« I stand on change and shall dissolve in changing » : une représentation baroque de l’héroïsme

Abstract

In the second scene of The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron (1608), George Chapman makes use of a false ekphrasis, a carpet which is supposed to tell the « history of Catiline », the Roman conspirator. But there is no narrative of this « history » in the play and the ekphrasis is emptied of its usual contents. Instead, the hero, Byron, utters his own eulogy. By using the classical figure of ekphrasis in a distorted manner, Chapman points to the false or impossible heroism of his protagonist. This distorted use of classical topoi and figures is typical of Chapman’s baroque aesthetics, which enables him to point to the impossibility of heroism by stressing the impossibility of its representation.