Le Cid [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION When Le Cid was first performed in Paris, late in 1636 or in the early months of 1637, Pierre Corneille was already an established playwright although none of his nine previous works had met with outstanding success. Of these, all but one were comedies, closer in style and tone to Shakespeare's romantic comedies than to those of his great contemporary, Moliere. The one tragedy, Médée, closely modelled after Seneca's version, was not a success, perhaps because Corneille's need to hew closely to the well-known plot frustrated his usual exuberance of invention. Le Cid, however, was a tremendous popular hit, combining all the elements calculated to please its aristocratic audience: the pangs of youthful love, heroic derring-do, tender lyricism and violent declamation. The hero and heroine have been compared to Romeo and Juliet, but in the main the resemblances are superficial. The "star-crossed" lovers of Shakespeare are the helpless victims of a family feud; they are youth destroyed by the blindness and unreason of old age. Corneille's lovers too are vibrant, passionate youths, tortured by an inflexible older generation. Chimene's father, Count Gormas, who had hoped to receive the coveted post of tutor to the Prince, is passed over in favor of the older