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    Andromache
    Andromache
    Andromache
    Ebook82 pages50 minutes

    Andromache

    By Jean Racine

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The 17th century dramatist Jean Racine was considered, along with Molière and Corneille, as one of the three great playwrights of his era. The quality of Racine's poetry has been described as possibly his most important contribution to French literature and his use of the alexandrine poetic line is one of the best examples of such use noted for its harmony, simplicity and elegance. While critics over the centuries have debated the worth of Jean Racine, at present, he is widely considered a literary genius of revolutionary proportions. In this volume of Racine's plays we find "Andromache", the third of twelve plays by the author. The drama is a five act tragedy based on Euripides' play "Andromache" and draws upon the third book of Virgil's "Aeneid". In the aftermath of the Trojan war, Andromache has been taken prisoner in Epirus by Pyrrhus, her husband Hector has been slain by Achilles, who is due to be married to Hermione, the only daughter of the Spartan king Menelaus and Helen of Troy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2013
    ISBN9781420948899
    Andromache
    Author

    Jean Racine

    Jean Racine, né le 22 décembre 1639 à La Ferté-Milon et mort le 21 avril 1699 à Paris, est un dramaturge et poète français. Issu d'une famille de petits notables de la Ferté-Milon et tôt orphelin, Racine reçoit auprès des « Solitaires » de Port-Royal une éducation littéraire et religieuse rare.

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    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      One of the best classical French dramas, I shudder to say it but Racine almost makes Moliere seems like a buffoon.

      Andromache is like a classical Greek drama with all the conventions of the tragic events unfolding over a twenty-four hour period. But what makes it so fascinating is how psychologically rich and complex the characters are as they work their way through the very tough situations and choices they face, the ways in which they change their minds back and forth, and ultimately the role that chance and fate play in working together to bring about the ultimate tragedy.

      The rhyming verse in the Wilbur translation works really well, as usual, although is a slightly jarring way to hear a tragedy rather than what we normally associate with verse: a comedy.
    • 5/5
      One of the best classical French dramas, I shudder to say it but Racine almost makes Moliere seems like a buffoon.Andromache is like a classical Greek drama with all the conventions of the tragic events unfolding over a twenty-four hour period. But what makes it so fascinating is how psychologically rich and complex the characters are as they work their way through the very tough situations and choices they face, the ways in which they change their minds back and forth, and ultimately the role that chance and fate play in working together to bring about the ultimate tragedy.The rhyming verse in the Wilbur translation works really well, as usual, although is a slightly jarring way to hear a tragedy rather than what we normally associate with verse: a comedy.

    Book preview

    Andromache - Jean Racine

    cover.jpg

    ANDROMACHE

    BY JEAN RACINE

    TRANSLATED BY ROBERT BRUCE BOSWELL

    eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4889-9

    ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4888-2

    This edition copyright © 2013

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    INTRODUCTION TO ANDROMACHE.

    CHARACTERS.

    ACT I.

    ACT II.

    ACT III.

    ACT IV.

    ACT V.

    ANDROMACHE.

    A TRAGEDY.

    INTRODUCTION TO ANDROMACHE.

    In this tragedy, which made its appearance in 1667, there is a more intricate plot than is usual in Racine's plays, and it offers a greater variety of character and motive. Love, jealousy, friendship, conjugal fidelity, maternal tenderness, anger, and despair are all portrayed with skilful touches; and if the language is that of the French Court of the seventeenth century, the natural emotions of the human heart, the same in all ages, show themselves plainly under the mask of conventional mannerism.

    Racine has taken the subject of his drama from the third book of Virgil's Æneid, ll. 291-322, and the Andromache of Euripides, but has modified the ancient tradition so far as to make Hector's son Astyanax the object of the heroine's solicitude, instead of Molossus, the fruit of her subsequent union with Pyrrhus.

    CHARACTERS.

    ANDROMACHE, Widow of Hector, Captive of Pyrrhus.

    PYRRHUS, Son of Achilles, King of Epirus.

    ORESTES, Son of Agamemnon.

    HERMIONE, Laughter of Helen, betrothed to Pyrrhus.

    PYLADES, Friend of Orestes.

    CLEONE, Friend of Hermione.

    CEPHISSA, Friend of Andromache.

    PHŒNIX, Tutor of Achilles, and afterwards of Pyrrhus.

    ATTENDANTS of Orestes.

    The scene is laid at Buthrotum, а town of Epirus, in а hall at the Palace of Pyrrhus.

    ANDROMACHE.

    A TRAGEDY.

    ACT I.

    SCENE I. ORESTES, PYLADES.

    ORESTES. Yes, since I find again a friend so true,

    My fortune 'gins to wear another face;

    Already seems her wrath to have been soothed,

    Permitting us to meet each other here.

    Who would have thought that this detested coast

    Would first present you to Orestes' eyes;

    And, lost six months and more, you should be found

    Where in Epirus Pyrrhus holds his court?

    PYLADES. Thanks be to Heav'n, that has detain'd my steps

    So oft, and seem'd to shut me out from Greece,

    Since that disastrous day when winds and waves

    Scatter'd our vessels almost in the sight

    Of this Epirus. How I mourn'd and wept,

    Myself an exile, for Orestes' fate;

    Dreading for him ever some danger new,

    Some sorrow that my friendship could not share!

    That melancholy most of all I fear'd

    Which I have seen so long your soul o'ercloud;

    I fear'd that Heav'n might grant you cruel aid,

    And offer what you ever sought,—a tomb.

    But now I see you, and, if I may dare

    To say it, happier fortune brings you here:

    This stately train that on your steps attends

    Looks not like that of wretch who seeks his death.

    ORESTES. Alas! Who knows what fortune is my guide?

    Love bids me seek a cruel mistress here;

    But I am ignorant of Fate's decrees,

    Whether 'tis life or death that I shall find.

    PYLADES. Is then your soul so bound in slavery,

    That for Love's sake alone you care to live?

    What spell constrains you to those fires again,

    The tortures you have suffer'd all forgot?

    Will she, who would not listen to your pray'rs

    At Sparta, in Epirus prove more kind?

    Ashamed of having utter'd vows so vain,

    You should despise her; speak no more of her.

    Your words deceived me.

    ORESTES. I deceived myself.

    O'erwhelm not, friend, a wretch who clings to you:

    Have I from you e'er hidden heart's desire?

    You knew my flame fresh born, my earliest sighs:

    When Menelaus pledged his daughter's hand

    To Pyrrhus, the avenger of his race,

    You witness'd my despair; since then you've seen

    How I have dragg'd my chains from sea to sea.

    I saw you, pitying my forlorn estate,

    Ready to follow me where'er I went;

    Checking my madness in its wild career,

    You saved me from myself from day to day.

    But when, distracted by my fears, I thought

    Hermione was lavishing her charms

    On Pyrrhus, well you know how, fill'd with wrath,

    I strove to make forgetfulness repay

    Her scorn. I made you

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