"Pourquoi sous cette table?": More Candlelight on Molière's "Tartuffe"

The author discusses the use of candles as stage properties in the works of Molière, as well as their meaning as signifiers in the 17th century, focusing on the table scene in "Tartuffe" and investigating the use of the word "flambeaux," which also meant torches in an outdoor con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Comparative drama 2013-07, Vol.47 (2), p.167-200
Main Author: Muller, David G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altars
Candles
Candlesticks
Catholicism
Crucifixes
Drama
Engraving
French drama
French language
French theater
Hermeneutics
Hugo, Victor
Lighting design
Meaning
Molière, Jean Baptiste
Props
Sardou, Victorien
Semiotic signs
Silver
Symbolism
Theater
Theater history
Theater semiotics
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Summary:The author discusses the use of candles as stage properties in the works of Molière, as well as their meaning as signifiers in the 17th century, focusing on the table scene in "Tartuffe" and investigating the use of the word "flambeaux," which also meant torches in an outdoor context. Muller suggests that their presence reinforces metadramatic interpretations of that scene and a larger significant role for props generally in the play's performance history. He examines two examples of flambeaux as significant stage properties in later 19th-century French theater: in the original stage adaptation of Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables," and in Victorien Sardou's "La Tosca," positing a link between the use of flambeaux and the signification of Catholic rites.
ISSN:0010-4078
1936-1637
1936-1637
DOI:10.1353/cdr.2013.0022