Example introduction/conclusion/bibliography
Table of contents
Introduction
According to a study by Jacques Morel4, dreams are found in French tragedies of the 17th century, especially at the beginning of this century, in Hardy's generation, which can be attributed to the Baroque period, and in which these dreams were mostly performed in concrete terms. The "visions terrifiantes" predominated, because "l'horreur constituait alors la meilleure part du plaisir théâtral "5. Towards the end of the century, there was again a strong use of dreams - now mostly as ballet sequences - which Morel attributes to the audience's desire for entertainment: "c'est qu'un public aristocratique et délicat réclame au théâtre des spectacles plaisants pour les yeux, et qui puissent toucher sa sensibilité raffinée. "6
In between lies a time in which, according to Morel, the dreamfunctioned only as a "simple récit "7 . His sources for this are Racine (dream sequences in Athalie and Esther) and Corneille, who, alongside the waking dream in Clitandre of 1660 and Camille's dream in Horace, offers Pauline's dream in Polyeucte for an examination and verification of Morel's systematization.
The starting point is the definition of the dream as a simple récit, which he considers to be the typical use of the dream in a more classical theater and its limitations compared to the realm of the merveilleux. It is in this sense that Palley 's general statement8 is to be understood when he states that in France "with its traditional emphasis of reason, dream as a major theme manifests itself only with the Symbolists and Surrealists".
Jacques Schérer 's9 list of the functions of the récit should provide the starting point for the following investigation and - if necessary - be supplemented and critically scrutinized for its application in the given case. First of all, the récit serves to "faire connaître des événements", in the present case, to provide information within the framework of the exposition. It also contributes to the characterization of the figures involved in the sense of "peindre le caractère de celui qui parle et de celui qui écoute". Furthermore, it is an "ornement", which corresponds to Corneille's words from the Abrégé du martyre de saintPolyeucte10, who describes the dream as one of the "embellissements". After all, every récit has the function of a "génératrice d'émotion", i.e. it creates suspense, surprise and the obstacle that constitutes the plot. At this point, we must also take a look at the realization of the dream vision.
Furthermore, it is important to ask why the motif of the dream enjoyed such popularity. Analogous uses in non-classical dramas can be found in the "Caesar plays" in particular. The model for this may have been Grévin's César from 1561, but it probably owes its greatest popularity - especially in posterity - to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar from 1599. For Corneille, it may have been directly present through Scudéry's adaptation in Mort de César. It will be necessary to examine the extent to which the peculiarity of the martyr tragedy suggests a different use of the motif and whether it is possible to derive statements about the categorization of Polyeuctes as Baroque / Classical.
4 Morel, Jacques: "La présentation scénique du songe dans les tragédies françaises du XVIIe siècle", in: Revue d'Histoire du Théâtre 3 (1951), pp.153-163.
5 Ibid, p.155.
6 Ibid, p.161. Examples of this include Boyer's Les amours de Jupiter et de Sémélé and Donneau de Visé's Les Amours du Soleil.
7 ibid., p.153 and p.161: "Il faudra tout le génie de Racine pour rendre au songe...sa profondeur religieuse".
8 Palley, Julian: The Ambiguous Mirror: Dreams in Spanish Literature, Valencia 1983 (=Hispanófila 27), p.22.
9 Schérer, Jacques: La dramaturgie classique en France, Paris 1977, pp.239-241.
10 The text edition was Corneille, Pierre: Polyeucte, éd. Cathérine Poisson, Larousse 1991, whereby the Abrégé du martyre de saint Polyeucte can be found on pp. 27-31 (citation p. 30) and the Examen on pp. 143-148.
Conclusion
Can the dream motif and its special use by Corneille in the Polyeucte serve as a criterion for classifying the author between baroque diversité and classical unity?
Corneille certainly does not fully exploit the theatrical effectiveness of the dream, as he packs it into a récit, albeit one that is stylistically highly elaborate. However, the dream is dramaturgically functionalized, serving to shape the exposition and the associated characterization of the figures, which is in line with classical principles despite the delicate operation on the borderline between vraisemblance and merveilleux. Baroque elements can be found in the decorative embellishment in the sense of a definition of the dream as embellissement du théâtre as well as in the deception of the spectator through the gradual dismantling of the dream vision. The coexistence of baroque and classicist orientations, in any case a sign of the times11, is particularly well illustrated by the peculiarity of the genre of martyr tragedy and its deviation from the ideal of the middle hero, which is based on the nature of the matter and amounts to a violation of the rules12. Since it can be assumed that the authors who were adopted as classical (Racine, Molière) were brilliant with the audience precisely because of certain deviations from the usual regular theater, Corneille may have resorted to the widespread motif of the dream for the pleasure of the audience and to solve mainly technical problems.
There are astonishing parallels to the "Caesar plays". The negative omen of the dream, which is ultimately fatally ignored, initially serves as an obstacle. Just as Calphurnia fears for her husband Caesar, Pauline fears for Polyeucte. Just as Caesar ultimately values his political ambition more highly, despite all consideration for his wife, Polyeucte 's religious zeal is more important. Just as Caesar rejects superstition for stoicist-rational reasons, Polyeucte rejects the uncertain vision for reasons of faith. Beyond these parallels, there are of course considerable differences, but what is important for this question is that in both cases the dream remains unheard, although in a certain way it is fulfilled. Polyeuctes' peculiarity lies in the Christian implications: the superstition embodied in the dream is overcome by faith, by conversion. Superstition vaguely predicted fate, but it could not change it. Only true faith makes it possible to come to terms with fate, to accept it. Those who are unable to do so leave the scene as losers, like Racine's Athalie, who embodies the tragic entanglement of fate of Racine's hero. It should be pointed out, however, that this only applies to the emotional protagonists who are affected by superstition and are mostly represented by women, especially in Corneille's work. Sévère embodies the enlightened honnête homme, who does not adhere to superstition, whose ideology confronts life and who stands as the true, human victor. His own person is not affected by the problem; he embodies the ideal of vraisemblance and bienséance. In the end, he does not have to be brought to his fate through unrealistic conversions. And so the problem of the dream can also be resolved. Corneille sees in reality, on the ground of facts, the better position for the classicist attitude, for, if you like, the poetics of rules, for vraisemblance. However, he positively overturns the baroque solution, in the theater and in Christianity, which he values, superstition can be overcome, the unreal serves as a beautiful illusion, for the divertissement of the audience. In doing so, however, he once again combines the aspects that are often juxtaposed in baroque theater: Didaxis and divertissement. Corneille teaches us about the status of dreams and superstition in general. This can be seen as an aspect of the school of seeing that Corneille repeatedly advocated (especially in the Illusion comique): the dream is exposed as a false or only half-correct view, it depends on how one interprets it, how one sees it. This adds the baroque element of far stupire and a gain in knowledge to the classical interpretation of the play. In this - limited - sense, Polyeucte is the negation of the doctrine classique.13
Corneille's dream need not fear comparison with Racine's dream.14 Pabst's one-sided disdain for the one and effusive praise of the other is clearly exaggerated. This work should also have shown that the dream - in both authors - is more than just a simple récit , as Morel suggests. The dream never completely lost its significance in 17th century literature.
11 Stenzel, Hartmut: Die französische "Klassik". Literarische Modernisierung und absolutistischer Staat, Darmstadt 1995, p.41.
12 In this sense, Doubrovsky's astonishment, p.223: "pourquoi Corneille seserait mis soudain en tête d'écrire une 'tragédie chrétienne', blessant par là les usages courants et les opinions prévalentes, dont il se montrait toujours si respectueux?", remains incomprehensible, as he seems to have completely forgotten the numerous baroque elements of the preceding dramas.
13 This opinion of Krauss is cited in Pabst, p.160.
14 Pabst, p.169/70. Corneille's comparison with Shakespeare, which is supposed to prove that the dream depicts a wavering character, is flawed, since Caesar is equated with Pauline and it is apparently forgotten that Calphurnia is the dreamer.
Bibliography
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