Morphing Moonlight: Gender, masks and carnival mayhem- The ...

In the conclusion it will be shown how the narrative figure of Pierrot, with
his ethereal subjectivity, sets up the extremes through which the semiotic
process and the carnivalesque grotesque are brought into play, ensuring the
ambivalence that allows for multiple meanings within the works of the
artists discussed. It will also indicate how this strange white clown with his
transgressive tendencies invaded the works of the time period, becoming a
focal point for all the transgressive tendencies and flouting of the cultural,
political and social preconceptions of the decadence. Pierrot can be seen as
the representative figure of the decadence:
Hier comme aujourd’hui, le génie de la Décadence aura été d’incarner
ses vacillations et ses hantises dans un personnage éminemment
parodique et malléable. Et s’il peut figurer tout à la fois la Décadence
et la Modernité, c’est seulement si l’on admet, avec Péladan qu’ «Être
moderne, c’est avoir tout le passé présent à l’esprit». (Palacio 1990:
248) 9
This study of the decadent Pierrot was undertaken with all the above in mind.
On approaching the sources it became apparent that a number of studies had
been done on the figure of Pierrot, such as those by Robert Storey, Louisa E.
Jones, Jean de Palacio and Jean Starobinski. These works concentrated on the
history and development of the figure of Pierrot within France itself. In the
case of Jean de Palacio’s work on Pierrot, it became evident that during the fin
de siècle the representation of this figure had spread and become a leitmotif in
the arts of other countries. The figure with its elusively mercurial and pliable
character, its traits ranging from drunkenness to sadism, seemed to be the
9 In the past and present, the genius of the Decadence has been to embody its unsteadiness and obsessive
fears in an eminently parodic and pliable character. He is able to represent both the Decadent and the
Modern, but only because we can acknowledge along with Péladan that “being modern is having the
entire past present in one’s mind”.
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