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CORNEILLE, PIERRE (1606–1684)

CORNEILLE, PIERRE (1606–1684), French dramatist and theoretician. Often considered the first major modern French playwright, Corneille was born and raised in Rouen, in Normandy, where his father was a lawyer. Little is known about his early life, except that he was a good student who studied law, but supposedly practiced only briefly. In 1625 his brother Thomas, who became a popular and respected (although now mostly forgotten) playwright, was born. Pierre's first play, Mélite, a comedy of manners, was staged in Paris in either 1629 or 1630, and during the next few years he wrote a number of comedies, including the fanciful L'illusion comique (1635–1636), and enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Richelieu. In 1637 his most famous play, the tragicomedy Le Cid, was performed; it was immensely popular with audiences and yet drew critical controversy.

The proponents of the newly emerging classical aesthetic in the 1630s criticized many of the "irregularities" in the popular play and strove to reduce its influence and prevent it from serving as a precedent for imitators. During the "Quarrel of Le Cid," critics found that the duels and the battle with the Moors stretched the credibility of the unity of time (one day), the various scenes set around the city stretched the unity of place (one locale), and the presence of the king's daughter (L'Infante) who loved Rodrigue was considered a subplot, thus destroying the unity of action (one plot line). The play mixes the genres of tragedy (death) and comedy (marriage) in a tragi-comedy, a popular form that classicism rejected. Also, the play was set in medieval Spain, that is, in a Christian context, whereas the rules of classicism held that tragic actions should be set in pagan times, ideally in ancient Greece or Rome.

In Corneille's play the young Rodrigue and Chimène love each other but are torn apart by their duty to family. In order to avenge the honor of his frail father, Rodrigue fights a duel (to the death) with the offender, who is Chimène's father. Rodrigue kills him and discovers that Chimène, despite her continued love, which she keeps secret, seeks either justice from the king or revenge from other suitors. The Moors attack, and Rodrigue, showing great skill in battle, saves the country and is recognized by the enemy as the leader, "le Cid." The king is satisfied that Rodrigue has risked his life and served his people, but Chimène still publicly seeks revenge. For her to acquiesce would be to lose honor. The king finally allows one decisive duel between Dom Sanche and Rodrigue; Rodrigue is again victorious, but he spares the life of his opponent. The play ends with plans for a marriage between Chimène and Rodrigue one year later, after she can grieve her father's death and Le Cid can further serve his country.

Corneille's next play, the more technically unified tragedy Horace, was performed in 1640, followed by Cinna (1641) and a Christian tragedy Polyeucte (1642–1643); these four plays formed the traditional group of his masterpieces that were esteemed in theaters and classrooms for three centuries. In 1641 Corneille married Marie de Lampérière, and the couple had six children. After several failed attempts, he was elected to the French Academy in 1647. Throughout the 1640s he was a fairly prolific playwright (Le Menteur, 1643; Rodogune, 1645; and several less successful works). In 1651, however, after the failure of his tragedy Pertharite, he renounced the theater for eight years. In 1660 he published an edition of his complete plays, which included three "Discourses on Dramatic Poetry" in which he explained contemporary stage theory. The plays he wrote in the 1660s and 1670s had varying success, but they did not equal his earlier triumphs. His last work was a tragedy, Suréna, in 1674. He spent the final years of his life working on another edition of his theatrical works, and on a translation of the De Imitatione Christi by Thomas à Kempis (1379 or 1380–1471).

Le Cid shows many distinguishing elements found in Corneille's other great works (Horace, Cinna, Polyeucte). The characters are torn by an internal division between duty (to family, country, or religion) and love. Because they choose reason and honor rather than succumbing to passion, the characters are praiseworthy, yet they are somewhat remote and inhuman in their renunciations. The poetry is noble and memorable, often quoted by critics and writers who nonetheless praised the dramatic techniques of the younger Jean Racine (1639–1699), who adhered more strictly to the tenets of classicism and whose characters were all too human, renouncing reason for their passions. It was Corneille, however, who gave French theater heroes whom the public could admire rather than pity.

See also French Literature and Language; Racine, Jean.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

Corneille, Pierre. The Chief Plays of Corneille. Translated by Lacy Lockett. Princeton, 1957.

——. Œuvres complètes. Edited by Georges Couton. 3 vols. Paris, 1980–1987.

Secondary Sources

Carlin, Claire L. Pierre Corneille Revisited. New York, 1998.

Clarke, David. Pierre Corneille: Poetics and Political Drama under Louis XIII. Cambridge, U.K., 1992.

Greenberg, Mitchell. Corneille, Classicism and the Ruses of Symmetry. Cambridge, U.K., 1986.

Hubert, Judd D. Corneille's Performative Metaphors. Charlottesville, Va., 1997.

Lyons, John D. The Tragedy of Origins: Pierre Corneille and Historical Perspective. Stanford, 1996.

Mallinson, Jonathan J. The Comedies of Corneille. Manchester, U.K., 1984.

Nelson, Robert J. Corneille: His Heroes and Their Worlds. Philadelphia, 1963.

Schmidt, Josephine A. If There Are No More Heroes There Are Heroines: A Feminist Critique of Corneille's Heroines, 1637–1643. Lanham, Md., 1987.

ALLEN G. WOOD