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Racine's Andromaque: A Study of Source

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Cynthia R. Dagley*
Affiliation:
Lexington, Kentucky

Extract

For the past two hundred years critics have been observing and commenting upon the resemblance of Racine's Andromaque to Corneille's Pertharite. It was in 1764 that the first vigorous assertion of this similarity was made:

      Il me paraît prouvé que Racine a puisé toute l'ordonnance de sa tragédie d‘Andromaque dans ce second acte de Pertharite. Dès la première scène vous voyez Edüige qui est avec son Garibalde précisément dans la même situation qu’ Hermione avec Oreste. Elle est abandonnée par un Grimoald comme Hermione par Pyrrhus; et si Grimoald aime sa prisonnière Rodelinde, Pyrrhus aime Andromaque, sa captive.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1937

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References

page 80 note 1 Among them are: L'abbé Desfontaines, Observations sur les écrits modernes (1735–43), 34 vols. Vol. iv.—Pierre Corneille, Théâtre, avec les Commentaires. Edited by Voltaire (Genève, 1764), 12 vols.—Jean Racine, Oeuvres Complètes. Edited by Paul Mesnard, (Paris, 1865–73), 9 vols. Vol. ii, Notice to Andromaque.—Jean Racine, Théatre Choisi. Edited by G. Lanson (Paris, n.d.). Notice to Andromaque.—Pierre Corneille, Théatre Choisi. Edited by E. Geruzez (Paris, 1884), pp. lxiii–lxv.—Pierre Robert, La Poétique de Racine (Paris, 1890).—L. Brunschvicg, “De Pertharite á Andromaque,” Révue de Paris (1926), pp. 621–648.

page 80 note 2 Œuvres de P. Corneille. Edited by M. Ch. Marty-Laveaux (Paris, 1862), vi, 36, n. 1.

page 80 note 3 Lawrence Riddle, The Genesis and Sources of Pierre Corneille's Tragedies. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 1–8, note 12. See also pp. 181–198, where the author discusses the debt of Pertharite to Théodore.

page 80 note 4 In the comparison of Andromaque to Pertharite, I shall be making use chiefly of material already presented by critics.

page 81 note 5 This classification into triangles and their analogy in Andromaque and Pertharite was made by F. A. Bridgers in his M.A. Thesis, “Corneille's Pertharite as a Source of Racine's Andromaque” (University of Chicago, 1928).

page 81 note 6 This personage is suggested and lightly sketched in the rôle of Valens. Merely a skilful retouching and a precise development would have been needed to adapt the husband Valens, who apparently aids in the vengeance, into the rejected but helpful lover.

page 81 note 7 Historically the situation is quite different. Hermione is the wife of Pyrrhus and Andromache is his slave, not a highly respected and beloved princess (Aeneid iii. 292–332).

page 82 note 8 Flavie does not appear at any time during the play. It is stated in the first act (i. iv. 303–304) that she is ill because of Placide's desertion; in the last act, that she has died. (v. v. 1613).

page 84 note 9 Mr. Bridgers has carefully worked out the analogy in the timing and the manner in which the series of “revirements” operate in Andromaque and Pertharite. Op. cit., pp. 10–13.

page 85 note 10 Voltaire asserted this in his Commentaires. Bridgers analyzed the resemblance very completely in his thesis cited above, pp. 17–40. My discussion of this act is a resumé of his study.

page 86 note 11 This detail of the leader accompanied by retainers in his mission is also found in Euripides, 1118–1157.

page 86 note 12 This is reminiscent of the fate of Pyrrhus in Euripides' Andromache where he is slain at the altar of the temple at Delphi (1118–57).

page 88 note 13 Voltaire has indicated this and Bridgers has worked out the details of resemblance.

page 89 note 14 Mr. Bridgers has very thoroughly detailed this resemblance in his thesis, pp. 17–40.

page 91 note 15 Mr. Bridgers has thoroughly demonstrated this likeness in his thesis, pp. 17–40.

page 91 note 16 The death of Rodelinde's husband was only reported. There was no actual proof.

page 91 note 17 The Andromache of Euripides has not the same gentleness of spirit nor the poise that is found in Racine's characterization of her. She rebukes Hermione in no mild terms; she meets her insults with insults. (Euripides, Andromache, 170–178; 229–231; 238) She arraigns Menelaus in a scathing denouncement (ibid., 319–332; 445–463).

page 99 note 18 This thought was suggested to me by Dr. Colbert Searles.

page 99 note 19 G. Michaut, La Bérénice de Racine, p. 133, n. 1.

page 99 note 20 See Préface to Alexandre, Préface to Britannicus and all his early prefaces.

page 99 note 21 See Préface to Britannicus, where he calls Corneille “vieux poète malveillant.”

page 99 note 22 G. Michaut, La Bérénice de Racine, pp. 109–132.

page 99 note 23 From 1636 to 1652.