ABSTRACT
Pierre Corneille's characters exhibit a clear awareness of their contradictions in order to begin with a critical commonplace: contrary to those of Racine, who are frequently deluded and self-deceived. They are lucidly aware of psychological conflict. Reflection leads to a resolution of their dilemmas, a clear recognition of the deed to be undertaken. The resultant action taken, the agent recognizes himself or herself in it, accepts it as his or her own. In the political tragedies, Corneille typically represents societies in crisis or decline. The leading characters no longer, for the most part, will the supreme good that will unify them psychically, give meaning to their actions, and make them transparent to themselves and to others. The agents lose their grasp of moral values in the light of which to live, but also the grasp of their own feelings and their own moral capacities. Lucidity as to their own motives and actions becomes precarious.
