Athalie
Encyclopedia
Athalie is the final tragedy
of Jean Racine
, and has been described as the masterpiece of 'one of the greatest literary artists known' and the 'ripest work' of Racine's genius
. Voltaire
considered the play the greatest triumph of the human mind, while Flaubert referred to it as the masterpiece of the French
stage
in Madame Bovary
, and Sainte-Beuve deemed it comparable to Oedipus Rex in beauty, with "the true God added." August Wilhelm Schlegel thought Athalie to be 'animated by divine breath'; other critics have regarded the poetics
of drama
in the play to be superior to those of Aristotle
,
, Racine published Athalie in 1691, another play drawn from the Bible
, which he expected would have the same success.
, widow of the king of Judah
, rules the country and believes she has eliminated all the rest of the royal family. She has abandoned the Jewish religion for the worship of Baal
. However, the late king's grand-son Joash
was rescued by the wife of the high priest.
saw it as "perhaps the masterpiece of mankind" and Flaubert as the most "immortal masterpiece of the French stage".
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
of Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
, and has been described as the masterpiece of 'one of the greatest literary artists known' and the 'ripest work' of Racine's genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
. Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
considered the play the greatest triumph of the human mind, while Flaubert referred to it as the masterpiece of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life...
, and Sainte-Beuve deemed it comparable to Oedipus Rex in beauty, with "the true God added." August Wilhelm Schlegel thought Athalie to be 'animated by divine breath'; other critics have regarded the poetics
Poetics
Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory...
of drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
in the play to be superior to those of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
,
History
After the success of EstherEsther (drama)
Esther is the name of a play in three acts written in 1689 by the French dramatist, Jean Racine. It premiered on January 26, 1689, performed by the pupils of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, an educational institute for young girls of noble birth...
, Racine published Athalie in 1691, another play drawn from the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, which he expected would have the same success.
Plot
AthalieAthaliah
Athaliah was the queen of Judah during the reign of King Jehoram, and later became sole ruler of Judah for six years. William F. Albright has dated her reign to 842–837 BC, while Edwin R. Thiele's dates, as taken from the third edition of his magnum opus, were 842/841 to 836/835 BC...
, widow of the king of Judah
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
, rules the country and believes she has eliminated all the rest of the royal family. She has abandoned the Jewish religion for the worship of Baal
Baal
Baʿal is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant and Asia Minor, cognate to Akkadian Bēlu...
. However, the late king's grand-son Joash
Jehoash of Judah
Jehoash or Joas , sometimes written Joash or Joás , was the eighth king of the southern Kingdom of Judah, and the sole surviving son of Ahaziah. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba ....
was rescued by the wife of the high priest.
- Act 1 - Joad, the Jewish high priest, assures Abner, a military officer, that he would support a possible descendant of the king of Judah if he appeared. Then he agrees with his wife JehoshebaJehoshebaJehosheba , or Josaba, was the sister of King Ahaziah of Judah and the wife of Jehoiada, the High Priest of Judah. According to 2 Kings 11:2, she saved and hid her infant nephew Jehoash from the massacre ordered by his grandmother Athaliah...
th to reveal the existence of Joash and dethrone Athalie, thus bringing the country back to the true religion. - Act 2 - Athalie goes into the Jewish temple and finds a baby she has seen in a dream. She does not know that this child is Joash. She asked Joad to bring the child and she invites him to come to live with her at the palace (She does not know that Joash has been brought up by Joad in the Jewish religion).
- Act 3 - Fearing a plot by Joad, Athalie wants Joash sent as a hostage. The high priest is preparing to proclaim Joash as king to hasten things.
- Act 4 - Joash reveals he is the descendant and successor of the kings of Judah. The priests barricade the Temple.
- Act 5 - Athalie prepares to dislodge the rebels from the Temple. She comes to claim the child. Joad tells her that he is Joash. Outside, the attackers panic and flee. Joad executes Athalie.
Reception
Athalie was the victim of opposition from moralists at its creation.- Needs explanation. Represented on the public scene after the death of Madame de Maintenon, it was never part of the most popular plays of Racine, though VoltaireVoltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
saw it as "perhaps the masterpiece of mankind" and Flaubert as the most "immortal masterpiece of the French stage".