Two Haitian Revolutionaries in the Plays of Aime Cesaire: Toussaint Louverture and Henri Christophe
Haiti, one of the old colonies of France, gained its freedom after long years of warfare against France and Spain. Black slaves fought for their own freedom, following their leader Toussaint Louverture and Henri Christophe who were important historical figures that played a key role to gain its independence in the early 1800s. Aimé Césaire, a Martinican playwright of the XXth century, wrote two different plays on these heroes: One of the plays, entitled And the dogs were silent (1958), tells us the life of Toussaint Louverture, called in this play as “The Rebel”, who shows us the system of the colonization of the New World, and the fight of the slaves against their masters. The second play, entitled The Tragedy of King Christophe (1963), presents Henri Christophe, who was the King of Haiti. He fought in the name of his people against the colonizers as well. By analyzing these two figures of the history of Haiti, we will observe the two plays of Aimé Césaire, entitled And the Dogs were silent and The Tragedy of King Christophe, in which we can see the battle of the two Haitian protagonists. We will examine these characters and these plays by referring to the concept of “tragedy” of Aristotle. Within the scope of Aristotle, the relationship between tragedy and history will guide this study by taking into consideration the historical base of these two plays. In this study, we will refer to the Memoirs of General Toussaint-Louverture, written by himself, a posthumous work that emphasizes the fight against the colonizers, and to Lamartine’s play Toussaint Louverture.
Deux révolutionnaires haïtiens dans les pièces d’Aimé Césaire: Toussaint l’ouverture et Henri Christophe
Haïti, l’une des anciennes colonies de la France, se trouve dans une location géographique très importante. Ce pays a pu gagner sa liberté après de longues années de combat contre les Français. Les esclaves noirs ont lutté pour leur liberté à l’exemple de Toussaint Louverture et d’Henri Christophe. Ces deux figures historiques jouent un rôle principal dans l’indépendance de leur pays au début des années 1800. Aimé Césaire, dramaturge martiniquais du XXe siècle a écrit deux pièces sur ces deux héros : l’une des pièces intitulée Et les chiens se taisaient (1958) relate la vie de Toussaint Louverture qui s’appelle dans cette pièce « Le Rebelle » et il critique le système colonial du Nouveau Monde, et le combat des esclaves contre leur maître. Dans la deuxième pièce intitulée La Tragédie du Roi Christophe (1963), Aimé Césaire présente Henri Christophe qui était le roi d’Haïti. Lui aussi, il combat au nom de son peuple contre les colonisateurs, mais à la fin il se suicide à cause de ses ambitions. A travers ces deux figures historiques d’Haïti, notre but est d’étudier les deux pièces d’Aimé Césaire intitulées Et les Chiens se taisaient et La Tragédie du Roi Christophe où l’on voit le combat de ces deux protagonistes haïtiens. Nous allons examiner ces personnages et ces pièces en nous référant à la «tragédie» d’Aristote. Non seulement la tragédie mais aussi sa relation avec l’histoire guidera cette étude en prenant en considération la base historique de ces deux pièces. Dans notre étude, nous prendrons pour référence les Mémoires du Général Toussaint-Louverture écrits par lui-même, œuvre posthume qui met en évidence le combat livré contre les colonisateurs et la pièce de Lamartine intitulée Toussaint Louverture.
Haiti, one of the old colonies of France, gained its freedom after long years of warfare against France and Spain. Black slaves in Haiti, who worked in plantations of sugar cane and gold mines for European masters, fought for their own freedom, following their leaders Toussaint Louverture and Henri Christophe. These leaders were important historical figures that played a key role to gain its independence in the early 1800s.
Aimé Césaire, a Martinican playwright of the XXth century, wrote two different plays on these heroes: One of the plays, entitled And the dogs were silent (1958), tells us the life of Toussaint Louverture, called in this play as “The Rebel”, who shows us the system of the colonization of the New World, and the fight of the slaves against their masters for their independance. Toussaint Louverture was an ex-slave in Haiti, and he became leader of independance of Haiti in 1791. He died in a prison in Fort de Joux in France after the accusations of Napoleon. The second play, entitled The Tragedy of King Christophe (1963), presents Henri Christophe: he was an ex-slave and ex-cook who became the King of Haiti. He fought in the name of his people against the colonizers as well, but he was the victim of his ambitions, and at the end, he committed suicide in his palace, Sans-Souci.
Actually, the main themes of these two plays are based on the true story of historic heroes. By these plays, which criticize the west-centred historic perception of the colonial story, Aimé Césaire mirrors also the uneasy struggle against the European colonization. The importance of Haiti is related to its encounter with the slave trade for about 400 years: we witness the ambition of the slaves and their struggle for independence. Aimé Césaire benefits from these historical facts during the colonization period as background to the play. In addition to being theatrical works, Aimé Césaire’s plays are crucial for presenting a new approach to understand the social structure and history of the European colonization, in other words, the Martinican playwright shows us the other side of the story, which is mostly negated. In this article, our attention is restricted to fundamental issues, such as the Haitian revolution and independance. Also, the most important dialogues are frequently cited to show the evolution of the narrative of Aimé Césaire in these plays. Basically, the article is divided into four sections, and its key themes of testimony, fight for freedom and humanity recur repeatedly across these sections.
By analyzing these two figures of the history of Haiti, we will observe the two plays of Aimé Césaire, entitled And the Dogs were silent and The Tragedy of King Christophe, in which we can see the battle of the two Haitian protagonists. We will examine these characters and these plays by referring to the concept of “tragedy” of Aristotle. Within the scope of Aristotle, the relationship between tragedy and history will guide this study by taking into consideration the historical base of these two plays. In this study, we will refer to the Memoirs of General Toussaint-Louverture, written by himself, a posthumous work that emphasizes the fight against the colonizers and to Lamartine’s play Toussaint Louverture. Therefore, this article firstly examines the theatrical works of Aimé Césaire, entitled And the Dogs were silent and The Tragedy of King Christophe, as a mirror of the colonization history in Haiti, considering the fact that true literature repeats life. As the symbols of the fight for freedom, in a sense, Toussaint Louverture and Henri Christophe determine the destiny of the black slaves. Césaire reflects not only the perception of the European culture in colonization, but also presents the historic circumstances with their general aspects during the fight against the colonization of Haiti.
As a result, it could be said that examining the reflections of Toussaint Louverture and Henri Christophe on Césaire in the light of the historical events about European colonization of the Haiti presented in the plays entitled And the dogs were silent (1958) and The Tragedy of King Christophe (1963) will help to understand the fights of the blacks slaves against the colonization. The histories of Haiti, of Toussaint Louverture and of Henri Christophe were a decisive turning point in the history of slavery. Although these two historic figures lost their lives, their country and people won independence. Thence, the Martinican playwright’s narrative is very precious to us in order to understand in a better way the other side of the same story.
