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threat hanging over Troy. Clytemnestre leaves Iphigénie, who still takes her father's side, and waits for her husband. Agamemnon eventually appears, blaming her for her daughter's delay. When Iphigénie enters in tears, he realizes that they know everything. Iphigénie pleads for her life with restraint, nevertheless piercingly reminding her father that her pleas are made for the sake of others – her mother and her betrothed – rather than herself. In turn
Clytemnestre vents her wrath upon Agamemnon, condemning his barbarity and inhumanity in being so easily swayed to spill his innocent daughter's blood. Finally Achille calls him to account, barely containing his fury. In a heated exchange, Agamemnon defies Achille's attempts to question the personal actions of a king and commander, saying that he must share responsibility for Iphigénie's fate as one of the soldiers pushing to leave for Troy and hinting that his services are not indispensable. Achille counters, saying that Iphigénie is more important to him than the Trojan war, that the bond forged with her could not be so easily broken and that he would do all in his power to defend her. Achille's threats only serve to harden Agamemnon's resolve to sacrifice Iphigénie; however, instead of ordering the guards to fetch her, he finally decides to save her, but solely so he can choose another husband for her and thus humiliate Achille. He instructs Clytemnestre that she must secretly leave the camp with Iphigénie and flee from Aulis, under protection of his own guards. Instead of following them, Eriphile vindictively decides to reveal all to the high priest Calchas.
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Perplexed by his motives, she nevertheless accedes to his wishes. Achille appears to inform
Agamemnon of his good news and of the high priest Calchas' predictions of favourable winds. He promises to Iphigénie that he will give Eriphile her liberty as soon as they are married. Arcas arrives to announce that Agamemnon has summoned Iphigénie to the altar, revealing to the horror of all that is she who is to be sacrificed. Clytemenestre entrusts her daughter to Achille and rushes off to petition the king. Achille vents his rage at being used as a pawn by Agamemnon and vows to be avenged, while Iphigénie nobly rises to the defense of her father. Prevented from entering the king's presence, Clytemnestre implores Achille to help, but Iphigénie prevails upon him to wait until Agamemnon is obliged to fetch her in person and is pierced by the extreme suffering of his wife and daughter.
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an uncontrollable passion for him, feeling she has either to separate him from Iphigénie or take her own life. Iphigénie confides to
Eriphile her unease at her reception: Achille's absence and Agamemnon's cold evasiveness, telling her only that she will be present at the sacrifice currently in preparation. Clytemnestra, outraged after having at last received her husband's message from Arcas, tells Iphigénie that they cannot stay, Achille having reportedly chosen not to marry her because of Eriphile. Distraught with grief at her cruel and vicious betrayal by Eriphile, Iphigénie leaves dejectedly on being discovered by Achille. In turn astonished and confused by her presence in Aulis, Achille expresses his dismay at the efforts of the Greek leaders to prevent his marriage. Smitten by jealousy, Eriphile resolves to profit from this confusion.
264:, Agamemnon entrusts his servant Arcas with a message to prevent the visit of his wife Clytemnestre and daughter Iphigénie, summoned by him supposedly for Iphigénie's marriage to Achille but in truth for her sacrifice to the goddess Diana: the oracle has pronounced that only after the sacrifice of Iphigénie will the gods unleash the becalmed winds needed to carry the Greek ships to Troy. Having doubts about his duplicitous scheme, Agamemnon's message now tells of Achille's withdrawal from the planned marriage. Achille, unaware of these events, cannot be dissuaded from his wish to marry Iphigénie and leave for Troy, even though it has been predicted that he will die there. In Achille's absence, Ulysse convinces Agamemnon that his daughter's sacrifice is necessary to avenge the honour of
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leaves her, still resolved to defend her. Her mother's entreaties are met with a similar response; she departs to make her own way to the sacrificial altar. Clytemnestre is beside herself with grief and despair, conjuring up the god of thunder at the end of her apocalyptic invocations. Arcas comes to fetch her on behalf of
Achille, who with his soldiers has interrupted the sacrifice; but then Ulysse arrives to reassure Clytemnestre that her daughter has been saved as the result of an unexpected miracle. At the moment that Achille and the other Greeks were facing each other for combat, the high priest Calchas revealed that, according to the oracle, Eriphile, the secret daughter of
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424:; and higher up in the basins were even more basins, adorned with large gold statues. The avenue came to an end at the back of the theatre where tents linked up to those covering the orchestra. And beyond that was the avenue of the Orangerie itself, bordered on both sides by orange and pomegranate trees, intermixed with several porcelain vases filled with different flowers. Between each tree there were large candelabras and gold and azure
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set up. It was decorated as a long verdant avenue along which fountains were interspersed with small delicately crafted rustic grottos. Porcelain vases filled with flowers were arranged on the balustrades crowning the entablature. The basins of the fountains were carved from marble, supported by gilt
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After Their
Majesties had taken refreshments in a copse to the sound of violin and oboes, all the tables were left to be cleared away ; and the king, having climbed back into his carriage, departed, followed by all his court, to the end of the avenue leading to the Orangerie, where a theatre had been
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Clytemnestre announces to
Agamemnon that she and her daughter will no longer leave, since Achille has convinced them of his sincerity and his wish for an immediate marriage to Iphigénie. After his attempts at discouragement fail, Agamemnon forbids her to accompany Iphigénie to the sacrificial altar.
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Eriphile discloses her troubled state to her confidante Doris: she will never know the secret circumstances of her high birth that would have been revealed in Troy according to Doris' father, killed during the overthrow of Lesbos; and, far from hating the conquering
Achille, she has been overcome by
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In her despair Iphigénie, prevented from leaving the city and forbidden ever again to speak to
Achille, feels that sacrificial death is the only choice left. Achille arrives to offer her the support of his troops. She continues to defend her father and insists on the need for her sacrifice. Achille
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The plight of Iphigénie only serves to increase
Eriphile's envy of her: Achille's efforts to save her; Agamemnon's continuing hesitation despite the secrecy of the sacrificial victim's name. She decides to reveal everything she has heard in order to sow more trouble and discord, thus averting the
379:' face, Clytemnestra's tears of despair, and finally Agamemnon, his face masked by a veil to conceal his sensitive nature from his generals, but by this means to show nevertheless the extent of his grief. In the play Arcas relates to Clytemnestra that at the moment of Iphigenia's sacrifice
319:, was also called "Iphigénie" and it was she whom the gods had required to be sacrificed. Eriphile then stabbed herself on the altar, her death being immediately followed by a cosmic cataclysm: lightning, thunder, winds, motions of the waves and a pyre of flames in which the goddess
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in his celebrated "Theatrical
Practice", published in 1657 and annotated by Racine. He wrote that in order to depict the sacrifice of Iphigenia one should imitate the different degrees of grief amongst those present: the sadness of the Greek princes, the extreme affliction on
194:, the morally strongest character in the play is not Agamemnon, a pusillanimous leader, but Iphigénie, driven by duty to father and country to accept the will of the gods. In the final sacrificial scene of Euripides' play, the goddess
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and for the eternal glory of Greece. The arrival is announced of Clytemnestre and Iphigénie with Eriphile, a young girl in their charge, captured by Achille on the island of Lesbos, an ally of Troy: the message has not reached them.
206:, Racine decided upon an alternative dramatic solution for the ending: another princess Ériphile is revealed to be the true "Iphigénie" whose life is sought by the gods and thus the tragic heroine of the play is spared.
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and the gate appeared to be wrought in gold. In the theatre, decorated as just described, the royal troupe of actors performed the tragedy of
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the latest work by Monsieur Racine, which received from the entire court the approval which has always been accorded to this author's plays.
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herself appeared. Clytemnestre leaves to join her now reconciled family and future son-in-law, thanking the gods for this deliverance.
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There are detailed contemporary reports of the first performance at Versailles. André Felibien, secretary of the
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With Iphigénie, Racine returned once again to a mythological subject, following a series of historical plays (
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During the 17th century, the legend of Iphigenia was popular amongst playwrights. The lost painting of
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bearing crystal candlesticks, lit with numerous candles. This avenue ended with a marble portico. The
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was one of the most celebrated representations of the sacrifice of Iphigenia from antiquity, to which
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At dawn in the Greek camp at Aulis, where the Greek fleets are moored in wait for a campaign against
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all made reference. The aesthetic impact of the painting was such that it was even cited by the
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Although a great success when it was first produced, Iphigénie is rarely performed today.
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Fresco of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Pompeii. 1C AD Roman copy of 4C BC painting by
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substitutes a deer for Iphigenia, who is swept through the heavens by the gods to
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The play is set in Aulis, in the royal tent of Agamemnon.
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of architecture, recorded his impressions in a booklet:
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391:Ou pour cacher ses pleurs, s'est voilé le visage.
402:Or to cover his tears, wore a veil on his face.
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184:As in the original version of the play by
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387:Le triste Agamemnon, qui n'ose l'avouer,
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138:, home of the royal troupe of actors in
242:Aegine, lady-in-waiting to Clytemnestre
233:Ériphile, daughter of Helen and Theseus
523:(English translation by J. Cairncross)
466:in 1774, was based on Racine's play.
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350:copied in a first-century fresco in
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1059:Works based on Iphigenia in Aulis
1044:Plays based on works by Euripides
230:Iphigénie, daughter of Agamemnon
114:. It was first performed in the
1064:Cultural depictions of Achilles
534:Complete text of play in French
227:Clytemnestre, wife of Agamemnon
454:The German classical composer
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245:Doris, confidante of Ériphile
130:to celebrate the conquest of
124:Divertissements de Versailles
939:(1699, Desmarets and Campra)
903:The Killing of a Sacred Deer
1039:Plays set in ancient Greece
236:Arcas, servant to Agamemnon
202:. Based on the writings of
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539:Facsimile of original text
503:Iphigenia/Phaedra/Athaliah
21:Iphigenia (disambiguation)
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462:, first performed at the
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110:by the French playwright
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896:Bash: Latter-Day Plays
853:The Songs of the Kings
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181:, King of the Greeks.
16:Tragedy by Jean Racine
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291:The anger of Achilles
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968:Iphigénie en Tauride
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169:). On the shores at
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960:Ifigenia in Tauride
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878:Alcmaeon in Corinth
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460:Iphigénie en Aulide
295:Jacques-Louis David
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709:Iphigenia in Aulis
588:Alexandre le Grand
482:Éditions Gallimard
480:. Folio Editions.
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576:Jean Racine
464:Paris Opéra
442:Iphigénie,
438:lapislazuli
360:Quintillian
148:Britannicus
112:Jean Racine
53:Jean Racine
1034:1674 plays
1023:Categories
658:Mithridate
595:Andromaque
470:References
293:(1819) by
213:Characters
166:Mithridate
120:Versailles
59:Characters
49:Written by
1054:Agamemnon
834:Iphigenia
815:Iphigénie
757:(brother)
749:Aegisthus
737:Agamemnon
730:'s family
728:Iphigenia
720:Euripides
637:Iphigénie
478:Iphigénie
458:'s opera
450:Influence
430:pilasters
426:guéridons
344:Timanthes
337:Timanthes
218:Agamemnon
204:Pausanias
186:Euripides
179:Agamemnon
128:Louis XIV
116:Orangerie
103:Iphigénie
79:Iphigénie
63:Agamemnon
41:Iphigénie
29:Iphigénie
1069:Odysseus
769:(sister)
763:(sister)
745:(mother)
739:(father)
616:Bérénice
377:Menelaus
280:Act III.
250:Synopsis
239:Eurybate
154:Bérénice
83:Ériphile
888:Related
863:Trilogy
761:Electra
755:Orestes
609:Bajazet
602:Athalie
434:cornice
422:tritons
352:Pompeii
301:Act IV.
273:Act II.
221:Achille
196:Artemis
160:Bajazet
89:Setting
67:Achille
1005:(1779)
928:Operas
837:(1977)
818:(1674)
788:Operas
665:Phèdre
630:Esther
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356:Cicero
317:Thésée
313:Hélène
308:Act V.
258:Act I.
224:Ulysse
200:Tauris
71:Ulysse
994:Plays
845:Novel
807:Plays
346:from
321:Diana
171:Aulis
140:Paris
94:Aulis
826:Film
712:and
513:ISBN
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262:Troy
175:Troy
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