The normative aesthetic of the French Classicism highlights the beauty of grand passions and great feelings in an antithetical combination with the necessity of respecting the social norms and the voice of reason. The creation of great works of art in this period is tightly connected with the context and environment of seventeenth century France: the political system, the development of the culture and the language.
Not only did they manage to flourish the cultural world, but they also accomplished the creation of lasting pieces of art which still have an impact on the contemporary audience and which influenced the next generations of artists. I believe that these forms of art are still able to make their audiences feel, think and, above all, lead them to live a more fulfilled life.
As stated before, the absolute monarchy system in the person of Louis XIV had a massive influence in literature, the king being seen as the central power and the savior of a nation: in Moliere’s La Tartuffe final scene, the all-seeing king manages to save everybody with a decree which punishes the villain, the play ending happily thanks to the authority of the king. Moreover, in Racine’s Phedre , the absence of the king provokes turmoil in the political system.
At the same time the tragedy of passions is caused by the political opportunity generated by the King Thesee’s presumed death: Phedre’s shame for admitting her feelings to Hyppolite and being rejected or Aricie being used as a political trophy to ensure the king’s dominance and power. Moreover, the dramatic conflict of the play is fueled by the political game of gaining the power, this way “the politics furnishes the frame and the center within and around which the drama of passions develops.
Thus, it can be seen that the political system resembles the centralized monarchy sustained by Louis XIV, but the play is more dramatic in the way that Racine brings together the political and the personal, the struggle between reason and passion. In addition, it seems that in the end, in Phedre, the balance is restored with the return of the king who has adopted Aricie, proving his kindness and integrity.
The figure of the king always had to be the one of a right, powerful man, without whom the country would perish, showing that Louis XIV’s domination was visible even in literature, approving pieces of art which would influence his subjects. The use of language in Phedre is phenomenal: Racine uses a more restrained speech, using appropriate words that still manage to show his characters’ ferocious passions and, in Phedre’s case, her imprudence. Even though in the beginning of the play, she would rather die than speak about her shame, she is constrained to confess her love to Hyppolite to her nurse.
Not long after, she will confess her love to Hyppolite even if she does not intend. Her main purpose was talking to him about the situation caused by his father’s disappearance, but her speech deviates to her true passion, confessing her love. The language even show the true desperation of the eponymous character when her diplomatic barrier is destroyed and “she switches dramatically from vous form of address to tu”. The symmetry between the beginning and the end of the play is striking: Phedre starts with her silence and she returns to it when she “abandons life and language ltogether at the end of the play. ”
Racine’s language is the instrument that creates and fuels the inner conflict in his characters. In addition, Louis XIV’s reign has brought an evolution in literature by expanding the genre spectrum, in opposition to his repressive centralization. This occurred from the idea of a “literature to cover new dimensions of social relatedness”. Even though Louis XIV used the development of art as a strategy to gain international recognition of the French culture, he allowed writers to be more daring in their creations and to interact more with the society.
The art world has become more open to the public. Ever since the seventeenth century, Racine’s tragedies never cease to amaze their readers, their influence is visible. Numerous translators tried to mirror in other languages the beauty of Racine’s writing. One recent English translation of Phedre was released in 2000 and won an award in 2001, almost 350 years after Jean Racine has himself released his masterpiece. The translations of the great works of literature have enabled people all over the world to read them.
Even though Phedre depicts the royalty class and the world of politics, I believe that it shows that tragedy does not bypass them either. Most readers can relate to Phedre when she fell in love with the wrong person who did not reciprocate her feelings, but the dramatic effect consisted of her death when she chose to kill herself. Her shame was too large for her to bear. I strongly believe that these great works of art of the French Classicism shows us that the readers are not alone in the world, that their problems do not only occur to them, but that they have been present in history for a very long period of time.
I think that the works of art prove that, despite the social hierarchy, people are still not very different and they suffer the same when it comes to love. To conclude, the great works of art created during the French Classicism in the seventeenth century were generated by their connection with the political system, culture and evolution of the language at the time. These masterpieces would not have been able to materialized, had it not been for Louis XIV’s centralization or his interest and influence in the work of arts.
Even though most of them depict characters in a higher social class such as royalty or aristocracy, they still have the necessary power to resonate with everybody, regardless of their social rank. These forms of art have continued to exist and will continue to do so because each one of them holds a different kind of message that will impress someone. And their importance lays in the fact that we are still studying Phedre and any other piece of literature of the time.
