The Significance of the Trial Scenes in Ondine and The Madwoman of Chaillot

Abstract

The Significance of the Trial Scenes in Ondine and The Madwoman of Chaillot MARK C. PILKINTON IN TWO OF HIS MOST FAMOUS PLAYS, Ondine and The Madwoman of Chaillot, Jean Giraudoux makes use of a trial scene before he effects resolution, Playwrights often resort to a discussion or debate to make a point, but rarely do they put an actual trial scene into a play unless that trial scene is the overriding issue, e,g" Inherit the Wind. But in Giraudoux's two plays, trials materialize from nowhere. In Ondine, The Old One (disguised as The Second Fisherman) announces after capturing Ondine, "Prepare yourself. The judges are coming.'" In The Madwoman of Chaillot, Aurelia has not considered trying the evil men of the world until Josephine mentions it: JOSEPHINE. Your criminals have had a fair trial, I suppose? COUNTESS. Trial? JOSEPHINE. Certainly. You can't kill anybody without a trial. (pp. 52-53) Giraudoux does little to prepare us for a trial, and this lack of preparation could be considered a fault, if the trials brought about reversals or discoveries that affected the outcomes of the plays. But the trials are fixed: the defendants, guilty from the outset, endure the machinations of the legal system to absolve their accusers of guilt. Giraudoux's trials serve two obvious purposes: to point up the absurdity of the system of jurisprudence and to move the focus of guilt from the individual to the society in general. They also playa less obvious but more important role: the trial scenes act as the chief destructive 109 110 MARK C. PILKINTON forces within the plays and, as such, elevate the plays to Poggioli's nihilistic/agonistic stages of the avant-garde. To point out the inequities in our trial system, Giraudoux employs a theme of mendacity. Ondine's admitting that she is, indeed, an Ondine startles the judges. The First Judge says, "It is the first time we have tried an Ondine who does not deny being an Ondine" (p. 237). Ondine goes on to lie about her relationship with Bertram, a lie the judges uncover: "Why she wished to make us believe that she deceived you [Hans] with Bertram when in fact she did not, is a question beyond the scope of our inquiry" (p. 248). Uncovering the truth, however, does not change the guilty verdict; it only mollifies it by sparing Ondine "the humiliation of a public execution" (p. 248). The importance of mendacity as a means of exposing absurdities in the trial system continues in The Madwoman of Chaillot: THE RAGPICKER. I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing bul the truth, so help me God. JOSEPHINE. Nonsense! You're not a witness. You're an attorney. It's your duty to lie, conceal and distort everything, and slander everybody. THE RAGPICKER. All right. I swear to lie, conceal and distort everything, and slander everybody. (p. 55) Both trials, then, move steadily forward under the banner of prevarication to defeat the defendants. The second obvious purpose in using trial scenes in these two plays, the dilution of guilt by making it impersonal, manifests itself in two distinctly different ways. Hans goes so far as to state that his complaint against Ondine holds true for all men: My complaint is the complaint of aU mankind. Is it so much after all that God bas granted us, these few yards of air between hell and heaven? Is it so attractive, after all, this bit of life we have, with these hands that get dirty, these teeth that fall out, this hair that turns gray? Why must these creatures trespass on our little world? Gentlemen, on the morning of my marriage, I claim the right to be left in peace in a world that is free of these intrusions, these threats, these seductions, alone with myself, with my bride, alone at last. (p. 238) He wants to free himself of Ondine's ubiquity and sees the trial as a means of doing so. By letting the judges condemn her, he can, with a clear conscience, lead Bertha to the altar, ignorant, of course, of Ondine's pact with The Old One. Josephine instigates...