Abstract

Maurice Maeterlinck's volume Alladine et Pallomides, Intérieur, La Mort de Tintagiles (1893) has the sub-heading "trois petits drames pour marionnettes," but this does not mean that marionettes were to replace human actors. Maeterlinck used marionettes as a theatrical tool and metaphor to challenge the psychological and realistic dramas that were prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century. While marionettes do not have the individuality of human physical and psychological characteristics, they can convey complex meanings, both negative and positive. Using such characteristics, Maeterlinck commonly lifts his characters from personal, daily, anecdotal and historical contexts and expresses them as spiritual entities controlled by essential forces such as fate, love and death. He describes various static forms (characters asleep or in faint silhouette in the dark) like real marionettes. Through this unique method, he creates a new dramaturgy focusing on feelings and circumstances, rather than on plot or action. Maurice Maeterlinck 's volume Alladine et Pallomides, Intérieur, La Mort de Tintagiles (1893) has the sub-heading "trois petits drames pour marionnettes," but this does not mean that marionettes were to replace human actors. Maeterlinck used marionettes as a theatrical tool and metaphor to challenge the psychological and realistic dramas that were prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century. While marionettes do not have the individuality of human physical and psychological characteristics, they can convey complex meanings, both negative and positive. Using such characteristics, Maeterlinck commonly lifts his characters from personal, daily, anecdotal and historical contexts and expresses them as spiritual entities controlled by essential forces such as fate, love and death. He describes various static forms (characters asleep or in faint silhouette in the dark) like real marionettes. Through this unique method, he creates a new dramaturgy focusing on feelings and circumstances, rather than on plot or action. (In French).

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