Author

Jean Racine

Short biography: Jean Racine in Great Lives

About Jean Racine

Jean Racine (1639-1699) was a French tragic poet educated by the Jansenists of Port-Royal. His tragedies in alexandrine verse are the summit of French classical drama.

On this site

Bérénice

1670 · Renaissance Early Modern · Drama

Bérénice is a tragedy in five acts of rhymed alexandrines, first performed at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris in November 1670 and printed in 1671. Its plot grows from a single Latin sentence of Suetonius, which Racine placed at the head of his preface: Titus, who was thought to have promised marriage to Queen Berenice, sent her away from Rome at once, against his will and against hers (invitus invitam).

Phaedra

1677 · Renaissance Early Modern · Drama

Phaedra takes place in a single day at Troezen, where Theseus, king of Athens, has left his household while he travels; he has been gone six months and no one knows whether he is alive. His son Hippolytus, the austere child of an Amazon who has always scorned love, announces that he is leaving to search for his father.

medium medical relevanceLove DesireGuilt SinFate / Free Will