Guilt and Extenuation in Tragedy : Variations on Racinian Excuses.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 Approaches to Guilt in Tragedy and Life -- 2 Performance -- 3 Words -- 4 Phèdre -- Chapter 1 Helplessness -- 1 Fatalism in Racine -- 2 Agamemnon -- 3 The Seventeenth Century -- 4 Divine Authority -- 5 Genetic Determinism -- 6 The Sense of the Inevitable -- Chapter 2 Flaws, Errors and Excuses: Theories of Hamartia -- 1 Aristotle -- 2 Flaw versus Error -- 3 Renaissance and Pre-Classical -- 4 Racine -- 5 Hamartia Re-Assessed -- Chapter 3 Ignorance -- 1 Theories -- 2 Oedipus at Thebes and at Colonus -- 3 Deianeira -- 4 Hercules, Agave and Others -- 5 Credulity - Macbeth and Others -- 6 Phèdre -- 7 Oedipus Revisited -- Chapter 4 Diminished Responsibility: Medea and the Crime passionnel -- 1 Euripides -- 2 Early-Modern and Modern Medeas -- 3 Corneille -- Chapter 5 Provocation: The Defence of Clytemnestra -- 1 Racine -- 2 Twentieth-century France: Giraudoux and Sartre -- 3 Marguerite Yourcenar -- 4 Jean Anouilh -- 5 Jean-Jacques Varoujean, Jean-Pierre Giraudoux -- Chapter 6 Saul, King of Israel, as Tragic Hero in French Drama -- 1 Jean de la Taille -- 2 Pierre du Ryer -- 3 Augustin Nadal -- 4 Voltaire -- 5 Alphonse de Lamartine -- 6 André Gide -- Chapter 7 Scapegoats: Passing the Buck to Snakes, Partners, Parents and Others -- 1 Parents -- 2 Teachers, Advisors, Counsellors -- 3 Spouses and Other Partners -- 4 Devils and Demons -- Bibliography -- Index of Names and Subjects -- Index of Plays.

This comparative literary study re-evaluates French tragedy's impact on current approaches to guilt and extenuation. Focussing on Racine but ranging widely, it sheds original light on tragic archetypes through the lenses of performance theory and modern attitudes towards blame.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.