L’argument de cette recherche propose d’étudier le concept du pouvoir et ses manifestations chez les héroïnes tragiques de Shakespeare Ophélie, Desdémone, Lady Macbeth, et Cléopâtre. Cette étude suit deux axes d’interprétation, la domination et la résistance qui constituent le pouvoir féminin à travers ses productions verbales et ses projections mentales. Ces aspects sont explorés à travers une théorie de poétique cognitive et d'analyse de conversation. En parallèle, les théories critiques vont compléter la discussion des résultats trouvés. Ce travail explore comment les héroïnes tragiques de Shakespeare mènent leur propre résistance et exercent une contre-force à un poly-système patriarcal basé sur un héritage de séparation de genre. Ces personnages brossent un portrait distinctif d'héroïsme tragique féminin ; une voix indépendante et vibrante dans le texte shakespearien. / The Shakespearean tragic heroines are a polemical topic. Critics are divided between a reading that describes them as complex and dynamic protagonists and a reading that sees their presence as ornamental and paper-thin in the Shakespearean dramatic tradition. This study examines tenets of power within four major tragic figures, Ophelia, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, and Cleopatra. Conversation analysis and disciplines from cognitive poetics, text world theory and conceptual metaphor analysis, will be used to study these characters’ utterances and thoughts. The research shows that Ophelia, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, and Cleopatra are actively involved in power relations. They manifest dominance, exercise resistance, and sow dissidence within masculine narratives of authority. The conclusion can also be drawn that the Shakespearean tragic heroine succeeds in breaking through patriarchal embargo, embraces power, and inaugurates a distinctive concept of female heroism.

This study challenges Charles Lamb's 1811 essay "On the Tragedies of Shakespeare, Considered with Reference to their Fitness for Stage Representation," which argues that Shakespeare's plays are better suited for reading than stage production. Each of the four chapters considers a specific argument Lamb raises against the theatre and the particular Shakespearean tragedy used to illustrate his point. The Hamlet chapter examines the supposed concessions involved in the actor/audience relationship. The Macbeth chapter challenges Lamb's Platonic view of Shakespearean characterization. The Othello chapter considers whether some characters and images, while acceptable to the reader's imagination, are improper on stage. Finally, the King Lear chapter considers the portrayal of the mind in the theatre, employing semiotic principles to examine the actor's expressive resources.