Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi teems with images of dismembered bodies which form the basis of Webster’s specific macabre poetics. The play is haunted by body parts, at the levels of both plot and imagery. This peculiar aesthetics can be seen as a symptom of a worldview in crisis, in which the correspondences...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2019-01-01
|
| Series: | Sillages Critiques |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/6641 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832578577325883392 |
|---|---|
| author | Line Cottegnies |
| author_facet | Line Cottegnies |
| author_sort | Line Cottegnies |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Duchess of Malfi teems with images of dismembered bodies which form the basis of Webster’s specific macabre poetics. The play is haunted by body parts, at the levels of both plot and imagery. This peculiar aesthetics can be seen as a symptom of a worldview in crisis, in which the correspondences and analogies that had held the world together until then have ceased to operate—as the metaphor of an organic political body no longer holds the society together and the age-old analogy between the microcosm of the human body and the macrocosm of the cosmos no longer signifies the unity of the created universe. The metaphorical coherence of the play lies in the dissemination throughout the text of these signifiers of the dismembered body. Webster plays on the over-determination of these images, as the text consistently draws attention to these repetitions; the words used to designate body parts become unstable, potentially proleptic signs pointing to imminent death and foreshadowing the sudden appearance of actual, dismembered bodies. This article deals with this « expressionistic » poetic, which emphasises its effects in an artificial, often metaliterary manner through various strategies of highlighting. As will be apparent here, the text self-consciously draws attention to the way it re-motivates images by literalizing commonplaces and ossified metaphors in a macabre poetic of excess. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dd0095e2a017468e92aaaaacc1131d7b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sillages Critiques |
| spelling | doaj-art-dd0095e2a017468e92aaaaacc1131d7b2025-01-30T13:47:01ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022019-01-012610.4000/sillagescritiques.6641Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of MalfiLine CottegniesThe Duchess of Malfi teems with images of dismembered bodies which form the basis of Webster’s specific macabre poetics. The play is haunted by body parts, at the levels of both plot and imagery. This peculiar aesthetics can be seen as a symptom of a worldview in crisis, in which the correspondences and analogies that had held the world together until then have ceased to operate—as the metaphor of an organic political body no longer holds the society together and the age-old analogy between the microcosm of the human body and the macrocosm of the cosmos no longer signifies the unity of the created universe. The metaphorical coherence of the play lies in the dissemination throughout the text of these signifiers of the dismembered body. Webster plays on the over-determination of these images, as the text consistently draws attention to these repetitions; the words used to designate body parts become unstable, potentially proleptic signs pointing to imminent death and foreshadowing the sudden appearance of actual, dismembered bodies. This article deals with this « expressionistic » poetic, which emphasises its effects in an artificial, often metaliterary manner through various strategies of highlighting. As will be apparent here, the text self-consciously draws attention to the way it re-motivates images by literalizing commonplaces and ossified metaphors in a macabre poetic of excess.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/6641metaphorpoeticsanatomybaroque Epistemebaroque theatredismembered bodies |
| spellingShingle | Line Cottegnies Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of Malfi Sillages Critiques metaphor poetics anatomy baroque Episteme baroque theatre dismembered bodies |
| title | Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of Malfi |
| title_full | Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of Malfi |
| title_fullStr | Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of Malfi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of Malfi |
| title_short | Le théâtre baroque du corps démembré dans The Duchess of Malfi |
| title_sort | le theatre baroque du corps demembre dans the duchess of malfi |
| topic | metaphor poetics anatomy baroque Episteme baroque theatre dismembered bodies |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/6641 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT linecottegnies letheatrebaroqueducorpsdemembredanstheduchessofmalfi |