Violence Imagined, Violence Aestheticized
Violence Imagined, Violence Aestheticized

Psychology of Violence in Jean Genet’s The Maids

Summary/Abstract: Jean Genet’s The Maids is loosely based on the infamous case of the Papin sisters, which caused a media scandal in France in the ‘30s. Police reports said that the bodies of Madame Lancelin and her daughter were found brutally mutilated and murdered; and the maids, who were the only other people in the house, were found in bed, cuddling each other. French media and intellectuals were highly interested in the case; including Jean Genet, who in The Maids, presents a more psychological and suggestive version of violence instead of staging the actual murder. Throughout the play, Claire and Solange, the two maids/sisters and protagonists of the play, fantasize about killing their employer – Madame. Thus, The Maids becomes a rehearsal of violence whereby the sisters find themselves in an elaborate make-believe which turns into an act of violence in itself. This violence is more imagined than realized, more psychological than physical. As such, this paper argues that by its aesthetic rendering and re-presentation of the original murder case in its fictional construct, Jean Genet’s The Maids magnifies the reception of violence through the portrayals of Claire and Solange.

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