De la vengeance pathologique : étude sur Titus Andronicus, de Shakespeare

Abstract

ObjectivesThis article aims to account for the pathological dimension of certain forms of revenge. MethodologyFrom Titus Andronicus, Roman tragedy of W. Shakespeare, it's to highlight the determinants that precede the act of revenge as such, the pathological dimension of violence and revenge at Titus, and the “psychotic” signature of these acts, their unlimited nature, without brake, with the persecutives notes that one perceives in the Titus report to others as in his report to the words. Beforehand, we considered useful to make a brief summary of the literature devoted to this theme of revenge. ResultsWe’ll see how the impulsive reactions, in “mirror”, murderous and cruel of Titus, which grew still more from beginning to the end of the play, can teach us about a revenge described as “paranoïd”. DiscussionThe discussion is — among other things — the report perversion/psychosis, especially because of the cruelty of the acts committed. We’ll see that the approach from the only perspective of revenge, or only from the perspective of the “perversion” of certain acts, cannot account sufficiently the complexity of this Shakespearean character. The paranoid logic of this literary “case” seems to us more a way forward. ConclusionTitus Andronicus is a tragedy of violence and revenge. It's the first tragedy of Shakespeare, with his interests and imperfections, often criticized, little read, little staging, little commented, but interesting and teaching us about a topic revenge little studied too in the field of psychiatry, psychopathology and psychoanalysis.