''La Thébaïde'' (''The
Thebaid
The Thebaid or Thebais (, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nome (Egypt), nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos, Egypt, Abydos to Aswan.
Pharaonic history
The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximit ...
'', ''The Thebans'' or ''The Theban Brothers'') is a tragedy in five acts (with respectively 6, 4, 6, 3 and 6 scenes) in verse by
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...
first presented, without much success, on June 20, 1664, at the
Palais-Royal
The Palais-Royal () is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre Palace, Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Ca ...
in Paris. The twins, along with their sister
Antigone
ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP).
History
ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...
, were children borne of the incestuous marriage of the Theban king
Oedipus
Oedipus (, ; "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. ...
and his mother
Jocasta
In Greek mythology, Jocasta (), also rendered as Iocaste ( ) and EpicasteHomer, ''Odyssey'', Vol. XI11.271/ref> (; ), was Queen of Thebes through her marriages to Laius and her son, Oedipus. She is best known for her role in the myths surroundi ...
. The play depicts the struggle and death of the young son of
Oedipus
Oedipus (, ; "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. ...
, as well as that of Antigone. This subject had already occupied many authors before Racine. Thus, the young playwright, still fairly inexperienced, drew particularly from the
''Antigone'' of
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...
, the ''
Phoenician Women
''The Phoenician Women'' (, ''Phoinissai'') is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play ''Seven Against Thebes''. It was presented along with the tragedies '' Hypsipyle'' and '' Antiope.'' With this trilogy, Euripides wo ...
'' of
Euripides
Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
, but especially the ''Antigone'' of
Jean Rotrou
Jean Rotrou (21 August 1609 – 28 June 1650) was a French poet and tragedian.
Life
Rotrou was born at Dreux, city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region. He studied at Dreux and at Paris, and, though three ye ...
and the tragedies of
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...
.
This ancient Theban drama attracted great interest among 17th century French writers. The young Racine drew principally upon sources from
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...
and
Euripides
Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
, as well as the ' of
Rotrou, and the ''Oedipus'' of
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...
.
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
may also have assisted in the play's composition.
Plot
The plot is the same as the rest of the Theban plays and poems, in which
Eteocles
In Greek mythology, Eteocles (; ) was a king of Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without knowing his relationship to either. When the ...
and
Polynices
In Greek mythology, Polynices (also Polyneices) (; ) was the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia and the older brother of Eteocles. When Oedipus was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, Oedipus was expelled ...
, the two warring brothers, fight fiercely, despite the entreaties of their mother,
Jocasta
In Greek mythology, Jocasta (), also rendered as Iocaste ( ) and EpicasteHomer, ''Odyssey'', Vol. XI11.271/ref> (; ), was Queen of Thebes through her marriages to Laius and her son, Oedipus. She is best known for her role in the myths surroundi ...
and Antigone, their sister, and their two cousins,
Menoeceus
In Greek mythology, Menoeceus (; Ancient Greek: Μενοικεύς ''Menoikeús'' "strength of the house" derived from ''menos'' "strength" and ''oikos'' "house") was the name of two Theban characters. They are related by genealogy, the first bein ...
and
Haemon son of
Creon. All these characters without exception are killed. Some kill themselves or die of grief. Their characters are quite weakly drawn, Eteocles and Polynices are monotonously violent, Jocasta tired by their declamations, and Creon is a cynical traitor.
Analysis
Traditional scholarship saw limited merit in the play, deeming it an only partially successful work of a still maturing dramatist. In his groundbreaking work ''On Racine'', however,
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...
treats the play as seriously as Racine's greatest Greek dramas, including ''Phèdre'' and ''Iphigénie''). Since Barthes, recent scholarship has shown greater interest, exploring, for example, power relationships driving the action, and, more broadly, fundamental problems of political philosophy that arise with respect to the legitimacy of the modern state.
[Eric Heinze, ‘“This power isn’t power if it’s shared’: Law and Violence in Jean Racine’s ''La Thébaïde''’, 22(1) ''Law & Literature'' (2010)]
References
Further reading
* Hochman, Stanley, editor (1984). ''McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama'' (second edition, 5 volumes). New York: McGraw-Hill. .
External links
*
''The Thebaïd; or, The Brothers at War''(translated by Robert Bruce Boswell, 1890) at
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
Plays by Jean Racine
1664 plays
Plays set in ancient Greece
Tragedy plays
Plays based on Antigone (Sophocles play)
Plays based on works by Euripides
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