An analysis of Polyeucte by Pierre Corneille reveals that the presence of God's grace is obviously alive and can be seen in the character's actions and choices throughout the piece. At the beginning of the play, the main character Polyeucte immediately finds himself faced with a dilemma: to be baptized or not to be baptized. On the one hand, he fears that his wife, who is not a Christian, will become angry with him because he successfully completed the baptism. On the other hand, his friend Nearchus urges him to become a Christian as soon as possible. The question then arises as to how the role of grace affects not only the actions of Polyeuctes but all the main characters in the play. Grace is defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as “unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.” This leads us to try to understand where grace is present in the room. A very brief summary of Polyeucte begins in Act I, where Paulina, Polyeucte's wife, confesses that she was in love with a man named Severus before marrying Polyeucte. Paulina has since become convinced that Severus died in battle; however, her father, Felix, is brought into the room and announces that Severus is alive and that he is afraid that he has come to take revenge on him because he rejected Severus Paulina's hand in marriage. Polyeucte and his friend Nearchus were baptized and became Christians and when Felix learned of this, he immediately put Nearchus to death in order to sow fear in Polyeucte and make him recant. Paulina begs her father not to put Polyeucte to death but her father is afraid that Severus will plot something against him and execute Polyeucte. Just after the time when Polyeucte becomes a martyr, Pauline converts to Christianity and Felix f...... middle of paper ......men did not need grace and that humans were predestined to be saved or not to be saved. They had no choice as to what their destiny would become and grace played no role in their lives. The non-existence of grace is seen in Corneille's counterpart at this time at the French Theater, Jean Racine. Comparing their two famous works, Polyeucte to Phèdre by Jean Racine, the differences are clearly evident in the beliefs and ideals of the two playwrights. This is a result of both the playwrights' education and the culture of the society around them growing up. The role of Racine's Jansenist beliefs comes directly from his studies at Port Royal, governed by the Jansenists. On the contrary, Corneille grew up surrounded by Jesuit beliefs, which shows us the major difference between the two. The absence of grace in Racine's Phèdre compared to Corneille's Polyeucte is enormous.