« Cet amour est ardent, il le faut confesser. » La tragédie de l’amour excessif et de l’attachement dans Bérénice

Abstract

The deeply tragic nature which lies in the lovers’ discourse in Bérénice becomes all the more apparent and clear if the reader values Racine’s Augustinian education. In the first book of De doctrina christiana, Augustine treats human love in the light of the distinction between the use of things (uti) and the enjoyment of things (frui), thus firmly differentiating how one must love God and how one must love men. This paper demonstrates that Titus and Bérénice completely disregard the Augustinian hierarchy and order in love, and that the consequences they bear are much more tragic than the political impediment to their marriage. Such a hypothesis highlights Racine’s lyrical and elegiac poetic background and shows how the tragedy questions this love poetry, giving a truly pure and intense picture of passion bordering on idolatry, which appears less desirable and even dangerous.

Keywords

• Racine
• Saint Augustine
• morals
• love
• Port-Royal
• tragic