CORNEILLE L'ICONOCLASTE. (FRENCH TEXT).
Item
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Title
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CORNEILLE L'ICONOCLASTE. (FRENCH TEXT).
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Identifier
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AAI8508724
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identifier
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8508724
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Creator
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PAUL, CAUVIN.
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Contributor
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Rosette C. Lamont
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Romance
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Abstract
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In titling this essay Corneille l'iconoclaste, I do not pretend to put on trial the intentions of the author of Le Cid. My purpose is to show that Corneille's theatre, traditionally presented as a theatre of grandeur, can in many cases become a theatre of failure. Corneille's work describes "un grand espoir avorte".('1) Dort and Doubrovsky have already written about it. But the works of the critics who support this thesis apply, rather, to the plays labeled as decadent: those that Corneille wrote when he was old.;On the contrary, my study focuses essentially on the plays that rank among the masterpieces: Le Cid, Horace, Cinna, Polyeucte. The analysis of this series of tragedies in which Sertorius has been included prove that Corneille's heroes had already been in check- mated situations even before Boileau spoke the cruel words: (UNFORMATTED TABLE FOLLOWS).;Apres l'"Agesilas",;Helas.;Apres l'"Attila",;Hola!;(TABLE ENDS).;There is certainly, Rodrigue's miracle, Horace's ascension, and Auguste's transfiguration. But what is very often forgotten, is that this theatre is above all a theatre of action; one simple error committed by the hero is enough to obliterate his past glory. Don Diegue, Horace, Sertorius have bitterly experienced it: having lived too long, they have hour after hour had the pain of watching their own downfall. This is for these heroes a sort of agony of life which also strikes Rodrigue, tired of fighting to clear himself before Chimene or to clean himself of a "social crime". It strikes also Polyeucte who in his "purgation des passions" agrees to make the ultimate sacrifice of his life.;It is in this perspective that I have studied the above mentioned plays and understood Corneille's heroes who seem, in my opinion,;to live in a two dimensional time: the dazzling time of glory and the devastating time of failure.;('1)Bernard Dort, Corneille Dramaturge, L'Arche, 1972, p. 1964.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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French
