Caligula : malade mental ou fou de lucidité ? (Rostworowski et Camus)

Abstract

Caligula: Mental illness or lucid madman? (Rostworowski and Camus) This article – focused on two plays about the Roman Emperor Caligula – has a double objective: firstly, it puts aside two dramatic versions of history of Caligula, and, secondly, it asks a question whether it is more legitimate to consider Caligula as a madman or as a mental patient. After introducing the playwrights Karol Hubert Rostworowski and Albert Camus, as well as the basic terminological concepts concerning the notion of madness and mental illness, the article analyses the symptoms of the illness and the madness included in the studied texts.