Cléopâtre captive

Cléopâtre captive is a five-act tragedy by Étienne Jodelle, presented on 9 February 1553, first before the King Henri II of France in the Hôtel de Reims, then at the Collège de Boncourt. The play is part of the posthumous collection Les Œuvres et meslanges poetiques d’Estienne Jodelle Sieur du Lymodin (1574). Remy Belleau played the role of Cleopatra, Jean Bastier de La Péruse, that of Octavian. It was the first "tragédie humaniste ()", and Jodelle composed it in parallel with the first "humanist comedy", L'Eugène ().

The performance was a success, and was followed by a celebration in the antique manner in Arcueil, bringing together all participants and friends for a party known as the Pompe du bouc ().

Jodelle was the first to use alexandrines in a tragedy (acts I and IV), but he also resorted to decasyllables (acts II, III, V). In the choirs, he resorted to various meters: some verse have only three syllables.

The subject is taken from Plutarch (Life of Antony). The action is reduced: the play tells the decision to die taken by Cleopatra and its implementation.

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