Jean Racine (December 22, 1639 – April 21, 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the "big three" of 17th century France (along with Molière and Corneille). Racine was primarily the tragedian, though he did write one comedy.

Natural inside La Ferté-Milon (Aisne), Racine was orphaned in his youth & was given the authoritative education courtesy of his grannie. He was the graduate of Port-Royal, a religious institution which would greatly influence more contemporary numbers including Blaise Pascal. He was required to learn theology, however favorite to devote himself to the theatre, & moved to Paris. His 1st tragedy, La Thébaide (1664) and its successor, Alexandre (1665), both experienced authoritative themes, however he was already starting disceptation, ingesting offence at a accusation that he was polluting a minds of his audiences. He broke 100% ties using Port-Royal, & proceeded using Andromaque (1667), which told the story of Andromache, widow of Hector, and her fate below a Trojan War. He was by currently getting numbers of competitor, including Pierre Corneille and his brother, Thomas Corneille. Tragedians typically competed by having guide versions of the equivalent plot: for instance, Michel le Clerc produced an Iphigénie in the same season when Racine (1674), and Jacques Pradon's Phèdre (1677). A profits of Pradon's act (the symptom of the activities of a [http://tinyurl.com/bbkyt claque]) was one of a cases which driven Racine to renounce his act as a playwright at that period.

But, a major incident which seems to own contributed to Racine's departure from either public life was his implication around the court scandal of 1679. He wed at just about this period, & his religious beliefs & devotion to the Jansenist sect were revived. Whenever ultimately he returned to a theatre, it was at the asking of Madame de Maintenon, mistress of King Louis XIV, with a moral fables, Esther (1689) and Athalie (1691), both of which were according to Old Testament stories and arranged for performance per pupils of the convent of Saint-Cyr.

Racine's function faced several criticisms from either his coeval. A single was a want of historic veracity around plays like Britannicus (1668) and Mithridate (1673), which, to those acquainted a plays of Shakespeare, might seem irrelevant. Racine was apostophy test to point out that his greatest critics - his rival dramatists - were among a large wrongdoer in that respect. A second major criticism levelled at him was a deficiency of incident inside his tragedy, Bérénice (1670). Racine's response was that a greatest tragedy doesn't necessarily consist within bloodshed & demise.

A quality of Racine's poetry is peradventure his greatest contribution to French literature. His have of the alexandrine is classic in its harmony, simplicity & elegance.

Jean Racine died inside 1699 and is buried in the St. Etienne-du-Mont memorial park around Paris, France.

Works

Ode sur la convalescene du roi, 1663 La renommée aux muses, 1663 La thebaïde, ou les frères ennemis, 1664 - The Thebans, or The Enemy Brothers Alexandre le grand, 1665 - Alexander the Great Andromaque, 1667 - Andromache Les plaideurs, 1668 - The Litigants Britannicus, 1669 Bérénice, 1670 - Berenice (daughter of Agrippa I) Bajazet, 1672 Mithridate, 1673 - Mithridates Iphigénie, 1674 - Iphigenia Phèdre, 1677 - Phaedra Œuvres, 1679 Esther, 1689 Athalie, 1691 - Athaliah