Closed Heart, Open Secret: Exposing Private Liberty in Pierre Corneille’s Last Tragedy

n the final scene of Pierre Corneille’s Suréna, the hero dies. Like most acts of violence in seventeenth-century French tragedy, Suréna’s death is not depicted onstage. Instead, news of Suréna’s death is brought to the women who survive him: his lover, Eurydice, and his sister, Palmis. Eurydice’s lady-in-waiting tells them that three arrows have struck Suréna down just as he entered a public square. Although the identity of the archer remains a mystery, the characters assume that he has acted on the king’s behalf. The lady-in-waiting reports that after Suréna fell she thinks she heard a voice cry out that subjects should make sure to respect their kings: “Et je pense avoir même entendu quelque voix / Nous crier qu’on apprît à dédaigner les Rois” (5.5.1719–20; And I e’en thought I heard some voice cry out / To us that one is taught thus to flout monarchs). Suréna’s death is meant to serve as an example. The hero falls because he has become a threat to his king. Once celebrated as a strong military general and trusted ambassador, Suréna dies an enemy of the state. The king’s arrows do not merely strike down Suréna; they alsomark the end of the Cornelian hero as such. Suréna would be Corneille’s last tragedy. Corneille’s