VOLTAIRE’S OEDIPE: A CRITICAL STUDY

Abstract

Oedipe was not only the first play of Voltaire’s to be performed, it was also the first work of any kind which he had published. It is of interest as it is the first literary milestone in the career of this author whom many believe to be the embodiment of the spirit of his century, and whose output was both copious and varied. Furthermore Oedipe was the most successful first play of any French playwright and its first run brought Voltaire more money than any previous French playwright had ever received for the first run of any tragedy. Therefore the play is of interest as an example of its genre, and in it can be seen some faults the accentuation of which was to lead to the death of classical French tragedy. The following is an examination of some of the more interesting aspects of Voltaire’s Oedipe. Considerations of time, space and available material preclude any attempt at an exhaustive treatment of the subject, but it is hoped that the general outline has teen sketched. Throughout this work “Oedipus” is used to refer to the play’s main character in general and when dealing with the Greek and Latin versions οf the legend; "Oedipe” is used to refer to the main character in French plays. The text used is that of the Moland edition of Voltaire’s Oeuvres complètes; arabic numbers in references to this text refer to the number of the lines concerned, the lines having teen numbered from. 1 to 1408.1 Frequent reference has teen made to the Lettres sur Oedipe” which precede, and the "Variantes” which follow the text in the Moland edition. References to Voltaire’s correspondence are also numerous and refer to the Besterman edition. The editor's name is abbreviated to Best. in footnotes.