La courtoisie en débat Effets de résonance parodique dans un Jeu à quatre personnages du xv^e siècle

A Jeu à quatre personnages copied out in the middle of the 15th century for an officer of René d’Anjou enables us to consider how the ideological and rhetorical codes of courtesy have evolved, courtesy beeing questioned by the enunciative game between Nature, the Lover, the Lady, and the Fool. Parody is enhanced by the play’s intertextual relationship with Alain Chartier’s Belle Dame sans merci. More generally, the parodic effect results from the echo of voices and multiple literary references.