“Restons mort, c’est plus sûr”: Pierrot sur les planches

Abstract

Similar to the Greek god Hermes Pierrot keeps representing, with its well known tendency to theft, its innate laziness, its innocence and cruelty, the dark side of positive and productive society. In nineteenth century France Pierrot often represents the bad schoolboy, implicitly criticizing Republican values. We have defined Champfleury’s and Margueritte’s Pierrot as an “hypocritical sign” since it always betrays and bypasses representation, identity and ideology in a positive culture. We have identified three Pierrot figures: metaphorical; grammatical; political.