Polyeucte by Pierre Corneille

First produced: 1642; first published, 1643 (English translation, 1655)

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Tragedy

Time of plot: 250 c.e.

Locale: Melitene, Armenia

Principal characters

• Félix, Roman governor of Armenia
• Pauline, his daughter
• Polyeucte, his son-in-law, an Armenian nobleman
• Néarque, Polyeucte’s friend
• Stratonice, Pauline’s friend
• Albin, Félix’s friend
• Sévère, a Roman warrior, in love with Pauline

The Story:

Pauline, daughter of Félix, the Roman governor in Melitene, has been married fourteen days to Polyeucte, an Armenian nobleman. Terrified by dreams that seem to portend her husband’s death, she vainly seeks to delay his departure on a secret mission, the nature of which is known only to his friend, Néarque. She relates her fears to her friend, Stratonice, and tells her of her earlier love for Sévère, a Roman of high birth whom her father would not allow her to marry because of Sévère’s lack of fortune. When Emperor Decie had appointed Félix governor of Armenia, she had accompanied him and dutifully married an Armenian nobleman of her father’s selection. Meanwhile, they had heard that Sévère had met a hero’s death while aiding the emperor in battle against the Persians. According to the report, the young Roman’s body has never been found.

Pauline has dreamed that Sévère is not dead, but rather threatens her husband’s life; that a band of impious Christians had thrown Polyeucte at the feet of Sévère, and that she, Pauline, crying out for aid from her father, has seen Sévère raise a dagger to pierce Polyeucte’s breast. Her fears are further stirred when her father approaches and says that Sévère is alive and is at that moment entering the city. It seems that the king of Persia, struck by Sévère’s gallantry, had reclaimed the body from the battlefield to gain the Roman an honorable burial. Miraculously, life had been restored to Sévère and the Persians had sent him to Rome in exchange for royal prisoners. Thereafter, his greater deeds in war had bound him closer to the emperor, who had sent him to Armenia to proclaim the good news of his victories and to make sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods.

His love for Pauline is what really brings Sévère to Armenia. Sévère, informed by his servant that Pauline is married, decides that life is not worth living and that he would rather die in battle. First, however, he will see Pauline. When they meet, she tells him that if hers alone had been the choice she would, despite his poverty, have chosen him. She is married, however, and she will remain loyal to the husband whom she has learned to love. Pauline and Sévère say farewell to each other, he ready to die in battle, she to pray for him in secret.

Polyeucte returns from his mission, on which he had been secretly baptized a Christian. Ordered by a messenger from Félix to attend the sacrifices in the temple, he and Néarque plan to defy the idolatry of the worshipers there. Pauline tells him of Sévère’s visit but adds that she had obtained his promise not to see her again. Stratonice, a witness at the temple sacrifices, hurries to Pauline with the news that Polyeucte has become a Christian, a traitor to the Roman gods. He has mocked the sacred mysteries and, with Néarque, declared that their god alone is the almighty king of earth and heaven. This defilement, Félix declares, would cost Néarque his life, but he hopes Polyeucte might come to his senses and recant after witnessing the punishment and death of his friend.

When Albin, the friend of Félix, brings news that Néarque is dead, he adds that Polyeucte had witnessed his execution undismayed. Pauline, reminding her father that Polyeucte is his choice and that in marrying him she had but fulfilled her filial duty, begs him to spare his life. Félix, fearing the thunderbolts of his gods and Sévère as well, refuses to listen when Albin urges that Polyeucte’s sentence be left to the emperor. Besides, he is tempted by the thought that Polyeucte’s death would allow Sévère to wed his daughter and thus he would gain for himself a far more powerful protector than he now has. Meanwhile, Pauline visits Polyeucte in jail with the plea that if he must worship his chosen god he should do so silently and secretly, and thus give Félix grounds for mercy. To her importunings Polyeucte replies that he is done with mortal ties, that he loves her, but loves his God more.

Polyeucte calls for Sévère and tells him that even as his wedding had parted the true love of Sévère and Pauline, so now by dying he hopes to bring them happily together. He hopes also that they will die Christians. Declaring himself ready for death, he is marched off by his guards. Sévère is amazed at this example of magnanimity, but his hopes are shattered when Pauline tells him she could never marry him, that it would stain her honor to wed anyone who, even innocently, had brought Polyeucte to his sad fate. She begs him, however, to try to save her husband from the death her father has ordered. He consents, if for no other reason than to prove to Pauline that he could equal her in nobility and thus be worthy of her.

Félix, although he regards this intervention on behalf of a rival as a trick to expose him to the full strength of the emperor’s wrath, makes one last effort to sway his son-in-law. He tells Polyeucte that only on Sévère’s account has he publicly taken his rigid stand and that he himself will adopt Christianity if Polyeucte will only pretend to follow the old gods until after Sévère has left the city. Polyeucte refuses. Angered, Félix said he will avenge his gods and himself. When Pauline enters, Polyeucte commands her to wed Sévère or die with him as a Christian.

Again, Pauline pleads for Polyeucte’s life, and again, Félix is moved to make another attempt to persuade Polyeucte to abjure his new faith, but to no avail. Bidding farewell to Pauline, Polyeucte is marched out to death by Félix’s order. Pauline rushes out after him, lamenting that she, too, will die if he were to die. Félix orders Albin to deter her but issues his order too late; Pauline sees her husband executed. Seeing him die, she feels that his death has unsealed her own eyes, acting as a divine visitation of grace. She declares herself a Christian, ready for death.

Sévère upbraids Félix for Polyeucte’s death and threatens retaliation. Félix, suddenly yielding to a strange feeling that overcomes him, declares that his son-in-law’s death has made him a Christian. This sudden conversion strikes Sévère as miraculous. He orders Félix to retain his position of authority, and promises to use all his persuasion to urge Emperor Decie to revoke his cruel commands and to let all worship the gods of their choice without fear of punishment.

Bibliography

Abraham, Claude. Pierre Corneille. New York: Twayne, 1972. An excellent introduction to Corneille’s plays that includes an annotated bibliography of important critical studies. Discusses the meaning of divine grace and the extraordinary evolution of Pauline.

Ekstein, Nina. Corneille’s Irony. Charlottesville, Va.: Rookwood Press, 2007. A detailed examination of the use of irony in Corneille’s plays, describing the different types of irony he employs and how each functions in specific plays.

Harwood-Gordon, Sharon. The Poetic Style of Corneille’s Tragedies: An Aesthetic Interpretation. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989. Examines the rhetorical brilliance of key speeches in Polyeucte and other tragedies by Corneille. Explores the emotional and religious arguments that should cause audience members not to question the sincerity of Pauline’s conversion to Christianity.

Longstaffe, Moya. Metamorphoses of Passion and the Heroic in French Literature: Corneille, Stendhal, Claudel. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999. Maintains that the works of Corneille, Paul Claudel, and Stendhal share a common aspiration for human dignity. Compares the writers’ treatments of the ideal of the heroic and the relationship between men and women.

Margitic, Milorad R. Cornelian Power Games: Variations on a Theme in Pierre Corneille’s Theatre from “Mélite” to “Polyeucte.” Tübingen, Germany: Narr, 2002. Analyzes Corneille’s first twelve plays, including Polyeucte, showing how each demonstrates a particular strategy of power. Margitic concludes that Corneille’s universe is a highly manipulative and political place and his characters are complex and changing.

Muratore, Mary Jo. The Evolution of the Cornelian Heroine. Potomac, Md.: Studia Humanitatis, 1982. Examines the differences between idealistic heroines, such as Pauline, and unsympathetic female characters, including Cleopatra and Medea. Questions the sincerity of Pauline’s religious conversion after her husband’s martyrdom.

Nelson, Robert J. Corneille: His Heroes and Their Worlds. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963. Explores the evolving nature of heroism for Corneille’s male characters. Discusses the political and psychological opposition between Polyeucte and Sévère.

Pocock, Gordon. Corneille and Racine: Problems of Tragic Form. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1973. Analyzes the formal structure of Polyeucte and explores the problematic nature of the conversion of Pauline and Félix after Polyeucte’s execution. Examines the rhetorical effectiveness of key speeches in the tragedy.