Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens (Nov 2017)
Canine Actors and Melodramatic Effects: The Dog of Montargis Arrives on the English Stage
Abstract
This work examines how, through the adaptation of the widely celebrated French canine melodrama Le chien de Montargis onto the British stage, Victorian society explored and attempted to define its own distinct cultural alliance and conceptualization of the dog. Based on a medieval legend, Le chien was originally written for the Parisian stage by Guilbert de Pixerécourt in 1814, and it immediately attracted the attention of English theatre businessmen. English adaptations soon followed, as translations from a variety of sources were presented before a public mesmerized by the feats of Dragon, the memorable canine character. From an anonymous translation to adaptations believed to have been the brainchild of William Barrymore and Thomas Dibdin, The Dog of Montargis was to be showcased throughout the greater part of the century. Such adaptations came at a highly significant moment in English history regarding the reconsideration of animality and domestic non-human others. As a result of scientific advancements and increasing sensibilities regarding ‘cruel’ behaviours, nineteenth-century England would witness the cultural impact of Darwinism, the reaction against continental experimental physiology (a field led principally by the French and the Germans), and the emergence of humane and animal protection societies. Within the complexity of this context, particularly as Victorian society consolidated itself in the latter part of the century, the production of a canine melodrama acquires a particular significance. This paper examines the choices made for the adaptations of the play and analyses how such aesthetic endeavours (affecting production, plot, and script, among other features) revealed a conception of the non-human other (in this case a species as significant as a dog) that reflected the shifting concerns on animality, their humane treatment, and their position within the overall pervasive sense of ‘Englishness’ and national sentiment. From an analysis of English adaptors’ choice to keep the canine character alive (versus its tragic fate in the French version) to revisiting the character of Dragon through the lens of the domestic ethos of kindness, this paper explores fundamental issues related to Victorian ideals about dogs and their immersion within discourses revolving around loyalty, courage, breed, and capacity for mourning. In examining how the dog both contributes to melodramatic conventions and absorbs the growing social and scientific tensions relating to the definition of ‘dog-hood’, the research hopes to contribute to a better comprehension of the extent to which certain aspects of the performance (such as the dog’s idiosyncratic form of communicating its feelings) represent key sites for the exploration of how modern conceptions of the non-human other were shaped.
Keywords
