Jean Racine
Phedre, Andromaque — French tragic perfection
The supreme tragedian of the French classical theater. Where Corneille dramatized duty, Racine dramatized passion — Phedre's forbidden desire, Andromaque's impossible choice — in Alexandrine couplets of such musical perfection that French audiences know them by heart. The most disciplined and devastating dramatist after the Greeks.
Key works
- Phedre1677— Desire, shame, and self-destruction in perfect verse
- Andromaque1667— A chain of unrequited loves ending in madness
- Athalie1691— Biblical tragedy — his last and perhaps greatest