Editing Classical unities (section)

===France===
One hundred and twenty years after ''Sofonisba'' introduced the theory to Italy, it then introduced the concept once again, this time in France with a translation by [[Jean Mairet]]. Voltaire said that the ''Sophonisba'' of Mairet had "a merit which was then entirely new in France, — that of being in accordance with the rules of the theatre. The three unities of action, time, and place are there strictly observed, and the author was regarded as the father of the French stage." The new rules caught on very quickly in France. Dramatist [[Pierre Corneille]] became an ardent supporter of them, and in his plays from ''[[Le Cid]]'' (1636) to ''[[Suréna]]'' (1674) he attempted to keep within the limits of time and place. In 1655 he published his ''Trois Discours'', which includes his arguments for the unities. Corneille's principles drew the support of [[Jean Racine|Racine]] and Voltaire, and for French playwrights they became hard rules, and a heresy to disobey them. Voltaire said:
{{Blockquote
|All nations begin to regard as barbarous those times when even the greatest geniuses, such as Lope de Vega and Shakespeare, were ignorant of this system, and they even confess the obligation they are under to us for having rescued them from this barbarism. . . . The fact that Corneille, [[Jean Racine|Racine]], [[Molière]], [[Joseph Addison|Addison]], [[William Congreve|Congreve]], and [[Paolo Alessandro Maffei|Maffei]] have all observed the laws of the stage, that ought to be enough to restrain any one who should entertain the idea of violating them.<ref>Simpson, Edwin. ''The Dramatic Unities''. Trubner & Co. (1878)</ref>}}

However, in France opposition soon began to grow in the form of a Romantic movement, that wanted freedom from the strictures of the classical unities. It turned into a fierce literary conflict. The opposition included Victor Hugo, [[Alexandre Dumas]], and others. Victor Hugo, in the preface to his play, ''Cromwell'', criticizes the unities, saying in part,
{{Blockquote
|Distinguished contemporaries, foreigners and Frenchmen, have already attacked, both in theory and in practice, that fundamental law of the pseudo-Aristotelian code. Indeed, the combat was not likely to be a long one. At the first blow it cracked, so worm-eaten was that timber of the old scholastic hovel!<ref>Beck, Theodore Toulon. "A Note on the Preface de Cromwell". ''Italica''. Vol. 39, No. 3 (Sep., 1962), pp. 197-204</ref><ref>Hugo, Victor. ''Oliver Cromwell''. Forgotten Books (September 11, 2017) pp. i-vi. {{ISBN|978-1528244343}}</ref>}}

Hugo ridicules the unities of place and time, but not the unity of action, which he considers "true and well founded". The conflict came to a climax with the production of Victor Hugo's play ''[[Hernani (drama)|Hernani]]'' at the Theatre Francais, on 21 February 1830. It was reported that the two sides, the "Classicists" and "Romanticists", both full of passion, met as on a field of battle. There was a lot of clamor in the theatre at each performance, even some fist fights. The newer Romantic movement carried the day, and French playwrights no longer had to confine their plays to one location, and have all of the action packed into one day.<ref>Simpson, Edwin. ''The Dramatic Unities''. Trubner & Co. (1878) p. 55-60</ref>