Das Paradoxon der Dissimulation – Über die Notwendigkeit der Täuschung zur Gestaltung von Natürlichkeit in Marivauxʼ Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard

Abstract

Dissimulation of the human being can never be fully achieved by an actor, as the actor’s body always remains present as a medium. This knowledge of the non-fictional character of the actors and actresses on stage makes the audience accomplices to the performed play. In his Le Jeu de lʼamour et du hasard, Marivaux creates a specific procedure of his poetics based on dissimulation by simply addressing the apparent impossibility of bringing a theater audience into a complete illusion. This way, he can paradoxically use the spectators’ knowledge and exploit it for his own purposes. With this procedure of addressing the purpose in the dialogue, which originates from rhetoric, the play as a procedure is reinforced and naturalized. Marivaux thus cures the deficiency of dissimulation and additionally binds it to an ethical premise that legitimizes the procedure itself and thus also dignifies and intensifies the simulation of the play itself.