Mécanismes du désir dans Don Juan de Molière: étude de l’interaction entre les normes culturelles et la psychologie individuelle

Authors

  • Anca Similar “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca Author
  • Patricia Nedelea West University of Timişoara Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37130/4y97wc90

Keywords:

Don Juan, Molière, Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre, mechanisms of desire, cultural norms, individual psychologies, gender, seduction, morality, social conventions, normative pressures

Abstract

This article examines the mechanisms of desire at work in Molière’s Don Juan, focusing on the interplay between cultural norms and individual psychology. Touching on some key scenes in the play, we will explore how Don Juan’s behavior is shaped by societal expectations of masculinity and sexual conquest, as well as his own psychological motivations and desires. The study shows how Don Juan’s pursuit of pleasure and power is influenced by cultural norms surrounding gender, religion, and social class, and how these norms interact with his own psychological makeup to create a complex and often contradictory character. By highlighting the complex interplay between cultural norms and individual psychology, this article sheds a new light on the enduring appeal and relevance of Don Juan as a literary and cultural figure. Themes addressed in the article: desire and seduction, gender roles and stereotypes, cultural norms and conventions, morality and religion, individual psychology and motivation, power and status, social class and hierarchy, performance and identity, justice and punishment, theatricality and meta-theatre.

Author Biographies

  • Anca Similar, “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca

    Anca Similar is a stage and film actress and voice trainer. She is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theatre and Film of “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca. She holds a BFA in Acting, a BA in Theatre Studies, and an MSc from the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, USI, Switzerland. She pursued doctoral studies in Paris in the field of cultural journalism and at the University of Antwerp in cultural management. She holds a PhD in Theatre. She performed in more than 80 plays, ten feature and short films. She published more than ten articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and she attended more than 20 international conferences. Her last short Summer Planning won The Heart of Sarajevo Award, Best Screenplay Award at the Tel Aviv International Film Festival, Best Student Film Award at the International Film Festival in Pula in 2022, CILECT Prize, Critics Award at Cinemaiubit ISFF 2021, Best Indie Producer Prize for a Film School at IPIFF Indie Prizes, and the film was shortlisted for Best Live Action at BAFTA Student Awards in 2022. In 2022 she released the book Breathing Techniques for Stage.

  • Patricia Nedelea, West University of Timişoara

    Patricia Nedelea is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Music and Theater of West University of Timişoara. She holds a PhD from Central European University, Department of Gender Studies with a thesis on Queer Theory applied to Shakespeare (2008) and another PhD from European University Institute, History and Civilization Department with a thesis on Tarot Cards as Renaissance Memory Places (2012). Her research interests include: Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama, Renaissance History, Women in the Renaissance, Art of Memory, Queer and Feminist Theory, Stand-Up Comedy. She wrote numerous articles and the following books (as sole author): Femina Ludens Re-Con-Queering Shakespeare (2012), Three Shakespearean Graces: A Queer Perspective (2012), Ochiul care privește – ochiul care plătește (2012), Femina Ludens Playing Shakespeare (2017), Didascaliile lui Camil Petrescu – o scriitură dramatică unică (2020), Bărbații sunt precum pantofii – Texte dramatice de Stand-Up (2020). This article is her first collaboration with another academic writer.

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Published

2022-12-12

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 2 (2022): I AM ANOTHER YOU. Mediating Intimacy and Body Politics / MOLIÈRE: 400th Anniversary of his Birth

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Similar, A., & Nedelea, P. (2022). Mécanismes du désir dans Don Juan de Molière: étude de l’interaction entre les normes culturelles et la psychologie individuelle. CONCEPT, 25(2), 169-198. https://doi.org/10.37130/4y97wc90