La Thébaïde (The Thebaid, 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 first presented, without much success, on June 20, 1664, at the Palais-Royal in Paris.[1] The twins, along with their sister Antigone, were children borne of the incestuous marriage of the Theban king Oedipus and his mother Jocasta. The play depicts the struggle and death of the young son of Oedipus, 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, the Phoenician Women of Euripides, but especially the Antigone of Jean Rotrou and the tragedies of Pierre Corneille.
This ancient Theban drama attracted great interest among 17th century French writers. The young Racine drew principally upon sources from Sophocles and Euripides, as well as the Antigone [fr] of Rotrou, and the Oedipus of Pierre Corneille. Molière may also have assisted in the play's composition.
The plot is the same as the rest of the Theban plays and poems, in which Eteocles and Polynices, the two warring brothers, fight fiercely, despite the entreaties of their mother, Jocasta and Antigone, their sister, and their two cousins, Menoeceus 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.
Analysisedit
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 treats the play as seriously as Racine's greatest Greek dramas, including Phèdre and Iphigénie).[2] 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.[3]
Referencesedit
^Date of the premiere and the venue are listed by Joseph E. Garreau, "Jean Racine" in Hochman 1984, p. 194.
^Roland Barthes, Sur Racine, Paris, FR: Seuil, 1963
^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)
Further readingedit
Hochman, Stanley, editor (1984). McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama (second edition, 5 volumes). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN978-0-07-079169-5.
External linksedit
The Thebaid, or The Brothers at War public domain audiobook at LibriVox
The Thebaïd; or, The Brothers at War (translated by Robert Bruce Boswell, 1890) at Internet Archive
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thébaïde, this, article, about, play, jean, racine, other, uses, thebaid, disambiguation, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, re. This article is about play by Jean Racine For other uses see Thebaid disambiguation This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources La Thebaide news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message La Thebaide The Thebaid 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 first presented without much success on June 20 1664 at the Palais Royal in Paris 1 The twins along with their sister Antigone were children borne of the incestuous marriage of the Theban king Oedipus and his mother Jocasta The play depicts the struggle and death of the young son of Oedipus 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 the Phoenician Women of Euripides but especially the Antigone of Jean Rotrou and the tragedies of Pierre Corneille This ancient Theban drama attracted great interest among 17th century French writers The young Racine drew principally upon sources from Sophocles and Euripides as well as the Antigone fr of Rotrou and the Oedipus of Pierre Corneille Moliere may also have assisted in the play s composition Contents 1 Plot 2 Analysis 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External linksPlot editThe plot is the same as the rest of the Theban plays and poems in which Eteocles and Polynices the two warring brothers fight fiercely despite the entreaties of their mother Jocasta and Antigone their sister and their two cousins Menoeceus 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 editTraditional 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 treats the play as seriously as Racine s greatest Greek dramas including Phedre and Iphigenie 2 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 3 References edit Date of the premiere and the venue are listed by Joseph E Garreau Jean Racine in Hochman 1984 p 194 Roland Barthes Sur Racine Paris FR Seuil 1963 Eric Heinze This power isn t power if it s shared Law and Violence in Jean Racine s La Thebaide 22 1 Law amp Literature 2010 Further reading editHochman Stanley editor 1984 McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama second edition 5 volumes New York McGraw Hill ISBN 978 0 07 079169 5 External links edit nbsp The Thebaid or The Brothers at War public domain audiobook at LibriVox The Thebaid or The Brothers at War translated by Robert Bruce Boswell 1890 at Internet Archive nbsp This article on a play from the 17th century is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title La Thebaide amp oldid 1149138979, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
