"Brulé de mon amour, enchanté de mes yeux": Billard’s Polyxène and the End of War

• In Event: Reproach, Disagreement, Resistance in Literary Fictions

Abstract

Claude Billard’s Polyxène tells the story of the Trojan woman who is sacrificed on Achilles’ tomb at the close of the Trojan War. Performed in 1607, Billard’s drama draws from ancient sources including Seneca and Euripides. Distinguishing Billard’s Polyxène from these ancient models, however, is an emphasis on romantic passion and desire. In Billard’s play, Achilles’ ghost demands Polyxène’s sacrifice not only as a tribute to his valor, but also as the object of his desire. Similarly, Polyxène dies not only as an exemplar of Trojan honor, but also as a woman consumed with passion. In this paper, I argue that Billard’s Polyxène figures passion as force that disrupts political agreement at the end of the Trojan War. Using Billard’s drama as a point of departure, I also explore how the discourse of romantic desire interrupts the official discourse of political reconciliation in the aftermath of the French religious wars.

Author

• Anna Rosensweig, University of Rochester