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 ENG255 / HUM241
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Racine's (and Euripides') Iphigenia
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One of the more unpleasant stories about Agamemnon was that when he had gathered the ships of all the Greek armies at Aulis, ready to sail for Troy, unfavorable winds kept the fleet from departing. Agamemnon had offended the goddess Artemis, and he was told that he could placate the goddess and get favorable winds only if he sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia. Some variants of the story say he did; some say he didn't. Some say that although he offered Iphigenia as a sacrifice, Artemis took pity and substituted a deer for the girl. Artemis took Iphigenia to Tauris, where she became a priestess. Euripides, a classical Greek playwright, wrote two Iphigenia plays, one about her sacrifice at Aulis, and another about her years in Tauris. |
In seventeenth century France, Racine retold the story of Iphigenia at Aulis, modifying the ancient Greek story with neoclassical French sensibility. The Greek army is gathered at Aulis, the winds are unfavorable, Agamemnon is told to sacrifice his daughter. He waffles, saying he will, saying he won't. Ulysses pressures him into doing it, because the army would rebel if he did not. Agamemnon sends a letter to his wife, Clytemnestra, asking her to send Iphigenia to Aulis, where he will marry her to Achilles (who knows nothing of this). Then Agamemnon tries to send another letter, telling them not to come, but it is too late.
Iphigenia arrives and finds out what is in store for her. She is an amazingly dutiful daughter, and is willing to die for her father and the Greek cause. She is taken to be sacrificed, but at the end a messenger comes, saying that she had disappeared from the altar, and been replaced by a deer.
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| Explore the links below |
BOOK (refer to Online Booksellers if you can't find
a print copy of Racine's Iphigenia locally.)
- Iphigenia, Phaedra, Athaliah: Three plays by Racine. Translated by John Cairncross. Penguin, 1970. An inexpensive paperback version.
ETEXTS (I have not found an etext of Racine's Iphigenia in English)
- Dictys and Dares on Iphigenia: This is my synopsis of the ways that Dictys and Dares retell the Iphigenia story.
- Iphigenia: This is chapter XI from The Warden by Anthony Trollope, wherein a young woman considers self-sacrifice (metaphorical) to help her father.
- Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides: Downloadable e-text with discussion forum, search engine and links to book purchases. From MIT.
- Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides: Translated by E. P. Coleridge. This version has a clear font that is easy on the eyes.
- Iphigénie en Aulide (1674): etext in French.
Select textes and then scroll down to Racine and then to the
play.
- Phaedra by Racine: An English translation by Robert Bruce Boswell.
ESSAYS AND REVIEWS
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FILM
- Iphigenia: (at Aulis). Directed by Michael Cacoyannis; reviewed by Carl Bennett (writing as David Waich).
IMAGES
- The Anger of Achilles: 19th c. French painting by Jacques-Louis David; includes narrative about the scene based on Racine's Iphigenia.
- Cimon and Iphigenia: 17th c. Dutch painting with a brief narrative of the story from Boccaccio.
- Creating French Culture: The Rise and Fall of the Absolute Monarchy: Grand Siècle and Enlightenment (second half of the 17th -- end of the 18th centuries). A series of images with explanatory text from the period of Louis 14 (The Sun King) and later.
- Iphigenia: Narrates the story of Iphigenia, especially using material from Hyginus. Some lovely images are included.
- Iphigenia: Images and narrative from the Rijksmuseum. Slow loading, but nice images.
- Iphigenia, Princess of Diana: a lovely marble bust by
Michel Slodtz (b. 1705, Paris, d. 1764, Paris)
- The Sacrifice of Iphigenia: by Tiepolo (1757).
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