| Summary: | 碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 法國語文學系 === 88 === Genet's plays are full of "roles of duality" and the reflection from "the mirrors", as described in one of his play, The Balcony, "the glorification of the image and the reflection," i.e., the many images reflected from the "mirrors" in the plays are very meaningful, and most importantly, "mad". This thesis is to explore Genet's theaters via the topic of "madness". It discuss from different point of view how Genet used "madness" to make his theaters deeper, more significant, and to create infinite possibilities.
This thesis is separated into two parts. The first chapter defines "madness". It is explained through different subjects of human knowledge, such as the semantics, the etymology, the medicine, the psychiatry, the Freudian psychoanalysis, Sartre's philosophy, the social history, the literary criticism, and so on.
In the second chapter, we study in depth three Genet's plays, The Maids, The Balcony, and The Blacks. We analyze the meanings of the characters' madness in these plays via plots, characters' personalities, dialogues, behaviors, accidents, arrangements of the theater, and author's indication. We refer to other articles commenting on Genet from medical point of view, from his friends, and from the circle of literature, to map the relationships between Genet's mental state and the characters in his plays. Nevertheless, this thesis is not to verify that there is any absolute relationship between those characters' madness and Genet's mental state, but to dig into the real meaning of the "madness" by the help of those articles. After all, we believe that characters in Genet's plays are not only psychiatrically "mad" but to reveal that "madness" is part of human nature, as said by Foucault, "Through madness, human beings become complete."
The "nobody" in Genet's masterpieces are hopeless in poor reality. They can only express their suffering, rebellion, crazy fantasy, and the desire for freedom by fantasizing crazily, repeating obsessively the games of travesty, and utilizing the vanity of violence and the ceremony of death. This creates a new horizon, such as the absolute anarchism, aesthetics of singular modern theater, and an anti-culturally liberated world. These are the cries from the deep heart of those characters, and are also the reflection of Genet's aesthetics after his very special life experience.
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