Naked masks, or denudation in Musset’s dramatic work

Pointing out their mask and under the mask their face, Musset’s characters exhibit the lively force that moves them and propels them onward. This naked energy is the energy of a vouloir-vivre, of a passion that is both vital and deadly, the stake of an All or Nothing that destroys itself as soon as the energy is broken. This demand often culminates in a single act, in a blink of time that is ontological in scope, the Mussetian romantic subject thus anticipating modern issues.