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It is through Genet’s two plays “les Bonnes” and “Les Negres” that he urges the audience to question the boundary between the reality and fiction.
In “Les Bonnes”, Solange and Claire, and to some extent, even Madame, are all alienated from the real world. ... It is through the role-play that Solange and Claire act out daily that Genet begins to expose this frontier between that which is real and that which is not real. ...
When Solange plays the part of Claire and therefore takes on the character of Claire, the real Claire addresses the pseudo-Claire as “Claire”, even when she herself has temporarily slipped back out of her stage character as Madame and resumed her own reality as herself. ... In this way, Genet could perhaps be suggesting that it true identity and the ability to express these feelings and desires is only possible through assuming a role, created by performance. ... Genet’s point is that performance and role-play are utterly real. A mask seems to be more real than a character’s true face, as it is while wearing this mask that truths are expressed. ... It is only by escaping
Reality and crossing the frontier into non-reality that these emotions and feelings can be expressed. In this way, Genet shows us that what is happening on-stage is not necessarily what the audience believes it is. ... It is only at the end of the play and the ritual, when Claire, in the role of Madame, dies, that Genet truly questions the notion of meaning itself. ... Genet could perhaps be questioning the fact that just as there is no absolute identity, is there an absolute reality either? ... In this way, Genet warns the audience not to be duped into the tap set by actor and author, and thus on a larger scale not to believe everything that we see.
Approximate Word count = 1528
Approximate Pages = 6.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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