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

• Published in: Comparative drama Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 167 - 200
• Main Author: Muller, David G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kalamazoo, Mich Comparative Drama, Department of English, Western Michigan University 01.07.2013; Western Michigan University; Western Michigan University, Department of 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; France
• ISSN: 0010-4078; 1936-1637; 1936-1637
• DOI: 10.1353/cdr.2013.0022

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.