Manipulating martyrdom: Corneille's (hetero) sexualization of Polyeucte.(Pierre Corneille)

Publication: The Modern Language Review

Publication Date: 01-APR-04

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The article offers a reappraisal of one of Pierre Corneille's masterpieces, Polyeucte (1643). This tragedy departs radically from the dramatist's named sources, more so than in any other of his works. It is argued here that the plot is altered in order to avoid any potentially subversive readings. There is an obvious political agenda--the monarch is not criticized at any point--but an overlooked factor may be a desire to neutralize the suggestion of homoeroticism. Thus, the play represents an apologia for Christian marriage and intimate relations between the sexes. This manipulation amounts to the portrayal of a heterosexualized hero, far removed from a virgin-martyr stereotype, and from the saint's legend as presented in standard narratives.

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Since its creation in the season of 1641-42, Pierre Corneille's martyr-play Polyeucte has generated widely differing interpretations, more so than any other work by the playwright. The debate that first surfaced among Corneille's contemporaries, focusing on the orthodoxy of the tragedy's central theme of martyrdom, still continues to divide critical opinion. Thus, Andre Gide confidently asserts that Polyeucte 'se comporte en revolutionnaire bien plutot qu'en chretien', whereas Henry Carrington Lancaster observes the contrary: 'if [Polyeucte] disobeys the emperor, it is not because he is politically rebellious'.(1) In common with other portrayals of martyrs, some commentators have cast the tragedy's hero as a dubious manifestation of a suicidal fanatic, while others have detected a Christian apologia for the doctrine of grace. (2) This long-standing and ongoing discussion centring on problematic theological implications has tended to overshadow other aspects of the tragedy. The combination of the religious and sexual tensions that underpin the work, particularly with respect to the representation of friendship and marriage, is an essential factor contributing to the play's originality. Corneille's martyr creation is radical in its presentation of a sexualized saintly hero, a fact best illustrated by comparing details in Polyeucte with those presented in any of the sizeable number of martyr tragedies that had already appeared in Paris and the provinces in the preceding four decades. (3)

Corneille distinguishes himself from other martyr dramatists through his selection of an obscure martyr, one whose details would not be readily known to spectators, and a saint who is not even mentioned in the Legenda Aurea. (4) This is not the case with other martyrs dramatized until that point, typically the familiar characters of popular veneration such as Catherine and Eustace. This provides the obvious advantage of allowing authorial manipulation, and the extent of this is demonstrated in the 'Abrege', where a synopsis of the original legend is detailed. Corneille acknowledges his source as the tenth-century author Simeon Metaphrastes, whose work was revised by the late sixteenth-century hagiographers Surius and Mosander. (5) It is striking that Corneille's paraphrased narrative of Polyeucte's martyrdom bears scant resemblance to the plot of the subsequent tragedy, and John Cairncross does not exaggerate when he notes that 'in chalking out his plan, Corneille started with the substantial advantage of having invented almost all the details. No other tragedy of his owes so little to his sources.' (6) The original account highlights the intensity of the friendship between Polyeuct and Nearchos, with the latter fearing persecution 'non pour la crainte des supplices dont il estoit menace, mais pour l'apprehension qu'il eust que leur amitie ne souffrit quelque separation ou refroisissement' ('Abrege', sig. [e3]R). Significantly, Pauline, Polyeucte's wife, only merits a passing reference when her father delegates her to implore her husband to recant his new faith. (7) This version of Polyeuct's death has little in common with Corneille, who, after providing this account, adds:

Voila en peu de mots ce qu'en dit Surius. Le songe de Pauline, l'amour de Severe, le baptesme effectif de Polyeucte, le sacrifice pour la victoire de l'Empereur, la dignite de Felix que je fais gouverneur d'Armenie, la mort de Nearque, la conversion de Felix et de Pauline, sont des inventions et des embellissemens de Teatre. ('Abrege', sig. [e3]v)

These are more than cosmetic amendments, for these seven details are crucial constituents of the drama. This effective reinvention of the legend is a justifiable enterprise in Corneille's eyes, since, as he explains in the Examen, saints' tales are only worthy of 'une croyance pieuse'. (8) The meticulous reference to his sources, and the admission of the remoulding of the story, do not provide any evidence as to the motives behind these changes. Corneille endeavoured to design a martyr-hero who conformed to his personal conception of sanctity, which arguably did not see any incongruity between physical love and religious fervour.

The passionate friendship shared by Polyeuct and Nearchos in Metaphrastes and other sources is diluted in the tragedy. While Nearque does encourage Polyeucte towards his conversion, it is his wife's dream that propels him to make the final, irrevocable commitment to faith. Polyeucte emerges as the dominant force of the pair, a portrayal that destroys any notion of equality, the essential cement of perfect friendship. David Halperin points out that heroic male comradeship excluded any hint of subordination on the part of one friend to another. (9) The fear that homosexual relationships could undermine traditional notions of hierarchy is a deep-rooted and recurring theme throughout history. In this connection, it is interesting that John Boswell argues that Polyeuct's legend presents an ideal of comradeship capable of varied readings:

Although the point of the story was manifestly to appeal to Christians in the face of Roman persecution, it may have evoked particular enjoyment for those sensitive to romantic relationships (or special friendships)with a party of the same gender, particularly since both men were soldiers, and there was a widespread and ancient Hellenistic connection between homoeroticism and the military. In Metaphrastes' version, Polyeuct is specifically said to have embraced death for love of Nearchos. (10)

Boswell suggests that, to certain readers, the original tale could serve as a positive marker of sexual difference. Corneille's alterations certainly strengthen the heterosexual element, and the pairing of the two men is ruptured. This raises the question of the dramatist's awareness of possible subversive readings of the source account. Sexual identity was not recognized or formulated during this period and there is an understandable reluctance to refer to homosexuality when identifying sexual behaviour before the nineteenth...

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