French playwright Jean Racine wrote Andromaque in 1667. Its first performance was at the Hôtel de Bourgogne that same year on 17 November for the Queen of France. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... Jean Racine. ... // Events January 20 - Poland cedes Kyiv, Smolensk, and eastern Ukraine to Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo that put a final end to the Deluge, and Poland lost its status as a Central European power. ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ...

Euripides' and Virgil's versions are the sources for Racine's play. After the Trojan War, in which Achilles killed Hector, the latter's widow, Andromache is taken prisoner and serves as a slave to Achilles' son Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus is supposed to marry Hermione, daughter of the Spartan king Menelaus. A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ... A sculpture of Virgil, probably from the 1st century AD. For other uses, see Virgil (disambiguation). ... This article is about the mythological Greek war. ... The Wrath of Achilles, by François-Léon Benouville (1821-1859) (Musée Fabre) In Greek mythology, Achilles, also Akhilleus or Achilleus (Ancient Greek ) was a hero of the Trojan War, the central character and greatest warrior of Homers Iliad, which takes for its theme, not the War... Hector brought back to Troy. ... Andromache grieves the loss of Hector In Greek mythology, Andromache was the wife of Hector and daughter of Eetion, sister to Podes. ... Pyrrhus can be: Pyrrhus or Neoptolemus, son of Achilles Pyrrhus of Epirus, king of Epirus in the 3rd century BC This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Hermione may refer to: A daughter of Menelaus and Helen in Greek mythology; see Hermione (mythology). ... Sparta (Doric: Σπάρτα, Attic: Σπάρτη) is a city in southern Greece. ... This article is about Menelaus the king of Sparta. ...

The structure of Racine's play is an unrequited love chain: Orestes loves Hermione, who wants to please Pyrrhus, who loves Andromache, who thinks only of her dearly beloved husband Hector and her son, Astyanax. The arrival of Orestes at the court of Pyrrhus unleashes a violent undoing of the chain. The importance of the theme of gallantry is a holdover from Racine's previous work, Alexandre le Grand. His subsequent works gradually purify the tragic element until it reaches its zenith with Phèdre. Orestes Ορεστης is a Greek name, literally he who stands on the mountain, or mountain-dweller. Orestes can refer to: In Greek mythology, the son of Agamemnon. ... In Greek mythology, Astyanax (Greek Ἀστυάναξ, prince of the city) was the son of Hector and Andromache. ... Phèdre was a 1677 play by Jean Racine, based on both the play Hippolytus by Euripides, and a later Roman play Phaedra by Seneca the Younger. ...

Unlike the majority of Racine's plays, Andromache has never gone out of vogue, and the tragedy is among the most venerable works of the Comédie Française's repertory. It is also the most often read and studied classicist play in French schools. Jacques Rivette's four-hour film L'Amour fou centers around rehearsals of a production of Andromaque. Comédie-Française, late 18th century Interior view, late 18th century The Comédie-Française or Théâtre Français is the only state theater in France. ... Classicism door in Olomouc, The Czech Republic Teatr Wielki in Warsaw Church La Madeleine in Paris Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicist seeks to emulate. ... Jacques Rivette (born March 1, 1928) is a French film director. ... Lamour fou is a 1969 movie directed by Jacques Rivette. ...

Summary of the play

Act 1: Orestes, Greek ambassador, arrives at the court of Pyrrhus to convince him on behalf of the Greeks to put Astyanax to death, for fear that Hector's son may one day avenge Troy. Pyrrhus refuses at first, then, upon being rejected by Andromache, he threatens to turn Astyanax over to the Greeks. Walls of the excavated city of Troy Troy (Ancient Greek Τροία Troia, also Ίλιον Ilion; Latin: Troia, Ilium) is a legendary city, center of the Trojan War, described in the Trojan War cycle, especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. ...

Act 2: Orestes speaks to Hermione, who agrees to leave with him if Pyrrhus allows it. However, Pyrrhus, heretofore uninterested in Hermione, announces to Orestes that he has decided to marry her, and that he will give him Astyanax.

Act 3: Orestes is furious over having lost Hermione for good. Andromache begs Hermione and Pyrrhus to spare her son. Pyrrhus agrees to reverse his decision if Andromache will marry him. She hesitates, unsure of what to do.

Act 4: Andromache resolves to marry Pyrrhus in order to save her son, but intends suicide as soon as the ceremony is over, so that she remains faithful to her late husband Hector. Hermione asks Orestes to avenge her scorn from Pyrrhus by killing him.

Act 5: Hermione regrets asking for Pyrrhus' death, because she loves him. Before she can cancel her request, Orestes appears and announces that he has completed the mission she has charged him with. She thanks him with insults. Orestes becomes crazed because of a curse placed upon him by the Furies, and Hermione kills herself. In Greek mythology the Erinyes (the Romans called them the Furies) were female personifications of vengeance. ...

Wikisource

• Andromaque