Poétique tragique et pensée politique: La mise en scène de la souveraineté dans l'Œdipe de Voltaire

Abstract

Written in 1718, only three years after Louis XIV's death, Voltaire's Œdipe reflects on the legacy of kings. The play draws a parallel between King Laïus and the Greek hero Hercules, both of whom, having died shortly before the start of the dramatic action, are often evoked but only through memory. Instead, their spiritual successors embody their legacies. By incorporating the surprising presence of Philoctète—a character absent from the Oedipus myth of the Ancients—Voltaire suggests that heroism, rather than royalty alone, makes a lasting contribution to society. With this addition, the playwright creates an oppositional structure where Philoctète becomes Hercules's heir and a virtuous contrast to the doomed Œdipe. The play questions the supremacy of the royal figure by challenging royal representations of monarchical legacy. Voltaire returns to this contrast between heroic virtue and an illusory prestige in two later plays, Mahomet and Sémiramis.