« Les divers sentiments d’un Tyran courageux et spirituel » : figures du tyran moderne dans les tragédies de Tristan L’Hermite

Heir to the Senecan maniac of humanist theater, the tyrant in the tragedies of Tristan L’Hermite embodies certain extraordinary forms of modern judicial power. His representation is served by a dramaturgy of suspicion which makes the effects of judicial persecution palpable to the spectators. The tyrant’s fall from grace no longer gives rise to exemplary laments, but to a critical investigation, which sometimes, in Osman, entails a paradoxical heroization.