In order to defend Lefranc as "hero" of Haute Surveillance, an examination of the structure of the criminal-religious hierarchy as Genet views it becomes imperative. Certainly the most accessible theme in Genet's early works is the theme of the criminal hierarchy, and this theme is stressed in … Haute Surveillance. Particularly revealing is the original title of the play, Préséances, which may be translated as "the right to assume a position above someone or to precede him."… Furthermore, the text of the play explicitly establishes this criminal hierarchy. (p. 365)
Coexisting with the criminal hierarchy is a religious hierarchy. Although Sartre [in Saint Genet] clearly distinguishes between the two opposing aspects of the eternal couple of the criminal and the saint, it is not at all certain that this distinction exists in Genet's mind. Indeed, it seems that Genet often blurs this distinction, that the saint and the criminal may sometimes have separate identities, but more often the murderer and the saint are merged into one figure with a dual, paradoxical nature. The explanation of Genet's attitude may be found in the Journal du Voleur where he says that his goal is saintliness, that saintliness is the moral procedure that leads to it (i.e., theft, betrayal, murder, solitude, etc.)….
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