The functional role of place and time in classic tragedy (“Sophonisbe” by J. Mairet)

Purpose of this article is to show the peculiarities of Jean Mairet’s interpretation of the dramatic laws of Aristotle’s “Poetics”, to consider the nature of the functioning of the categories of time and space in the tragic action of “Sophonisbe” and their role in the construction of the dramatic structure. It is proved that the place and time in the tragedies of Mairet are not only formal signs of the “correct” drama, but actively function at the content level, that is, they play an organizational and semantic role (highlight the logic of the unfolding of the action, participate in the compositional connection, the disclosure of the characters and emotional states of the characters, determine the spectator’s perception). The big role plays the effect which accentuated in the author’s remarks and statements of the heroes of a closed (intimate, invasion into which receives the meaning of threat, violence) space, which can change its meaning by the denouement: from a refuge, a place of love and solitude - to prison, a place of trial and punishment (“Sophonisbe”). It is shown how Mairet creates the effect of tightness of time, which increases the tragic tension -external (circumstances and actions) and internal (character and passion), provides a sense of the catastrophism of what is happening, the inevitability of death. Mairet’s experimentation with place and time in dramatic action, that is contributed to the renewal of French tragedy in the first half of the 17th century and predetermined the specifics of the construction of Corneille and Racine’s plays.