“Nature ne nous fait esclaves d’un espoux” Some reflections about nature in Robert Garnier’s Hippolyte

While tragedy seems to be defined as an unnatural genre in the Renaissance, nature may still have some importance in the plays. In Garnier’s Hippolyte, Phèdre seeks her model of union in nature, whereas Hippolyte, as a hunter, rejects the city and chooses to live in the woods. These two ways of relating to nature can be examined through the lens of theoretical texts of the time, of the tragedy as a whole, or even in the light of Garnier's political work, L'Hymne de la Monarchie.