From Nietzsche and Scheler’s Concept of Ressentiment to Jean Genet’s Resentful Characters: The Maids

Associated with Nietzsche’s nihilism, the concept of ressentiment—the resentment felt by the slave toward the master—is defined by Max Scheler, following Nietzsche’s line of thought, as the self-poisoning of the mind. This emotion frequently appears in cinema and the performing arts, which are nourished by conflict. Theatre does not merely reflect the calm moments of life; it also incorporates its complexity, tensions, and distortions. This study examines Jean Genet’s The Maids through the concept of ressentiment. Situated at the intersection of underground literature and absurd theatre, The Maids offers a particularly suitable context for examining the dynamics of ressentiment. Ressentiment emerges as one of the principal forces shaping the characters’ actions and relationships. Their resentment is directed toward the woman for whom they work and functions as a central force that generates dramatic conflict. While the characters attempt to transform their resentment into violence, they simultaneously enact what Scheler describes as the self-poisoning of the mind. Dramatic and post-dramatic theatre, sustained by conflict, operates in close relation with negative emotions. Accordingly, this article examines ressentiment as the central affect structuring conflict in The Maids, drawing on Nietzsche’s and Scheler’s accounts of ressentiment.