La forge et le feu. Le mythe de Vulcain sur la scène anglaise aux 16e et 17e siècles

Sophie Chiari (1)

1 IHRIM - Institut d’Histoire des Représentations et des Idées dans les Modernités

In Roman mythology, Vulcan, the god of fire, was known as Venus's husband, and he was said to have made tools and weapons for the other gods in his workshop at Olympus. Throughout history, volcanoes have frequently been identified with Vulcan and other mythological figures. In the Renaissance, the myth is refashioned. In paintings, it reveals subversive aspects, as in Tintoretto's Venus and Mars Surprised by Vulcan (1551): The adulterous Mars is hiding under the table to the right, while an ageing Vulcan rushes in to find Venus reclining on a bed. He pulls back her covering, either to ravish or to inspect her. This paper then examines the myth of Vulcan in malo or in bono throughout Renaissance drama. Shakespeare's plays, in particular, exemplify how mythic poetry could be self-consciously refashioned for early modern culture. But how, and why, did age-old mythologies still held relevance in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Domaines: Littératures; Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène

Sophie Chiari. La forge et le feu. Le mythe de Vulcain sur la scène anglaise aux 16e et 17e siècles . Jean-Marie Valentin. Représentations et symboliques du feu dans les théâtres européens (XVIe-XXe siècle), Honoré Champion, 2013, 9782745325358. ⟨hal-01719624⟩