Senior Blog #5

It is interesting how Jean Cocteau uses French Surrealism to associate the unconscious with women. Cocteau portrays women as the manipulator of men, both consciously and unconsciously. Men will blindly follow women and do anything for the sake of “love”, even though the love they follow might be a fruitless cause. In Orpheus, Eurydice (Marie Dea) is the influential factor to Orpheus (Marais)’s actions. When Eurydice died, Orpheus would stop at nothing to see his Eurydice once more. However, his actions come with a cost, Eurydice may be brought back to life but he may never look at her ever again. In the concluding act, Orpheus looks back to where Eurydyce is but she disappears. Jean Cocteau is trying to show us that we go at any length to gain love, like Orpheus.