Racine and Shakespeare by Stendhal. Short summary

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In the treatise, Stendhal contrasts Racine’s systems of writing tragedies as the epitome of classicism, and Shakespeare as the representative of the Romantic movement. Stendhal was on the side of Romanticism.

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For Stendhal, as early as the 17th century, an irreconcilable struggle began between two systems of creating tragic art. One was represented by Racine, the leader of Classicalism, and the other by Shakespeare, the «father of Romanticism.»

Stendhal sets out in this treatise his own understanding of romanticism. For him, it is an art free from the constraining classical rules and requirements, especially the concept of «unity» — place and time. He believed that this is the future of art, evolving along with real life. In fact, Stendhal justifies the realist trends in literature.

The author believes that Shakespeare in that era has become the embodiment of romanticism, and his plays and poetry should take on all the romantics. He recommends that they should not take Racine as their model, since he is obsolete, but rather turn to Shakespeare.

Art should be understandable to the reader, and give him a dramatic and epic pleasure. And Romanticism is the style that gives the greatest pleasure to the modern reader.