In looking at each play of Corneille I have tried to
respect the values of the world of the work, not to judge
them according to another set of values. I do not mean
to imply that the world of a given play bears no resem-
blance to the world from which and for which it draws
its examples of character and action. As Bénichou has
insisted, one must be aware of the aristocratic milieu for
which Corneille wrote. But respect for the values of the
world of a play has led me to look at those values, what-
ever their historical reference, from one end of the play
to the other, from the beginning of a world to its end.
In following a given plot, I have been concerned not to
lift out examples of this or that value, but to consider
these examples in the context of the developing and con-
cluding action. I have been especially concerned to under-
stand the world in which a certain conception of the self
has been imperiled, to see whether the peril to this con-
ception has been or even could be real in the world of
the play.

The world of Corneille is ordinarily thought of as the
world of the political tetralogy: Le Cid, Horace, Cinna,
Polyeucte. This, it is assumed, is the way things are in
Corneille: a world of nobles torn by conflict between love
and duty set against the political realities of an ascendant
or established monarchy. The heroes of this world are
truly heroes: exceptional protectors of values, defenders
of the state, although the state is identified with them-
selves. Not unexpectedly, the historical echoes here of
the heroes Corneille knew and of the world in which

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