University of Oregon

The Iphigenia in Tauris Theme in Drama of the Eighteenth Century

Author(s): Robert R. Heitner
Source: Comparative Literature, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Autumn, 1964), pp. 289-309
Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of the University of Oregon
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 volume xvi
fall 1964

I
number 4

ROBERT R. HEITNER

The Iphigenia in Tauri

Theme in Drama of th
Eighteenth Century

HE SEVENTEENTH century saw a classic achievement in

Racine's treatment of the first part of the ancient Iphigenia legend;
the eighteenth century witnessed an equally classic achievement in
Goethe's treatment of the second part. Between these two landmarks
there were a considerable number of minor dramas about Iphigenia's
adventures among the Tauri,1 with a number of new traits in common.
The first study of these plays was made more than seventy years ago
by Hans Morsch,2 but little has been done since then.3 The present
article undertakes to give a more comprehensive report on the late
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dramas preceding Goethe's
Iphigenie atuf Tauris. The primary aim is to analyze the whole gen-
eral development of the theme and to show how the ancient materials
were reshaped to express the interests and tastes of the new era. The
ways in which Goethe's work differs from Euripides were to a great
1 Dramas on the subject of Iphigenia in Aulis, which are relatively few, will not
be discussed.
2 Hans Morsch, "Aus der Vorgeschichte von Goethe Iphigenie," Viertel-
jahrsschrift fir Litteraturgeschichte, IV (Weimar, 1891), 80-115. Morsch's dis-
cussions are confined to the versions of Lagrange-Chancel, Schlegel, Derschau,
and La Touche. Although the inclusion of many details of action and many quota-
tions of dialogue makes for a lengthy article, Morsch's comments on the four
dramas leave room for additional study.
3 Carl Steinweg, Goethes Seelendramen und ihre franziisischen Vorlagen
(Halle, 1912), deals only with comparisons between Goethe's Iphigenie and Ra-
cine's dramas; Hermann Apelt, "Zwischen Euripides und Goethe," in Goethe.
Neue Folge des Jahrbuchs der Goethe Gesellschaft, XXII (Weimar, 1960), 54-63,
mainly compares Goethe's version with that of La Touche. Apelt does not seem
to have been aware of Morsch's article.

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 COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

extent anticipated in these minor works; Goethe

mination and ultimate refinement of the eighteent
Frangois Joseph de Lagrange-Chancel, in 1697, was
the story of Iphigenia in Tauris to the rules of the
}He approached the subject (which Racine himself
attempting one act)4 with confidence that he could
iar difficulties.5 The plot is better suited to an a
to an exploration into deep human emotions; th
Iphigenia's presence in Tauris as well as Orestes
sued by Furies, put a strain on the credulity of a
Iphigenia's role as a priestess in rites of human
ful and diminishes the regard for the heroine; Orest
hard to reconcile with the demands that an audie
pathetic hero; worst of all, the action is too meager
acts. To solve these problems, Lagrange took larg
the events as presented by Euripides. One great
the focus of the drama away from the melancholy
a sentimental friendship. This is evident in the p
Pilade, ou Iphigenie en Tauride."
Separated by a storm at sea, Orestes and Pylade
when they reach shore, and their reunion after a b
as emotional as the subsequent reunion of the lo
sister. The high point of the action is the scene (IV
claims to be Orestes in order to save the latter from death-this was
obviously inspired by a passage in Cicero's De Amicitia.7 No corre-
4 Racine's fragment was not published until 1747. The salient features intro-
duced by Racine are that Iphigenia's identity is unknown to Thoas; that she was
saved from sacrifice in Aulis by pirates who brought her to Tauris; that Thoas
has a son who is in love with Iphigenia. Thoas disapproves of his son's choice,
declaring that this Greek maiden is a slave and beneath the station of a prince.
The prince is humane and begs for the lives of Orestes and Pylades. The unknown
identity of Iphigenia, her unmiraculous arrival in Tauris, and the introduction
of a love motif correspond fairly well to the new tradition. A son for Thoas is
observed elsewhere only in Stranitzky's version and in the fact that Goethe's
Thoas had a son who was killed.
5 He states in the preface, "I1 y a long temps qu'on auroit vf paroitre sur la
Scene ce sujet, qui est un des plus grands et des plus beaux de l'antiquite, si nos
meilleurs Autheurs avoient crf pouvoir en surmonter les difficultez; mais quand
on est jeune on est toujours temeraire, et l'on est quelquefois heureux..." Fran-
cois Joseph de Lagrange-Chancel, Oreste et Pilade, ou Iphigenie en Tauride, 2nd
ed. (Amsterdam, 1700).
6 Noted by Morsch, loc. cit., p. 103.
7 De Amicitia, in Cicero's Masterpieces, trans. Andrew P. Peabody (Boston,
1912), pp. 20-21: "What shouts filled the whole theatre at the performance of the
new play of my guest and friend Marcus Pacuvius, when-the king not knowing
which of the two was Orestes-Pylades said that he was Orestes, while Orestes
persisted in asserting that he was, as in fact he was, Orestes! The whole assembly

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

sponding attempt is made to ennoble Iphigeni

degenerate into a rather unsympathetic Machtw
priestess had merely consecrated the victim; in
is sensationally pictured as wielding the knife h
compunctions. Her notion of the true nature of
that she fears Diana may be offended because P
from the altar in order to carry a letter home to
sees in Orestes only the murderer of Clytemnestr
to sacrific him in retaliation. All in all, she cedes
ine (for which Lagrange-Chancel presumably th
to a newly invented and more pleasant characte
Thomiris is the rightful heiress to the throne
only recently been usurped by the tyrant Thoas
and humane, indeed it is she who reprimands Ip
that the gods are ever bloodthirsty:
On abuse souvent des supremes sagesses,
Sous ces voiles pompeux nous cachons nos foibl
Ce n'est qu'a ces dehors que nous sacrifions,
Et quelquefois nos Dieux ce sont nos passions.8
(IV, iii)

Even Thoas is no barbarian. Instead of just app

rough-hewn majesty, as in Euripides, Thoas is a
presence pervading the whole play. I-Ie had a ba
sacrifices, which are not an old custom but a drast
lify an oracle which has declared that a certain Or
to rob Thoas of the image of Diana and of his pow
pression that Tauris is a relatively enlightened
porarily blighted by a morally weak tyrant. By th
ing the level of Tauric civilization, Lagrange-C
distinction between Greeks and barbarians wh
sized so strongly. Political and love motifs are
supposed to marry Thomiris, so that his reign
partly legitimate. I-e has fallen in love with Ip
tries to pass Thomiris along to another royal husb
matia. Concern for her country and her rights to
rose in applause at this mere fictitious representation
however, was probably not about Iphigenia, but about
the death of Agamemnon; it was entitled Dulorestes. See Otto Ribbeck, Die
romische Tragidie im Zeitalter der Republik (Leipzig, 1875), pp. 239, 247.
8 This speech is based on one in Euripides' version spoken by Iphigenia herself:
"... and I think / These people, who themselves have a wild joy / In shedding
human blood, their savage guilt / Charge on the goddess." Iphigenia in Tauris,
trans. Robert Potter, in The Complete Greek Drama, ed. W. J. Oates and Eugene
O'Neill, Jr. (New York, 1938), I, 1071.
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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

vate Thomiris to arrange for the escape of Iphigen

and Pylades. Thoas dies trying to prevent this e
has made all the arrangements, no intervention
dess is necessary, as in Euripides. In the further in
tude, little is heard about Iphigenia's miraculou
about the Furies pursuing Orestes-who are o
Thoas' death and the change of government in
the making of a proper tragedy. The morally up
friendship and selfless devotion of the Greek yo
for gallantry is satisfied by the love of Thoas
for Iphigenia. Lagrange-Chancel's innovations had m
the play was printed in 1699. It became, in fact, th
new tradition.
In 1700 a rival Iphigenia appeared in England. The author, John
Dennis, professed little admiration for the French Iphigenie, and
"improved" on it by taking even more startling liberties with the old
material. The most striking innovation of this blank-verse drama is the
transformation of Thoas into a female, a passionate Amazon. Perhaps
it would be more accurate to say that Thoas and Thomiris have been
welded together into one character, with the morals of one and the sex
of the other. This tempestuous queen stands in lurid contrast to
Iphigenia, whom the author, unlike Lagrange-Chancel, has ennobled.
Although she has been in Tauris for twelve years, Iphigenia has been
named priestess only the day before, so that her hands are still
unsullied with human blood. She recoils in horror from her new office
and watches with dread as a ship bearing strangers is buffeted to shore
by a storm. But her confidante reminds her of the bloody history of
the race of Tantalus; Iphigenia cannot expect a better lot in life
than her ancestors had. This reference to the family curse (suggested
by Euripides' version) was to remain unique in eighteenth-century
dramas, until it was repeated in the libretto to Gluck's opera and until,
almost simultaneously, Goethe made the recital of the family history
a prominent feature of his version.
In an effort to dispense with the supernatural, Dennis lets Iphigenia
explain that she escaped immolation in Aulis because her parents put a
veiled slave girl in her place, while she herself was spirited away.
Yet the goddess Diana visits the queen of the Tauri (off stage) and
9 The idea of Thoas' death was probably suggested by a fable of Hyginus, No.
CCLXI, "Facta, ductumne Dianae secundum consuetudinem statutam, humano
sanguine placaret, cognouit fratrem Orestam. qui accepto oraculo carendi sororis
causa, cum amico Pylade Colchos petierat, et cum occiso Thoante simulacrum
sustulit, absconditum fasce lignorum..." Hygini Fabulae, ed. H. I. Rose (Ley-
den, n. d. ), p. 161.

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

orders her to put an end to human sacrifices in the

queen regards this supernatural visitation as a me
a reactionary in her devotion to sacrifices, she is too
in apparitions: "All superstition is below great S
think no more of it" (Act. I) 10 She covers her base a
cloak of enlightened reason, and thus already spe
the evil rationalists in German tragedies of the 17
plications make up most of the action. Orestes fa
unknown sister, and she with him. Pylades also
queen falls in love with Pylades. Lagrange-Ch
Iphigenia's ruse of the ritual washing for the image
nis reinstates this Euripidean feature. When the
big sacrifice scene ensues in the fifth act. The vic
turns out to be Pylades rather than Orestes-an un
of events. Fortunately, Orestes soon dashes in wi
sailors and rebellious Tauri and rescues his friend
ture does Orestes discover that Iphigenia is his s
transfers his affections to the queen, and she to him
now Tauris is forever safe from barbarism. In this remarkable concilia-
tory ending all four principals make the journey back to Greece, and
the queen elects to take the image of Diana along as well. With all its
absurdly sensational dialogue and action, Dennis' Iphigenia is a brave
attempt to make the old story palatable to modern audiences, not on
the sentimental basis of a heroic friendship, which was Lagrange-
Chancel's solution, but on an idealistic basis. All the characters are-
or become-noble and sympathetic, and an optimistic humaneness illu-
minates the conclusion.

Strange as these first new versions may appear, they are restrained
in comparison with the first German version of this period, Joseph
Stranitzky's Tempel Dianae, oder der Spiegel wahrer und treuer
Freundschaft, which was written at an uncertain date in the first
quarter of the eighteenth century.11 This Viennese Haupt- und Staats-
aktion is quite possibly based on an opera text of 1678, Niccolo
Minato's Tempio di Diana in Taurica, which was performed only
once.12 The subtitle of Stranitzky's work, however, suggests acquaint-
10 John Dennis, Iphigenia. A Tragedy (London, 1700).
11 Published in Wiener Haupt- und Staatsaktionen, ed. Rudolf Payer von Thurn,
II. Schriften des Literarischen Vereins in Wien, XIII (Vienna, 1910). Quotations
here are taken from this edition.
12 See Alexander von Weilen, Zur Wiener Theatergeschichte. Die vom Jahre
1629 bis zum Jahre 1740 am Wiener Hofe zur Auffiihrung gelagten Werke thea-
tralischen Charakters und Oratorien (Vienna, 1901), p. 24. There were two other
early operas on the subject. One, produced in Paris in 1704, Iphigenie en Tauride,
with music by Desmarets and Campra, had a libretto by Joseph Francois Duche de

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

ance with Lagrange-Chancel's drama. At any ra

grange-Chancel in choosing the friendship motif
aspect of the material most likely to appeal to his c
influence of operatic style persuaded him to add so
entanglemnents to the plot that its original chief f
sad situation and her poignant reunion with Ore
matters. Although for the sake of thrilling effe
by visible Furies, his crime itself is never mention
The action begins before Iphigenia's arrival,
gloomy land of the Tauri is transformed into a
a merry romp involving a number of somewhat im
sonages. Thoas, a benevolent king, has just built
awaiting the priestess promised by an oracle. Pr
Iphigenia to land; Thoas at once falls in love wit
ceals her identity. These two motifs of love an
have their counterparts in Lagrange-Chancel's v
expectation that a certain Orestes will come to
When Iphigenia finds out about the human sacrific
for the new temple, she exclaims, "Werden dann
opfer denen Gottern angenehm seyn?" (I, vii).
of course, as yet innocent of any blood. As in L
Dennis, there is a second female character, Clari
Thoas, who also loathes human sacrifice and ass
once Orestes is eliminated, the sacrifices will sto
Pylades arrive separately (as in Lagrange-Chanc
love with Orestes; as for Pylades, he had alread
Iphigenia in Greece. To make the situation still
youth nanled Teucrus is in love with Clarice, an
suitor. Iphigenia and Orestes, in this context, are n
other, and their reunion is correspondingly perf
appears determined to prevent the audience from t
gruesome thought of human sacrifice. Thoas him
eager to have Iphigenia sacrifice Orestes. He reasons
she will have forfeited her priestly office and h
her. Although Iphigenia has no intention of slayi
Vancy about which Voltaire wrote in Le Siecle de Louis X
en Tauride est son meilleur ouvrage. II est dans le grand
soit qu'un opera, il retrace une grande idee de ce que les tr
de meilleur." See CEuvres completes de Voltaire (Paris
other was Domenico Scarlatti's Ifigenia in Tauride with t
Capeci (or Capece), produced at Rome in 1713. See Alfr
of Opera 1597-1940, 2nd ed. (Geneva, 1955), I, 111. I have
either of these texts.

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

she does not want to marry Thoas either, and

to parry Thoas' repeated suggestions that sh
celibate office. Such paradoxical situations are t
Haupt- and Staatsaktionen; but Euripides would
nized his plot
The climax is an extremely farcical scene in w
darkness, all the main characters assemble in
each other's identity; when a torch is brough
Clarice are found in the wrong lover's arms. The motif of heroic
friendly strife between Orestes and Pylades is introduced by an
insipidly sentimental scene in which Pylades suggests that they change
garments: "Damit, weillen unsere Seelen vereiniget, auch die Leiber
vereiniget werden, also daB du Pilades und ich Orestes" (III, x). When
this is done, Orestes suddenly feels tired and falls asleep, dreaming of
the Furies. Thus the motif of Orestes' exhausted sleep or swoon joins
the new tradition.13 As in Lagrange-Chancel, Thoas in his confusion
about their identities decrees that both Orestes and Pylades shall die,
but Stranitzky makes the situation still more lurid by having Iphigenia
exclaim that she will die in place of her brother. Only a deus ex machina
can free them from this impasse; and one promptly arrives in the per-
son of an astrologer who quickly sets all to rights. Teucrus cannot
marry Clarice, because he turns out to be Thoas' long-lost son; but
Orestes can marry Clarice and Iphigenia can marry Pylades. Thoas,
good-naturedly accepting a son in lieu of a wife, declares, "So leben
wir dann alle vergniigt" (III, xviii). As in Dennis' version, there is
reconciliation on all sides and a friendly leave-taking. The total lack
of seriousness in the play suggests that the conciliatory ending was intro-
duced by the author less in the interest of humane philosophy than for
the sake of pleasing an audience unreceptive to tragic occurrences.
In 1737 Johann Elias Schlegel, while still a school boy immersed in
the classics, wrote a play entitled Die Geschwister in Taurien. This
he revised in 1742, giving the script a new title, Orest und Pylades,
which announced his awareness of modern developments of the material.
While the original version was never published and is lost, the revised
version of 1742 finally became known to the German reading public in
1761, in Johann Heinrich Schlegel's edition of his brother's works. In
line with the new tradition and in contrast to Euripides, the reunion
scene is not the high point of the drama. Since Pylades reveals to Iphi-
13 In Euripides, the narration of the herdsman includes the detail that Orestes
swoons exhausted after his madness: "But, his frenzy of its force I Abating, on th
earth the stranger falls, / Foam bursting from his mouth ... ... the other youth /
Wiped off the foam .. . .. his sense returned, / The stranger started up..." See
The Complete Greek Drama, I, 1069.

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

genia the identity of Orestes while Orestes is ab

impact of the actual reunion is lessened. Accordin
dramatic moment becomes that of the friendly strif
is the true Orestes. As in Stranitzky, Iphigenia j
be sacrificed in her brother's stead. As in Lagran
wounded in trying to prevent the Greeks from e
reconciled; and Iphigenia is secretive about her b
personally slain various sacrificial victims. Although
reint to her, and she does not believe that the go
feels no guilt because she has acted only under o
ing of Iphigenia's role, however, is effectively coun
attributes to her many finer sentiments and fee
womanly pride. Resentment against Thoas for h
womanly pride motivates Iphigenia to overcome
taste for the deception involved in the Greek's p
Tauris. The emphasis laid on Iphigenia's womanlin
until Goethe made this a major theme of his drama
Another unique feature, also concerning decepti
ing Goethe, is Orestes' false story, told to Iphig
Pylades are Trojans-this is Schlegel's own additi
and was not suggested by Euripides. For the sake of
are informed that Iphigenia came to Tauris by ship
safe departure of the Greeks from Tauris is insured
vention of a goddess, but by something slightly
of oracles. Still, Schlegel was unwilling to give u
pletely. He invented no new female character (excep
substitutes for the ancient chorus), and he eschewe
retained the ritual bathing of the divine image; and
the lead in the plan for escape. In its earnestness an
version is an improvement over its immediate pr
tion of human sacrifice as a symptom of irration
broached with philosophical seriousness. Iphigen
is based on her conviction that Diana must detest b
Wenn nicht zu deiner Lust hier Blut vergossen wor
(Und G6tter, finden die wohl jemals Lust am Mor
So hor, so steh mir bey!...
0 Gottinn, bringe mich begliickt nach Griechenlan
Da wird der Griechen Hand dir reinen Weihrauch s
Und deine Priesterinn wird, mitten unter ihnen,
Die zwar ergeben sind, doch dir vernfinftig dienen.1
(IV, v).
14 Quotations from Schlegel's Orest und Pylades are taken from the text in Joh.
Elias Schlegels Werke, ed. Johann Heinrich Schlegel (Copenhagen and Leipzig,
1761), Part I.
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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

Thoas alone seems to be responsible for the cont

since his high priest has grave doubts about their p
ein G6tterdienst, den die Vernunft nicht schii
Thoas' death this priest begins to rule the land in an
In 174-0 a Latin Zwischenspiel on Iphigenia am
performed by pupils in Freising.15 The anonym
far as can be ascertained from the brief synopsi
followed Euripides very closely. In 1740 there w
Iphigenie en Tauride by one Pick, which is unkn
there appeared an important new version, the O
Christoph Friedrich von Derchau, first published in
is obviously dependent on the new tradition
Lagrange-Chancel version. The ethos of the work
of a sentimental friendship,17 while Iphigenia's
the background. The female character, Thomiris
but she becomes, as in Stranitzky, the daughter of
not barbarous, and strangers are not ordinarily sac
Orestes arrive separately, but at such a long inte
had time to win the favor of Thoas and become en
Orestes alone is the target of Thoas' wrath, and
nothing to do with oracles and superstition; Th
of that Aegisthus whom Orestes slew along wit
climax is reached in the scene where Pylades clai
Derschau heightened this situation by letting T
strongly with Pylades to abandon his noble masq
Thus Pylades has the hard choice of love or frie
friendship (-duty) wins out. Since Thoas canno
which, both friends must die. The happy denoue
goddess but, in a fashion somewhat similar to th
to an old man who suddenly interrupts the sacrific
ment: Thomiris is not the child of Thoas after all,
of Tauris, deposed in infancy. At this news Orestes
blade and slays the tyrannical usurper.
Derschau portrays Iphigenia very unsympathet
ily insensitive, and so stoical that she is still wi
sacrifice even after she learns that her brother is to be the victim. Both
she and Orestes have benighted minds. The Furies are simply figments
15 This Zwischenspiel is printed between the acts of an anonymous Latin play
entitled Rarae Gratitudinis Monumentum in Tito Quinctio Flavio, Romano...
(Freising, 1740).
16 See Clarence D. Brenner, A Bibliographical List of Plays in the French
Language 1700-1789 (Berkeley, 1947), No. 9900.
17 The subtitle is "Das Denkmaal der Freundschaft."

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

of Orestes' imagination and his sense of guilt is the

reasoning-Clytemnestra deserved her death. Pylad
person of the play, and his role gains a new distinc
optimistic as in Euripides, nor merely loyal as in L
Stranitzky, and Schlegel, he is also an advanced thin
lief in oracles and confidence in enlightened mora
instructs Iphigenia in the true nature of the gods and
will rescue them all. In the end, Pylades and Thom
rule over Tauris, while Orestes, cured of his delus
Greece with Iphigenia.
It is noteworthy that all the Iphigenia dramatists of
to assign the guilt for the human sacrifices not to a w
to a single person, and improvement is brought abo
by the removal (or, in Dennis and Stranitzky, by the c
this person. This corresponds to the political ideas curr
Enlightenment; the best hope for improvement of
on the moral education of the ruler. It was flatterin
of absolute monarchy as the best and most natural
ment to have the evil Thoas exposed as a usurper in
Lagrange-Chancel and Derschau. A bad king, chances
a king after all-that is the political lesson of these
pides, on the other hand, depicted an entire nation tha
and primitive, with a ruler who was the appropriat
subjects' aggregate personality. In contrast, there is th
Greeks, who only wish to escape from this nightm
change, and neither do the Tauri; only the gods th
through their refusal to permit Diana's image to remai
the bloodthirsty people. Perhaps this reflects an eff
part to rid the Greek religion of associations with base
names of the Olympian deities. But he shows no intere
Greeks bring their superior moral culture to the Ta
ized forces are kept at bay only by a direct divine com
be obeyed.
To the Greeks, huddled in their corner of the small c
the Iphigenia drama must have seemed a frightenin
the vast dark regions surrounding and even threaten
our modern explorers, who seek to bring the gospe
the remote regions of the globe and whose norma
alleviated by their dedication to a task, these ancien
responsibility toward the barbarous people, whom
deceive without loss of honor. Only the sacred laws of
not be broken, and therefore Iphigenia will not agr

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

of King Thoas, her host. The shift in interest, the

ence toward a lower race to a desire to liberate a n
ruler. The eighteenth-century authors visualiz
all mankind was basically alike, good by nature
except that here and there a tyrant might op
introduce unnatural customs and irrational law
by its closer adherence to Euripides, obscures th
Nevertheless Schlegel, through the personage o
becomes king after Thoas' death, does indicate
Tauric customs will henceforth be suppressed.
In 1757 two more Iphigenia dramas appeared
by an author named Vaubertrand,18 is unknow
shadowed from the beginning by the other, the Ip
Claude Guymond de la Touche, a work which h
some influence on Goethe.19 Like Schlegel, La
both by the new and the old. He adopted such
separate arrival of Orestes and Pylades, Iphige
sacrificial knife, the oracle warning Thoas that th
the death of Thoas, and the swooning of Or
actually to a greater extent than Schlegel, tried
the Iphigenia of antiquity. The love motif and
(Thomiris) disappear, and, as the title indicates
is again centered on the priestess. The first thr
early appearance of Thoas, conform well with
Iphigenia relates her dream, her questions are e
Pylades, and she gives Pylades a letter to delive
no heroic strife about which is the true Orestes
ever, the two friends argue briefly about who s
Greece and thus escape death. Pylades' motive for
is newly invented by La Touche; he intends to
to reassemble the troops from his ship and the
Orestes. Pylades is led away from the temple
he must be "purified" for sacrifice-this is subs
ritual washing of the divine image.
The recognition scene has ancient inspiration,
Euripides. La Touche probably worked from the re
Poetics to an Iphigenia tragedy by Polyeidos.2
18 See C. D. Brenner, op. cit., No. 11453.
19 By J. G. Robertson, The Life and Work of Goethe
116-117; and by James Boyd, Goethe's Iphigenie auf Ta
Doubts about the influence are expressed by Hermann A
und Goethe" (see note 3).
20 The only mention of Polyeidos' Iphigenia drama is
"The mode of recognition may be either that of Euripide
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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

still does not know the identity of Orestes and relu

go on with the sacrifice. In a last question to her
whether the true fate of Iphigenia is known to the
answers only that he, alas, is about to suffer the sa
space of a few more lines, brother and sister h
other. This well-written scene is the climax of th
with bravura dramatics, as Thoas presses Iphige
at the altar and she courageously defies him and
Only in the nick of time is a rescue effected, not b
Pylades with his Greek troops. This last featur
Dennis' version.
Like Schlegel, La Touche was concerned about deceit, namely the
falsehood his Iphigenia had to utter in order to effect Pylades' escape.
She admits, with shame, the impropriety of lying; but she excuses
herself sentimentally: "Et ce cceur innocent que noircit l'imposture /
Ecouta seulement la voix de la nature" (V, v).21 In his regard for
the ancient model La Touche (again like Schlegel) pictures the land
of Tauris as a more or less barbarous place, managing nevertheless to
lay the blame for this mostly on the insecure tyrant Thoas. Iphigenia
herself is at first so much under the domination of Thoas that she has
no firm conviction about the nature of the gods, but only a personal
revulsion against the acts of slaughter she is forced to perform. The
progress of Iphigenia's struggle toward a concept of the gods which
matches her own naturally humane feelings constitutes the drama's
chief internal action, and is La Touche's outstanding contribution to
the Iphigenia theme in the eighteenth century. The notion that such a
struggle needed to take place was no doubt engendered by Lagrange-
Chancel's version, where Iphigenia's concept of the gods is very faulty.
La Touche restores to Iphigenia the speech (imitated from Euripides)
which Lagrange-Chancel had given to his Thomiris, and now Iphi-
genia asks, in regard to "le Ciel,"
Suit-il, dans ses decrets, les mceurs des nations?
Est-il Pere ou Tiran selon leurs passions?
Mais non: Peuples cruels, il n'a point votre rage.22
(I,v)
play he exclaims very naturally: 'So it was not my sister only, but I too, who was
doomed to be sacrificed'; and by that remark he is saved." See Poetics 1455b, in
S. H. Butcher, Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, 3rd ed. (London, 1902),
p. 63.
21 Quotations are from Iphigenie en Tauride, Tragedie par M. Guymond de la
Touche. Representee pour la premiere fois par les Comediens Francois Ordinaires
du Roi le 4. Juin 1757 (Vienna, Prague, and Trieste, 1758).
22 Goethe also, of course, assigns this speech to his idealistic Iphigenia: "Der
milversteht die Himmlischen, der sie / Blutgierig wahnt: erdichtet ihnen nur /

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

This Iphigenia proceeds from conjecture about the

gods, through doubt and despair, to a firm convi
seeing the gods work out the situation to a happ
reconnais les Dieux. / La Loi de la nature est donc
(V, ix). The end result presents no particular adva
Euripides' heroine already stood solidly on this p
thought, and Schlegel's Iphigenia, although she fel
presided under compulsion at the bloody rites, was p
the gods did not approve of what Thoas was doing
frivolous heroine knew the true attitude of the g
sacrifice. It is only in the struggle itself that La T
portant new element. In respect to Orestes' guilt
beyond any predecessor in lowering the crime fro
heinous manslaughter. Orestes disclaims all respon
that he was forced into action by gods. Knowing
willing tool, one can sympathize more sincerely with
the fact that the mechanical removal of an image
moves his mechanically formulated guilt. La Touche
to exist as real creatures seen by others around
not offend against verisimilitude by actually hav
stage.
In 1760 a play called Pylades und Orestes oder Denkmaal der
Freundschaft was presented at Augsburg for a countess' name day.
Only a scenario in two acts, comprising sixteen scenes, has been pre-
served, but this is enough to show that the play was taken over com-
pletely from Derschau. In 1763 Tommasco Traetta's opera, Ifigenia
in Tauride, with an Italian text by Marco Coltellini was produced in
Vienna.23 This version I have been unable to obtain. In 1764 a remark-
able play, or perhaps opera, by another obscure Italian author appeared
on the court stage of the Elector Charles Theodore of the Palatinate.
The German text was published anonymously,24 but a French trans-
Die eignen grausamen Begierden an" (I, iii). The clause beginning with "erdich-
tet" was added only in the fourth and last version by Goethe. Compare this with
Euripides' wording, note 8.
23 Although one reads of earlier performances of Traetta's opera in 1758 and
1759 (as in H. Apelt, op. cit., p. 55), only one edition of the libretto is known,
and that states that the opera was composed precisely for the performance of Oct.
4, 1763. See Loewenberg, Annals of Opera, I, 273.
24 Information and quotations here are taken from a text found in the Theater-
sammlung of the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, with a title page
reading as follows: "Iphigenia in Tauris. Ein musicalisches Schauspiel welches
auf H6chst begliicktem Hohen Nahmens-Tag Ihro Churfiirstl. Durchleucht zu
Pfaltz aus Befehl Ihrer Durchleucht der Frauen Churfiirstin an dem Chur-Pfilt-
zischen Hoffe aufgefiihret worden, im Jahre 1764." No place and date are indi-
cated, but the preface states that the music for the play is "eine neue Composition

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

lation published at the same time identifies the aut

that is, Mattia Verazzi (or Verazi), a composer o
texts in Mannheim. Possibly this Iphigenia in T
composed in Italian. If it was an opera libretto it
be in some verse form suitable for singing; but
dialogue of the text which has been preserved so
In the preface Verazzi claims that he worked exclus
sources-Sophocles' name is thrown in, for good m
of Euripides. But the eighteenth-century Iphige
viously the dominant literary influence here, w
work is a marvelous example of the late Viennes
serious dramas.
The story is given a most impressive and fantastic miise en scene.
There are three acts, as in a Haupt- und Staatsaktion, and among the
exciting episodes is a combat waged by Pylades and Orestes against
wild animals in an arena. The great procession scene (I, iv), when the
King of Sarmatia enters in a carriage drawn by tamed wild beasts and
with a retinue of Moors, giants, and dwarfs, calls to mind the color-
ful pageantry of the Mlummenschanz in Faust II. The eleven elaborate
changes of scene, for which the ingenious "theater archiect," Lauren-
tius Quaglio, receives due credit in the preface to the text, range from
a violent storm at sea in the beginning to a finale in which the temple
of Diana burns to the ground. Despite all these wonders we recog-
nize the now familiar tradition in the separate arrival of Pylades and
Orestes, the introduction of Thomiris as rightful heiress to the throne,
Thoas' oracle-inspired fear that a stranger will steal the image of
Diana, the love of Thoas for Iphigenia, Iphigenia's secretiveness about
her background, and the violent death of Thoas. The specific source
of these features is doubtless Lagrange-Chancel. More like La Touche,
on the other hand, are the new prominence given Iphigenia's role and
the restoration of her name to the title, as well as the treatment of
Orestes' guilt; the matricide was a pure accident, since Clytemnestra
des Herrn Johannes Franciscus de Majo, Capellen-Meister zu Neapolis" and that
all the roles were taken by "Cammer-Virtuousen." The work is listed unequivo-
cally as an opera in Loewenberg's Annals, I, 277; but the prose dialogue (even if
only a translation of original Italian dialogue) is by no stretch of the imagination
the kind of dialogue that could be sung. There is far too much of it, all utterly
unpoetic and quite dissimilar in content and expression from the arias of opera.
A few passages are in verse and could be sung, and stage directions indicate that
some of the prose parts were spoken against a musical background, as in a Mono-
drama. The most logical conclusion from a study of the preserved text is that this
Iphigenia was not an opera, but indeed just a play with musical accompaniment.
25 See M. Horn-Monval, Repertoire bibliographique des traductions et adapta-
tions franfaises du thedtre etranger du XVe siecle a nos jours (Paris, 1958-60),
III, 139.

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

just got in the way of the dagger intended excl

Like Dennis and Stranitzky, Verazzi kept his p
of blood.
But Verazzi also made many original additions. In Lagrange-Chan-
cel, Thomiris had a political reason for wanting to marry Thoas; in
Verazzi she is sincerely in love with him, and her attempts to win him
back, her jealousy of Iphigenia, and her meetings with the absurd king
of the Sarmatians supply much that is unique in dialogue and action.
Verazzi's most striking innovation, however, was to make of Iphigenia
an enlightened thinker who exercises a beneficial influence on Tauris.
She has invalidated the royal order regarding human sacrifices: "Von
der Zeit daB ich zur Ober-Priestlichen Wiirde erhoben bin, ware ich
solche zu unterdriicken beflissen" (I, i). Unforunately the arrival of
Orestes threatens to undo her good work: "Ein unbesonnener Grieche
hat die Wuth des Tyrannen aufs neue entziindet" (I, i). Small wonder
-he not only refuses to divulge his name but brashly boasts that he
will steal the image of Diana. With humane tolerance, Iphigenia re-
gards this unknown as a pitiable sick man: "Der Toantes in seinem
Zorn vertieffet, iiberleget nicht, da3 ein wahnwitziger Mensch ehender
Mitleiden, als gehal3t zu werden verdiene" (I, iii). Her kind feeling
toward him is not based on their common nationality: "Ein jeder, es
seye ein Schith, oder Griech, hat das Vatterland mit mir gemein, in so
fern er keinen bosen Wandel fuhret" (I, iii).
Yet a false note is sounded when Iphigenia suddenly becomes eager
to sacrifice this man after learning that he has killed her mother (as
in Lagrange-Chancel)-though she does not regard herself as acting
in the capacity of a priestess, but simply as a just executioner. Recog-
nition of her brother is delayed until the very middle of the spectacular
sacrifice scene; just before grasping the axe, the priestess announces
to her victim that she is Iphigenia, daughter of the slain Clytemnestra.
At this revelation, Orestes swoons. Thus, for the first time before
Goethe, the swooning motif is brought into connection with the
anagnorisis of the plot. While Orestes is unconscious, Pylades tells
Iphigenia that this is her brother, and her desire for vengeance turns
to a desire to save Orestes at any cost. At this point a connection is
established between the fate of Orestes and the motif of Thoas' love
for Iphigenia, a connection not made before except in a somewhat
blurred fashion by Stranitzky.26 Thoas tells Iphigenia that, if she will
26 The connection was made again in Goethe's version. See I, iv, where Thoas'
order to sacrifice the two strangers does not come until directly after Iphigenia's
refusal to marry him; and in IV, ii Arkas reminds Iphigenia that the order to
sacrifice is nothing but the result of Thoas' resentment of her refusal.

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

become his queen, her brother can go free. Iph

adds privately that she will kill herself directly
Orestes, as might be expected, will not accept th
problems. In the end it is Thomiris who arrang
Greeks via a subterranean passage, while overh
raging around the temple. Thoas is not killed, bu
flames consuming Diana's temple, even though T
to marry him.
In spite of the many humane traits which Verazzi
he was unable to keep her character consistent.
templated marriage and suicide, she commissions
revenge on Thoas at some future time, and, whe
that "die Rache macht den Toden nicht wieder zum Leben wieder-
kehren," she retorts fierily, "Es ist wahr, aber sie lindret den Schmertz
so uns wegen erlittener Schmach noch nach dem Leben peiniget"
(III, v). This attitude toward vengeance is so diametrically opposed
to that held by Goethe's Iphigenia and adopted by Goethe's Oreste
(after his vision of the underworld) that it could almost be imagine
Goethe was writing in direct rebuttal. Furthermore, Verazzi's Iphigenia
is not averse to deception; the author's own ironical view of court
circles is plain, however, when Iphigenia says to Thomiris, "Ich be
greiffe nicht, wie das Verstellen dir so groBe Miihe kosten solle. Dies
Kunst sollte dir nicht gantzlich unbekannt seyn. Es ist doch das Erste,
was man heutiges Tags unter uns lernet" (III, i). Besides inconsist-
encies, there are a multitude of eccentric and even absurd features i
this drama; nevertheless it deserves an important place in the histor
of the development of the Iphigenia theme.
In 1779 Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris was written in prose and per
formed in Weimar-Ettersburg on April 6. On May 18 of the same year,
Gluck's opera Iphigenie en Tauride, with text by Nicolas Francois
Guillard, had its premiere performance in Paris.27 Guillard's versio
shows clearly enough its indebtedness to the new tradition; but, while
Goethe's Iphigenie brings this mainly neoclassical tradition to its cul
mination, both in an ethical and a stylistic sense, Guillard's Iphigeni
veers off onto the path leading to romanticism-Guillard was inter-
ested above all in evoking an "authentic" Greek atmosphere. The
chorus of priestesses functions much like the chorus in Euripides. The
goddess Diana (not Athena, as in Euripides) appears at the end to in-
27 The fame of Gluck's opera has all but obliterated memory of Niccolo Pic-
cinni's rival Iphigenie en Tauride, commissioned at about the same time but not
performed until Jan. 23, 1781. The libretto, which I have not seen, was written
by A. Du Conge Dubreuil.

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

sure the Greeks' escape. Real Furies come on stag

in his grief-stricken sleep, as had happened before
version.28 The fatality idea, dropped by everyone b
Dennis, is voiced here again briefly-and presumably
effect--in Iphigenia's lament, "0 race de Pelops,
Jusque dans ses derniers neveux / Le ciel pour
de Tantale" (I, i).29 The entire Tauric nation
barbaric character. Elated by the arrival of the two
fices, the people raise a weird chant, singing, "S
Que leur sang rejaillisse! / Que leur aspect impu
lieux !" (I, iii). The simplicity of form is extrem
short acts, and dialogue and action are reduced t
It was the new tradition, however, which prov
such features as Thoas' first-act entrance and the idea that an oracle
has declared the king's life in danger if a single stranger escapes, the
active role of Iphigenia in the sacrifices, the sentimental reunion of
Orestes and Pylades after their separation in prison, and the storm
with which the drama opens. La Touche was certainly Guillard's fore-
most model. Like Schlegel before him, La Touche had stayed fairly
close to Euripides and had not introduced important new characters
or a love motif, and the same is true of Guillard. Like La Touche's ver-
sion, Guillard's Iphigenia defies Thoas and his guards and protects
Orestes at the altar, whereupon Pylades returns with his Greeks and
slays Thoas. Moreover, like La Touche, Guillard fashioned the recog-
nition scene after the manner of Polyeidos as reported in Aristotle's
Poetics. But, like Verazzi, he delayed the recognition to the very mo-
ment of sacrifice; then he paraphrased the line from Polyeidos quite
closely, "Ainsi tu peris en Aulide, / Iphigenie, o ma sceur !" (IV, ii).
Unlike the heroine of La Touche, Guillard's Iphigenia does not
struggle toward a proper understanding of the gods. While the sacri-
fices go against her grain, she does not seriously doubt that the gods
demand them, and she twice beseeches the gods to give her strength
to carry out her disagreeable duty. When she at last discovers that the
victim is her brother, she determines to save him without inquiring
whether or not this may be pleasing to the gods. Diana herself must
explain at the end that she has not approved of these sacrifices. Orestes'
guilt is neither minimized nor analyzed; Diana simply informs him
that his tears have expiated his crime. In a word, this play, although
28 It is noteworthy that in Euripides' version the herdsman who describes
Orestes' convulsions did not actually see the Furies, only Orestes' reaction to them.
29 Quotations here are taken from the following edition: Iphigenie en Tatride.
Tragedie en quatre actes. Poeme de M. Guillard. Musique de M. le chevalier
Gluck. Nouvelle Edition (Paris, 1803).

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

effective as opera libretto, has no leading ethi

work of art for art's sake.
Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris is strikingly different.30 The contrast,
of course, is not in any greater freedom exercised by Goethe in respect
to the new tradition. If Goethe's version, following the line of Schlegel
and La Touche, does without a Princess Thomiris and all the action
involving her, so does Guillard. In many other matters, however,
Goethe's play shows a definite dependence on the new tradition. Goethe
omitted the dream of Iphigenia with which Euripides began; the
dream was also omitted by Lagrange-Chancel, Stranitzky, Schlegel,
and Verazzi. Goethe's Thoas is in love with the priestess and urges her
to wed him; this feature is also in Lagrange-Chancel, Stranitzky, and
Verazzi. Goethe's Iphigenia has been secretive about her background,
while the earlier history of Euripides' heroine is common knowledge;
this secretiveness is also in Lagrange-Chancel, Stranitzky, Schlegel,
Derschau, and Verazzi. Goethe leaves out the plan of Euripides'
Iphigenia to send a letter home to Greece; the letter motif is absent
also in Dennis, Stranitzky, Derschau, and Verazzi. The exhausted
trance or swoon of Orestes, a high point of Goethe's drama, is only a
minor detail of the herdsman's narration in Euripides; but the actual de-
piction on stage of an unconscious Orestes is in Stranitzky, Schlegel,
Derschau, and Verazzi. Goethe's Iphigenia is a priestess who has never
yet been present at a human sacrifice; the situation is the same in
Dennis, Stranitzky, and Verazzi. Goethe's Iphigenia has succeeded in
putting a stop to the sacrifices, and would have continued to be success-
ful, were it not for her refusal to marry Thoas and the arrival of a fren-
zied Greek; much the same circumstance is in Verazzi. Goethe dis-
penses with the warning oracle which in many of the eighteenth-cen-
turn versions impels Thoas to sacrifice strangers through fear of losing
his kingdom; nonetheless, Goethe's Thoas is strongly motivated by
the fear of losing his authority, while Euripides' Thoas was not.
These features Goethe perhaps received, perhaps merely by chance
duplicated. But what he indisputably gave was greater-the ultimate
development of the ethical side of the tradition. In this lies the contrast
with Guillard. The development is exemplified in Goethe's treatment
30 The four versions of Goethe's play may for present purposes be considered
as one, since virtually the whole plot and thought content of 1786 were already in
the prose version of 1779. This statement is made with full knowledge of the dif-
ferences which can be readily detected through a perusal of Goethes Iphigenie auf
Tauris in vierfacher Gestalt, ed. Jakob Baechtold (Freiburg and Tiibingen, 1883).
The subtle significance of some of these differences is discussed by E. L. Stahl,
Goethe: Iphigenie auf Tauris (London, 1961), pp. 15, 18, 37, 46, 48-49, and 56-58.
But none of these differences affect the relationship of Goethe's version to the
Iphigenia tradition of the eighteenth century.

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

of each of the characters. Arkas, the literary de

of advisers and high priests who, except in Schl
fidants, under Goethe's hands becomes the repre
man of the upper class of Tauri, who have respo
king and plebeians. In Arkas the humane philoso
root; aristocrats like him form a buffer betwe
masses who, in times of stress, still shout for bloo
had been an unreflective barbarian; the new tra
his role and made him a tyrant with a bad conscien
him as a character in development, a man raised by
slough of ignorance and inhumanity, but still i
back into it. By marrying him, Iphigenia might ha
from future backsliding; but by refusing she c
giant humane step on his own-and his soul is m
Pylades, heretofore distinguished mainly by the d
had often been in danger of seeming subordin
Derschau, it is true, had strengthened his fragil
represent a superior philosophy. Goethe impro
giving Pylades an attitude toward life that is clear-
the attitudes of Orestes and Iphigenia, thus he b
and an indispensable balancing weight in the str
of the drama. His is the voice of realistic oppo
already some slight indication of this in the tr
Pylades used cunning to persuade Orestes to ex
him, and in this and other versions he lied to Thoa
tes. But the chief liar had always been Iphigenia
the divine statue's actions and her ruse about purif
the image in the sea. In Schlegel, where the fr
Trojans instead of Greeks, this falsehood is uttered
adroitly transfers all these lies to Pylades, so th
alternative to Orestes' manly forthrightness and
humanity.
The question of Orestes' 1natricide, which eighteenth-century drama-
tists had sometimes passed over lightly or even ignored, sometimes
lowered to accident or blamed on the gods, is squarely faced by Goethe,
and Orestes' guilt is removed in a way that is both integral to the
drama's central ethical theme and preparatory to the climax of that
theme. Orestes' curative vision reveals that the chain of crime and re-
venge is based on a false assumption; dead souls do not cry for retri-
bution after all. Thus the chain is broken, and the Furies, the great
illusion of their office exposed, retreat in confusion to Hades. Now
finally Iphigenia can make her positive contribution.

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

No other Iphigenia had faced the epoch-ma

selfish, cunning action, which would set the
and revenge back in motion, and an absolute
would enable the gods to fulfill their benevole
her choice depend not merely the lives of a few
course of Tauris and, in a sense, of the worl
question of rescuing the Greeks, while the Tau
In Goethe's predecessors it was a question of
good Tauri of a tyrant, and of establishing th
in respect to human sacrifice. In Goethe it is a q
the Tauri in their newly won civilization, and of
acter of the gods in respect to human integ
tion of glorifying the female sex as the leader i
of moral behavior for the future of the human race. The exaltation of
Iphigenia's womanliness, perhaps suggested originally by Schlegel's
version, is altogether in keeping with Goethe's concept of the eternal
feminine. In sum, Goethe already in 1779 had written an Iphigenia
drama superior in every way to anything before it. When he gave it
poetic form in 1786, he made it a supreme work of German literature.

The University of Texas

A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF DRAMAS

MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE

167[ ? ] Jean Racine, Iphigenie en Tauride. Fragment. French. P

1678 Niccolo Minato, II tempio di Diana in Taurica. Opera. Italian.
1697 Francois Joseph de Lagrange-Chancel, Oreste et Pilade, ou Iphigenie en
Tauride. French. Publ. 1699.
1700 John Dennis, Iphigenia. A Tragedy.
1704 Joseph Francois Duche de Vancy, Iphigenie en Tauride. Opera with
music by Desmarets and Campra. French.
1713 Carlo Sigismondo Capeci, Ifigenia in Tauride. Opera with music by
Domenico Scarlatti. Italian.

1724[?] Joseph Anton Stranitzky, Der Tempel Dianae, oder der Spiegel wahrer
und treuer Freundschaft. German.
1737-42 Johann Elias Schlegel, Orest und Pylades. German. Publ. 1761.
1740 Anon., untitled Zwischenspiel from Freising. Latin.
1740 Pick, Iphigenie en Tauride. French.
1747 Christoph Friedrich von Derschau, Orest und Pylades, oder Denknwaal
der Freundschaft. German.
1757 Vaubertrand, Iphigenie en Tauride. French.
1757 Claude Guymond de la Touche, Iphigenie en Tauride. French.
1760 Anon., Pylades und Orestes oder Denkmaal der Freundschaft. German.

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 IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS THEME

1763 Marco Coltellini, Ifigenia in Tauride. Opera with music by Traetta.

Italian.

1764 Mattia Verazzi, Iphigenia in Tanris. Opera (?) with music by Majo.
German.

1779-86 Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris. German. Publ. 1787.
1779 Nicolas Francois Guillard, Iphigenie en Tauride. Opera with music by
Gluck. French.
1781 A. Du Conge Dubreuil, Iphigenie en Tauride. Opera with music by
Piccinni. French.

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