Tyranny and Derision in Alexandre Dumas’ Caligula

Authors

  • Rémy Poignault University of Clermont Auvergne, CELIS (EA 4280), France

Abstract

This paper studies the character of Caligula in Alexandre Dumas’ Caligula (1837) in comparison with the image left by the Roman emperor in ancient literary
sources. Dumas highlights a tyrannical regime based on denial and flattery, shows the emperor as a tyrannical lover and mocks aspirations to the divinity
of the one who takes himself for Jupiter, but is afraid of thunder, who wants to be the master of the destiny of all, but doesn’t master his own, falling under
Messalina’s machinations.

Author Biography

Rémy Poignault, University of Clermont Auvergne, CELIS (EA 4280), France

Rémy Poignault is Professor Emeritus at the Clermont Auvergne University (France). His research interests are Latin literature, ancient historiography and rhetoric, and contemporary French literature (mainly Marguerite Yourcenar, Claude Simon, Pascal Quignard). He is founding president of the Société Internationale d’Études Yourcenariennes, president of the Centre de recherches André Piganiol – Présence de l’Antiquité, associate correspondent of the Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France and member of the Société des Études Latines. He published an important number of articles and studies on Marguerite Yourcenar’s works.

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Published

2021-02-02

How to Cite

Poignault, R. (2021). Tyranny and Derision in Alexandre Dumas’ Caligula. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai - Dramatica, 65(2), 73–95. Retrieved from https://www.dramatica.ro/index.php/j/article/view/53

Issue

Vol. 65 No. 2 (2020): To be a Theatre Critic and Historian Nowadays. In memoriam MARIA VODĂ CĂPUȘAN (1940 – 2017)

Section

Articles

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Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.