« De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus

Antiochus has a bad reputation. He is commonly considered to be a simpleton, whose whining hinders Bérénice from being anything but a mere elegiac and gallant drama. Yet, a new analysis of Antiochus makes it possible to suggest a completely different reading of his character. Although he is Bérénice...

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Autor principal: Laurence Plazenet
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FR
Publicado: Institut du Monde Anglophone 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/f50e07c6cfc34fe3a4e5bf607e6a9dd8
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:f50e07c6cfc34fe3a4e5bf607e6a9dd82021-12-02T10:16:42Z« De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus1634-045010.4000/episteme.13397https://doaj.org/article/f50e07c6cfc34fe3a4e5bf607e6a9dd82021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttp://journals.openedition.org/episteme/13397https://doaj.org/toc/1634-0450Antiochus has a bad reputation. He is commonly considered to be a simpleton, whose whining hinders Bérénice from being anything but a mere elegiac and gallant drama. Yet, a new analysis of Antiochus makes it possible to suggest a completely different reading of his character. Although he is Bérénice’s paredros and is affected by the fundamental corruption of passions, he proves to be a perfect lover and to be the first one to accept the “separation”, which constitutes the very action of the play according to Racine. Thus, Antiochus foreshadows the journey from self-love to pure love that makes Bérénice a profoundly Augustinian and authentic tragedy that exposes the choice creatures have to make between the earthly city and the City of God. The tears that Antiochus so abundantly sheds in Bérénice eventually disclose that the play, years before Phèdre, contains strong echoes of the liturgical poem Dies Irae, and especially from its final stanza the Lacrimosa. This observation draws attention to the fact that Racine’s plays, at least from Britannicus on, are deeply marked by spiritual concerns. Influenced by the figurist exegesis used by the Messieurs of Port-Royal to decipher sacred as well as profane texts, and strongly nourished by Saint-Cyran’s thought, Racine investigates the case of the “old man”, who was both prone to philosophical impenitence and capable of feeling the raptures of love. A longtime wanderer, on the verge of leaving Rome and going back to the Middle East and its solitudes, Antiochus suddenly appears to be an outstanding and powerfully moving (“touchante,” says Racine) figure of a “renewed” man.Laurence PlazenetInstitut du Monde AnglophonearticleAntiochusBéréniceRacineSaint-CyranPort-RoyalLacrimosaHistory (General) and history of EuropeDFrench literature - Italian literature - Spanish literature - Portuguese literaturePQ1-3999ENFREtudes Epistémè, Vol 40 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
FR
topic Antiochus
Bérénice
Racine
Saint-Cyran
Port-Royal
Lacrimosa
History (General) and history of Europe
D
French literature - Italian literature - Spanish literature - Portuguese literature
PQ1-3999
spellingShingle Antiochus
Bérénice
Racine
Saint-Cyran
Port-Royal
Lacrimosa
History (General) and history of Europe
D
French literature - Italian literature - Spanish literature - Portuguese literature
PQ1-3999
Laurence Plazenet
« De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus
description Antiochus has a bad reputation. He is commonly considered to be a simpleton, whose whining hinders Bérénice from being anything but a mere elegiac and gallant drama. Yet, a new analysis of Antiochus makes it possible to suggest a completely different reading of his character. Although he is Bérénice’s paredros and is affected by the fundamental corruption of passions, he proves to be a perfect lover and to be the first one to accept the “separation”, which constitutes the very action of the play according to Racine. Thus, Antiochus foreshadows the journey from self-love to pure love that makes Bérénice a profoundly Augustinian and authentic tragedy that exposes the choice creatures have to make between the earthly city and the City of God. The tears that Antiochus so abundantly sheds in Bérénice eventually disclose that the play, years before Phèdre, contains strong echoes of the liturgical poem Dies Irae, and especially from its final stanza the Lacrimosa. This observation draws attention to the fact that Racine’s plays, at least from Britannicus on, are deeply marked by spiritual concerns. Influenced by the figurist exegesis used by the Messieurs of Port-Royal to decipher sacred as well as profane texts, and strongly nourished by Saint-Cyran’s thought, Racine investigates the case of the “old man”, who was both prone to philosophical impenitence and capable of feeling the raptures of love. A longtime wanderer, on the verge of leaving Rome and going back to the Middle East and its solitudes, Antiochus suddenly appears to be an outstanding and powerfully moving (“touchante,” says Racine) figure of a “renewed” man.
format article
author Laurence Plazenet
author_facet Laurence Plazenet
author_sort Laurence Plazenet
title « De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus
title_short « De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus
title_full « De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus
title_fullStr « De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus
title_full_unstemmed « De mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le Cas Antiochus
title_sort « de mes pleurs vous ne vous rirez plus » : le cas antiochus
publisher Institut du Monde Anglophone
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/f50e07c6cfc34fe3a4e5bf607e6a9dd8
work_keys_str_mv AT laurenceplazenet demespleursvousnevousrirezpluslecasantiochus
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