Esquisse d'une histoire de la tragedie francaise.

What is a protagonist?

“…The most recent and extensive treatment of this gendered aspect is by Nina Hugot (2021) who deals with several heroines, but only in the sixteenth century. Sixteenth‐century drama's predilection for victims was first noted by Gustav Lanson, but without attention to gender (Lanson, 1920, 19). Concerning the seventeenth century, a similar point has been made about the so‐called tragédie historique with Mairet's Sophonisbe (1634) as one of the prime examples, but this subgenre is often limited to the 1630s after which biblical and hagiographical tragedy, supposedly, became more popular with Corneille as a notable exception (Adam, 1962, 544–549).…”

“…(2015). Similarly, Gustav Lanson differentiates early modern French tragedy as opposed to neo‐classical tragedy by its pathetic style and elaboration of an emotional state: ‘[U]n drame pathétique qui tire l'émotion non de la vue directe du fait tragique, mais de la plainte des victims' (Lanson, 1920, 21).…”