| Research Abstract |
Corneille has a preference for the romantic, or we could say, the baroque, at bottom. As he pursuits his dramatic career, he begins to seek to renew his dramatic art, even after he has written classical masterpieces. At the end of 1643, he presents La Mort de Pompee, tragedy in classical form, which really is a romantic play, judging from the psychology of the characters. His inclination for the romantic is displayed very strikingly in the plays which Georges Couton calls "trilogie des monsters" : Rodogune, Theodore, and Heraclius. The dramatist recognizes in his "Examen" that he prefers Rodogune to Cinna or to Le Cid. Indeed, this tragedy is well composed, especially, in the fifth act, where dominates a feeling of terror, aroused by the cup of poison that passes from hand to hand. In the time of the Fronde, Corneille publishes three plays, being as romantic as the preceding ones, but which are strongly connected with the political climate of the period. In Don Sanche d'Aragon, he defends the relations between Anne d'Autriche and Mazarin of which a scandalous rumor is circulating in the world. On the contrary, Nicomede is a tragedy where he exalts Conde, hero of the Fronde. And Pertharite suggests the reconciliation of the rebellious Conde with the royal power.
In 1659, he returns to the theater with OEdipe, whose dramaturgy is quite different from that of Sophocles. Later, he writes several plays which we can define as matrimonial and political tragedies, where the protagonists have exclusively recourse to marriage to seize power : Othon, Agesilas, and Attila. His dramaturgy in these plays reflects the changes of the French society. The strengthening of royal authority does not permit the aristocracy to resort to violence any longer. We remark in the plays of his old age a pessimism that reminds us of La Rochefoucauld's view of life.
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