérèse du Parc. She became both his professional partner and personal companion. The Hôtel de Bourgogne troupe then performed all his secular plays. Pierre Corneille stood as his primary rival during these years. Thomas Corneille was his brother and also a dramatist. Michel le Clerc produced an Iphigénie in 1674. Jacques Pradon wrote a play about Phèdre in 1677. The success of Pradon's work caused Racine to renounce drama temporarily. He earned money from writings more than any French author before him.

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• 3. The Great Tragedies

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  Andromaque opened in 1667 and told the story of Hector's widow. Her fate unfolded following the Trojan War. Britannicus appeared in 1669 and depicted Néron's rise to tyranny. Bérénice arrived in 1670 and focused on unrequited love without bloodshed. Bajazet followed in 1723 and featured Roxane ordering death. Mithridate came out in 1723 with false rumors of death. Iphigénie reached audiences in 1674 and avoided tragedy through substitution. Phèdre premiered in 1677 and explored incestuous passion. These works displayed mastery of the alexandrine verse line. Critics praised their elegance, purity, speed, and fury. Robert Lowell described them as having diamond-edge quality. The plays contained psychological insight into prevailing passions. Characters spoke without inhibition despite royal status. Only confidants like Narcisse or Oreste remained outside the main circle. Hermione destroyed Pyrrhus after he married Andromaque. Phèdre allowed Hippolyte to die due to jealousy. Néron poisoned Britannicus to secure his throne. The eternal triangle structure dominated these narratives. Two young lovers faced a third person blocking their union.

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• 4. Retirement And Religious Turn

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  Racine retired from public life around 1679 following a court scandal. He married Catherine de Romanet at about this time. Her piety revived his religious beliefs and devotion to Jansenism. They eventually had two sons and five daughters. Louis XIV appointed him as royal historiographer alongside Boileau. Racine kept this position despite minor scandals. He was elected to the Académie française in 1672. Two years later he received the title treasurer of France. In 1690 he became ordinary gentleman of the king. By 1696 he served as secretary of the king. Madame de Maintenon requested his return to theater. She was the morganatic second wife of King Louis XIV. Esther appeared in 1689 for pupils at Saint-Cyr l'École. Athalie followed in 1691 with Old Testament stories. These plays were intended for performance by students. Racine died in 1699 from cancer of the liver. His remains moved to Saint-Étienne-du-Mont church after Port-Royal razed in 1710. Louis XIV provided for his widow and children after death.

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• 5. Courtier And Historian

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  Louis XIV provided financial support for Racine's family after his passing. The king granted him titles throughout his career. He held power over the Académie française organization. Racine wrote historical works including Vie de Louis XIV which is now lost. He also produced Abrégé de l'histoire de Port-Royal published in 1767. Boileau often claimed credit behind the budding poet's work. They became great friends during their Paris residence. Racine accepted positions despite minor scandals involving him. His political appointments flourished under Louis XIV's reign. France rose from civil discord known as the Fronde. International prominence grew alongside cultural achievements. Political achievement gave birth to French national identity called l'esprit français. The new self-perception acknowledged superiority of all things French. Racine and his work became practically deified during this period. Butler blamed the withering of French drama on this idolized image. Such rigid adherence made new plays stale imitations. The rise of literary giants like Molière coincided with Racine's ascent. Jean de La Fontaine, Boileau, and François de La Rochefoucauld emerged together. Louis Le Vau expanded the Palace of Versailles historically. Jean-Baptiste Lully revolutionized Baroque music during these years.

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• 6. Stylistic Innovations

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  Racine restricted vocabulary to exactly 2500 words throughout his plays. He ruled out all workday expressions since Greeks could call a spade a spade but Latin or French could not. Classical unities remained strictly observed for final stage crisis description. Number of characters stayed at barest minimum among royal figures. Action on stage was almost entirely eliminated except in Bajazet. Atalide stabbed herself before audience in that play. Racine described fluctuating states of mind brought abruptly to crisis. No retreat existed from these emotional tensions. Audiences ceased being aware that unities existed when watching them. Gabriel Gilbert and Mathieu Bidar kept Hippolyte off stage after Act IV. Racine brought him into Act V scene one instead. Théramène recited seventy or eighty lines describing death. These chronological inconsistencies passed unnoticed in theater. A room in Pyrrhus's palace at Buthrotum served as setting. An antechamber separated Titus and Bérénice in Rome. Agamemnon's camp appeared at Aulis. An antechamber in temple at Jerusalem hosted Esther scenes. Unity of place led to slightly far-fetched meetings sometimes. Why did Pyrrhus come to see Oreste rather than vice versa? The unity necessitated récit which harmonized with fundamental aims.

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• 7. Critical Legacy And Reception

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  Philip Butler published Racine: A Study in 1974 breaking criticisms by century. Seventeenth-century audiences admired return to simplicity and human characters. Critics insisted on judging according to Aristotle's traditional standards. Boileau published Art Poétique in 1674 deeming Racine superior to Corneille. This erased doubts about abilities as dramatist. Butler described this period as Racine's apotheosis highest point of admiration. Nineteenth-century Germans like Friedrich Schiller dismissed Racine as courtly drama too restricted. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe agreed with this assessment. French critics revolted against his perfection claims. Charles Baudelaire and Gustave Flaubert shook foundations of French literature. Conservative readers retreated to Racine for nostalgia of simplicity. British critics preferred Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott instead. They dismissed him as didactic and commonplace. Twentieth-century efforts rescued works from historical perspective. Marcel Proust developed fondness for Racine early considering him brother. Antonin Artaud claimed psychological theater descended from Racine made us unaccustomed to immediate violent action. Twenty-first century still considers him literary genius of revolutionary proportions. A.S. Byatt wrote tetralogy showing appreciation specifically of Phèdre. Translations into English include Robert David MacDonald, Alan Hollinghurst, Edward Kemp, Neil Bartlett, Geoffrey Alan Argent. Ted Hughes and Derek Mahon also attempted translations.

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