About the work
Iphigénie is a five-act tragedy in verse by Jean Racine, first performed on 18 August 1674 in the Orangerie at Versailles as part of the royal festivities marking the conquest of Franche-Comté. After the near-contemporary subjects of Britannicus, Bérénice, Bajazet and Mithridate, Racine here returned to an ancient, mythological theme.
Plot
Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter Iphigénie to the goddess Artemis so that the Greek fleet can sail for Troy, and lures her to the camp at Aulis under the pretext of a marriage to Achilles. When the deception comes to light, Iphigénie faces death, while the captive Ériphile, herself secretly in love with Achilles, works out of jealousy to thwart her rescue. Only a twist concerning Ériphile's own identity resolves the conflict without Iphigénie's death.
Cultural significance
Iphigénie was a great success at court and with the public, and was revived triumphantly at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in December 1674. Eclipsed in the nineteenth century by Romantic drama, the play is again regarded as one of Racine's most accomplished tragedies for combining the ancient sacrifice motif with a precisely drawn psychology of jealousy.