Athalie
Athalie (, sometimes translated Athalia) is a 1691 play, the final tragedy of Jean Racine, and has been described as the masterpiece of "one of the greatest literary artists known" and the "ripest work" of Racine's genius. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve deemed it comparable to "Oedipus Rex" in beauty, with "the true God added." August Wilhelm Schlegel thought Athalie to be "animated by divine breath"; other critics have regarded the poetics of drama in the play to be superior to those of Aristotle. History. After the success of "Esther", Racine published "Athalie" in 1691, another play drawn from the  Bible, which he expected would have the same success. Plot. Athalie, widow of the king of Judah, rules the country and believes she has eliminated all the rest of the royal family. She has abandoned the Jewish religion for the worship of Baal. However, the late king's grandson Joash was rescued by the wife of the high priest. Reception. "Athalie" was the victim of opposition from moralists at its creation. Represented on the public scene after the death of Madame de Maintenon, it was never part of the most popular plays of Racine, though Voltaire saw it as "perhaps  the masterpiece of mankind" and Flaubert's character Monsieur Homais, the pharmacist, in "Madame Bovary" calls it the most "immortal masterpiece of the French stage," and names one of his daughters Athalie. However Homais is a boor and ignoramus so it is not clear what Flaubert's own judgement of the play was. Adaptation. The oratorio "Athalia" by George Frideric Handel, with libretto by Samuel Humphreys, was based on "Athalie".