Iphis and Iante

A lesbian romance from seventeenth-century France

Iphis and Iante are about to be married, but Iphis has a secret: when she was born, her mother disguised her as a boy in order to save her life. Although Iphis loves Iante passionately, Iphis's mother tries to prevent the marriage in order to conceal Iphis's real identity. The bachelor Ergaste has another reason for wanting to stop the marriage, since he, like Iante, is in love with Iphis.

Based on a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Isaac de Benserade's 1634 play resolves happily with help from the gods. As the comedy unfolds, it entertains the audience through love triangles, dramatic ironies, and knowing comments about gender, drawing on familiar structures of French theatrical comedy to create a distinctly sympathetic portrayal of romantic love between women.