The Great Repression
The Great Repression
Following precepts derived from Aristotle’s Poetics, French neoclassical tragedy from the 1630s onwards was required to comply with the so-called Règles—the ‘Rules’—of dramatic composition. One of the most important of these was ‘unity of place’, which was not in fact prescribed by Aristotle but became essential in French theatre practice. Racine’s Phèdre is a brilliant example of how Senecan tragedy could be adapted to neoclassical regulation. Although claiming Euripides’ Hippolytus as its source, Phèdre actually has more structural and thematic similarities to the Senecan version. One such theme is the idea of repression and containment, expressed not only through the spoken text of Phèdre but also in its staging.
Keywords: Corneille, Racine, Phaedra, Phèdre, Hippolytus, labyrinth, Aristotle, Poetics, D’Aubignac
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