Abstracts
Abstract
“She did make defect perfection” (Antony and Cleopatra 2.2.242): by this formula, Enobarbus sums up the essence of Cleopatra’s inimitable charm. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is a study of women and women: in other words, Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is less fiction than an investigation of the other sex. “Was will das Weib?” asked Freud (if we are to believe Marie Bonaparte’s testimony), thus admitting that the great question psychoanalysis has been unable to answer is the enigma of feminine desire. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra represents this enigma, which takes the form of a perfection resulting from a series of paradoxes: beauty and maturity, cunning and folly, fidelity and betrayal, jealousy and indifference, majesty and debauchery, expense and economy, audacity and fragility, truth and lies. Cleopatra’s perfection is the sum of all possible paradoxes. What is the point of this dizzying interplay of paradoxes? What is the resulting perfection?
Keywords:
- Antony and Cleopatra,
- Querelle des Femmes,
- Shakespeare,
- Lacan,
- Freud,
- Phallus,
- Feminine jouissance,
- Pucelle venimeuse
Résumé
« She did make defect perfection » (Antoine et Cléopâtre 2.2.242) : par cette formule, Énobarbe synthétise l’essence de l’inimitable charme de Cléopâtre. La Cléopâtre shakespearienne est une véritable étude de femme et de la femme : autrement dit, la Cléopâtre de Shakespeare relève moins de la fiction que de l’enquête sur l’autre sexe. « Was will das Weib? » se demandait Freud (si l’on en croit le témoignage de Marie Bonaparte), en admettant ainsi que la grande question auquelle la psychanalyse n’a pas su répondre est l’énigme du désir féminin. La Cléopâtre de Shakespeare représente cette énigme qui prend la forme d’une perfection résultante d’une série de paradoxes : beauté et âge mûr, ruse et déraison, fidélité et trahison, jalousie et indifférence, majesté et débauche, dépense et économie, audace et fragilité, vérité et mensonge. La perfection de Cléopâtre est la somme de tous les paradoxes possibles. À quoi vise cet étourdissant jeu de paradoxes ? Qu’est-ce que la perfection qui en résulte ?
Mots-clés :
- Antoine et Cléopâtre,
- Querelle des Femmes,
- Shakespeare,
- Lacan,
- Freud,
- Phallus,
- Jouissance féminine,
- Pucelle venimeuse
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Appendices
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