Evolution of Pierre Corneille's dramaturgy from the middle of his life to his last plays

高乃依偏爱浪漫主义，或者我们可以说，巴洛克风格。在他追求戏剧事业的同时，他开始寻求更新他的戏剧艺术，即使在他写了古典名著之后。1643年底，他创作了《庞培之死》，古典形式的悲剧，从人物的心理来看，这确实是一部浪漫主义戏剧。他的浪漫主义倾向在乔治·库顿称之为“怪物三部曲”的戏剧中表现得非常明显：罗多贡、西奥多和赫拉克利乌斯。剧作家在他的“考试”中认识到，他更喜欢罗多贡，而不是中国或勒熙德。的确，这出悲剧写得很好，尤其是在第五幕中，由一杯毒药在人手之间传递而引起的恐怖感占据了主导地位。在弗朗德时期，高乃依出版了三部戏剧，与前几部一样浪漫，但它们与当时的政治气候密切相关。在《唐·桑奇·阿拉贡》中，他为安妮·德·奥特里谢和马扎兰之间的关系辩护，这一丑闻正在世界上流传。相反，《尼科米德》是一部歌颂康德的悲剧，康德是弗朗德的英雄。帕尔撒里特建议反叛的孔戴与王权和解。1659年，他带着与索福克勒斯截然不同的戏剧作品《俄狄浦斯》重返剧场。后来，他写了几部戏剧，我们可以将其定义为婚姻和政治悲剧，其中的主角都是通过婚姻来夺取权力的：Othon， Agesilas和Attila。他在这些戏剧中的戏剧手法反映了法国社会的变化。王权的加强不允许贵族再诉诸暴力。我们在他晚年的戏剧中看到一种悲观主义，使我们想起拉罗什富科的人生观。

Corneille has a preference for the romantic, or we could say, the baroque, at bottom. As he pursuits his dramatic career, he begins to seek to renew his dramatic art, even after he has written classical masterpieces. At the end of 1643, he presents La Mort de Pompee, tragedy in classical form, which really is a romantic play, judging from the psychology of the characters. His inclination for the romantic is displayed very strikingly in the plays which Georges Couton calls "trilogie des monsters" : Rodogune, Theodore, and Heraclius. The dramatist recognizes in his "Examen" that he prefers Rodogune to Cinna or to Le Cid. Indeed, this tragedy is well composed, especially, in the fifth act, where dominates a feeling of terror, aroused by the cup of poison that passes from hand to hand. In the time of the Fronde, Corneille publishes three plays, being as romantic as the preceding ones, but which are strongly connected with the political climate of the period. In Don Sanche d'Aragon, he defends the relations between Anne d'Autriche and Mazarin of which a scandalous rumor is circulating in the world. On the contrary, Nicomede is a tragedy where he exalts Conde, hero of the Fronde. And Pertharite suggests the reconciliation of the rebellious Conde with the royal power.In 1659, he returns to the theater with OEdipe, whose dramaturgy is quite different from that of Sophocles. Later, he writes several plays which we can define as matrimonial and political tragedies, where the protagonists have exclusively recourse to marriage to seize power : Othon, Agesilas, and Attila. His dramaturgy in these plays reflects the changes of the French society. The strengthening of royal authority does not permit the aristocracy to resort to violence any longer. We remark in the plays of his old age a pessimism that reminds us of La Rochefoucauld's view of life.