In Questioning the Racinian Tragedy, John Campbell challenges analyzes of Phèdre that simplistically map Jansenist belief onto the play, or make assumptions about the intention of the play. the author as “a difficult amalgam of theology, biography and tragedy” (153). Campbell views the conventional Jansenist reading of Phèdre, which generally understands the play as unequivocally manifesting a religious preoccupation with tragic fate and human fallibility, as producing a Racinian "corpse" (154), meaning a singular reading excluding the possibility renewed interpretations. Given the paucity of biographical information that would clarify the extent of Racine's Jansenist influence and the ongoing debates regarding the relationship between this information and artistic production, how can we situate Racine's biography and his relationship with Port -Royal? This article argues that Jansenism can still give rise to intriguing interpretations of Phaedrus if scholars accept the inevitable limitations of religion or biography as explanatory tools. Instead, using the frameworks and evidence of biography and Jansenism, Phaedrus' contradictions should be explored rather than obscured in the interest of an authoritative reading. Therefore, where Campbell, in his chapter "The Question of God", believes that the question at hand is whether Jansenism is truly an organizing principle of Racinian tragedy, this article sets aside questions which seek a unique historical truth and reads Phèdre with concern about the contradictions that a Jansenist reading can generate. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayA clear example of how an examination of the text can produce simultaneous support and rejection of the Jansenist belief in Phaedrus is found in the conditions and consequences of Phaedra's sin. Phèdre's "crime" is often seen as evidence of Racine's allegiance to Jansenism, as his tortuous psychological experiment reflects the Jansenist emphasis on individual suffering. Phaedra's dialogue and the way in which her laments toward Oenone, Theseus, and Hippolyta are solely concerned with her inner turmoil demonstrate "an attitude of indifference toward the world and its institutions" (Sedgwick 198). Scholars have argued that the character Phèdre maintains a distant relationship with the action of the play, initiated by other characters (Short 39-40). When Phèdre tells Theseus, “My only desire must be solitude” (Racine 456), alongside his threats of suicide against Oenone, the reader is repeatedly reminded that Phèdre's isolation could alienate him from the world completely ( and the room). This reality speaks to the Jansenist ideal that spiritual investigation and conflict is a highly personal quest, rather than mediated by institutions or communities. While this textual evidence indicates a Jansenist disconnect from society, Phèdre's suffering is simultaneously a connection to society, which undermines a Jansenist reading. Phèdre's "bitter secret" (Racine 454) is that she is on the verge of both adultery and incest. In fact, Racine describes his feelings as "illegal passion" (446), showing that Phèdre's crime can only be understood as a product of the law. The pandemonium created in Phèdre's psyche by the prospect of transgressing social institutions reveals a momentous deference to these institutions. The law appears as a moral authority in the play, in contradiction with the Jansenist priority attributed todivine authority and the desire to prioritize “the interests of the individual above the interests of society” (Sedgwick 196). In the past, Jansenist followers prioritized the well-being of the individual, even the good of the religious community of Port-Royal (Sedgwick 197), and were so "preoccupied with their own lives" (Sedgwick 198 ) that they refused to get involved. with the state or the Church at a time when other religious groups were in bitter conflict with these institutions. However, Phèdre's suffering results in part from her recognition of the suffering and dissolution that submission to her passion will bring to society and family if she transgresses the taboos of incest and adultery. We see that Phèdre, particularly in this problem of what the suffering of the tragic heroine means and how it is experienced, contains both the seeds of readings for and against the Jansenist interpretation. Racinian scholarship that reproduces the canonical consensus of Phaedrus as a recitation of Jansenist morality must evade contradiction in order to preserve such a reading. Short's analysis of Phaedra, which is a conventional interpretation giving Phaedra the most importance of all the characters and making her struggle almost entirely internal, contains two moments of recognition that the play may not adhere entirely to this canonical explanation. First, he notes that there is a distinct lack of "a true monologue in which a character explores a state of mind" (Court Court 33). Second, Short contextualizes Phaedra's passion, recognizing that it is incestuous because "the world in which the events of the play take place" (36) defines it as such. Here, Short has the opportunity to examine how the conventions of the play (the absence of a monologue) contradict the well-received idea that Phaedra is an isolated character, and how social conventions (the law) precipitate Phaedra's understanding of his own transgression. . However, in these two cases, the analysis chooses to neglect the potential for alternative readings that these observations pose. Short is only "surprised" (33) at Racine's choice not to use a monologue and ultimately considers Phèdre's crime as entirely "in itself" (37), choosing to pass over the contradictions in silence in order to preserve standard exegesis. This omission of incongruity seems to be the cause of Campbell's frustration with the way Racine has been transformed into a lifeless "corpse" (154). The denial of the contradiction in favor of a coherent view of Phaedrus as demonstrating a Jansenist worldview was legitimized. primarily by invoking biographical evidence of Racine's association with the religious sect. Worthen's introduction to Phèdre asserts confidently that Racine's "education at Port-Royal played a decisive role in his intellectual life and during his career as a playwright" (444), and encourages new readers to interpret Phaedrus through the “philosophical approach”. themes of Jansenist belief” (444). When textual evidence appears to contain incongruities (as Short observes), rare biographical facts are usually used as additional evidence that allows the idea that Racine wrote a Jansenist play to prevail. But do these fragments of biography really confirm a Jansenist reading? Although historical support is limited, there is a more troubling hypothesis that a "pervasive influence" (Worthen 444) of a religion only means that the beliefs of that religion are then transmitted through the artistic expression of the author . Using this model, researchers assume that if Racine was at one time a Jansenist, then his,. 1977. 193-207.