''Cléopâtre captive'' is a five-act
tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
by
Étienne Jodelle
Étienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin (1532July 1573), French dramatist and poet, was born in Paris of a noble family.
He attached himself to the poetic circle of the Pléiade and proceeded to apply the principles of the reformers to dramatic ...
, presented on 9 February 1553, first before the King
Henri II of France in the Hôtel de Reims, then at the
Collège de Boncourt. The
play is part of the posthumous collection ' (1574).
Remy Belleau played the role of
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
,
Jean Bastier de La Péruse, that of
Octavian. It was the first "", and Jodelle composed it in parallel with the first "
humanist comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
", '.
The performance was a success, and was followed by a celebration in the antique manner in
Arcueil, bringing together all participants and friends for a party known as the .
Summary
* Act 1 :
Antony Antony may refer to:
* Antony (name), a masculine given name and a surname
* Antony, Belarus, a village in the Hrodna Voblast of Belarus
* Antony, Cornwall, a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom
** Antony House, Cornwall, United Kingdom
* Antony, ...
's shadow announces to
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
that she must die.
* Act 2 :
Octavian fears that Cleopatra will commit suicide.
* Act 3 : Cleopatra seeks to commiserate Octavian, offering him riches. Seleucus the servant reveals that she hides part.
* Act 4 : Cleopatra decides to die.
* Act 5 : Proculus narrates to Octavian the death of the Queen.
Cast
Style
Jodelle was the first to use
alexandrines in a tragedy (acts I and IV), but he also resorted to
decasyllable
Decasyllable (Italian: ''decasillabo'', French: ''décasyllabe'', Serbian: ''десетерац'', ''deseterac'') is a poetic meter of ten syllables used in poetic traditions of syllabic verse. In languages with a stress accent (accentual ve ...
s (acts II, III, V). In the choirs, he resorted to various meters: some verse have only three syllables.
The subject is taken from
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
(''Life of
Antony Antony may refer to:
* Antony (name), a masculine given name and a surname
* Antony, Belarus, a village in the Hrodna Voblast of Belarus
* Antony, Cornwall, a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom
** Antony House, Cornwall, United Kingdom
* Antony, ...
''). The action is reduced: the play tells the decision to die taken by Cleopatra and its implementation.
Bibliography
Cléopâtre captiveon wikisource
* F. Charpentier, « Invention d'une dramaturgie : Jodelle, La Péruse », ''Littératures'', speing 1990, (p. 7-22).
* Fr. Cornilliat, "'Mais que dirai-je à César?' Eloge et tragédie dans la poétique d'E. Jodelle", ''L'éloge du Prince de l'Antiquité aux Lumières'', I. Cogitore, Fr. Goyet, Grenoble, PU, 2003, (p. 223-250)
1553 plays
French plays
Tragedies (dramas)
Tragedy plays
Depictions of Cleopatra in plays
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