ჟან რასინის „ესთერის“ პოეტიკის ბიბლიური მოტივები

Abstract

The article presents a literary and philosophical analysis of the biblical motifs of the play “Esther” by Jean-Baptiste Racine, a pro­minent representa­tive of European classicism, an outstanding French playwright of the 17th century. Despite the fact that in the era of classicism, the representation of antiquity was considered the standard and norm, Racine was able to convey biblical passages in his drama "Esther" with high artistic skill and introduced innovative ideas both in terms of content and form. The work discusses the poetic language and vocabulary of Jean Racine, excerpts of biblical passages from the text of the tragedy "Esther" and expressions that echo the theological thought from the Old Testament book of Esther. In this play, the author conveys biblical passages without breaking the content against the back­ground of his contemporary 17th century era of absolutism, poli­tical-social tension. The Old Testament source of Racine's tragedy "Esther" is seen as an alle­gory representing the relationship between the church and God accor­ding to some Christian biblical scholars. The nuances of the text of the book of Esther, which are taken from the Old Testa­ment, as well as all the actions of the main character of Racine's drama, Esther, are loaded with biblical symbolism, the verses are filled with the spirit of the Bible with tropical thinking. This play is recognized as the culmination of Racine's theatrical art, because the author manages to combine the ancient legacy of tragedy in poetry, with the magical melody of opera and the strictest religious morality, and all this in full compliance with Aristotle's precepts. The scientific novelty of the article is the intertextual and comparative analysis of the poetics of Racine's play "Esther" with the works of famous Georgian writers (For example: “The Knight in Tiger Skin” by the greatest Georgian world-class poet Shota Rusta­veli, “Didmouraviani” by Joseph Tfile­li (XVII century), King of Imereti Archil, Teimuraz I King of Kakheti etc.), which will be im­por­tant for a better understanding biblical aspects of the poetics of Racine's "Esther" and in this regard, for presenting the similarities between European classicism and the common problems of the Georgian classics of the same era. The article discusses and evaluates the literary-religious re-understan­ding of history based on Old Testament motifs by Jean Racine, which he perfectly presented in his drama "Esther" with the elements of ancient theo­ries of classicism and an amazing synthesis of biblical passages. He intro­duced innovative ideas in both the form and content of this work and added new life to the tragedies of the era of European classicism.