La représentation de l'espace théâtral à l'âge classique : les vues théoriques confrontées à la dramaturgie racinienne dans Esther

The classical drama theory in France reduces the properly dramatic space (classical unity). The tragedy is supposed to take place in close boundaries defined by the proportion of the proscenium. The concentration to which the drama tends in the second half of the 17th century in France results from the considerable reduction of the role assigned to the imagination. D'Aubignac's major Pratique du théâtre builds up the conception of the classical drama on the criterion of verisimilitude. Nevertheless we show that the imagination is not as strictly dominated in dramatic récit. The analysis demonstrates the imbrication of constituent elements of dramatic language and the way how they construct the real unity of dramatic space in Racine's Esther.