Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2002

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Modern Foreign Languages

Major Professor

Edmund J. Campion

Committee Members

Amy Billone, Les Essif, Mary K. Alpin, John B. Romseiser

Abstract

This dissertation studies the representation of feminine glory in two tragedies from the 1630s: Crisante by Jean Rotrou and La Mariane by Frangois de Tristan L'Hermite. The dramatic dimension of lo in these two works is also examined, that is the way in which the xt constructs, or allows the reader/spectator to construct, the representation of feminine glory, especially through the phenomenon of double theatrical communication. In two parts corresponding to the two tragedies, this dissertation approaches the dramatic text by way of two methods, different yet complementary. The first consists of an analysis of a fragment of the text, an analysis inspired from the "lecture au ralenti" by Michel Vinaver. This method studies the character "in action", through his/her spoken action or his/her "parole-action" (chapters 1 and 4). The second method examines the character "within the action", as a dynamic element of a whole in motion, the global narrative structure, in which the character becomes integrated and from which it receives its meaning (chapters 2 and 5). This approach derives from Greimas' actantial model,} adapted for the theater by Anne Ubersfeld. The analysis reveals narrative schemas and esthetic codes, in relation to and through which the representation of feminine glory is determined. A victim in a world/text governed by masculine discourse, the heroine asserts herself through refusal. If this refusal represents for her a temporary victory on the dramatic, rhetorical, and moral levels, the tragic outcome subordinates her glorious action and image to masculine discourse and gesture. The analysis ?) vii can also be applied to the way the text builds the image of feminine glory, on the one hand, and to dramaturgical characteristics of the works, on the other. Chapter 3 shows how the burlesque, theatrical nature of Crisante produces for the reader/spectator a reversal in perspective, and an implicit questioning of the code of honor and the tragic conventions of the outcome. Chapter 5 considers the action of La Mariane in its entirety, but also further explores how the glorious action and image of the heroine are progressively absorbed into a hypertrophic denouement.

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