Masks, actions, words. These three elements provide a starting point for a study of the devil figure as represented in Middle French saint's plays (mysteres hagiographiques). / An urban, popular art, mediaeval French theatre addressed a broad public that it was considered useful to both edify---particularly in the case of the mysteres---and divert. The mysteres represented and interpreted the world. In this theatre, the devil figures embody Evil and adversity, but also alterity. Placed in opposition to the saints and the sublime inhabitants of Heaven, they appear grotesque, crude and carnivalesque. Often the mainspring of the action, they are essential to the plot of the saint's play; noisy and garrulous, they are a no less necessary element of the mysteres' discourse on the world (tangible or intangible, earthly or celestial). The devil, ever ill-intentioned, concocts evil plots and engages in infernal dialogues---which the mystere presents in order to further its edifying goals and propagate its unifying and didactic message. / This dissertation examines some of the most important aspects, in terms of the mystere's reception, of the devil figure. The first part, which deals with diabolical masks, discusses their external features (scenery, costumes, gestures, disguises) and certain of their linguistic characteristics. The second part studies the actions of the devils themselves. Their principal activities are identified and defined, and divided into three broad categories, according to whether the devils attempt to draw human beings and their activities into their sphere of influence, or commit evil deeds, or fail in their baleful plans and end up serving God despite themselves. The third part of the thesis studies diabolical discourse. More specifically, it analyses the relationship between the speech of devils (traditionally perceived as deceitful) and truth. Using the concepts of place and authority, we can read certain instances of this speech as illegitimate, while an examination of the workings of the discourse of diabolical seduction reveals the twisted nature which the mysteres attributed to devils. / A study of the devil figure thus provides an opportunity to understand in some measure the role the mysteres hagiographiques played in relation to the mediaeval public, whose perception of the other (as well as of the same) the saint's plays represented even as they helped construct it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.82861 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Dupras, Elyse |
| Contributors | Di Stefano, G. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Département de langue et littérature françaises.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001985361, proquestno: AAINQ88456, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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