dOminique Pelicot functioned as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, observed one of the psychological experts in Mazan’s rape trial, which began on September 2 at the Vaucluse criminal court. And this also applies to many of his co-defendants. The reference is relevant: Robert Louis Stevenson, author in 1886 of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeHe had the idea for this short novel after his French teacher, Eugène Chantrelle, was convicted of poisoning his wife in 1878. Surprised by his former teacher’s duplicity, Stevenson wanted to try to understand what it means to have a split personality.
In the novel, Jekyll, a rich scientist who lives in London, prepares a concoction that he uses at night to unleash his murderous instincts. He transforms into Hyde, a mysterious and violent character who acts impulsively. Hyde first coldly stomps on the body of a 10-year-old girl, “leaving her screaming in pain on the pavement”. He then kills an old man with a cane and “lack[e] at the feet of his victim ».
But, when the effects of the mixture change and Dr. Jekyll can no longer control the moment of his metamorphosis, he decides to confess. Trying to make sense of what happened to him, he concludes: “Man is truly not one, but two. »
The banality of profiles
What surprises many observers in the Mazan rape trial is the banality of the profile of the 51 defendants. The British newspaper The telegraph describes these firefighters, bricklayers, gardeners, prison guards, soldiers and journalists as “ordinary citizens”. “Ordinary men. Horrible crimes »we read in a feminist collage published in Avignon. Unlike the #metoo wave of 2017, with its litany of rich and famous men accused of rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and other crimes against women and girls (from Harvey Weinstein to Jeffrey Epstein to Sean Combs, aka like P. Diddy), this This time it’s Mr. Everyman.
We thought we finally had an explanation for these issues from seven years ago. Power corrupts, we tell ourselves. But when it comes to our siblings, parents, grandparents, spouses and friends, we are caught off guard.
This is one of the most destabilizing aspects of this issue, that is, it shakes our certainties: we do not know who we can trust, we cannot be sure of anyone’s character. During the day, these men led the lives of citizens. But at night, when they started chatting with other men on a forum, they became a different person. If Dr. Jekyll needed a potion to transform into Mr. Hyde, these men had a discussion forum to switch roles and unleash patriarchal violence.
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