I’m ready to post La Comtesse d’Escarbagnas, a fine little comedy of manners and comédie-ballet also entitled le Ballet des ballets. It was performed 580 times before the French Revolution.[1]The main character, la Comtesse, is besotted by rank. She is a widowed personne de qualité, her spouse was a count, who is seeking a second husband. She does not marry an aristocrat, but a bourgeois who loves her and looks upon her as une personne de qualité. Monsieur Tibaudier is very frank, but he loves the Comtesse and she will remain a Comtesse. When the curtain lifts, she has just returned Paris. The dénouement is a happy one. It is an “all’s well that ends well,” Molière champions the happiness of loving couples.
Ourdramatis personæis:
LA COMTESSE D’ESCARBAGNAS.
LE COMTE, son fils (son).
LE VICOMTE, amant (in love with) de Julie.
JULIE, amante du Vicomte.
MONSIEUR TIBAUDIER, conseiller, amant de la Comtesse.
MONSIEUR HARPIN, receveur des tailles (tax farmer), autre amant de la Comtesse. MONSIEUR BOBINET, précepteur (tutor) de Monsieur le Comte.
ANDRÉE, suivante de la Comtesse.
JEANNOT, laquais de Monsieur Tibaudier.
CRIQUET, laquais de la Comtesse.
La scène est à Angoulême.
The Suitors: Tibaudier and Harpin
La Comtesse is courted by three men:
Monsieur Tibaudier,
Monsieur Harpin, and
le Vicomte.
When the Vicomte starts courting the Comtesse, Monsieur Tibaudier and Monsieur Harpin do no think they have a chance. The Viscount has a rank and the Comtesse is obsessed with rank. Two of her suitors are bourgeois and do not like having a rival who is Vicomte. Monsieur Harpin becomes a jaloux and rudely interrupts a comédie le Vicomte is offering la Comtesse. Monsieur Harpin’s jealousy is not revealed until the very end of the comedy, when he barges in on le vicomte‘s comédie.
However, Monsieur Tibaudier and Monsieur Harpin do not know le Vicomte is not their rival. Le Vicomte is in love with Julie, but they cannot marry until his father and her brothers approve the marriage. In fact, the Comtesse‘s only available suitors are Monsieur Tibaudier and Monsieur Harpin, one of whom is un jaloux, who enters late and disgraces himself.
When the inner comedy begins, the Vicomte’s gift to the comtesse, all has been arranged. La Comtesse will marry Monsieur Tibaudier. Monsieur Harpin is a jaloux whom we do not see until it’s too late. So, as events unfold, Monsieur Harpin having stayed away, the only suitor seeking the Comtesse‘s affection is Monsieur Tibaudier who dearly loves the Comtesse.
Monsieur Thibaudier
However, when invited to attend the comédie, Monsieur Tibaudier will not go the Comtesse‘s house until Jeannot has carried a gift of pears to which a message is attached. The messages is clear. He has been waiting for too long.
Madame, je n’aurais pas pu vous faire le présent que je vous envoie, si je ne recueillais pas plus de fruit de mon jardin, que j’en recueille de mon amour. Monsieur Tibaudier (Scene IV) [Madam, I could not have made you the present which I send you, if, I gathered as little fruit from my garden as I gather from my love.] Monsieur Tibaudier (Scene Fifteen)
Monsieur Tibaudier has written:
Les poires ne sont pas encore bien mûres, mais elles en cadrent mieux, avec la dureté de votre âme, qui par ses continuels dédains, ne me promet pas poires molles. Trouvez bon, Madame, que sans m’engager dans une énumération de vos perfections, et charmes, qui me jetterait dans un progrès à l’infini, je conclue ce mot, en vous faisant considérer que je suis d’un aussi franc chrétien, que les poires que je vous envoie, puisque je rends le bien pour le mal, c’est-à-dire, Madame, pour m’expliquer plus intelligiblement, puisque je vous présente des poires de bon-chrétien, pour des poires d’angoisse,[2] que vos cruautés me font avaler tous les jours. Tibaudier, votre esclave indigne (Scène V)
[The pears are not yet very ripe; but they will go all the better with the hardness of your heart, which, by its continuous disdain, does not promise me anything soft. Permit me. Madam, without entering upon an enumeration of your perfections and charms which would betray me in a never ending progress, to conclude this note by calling your attention to the fact that I am as good a Christian as the pears which I send you, since I return good for evil; which means, Madam, to express myself more intelligibly, that I offer you pears of bon-chrétien for choke-pears[3] which your cruelty makes me swallow every day.
Tibaudier, your unworthy slave.]
(Scene Fifteen)
La Comtesse is not offended. She welcomes Monsieur Thibaudier has a stool[4] brought for him and the Vicomte reads his poetry.
Une personne de qualité Ravit mon âme, Elle a de la beauté, J’ai de la flamme; Mais je la blâme D’avoir de la fierté. (Scène V)
[A lady of quality
Ravishes my soul:
She has beauty,
I have love;
But I blame her
For having pride.]
(Scene Sixteen)
He doesn’t think of his rank, except to say that he has been supplanted or outranked.
Me voilà supplanté, moi, par Monsieur Tibaudier. Le Vicomte (Scene V)
[Here I am supplanted [outranked] by Mr. Tibaudier.] The Viscount (Scene Eleven)
Outranked he is. La Comtesse cannot find anything wrong with Monsieur Tibaudier. So, when it is revealed — the péripétie, that the Vicomte can marry Julie, the Viscount himself gives la Comtesse to Monsieur Tibaudier as a husband. Monsieur Harpin has disgraced himself, and, he, the Viscount, loves Julie.
Le Vicomte knows that Monsieur Tibaudier truly loves la Comtesse, whom he will always consider “une personne de qualité.”
As for Julie, she has made le Vicomte wait, but has she been cruel?
C’est trop lontemps, Iris, me mettre à la torture [.] Le Vicomte Scène première
[Too long, Iris, have you put me to the torture[.]] The Viscount (Scene One)
But le Vicomte replaces Julie’s name with the name Iris in the poem he recites. The name Iris belongs to John Lyly‘s euphuism. He complains Iris is making him wait too long, but he has distanced Julie by naming her Iris. Julie protests. Why should women be depicted as a man’s torturer. It has seemed long. Julie and the Vicomte want to marry, but their families are objecting. It must seem an endless wait, but what could she do?
However, suddenly, everything turns around. It’s a péripétie. Le Vicomte tells la Comtesse what it means:
Cela veut dire, Madame, que j’épouse Julie, et si vous m’en croyez, pour rendre la comédie complète de tout point, vous épouserez Monsieur Tibaudier, et donnerez Mademoiselle Andrée à son laquais dont il fera son valet de chambre. Le Vicomte à la Comtesse (Scène dernière)
[This means, Madam, that I marry Julia ; and if you believe me, to render the comedy more complete in all points, you will marry Mr. Tibaudier, and give Miss Andrée to his lacquey, of whom he shall make his valet.][3] The Viscount to the Countesse(Scene Twenty-Two)
The Comtesse feels, briefly, that this is offensive
Quoi, jouer de la sorte une personne de ma qualité? La Comtesse (Scène dernière)
[What ! to hoodwink a person of my rank thus?] The Comtesse (Scene Twenty-Two)
Le Vicomte tells her that he has not offended her. This is the Will of comedy, or an “all’s well that ends well.”
C’est sans vous offenser, Madame, et les comédies veulent de ces sortes de choses. Le Vicomte à la Comtesse (Scène dernière)
[It was meant without offence, Madam; comedies require these sorts of things.] The Viscount to the Countess (Scene Twenty-Two)
Therefore, the Comtesse tells monsieur Tibaudier that she will marry him. The Countess to Monsieur Thibaudier (Scene Twenty-Two)
Oui, Monsieur Tibaudier, je vous épouse, pour faire enrager tout le monde. La Comtesse à Monsieur Thibaudier (Scène dernière)
[Yes, Mr. Tibaudier, I marry you in order to put the whole world in a rage.] The Countess to Mr Tibaudier (Scene Twenty-Two)
He thinks it is a very great honour:
Ce m’est bien de l’honneur, Madame. Monsieur Tibaudier à la Comtesse (Scène dernière) [It is a great honour to me, Madam.] Monsieur Tibaudier to the Countess (Scene Twenty Two)
All then go to see the end of the comédie the Vicomte was giving to Julie under the name of the Comtesse. Monsieur Harpin barges in, speaking impolitely, and is removed.
Conclusion
Molière has created a comedy where there is only one genuine suitor to la Comtesse. We suspect this is the case when le Vicomte tells Julie that she is making play a role in a comedy and complains that this has gone on for too long. She is not responsible for the delay. Cléante’s father and her brothers oppose her marriage to Cléante, the Vicomte. He protests because it has gone on too long and reads a poem where he depicts his plight as a “double martyrdom.” Time is relative. If one has a poire d’angoisse inserted in one’s mouth, time lasts forever. If one is happy, time flies.
C’est trop longtemps, Iris, me mettre à la torture, Et si je suis vos lois, je les blâme tout bas, De me forcer à taire un tourment que j’endure Pour déclarer un mal que je ne ressens pas. Faut-il que vos beaux yeux à qui je rends les armes, Veuillent se divertir de mes tristes soupirs, Et n’est-ce pas assez de souffrir pour vos charmes, Sans me faire souffrir encor pour vos plaisirs? Le Vicomte à Julie (Scène première) [Too long, Iris, have you put me to the torture, And if I obey your laws, I blame them silently For forcing me to conceal the torment which I endure, To confess a pain which I do not feel.
(…) This double martyrdom is too much at one time;
(…)
And if by pity you are not overcome,
I die both by the feint and by the truth. The Viscount to Julie (Scene One)]
Le Vicomte and Julie are typical young lovers who face blocking characters. Cléante’s father would be a heavy father, but Julie does not agree that the Vicomte is a double martyrdom. However, she wants a copy of the letter. It is reverse flattery, but flattery.
Je vois que vous vous faites là bien plus maltraité que vous n’êtes; mais c’est une licence que prennent messieurs les poètes, de mentir de gaieté de cœur, et de donner à leurs maîtresses des cruautés qu’elles n’ont pas, pour s’accommoder aux pensées qui leur peuvent venir. Cependant je serai bien aise que vous me donniez ces vers par écrit. Julie au Vicomte (Scène première)
I see that you make yourself out to be more ill-treated than you are; but to tell falsehoods wantonly, to attribute to their mistresses cruelties which they do not
feel, is a license which gentlemen poets take, to accommodate themselves to the ideas with which they may be inspired. I should, however, be very glad, if you would give me these verses in writing.] Julie to the Viscount (Scene One)
The Vicomte makes believe he is in love with the Comtesse, and he cannot tell that Julie is the woman he loves. But he provides a rival to Monsieur Tibaudier and to Monsieur Harpin, which he doesn’t like.
But he calls Julie Iris. This language is akin to John Lyly‘s euphuism, a witty, courtly style that distances Julie.
Love to all of you💕 This post is not complete, but it can stand alone. I will publish whatever is missing, excluding quotations used in this post.
_____________________ [1] toutmoliere.net [2] A pear-shaped instrument to keep the mouth open. One could not scream when thieves took everything. [3] I believe this could also be translated as “who will be her lackey.” [4]At Court, a lower rank individual was not allowed to sit in an armchair. The stool was a pliant. It could fold.
La Comtesse d’Escarbagnas by François Boucher (drawing) (sitelully.free.fr)
Just a word to wish you a Merry Christmas and other festivities. May the New Year bless all of you.
I thank you for the warmth you have brought me for some nine years. We create bonds with are colleagues, which I never expected.
We had a Christmas celebration last night, at one of my nephew’s home. So I may now write a post on La Comtesse d’Escarbagnas, Molière’s shortest play.
A very long time ago, my sister and I produced it. I can’t remember which role I played. Students enjoy producing plays. My sister is an award-winning actress.
Georges Braque (13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) is associated with Fauvism. Braque is also associated with Cubism, as is Pablo Picasso, the movement’s co-founder. Picasso was employed by Sergei Diaghilev, which is an element I wish to underscore. Diaghilev attracted and promoted many talents, including Jean Cocteau. Les Ballets Russes was Russian, yet a Tout-Paris ballet company. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes also transformed Molière’sThe Doctor in Spite of Himself (Le Médecin malgré lui) into a ballet. It was an opera by Charles Gounod. Érik Satie was asked to compose recitatives.
For a list of Ballets Russesrépertoire and related information, see Ballets Russes dancers (wiki2.org).
There is so much to tell about Molière and particularly Les Fâcheux. In fact, I still have Les Fâcheux in mind. We see two pirouettes.
La Rivière and friends, thugs, turn against Damis and try to kill him.
Éraste, un soldat before he was un courtisan, saves Damis, who is the blocking-character, but whom gratitude changes. He enables the marriage he would not allow, which is a complete reversal and comedy, farce in particular. It is comic irony.
The image below shows Éraste, and his companion would be Orchise.
La Fontaine and Molière probably met at approximately this point in history. La Fontaine was a protégé of Nicolas Fouquet. In a letter, une épître, to Maucroix, La Fontaine praised Molière. Les Fâcheux, “par sa manière,” had pleased him.[2]
C’est un ouvrage de Molière :
Cet écrivain, par sa manière,
Charme à present toute la Cour
De la façon dont son nom court,
Il doit être par delà Rome. Je suis ravi car c’est mon homme. Te souvient-il bien qu’autrefois,
Nous avons conclu d’une voix
Qu’il allait ramener en France
Le bon goût et l’art de Térence?
Plaute n’est plus qu’un plat bouffon,
Et jamais il ne fit si bon
Se trouver à la comédie;
Car je ne pense pas qu’on y rie
De maint trait jadis admiré
Et bon in illo tempore
Nous avons changé de méthode :
Jodelet n’est plus à la mode,
Et maintenant il ne faut pas
Quitter la nature d’un pas.
[It is a work by Molière, this writer whose manner now charms the Court. The way his name is running, he must be beyond Rome, I’m delighted because he’s my man. Do you remember how, in older days, we agreed that he would bring back to France the good taste and the art of Terence? Plautus is now no more than a flat buffoon, and never has it been so good to see comedies. For I do not think that one laughs at features admired in the past and which were good in illo tempore (then). We’ve changed methods. Jodelet[1]is no longer in, and we cannot leave nature by even a step.] (The translation is mine. It is not polished, but it is Molière theory.)
Molière depicted his century as he saw it and heard it. That is “nature” Molière’s in his century.
____________________ [1] Jodelet played Jodelet in the Précieuses ridicules. His face was enfariné, or covered with flour. Molière played Mascarille. [2] See Maurice Rat, ed. Œuvres complètes de Molière (Pléiade, 1956), p. 861.
Love to everyone 💕
Les Fâcheux by les Ballets Russes, to music by Georges Auric.
Vois-tu ce petit trait de feinte que voilà ? Ce fleuret ? ces coupés courant après la belle? Lisandre (I. iii)
[Do you observe that little touch of a faint? This fleuret?
The coupés running after the fair one.]
Lisandre (I. 5)
Molière’s Les Fâcheux, a three-act and verse comédie-ballet, was first performed at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Nicolas Fouquet‘s château, on 17 August 1661. It heralded King Louis XIV’s divertissements, which usually took place in a château outside Paris, such as the château at Saint-German-en-Laye. After Vaux-le-Vicomte’s performance of Les Fâcheux, Louis XIV congratulated Molière, but suggested that a hunter, le Marquis de Soyecourt, be added to the bores. The role had been added by 25 August 1661, when Les Fâcheux was performed at Fontainebleau. On 4 November 1661, Les Fâcheux was performed in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.
In comédies-ballets, one also names the composer, Lully, and the choreographer, Beauchamp. Here, Molière was the lyricist. As a comédie-ballet, Les Fâcheux contains a Prologue that precedes Act One and features a naiad in a shell. Moreover, interludes, entrées de ballet, separate Acts One and Two (two), Acts Two and Three (four), and two entrées de ballet follow Act Three.
Jealousy
Les Fâcheux continues the theme of jealousy, introduced in Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux. In Les Fâcheux, it is a debate mostly which takes place in Act Two, Scene Four, a scene I chose to discuss separately. It should be noted, however, that Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux was a comédie héroïque, but that Les Fâcheux, is a form of divertissement, not a comédie héroïque.Form imposes a different treatment of a similar subject, such as jealousy, but jealousy is jealousy. In Act Two, Scene Four Éraste, our young lover, will be asked to hear both sides of a debate on whether jealousy is a sign of love. This was a question d’amour. These were plentiful and were often discussed, rather lightheartedly, in the salons of seventeenth-century France. Questions d’amour are associated with préciosité. In this scene, the fâcheuses are Climène and Orante.
Horace (Google)
Sources
Horace
Theophrastus
I named Horace’s Satires as the play’s main source, adding that Les Fâcheux was also rooted in French and contemporary sources: Mathurin Régnier, Paul Scarron, and others. But The Bores also borrows from Theophrastus, as does Jean de La Bruyère‘s Caractères.[1] French classicisme has Greek and Roman ancestry. On the cover of the third edition of Jean de La Bruyère’s Caractères, we can read that some of La Bruyère’s caractères are a translation of Theophrastus’ Greek characters, and others “de ce siècle,” living caractères. The seventeenth-century had its moralistes. In fact, Le Misanthropecontains a portrait scene. Someone drops a name and Célimène has a portrait ready.
Moreover, as I reread Les Fâcheux, a word leaped off the page: raison, as in René Descartes. Éraste says to La Montagne:
215J’ai de l’amour encor pour la belle inhumaine,/ Et ma raison voudrait, que j’eusse de la haine! Éraste to La Montagne (I. iv)
[Ah, I feel myself greatly disturbed ! I still love the cruel fair one, and my reason bids me hate her.] Éraste to La Montagne (I. 7)
Does reason militate against love? Descartes championed reason, but he wrote Les Passions de l’âme, and was opposed by several figures in seventeenth-century France. We need only name Blaise Pascal (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650). Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. (See merriam-webster.com.)
Let us run back to Vaux-le-Vicomte. Les Fâcheux was created, rehearsed and performed in fifteen days.
Molière wrote that
« Jamais entreprise au théâtre ne fut si précipitée que celle-ci, et c’est une chose, je crois, toute nouvelle qu’une comédie ait été conçue, faite, apprise et représentée en quinze jours. » Molière,Avertissement
[Never was any Dramatic performance so hurried as this; and it is a thing, I believe, quite new, to have a comedy planned, finished, got up, and played in a fortnight.][Preface]
ERASTE, in love with ORPHISE, ORPHISE, in love with ERASTE DAMIS, guardian to Orphise, LA MONTAGNE, servant to Eraste, L’EPINE, servant to Damis.
ALCIDOR,
DORANTE,
LISANDRE/LYSANDRE,
CARITIDES,
ALCANDRE,
ORMIN,
ALCIPPE,
FILINTE,
ORANTE,
CLIMÈNE. LA RIVIERE and Two COMRADES.
The Scene is at PARIS.
ACT ONE
In Act One, La Montagne is helping Éraste dress properly. For instance, he cleans Éraste’s hat, drops it, and must clean again. These are comedic routines called lazzi.
Valets and other servants help young couples overcome obstacles to their marriage. They are zanni. For instance, Éraste tells La Montagne that of all the bores, the worst is Damis, Orchise’s uncle and guardian:
Mais de tous mes fâcheux, le plus fâcheux encore,/ C’est Damis, le tuteur de celle que j’adore;/ Qui rompt ce qu’à mes vœux elle donne d’espoir,/ Et fait qu’en sa présence elle n’ose me voir./115Je crains d’avoir déjà passé l’heure promise,/ Et c’est dans cette allée, où devait être Orphise. Éraste à La Montagne (I. i) [But of all my bores the greatest is Damis, guardian of her whom I adore, who dashes every hope she raises, and has brought it to pass that she dares not see me in his presence. I fear I have already passed the hour agreed on; it is in this walk that Orphise promised to be.] Éraste to La Montagne (I. 1)
Moreover, Éraste turns to La Montagne to ask him whether Orphise loves him. La Montagne calls Orphise’s love “un amour confirmé.”
125 Mais, tout de bon, crois-tu que je sois d’elle aimé? Éraste à La Montagne (I. i)
[But, in good earnest, do you believe that I am loved by her?] Éraste to La Montagne (I. 1) Quoi? vous doutez encor d’un amour confirmé… La Montagne à Éraste (I. i)
[What ! do you still doubt a love that has been tried?] La Montagne to Éraste (I. 1)
La Montagne is doing what valets do, but Éraste wishes to leave as quickly as possible, which makes La Montagne a bore. Being a bore is, to a large extent, a matter of timing and, therefore, relative. At the end of Scene One Éraste says:
150Au diantre tout valet qui vous est sur les bras;/ Qui fatigue son maître, et ne fait que déplaire/ À force de vouloir trancher du nécessaire. Éraste à La Montagne (I. i)
[The deuce take every servant who dogs your heels, who wearies his master, and does nothing but annoy him by wanting to set himself up as indispensable!] Éraste a La Montagne (I. 1)
However, as soon as Éraste leaves, so does La Montagne who sees, as Éraste does, that Alcidor is holding Orphise’s hand. Orphise waves to Éraste and tends turns her head in another direction. Éraste is miffed. Orphise has ignored him. Does she or does she not love Éraste?
153Mais vois-je pas Orphise? Oui c’est elle, qui vient./ Où va-t-elle si vite, et quel homme la tient? (Il la salue comme elle passe, et elle en passant détourne la tête) Éraste à La Montagne (I. ii)
[But do I not see Orphise? Yes, it is she who comes. Whither goeth she so fast, and what man is that who holds her hand?] Éraste to La Montagne (I. 2, p. 59)
He bows to her as she passes, and she turns her head another way.
155Quoi me voir en ces lieux devant elle paraître,/ Et passer en feignant de ne me pas connaître/ Que croire? Qu’en dis-tu? Parle donc, si tu veux. Éraste à La Montagne (I. ii)
[What! She sees me here before her, and she passes by, pretending not to know me! What can I think? What do you say? Speak if you will.] Éraste to La Montagne who will not speak for fear of being a bore. (1. 3, p. 59)
Éraste suffers :
Et c’est l’ [fâcheux] être en effet que de ne me rien dire/ 160 Dans les extrémités d’un si cruel martyre./ Fais donc quelque réponse à mon cœur abattu:/ Que dois-je présumer? Parle, qu’en penses-tu? Dis-moi ton sentiment. Éraste à La Montagne (I. ii)
[And so indeed you do, if you say nothing to me whilst I suffer such a cruel martyrdom. Give me some answer; I am quite dejected. What am I to think? Say, what do you think of it? Tell me your opinion.] Éraste à La Montagne (I. 3)
165Peste l’impertinent! Va-t’en suivre leurs pas;/ Vois ce qu’ils deviendront, et ne les quitte pas. Éraste à La Montagne (I. ii)
[Hang the impertinent fellow! Go and follow them; see what becomes of them, and do not quit them.] Éraste to La Montagne (I. 3)
The above quotations suggest inquiétude in Éraste who loves Orphise, and matters get worse, but remember that this is a divertissement.
213Monsieur, Orphise est seule, et vient de ce côté. La Montagne à Éraste (I. iv)
[Sir, Orphise is alone, and is coming this way.] La Montagne to Éraste (I. 7)
Ah d’un trouble bien grand je me sens agité!/215J’ai de l’amour encor pour la belle inhumaine,/ Et ma raison voudrait, que j’eusse de la haine! Éraste à La Montagne (I. iv)
[Ah, I feel myself greatly disturbed ! I still love the cruel fair one, and my reason bids me hate her.] Éraste to La Montagne (I. 7)
Why would “reason” demand that Éraste hate Orphise whom he loves? When, finally, Éraste catches up to Orphise, she tells him that she was pursued by a bore and laughs. Yes, a man held her hand, but she was trying to rid herself of a bore and find Éraste.
Certes il en faut rire, et confesser ici,/Que vous êtes bien fou, de vous troubler ainsi./ L’homme, dont vous parlez, loin qu’il puisse me plaire,/ 240 Est un homme fâcheux dont j’ai su me défaire;/ Un de ces importuns, et sots officieux, /Qui ne sauraient souffrir qu’on soit seule en des lieux;/ Et viennent aussitôt, avec un doux langage,/Vous donner une main, contre qui l’on enrage./ 245 J’ai feint de m’en aller, pour cacher mon dessein;/ Et, jusqu’à mon carrosse, il m’a prêté la main./ Je m’en suis promptement défaite de la sorte,/ Et j’ai pour vous trouver, rentré par l’autre porte. Orphise à Éraste (I. v)
[I really must laugh, and declare that you are very silly to trouble yourself thus. The man of whom you speak, far from being able to please me, is a bore of whom I have succeeded in ridding myself; one of those troublesome and officious fools who will not suffer a lady to be anywhere alone, but come up at once, with soft speech, offering you a hand against which one rebels. I pretended to be going away, in order to hide my intention, and he gave me his hand as far as my coach. I soon got rid of him in that way, and returned by another gate to come to you.] Orphise to Éraste (I. 8)
When he learns the truth, Éraste believes Orchise and asks her not to be angry. Had he offended her, she would not laugh and, if he were jealous, a simple explanation would not have appeased him.
Ah ne vous fâchez pas, trop sévère beauté./ 255 Je veux croire en aveugle, étant sous votre empire,/ Tout ce que vous aurez la bonté de me dire./ Trompez, si vous voulez, un malheureux amant; /J’aurai pour vous respect, jusques au monument.[tomb]/ Maltraitez mon amour, refusez-moi le vôtre;/ 260 Exposez à mes yeux le triomphe d’un autre,/ Oui je souffrirai tout de vos divins appas,/ J’en mourrai, mais enfin je ne m’en plaindrai pas. Éraste à Orphise (I. v)
[Ah! too severe beauty, do not be angry. Being under your sway, I will implicitly believe whatever you are kind enough to tell me. Deceive your hapless lover if you will; I shall respect you to the last gasp. Abuse my love, refuse me yours, show me another lover triumphant; yes, I will endure everything for your divine charms. I shall die, but even then I will not complain.] Éraste à Orphise (I. 8)
In Act One, Scene Three, Lisandre, pictured at the top of this post, is a bore who sings and dances. Alhough Éraste appreciates Lisandre, the meeting is brief. In Scene Six, Alcandre asks Éraste to help him. He has been threatened. Éraste refuses to help because he does not want to oppose the king who frowns upon duels, but violence is suggested and we have learned that Éraste was a soldier before he was courtier:
275Je ne veux point ici faire le capitan;/ Mais on m’a vu soldat, avant que courtisan/ J’ai servi quatorze ans, et je crois être en passe,/ De pouvoir d’un tel pas me tirer avec grâce,/ Et de ne craindre point, qu’à quelque lâcheté/ Le refus de mon bras me puisse être imputé. Éraste à Alcandre (I. vi)
[I have no desire to boast, but I was a soldier before I was a courtier. I served fourteen years, and I think I may fairly refrain from such a step with propriety, not fearing that the refusal of my sword can be imputed to cowardice. A duel puts one in an awkward light, and our King is not the mere shadow of a monarch.] Éraste to Alcandre (I. 10)
Moreover, in Scene One, Éraste mentions Damis, Orchise’s uncle and guardian whom he fears. Of all the bores separating Éraste and Orchise, Damis is the worst.
So, from the very beginning of the play, we know that the blocking-character of The Bores is Damis, Orchise’s uncle and guardian.Violence has been suggested and jealousy, but neither Orchise nor Éraste are prone to jealousy. She laughs when he asks her about the man who held her hand. A short explanation suffice and he apologizes for having suggesting that the man who held Orchise may be a rival. In Act Two, Scene Four, she watches Éraste adjudicating a debate. Is jealousy a sign of love?
THE BORES
In Act One, the bores are Lisandre (Scene Three) and Alcandre (Scene Six). Although Éraste appreciates Lisandre, he hasn’t much time for him. As for Alcandre he is asking for help that would jeopardize Éraste’s relationship with the King.
La Montagne is also a bore, but only inasmuch as Éraste is in a hurry. Damis, Orphise’s uncle and guardian is also a bore (Scene One)
ACT TWO
In Act Two, Scene Six, we meet Dorante, a hunter, who reports that a gun was used during a chase. This scene was added between the Vaux representation and the performance at Fontainebleau, as requested by the King himself.
But the love story continues. After she tells him who the man was, Éraste asks her not to be angry. He loves her, so that he will not complain.
But after Act II, Scene iv, I doubt very much that he would call Orphise, jalouse and, although he is still rushing, Éraste has calmed down after the debate.
La Question d’amour
Given Éraste’s haste, Climène and Orante are also bores, but they ask Éraste to be the judge in the debate opposing them. Climène thinks that jealousy is a sign of love, but Orante does not. Orante says that jealous husbands could beat up their wife, which could cause a wife to leave, if she can support herself. At this point, Éraste passes judgment, and leaves promptly.
THE BORES
In Act Two, our bores are Alcippe who plays piquet (Scene Two), Climène and Orante, (Scene Four) and Dorante who went hunting and reports that a gun was used (Scene Six).
ACT THREE
At the beginning of Act Three, Éraste tells that Damis is hindering a marriage to Orphise. He is stopped by Caritidès, a pedant, who wishes Éraste to present a letter to the King on his behalf (iv). He then meets Ormin who believes France should have as many seaports as possible (v). Finally, he meets Filinte who warns Éraste that someone has made fun of him and that he should be careful.
In Scene Five he is joined by Damis himself, Orphise’s guardian. Eraste sees someone at Orphise’s door. Damis explains that he knows Éraste is to meet Orphise without witnesses. Damis will have La Rivière and L’Espine kill Éraste. But La Rivière and his friends decide to kill Damis first.
Damis is Orphise’s uncle and guardian, so as the career soldier he has been, Éraste defends Damis.
Bien qu’il m’ait voulu perdre, un point d’honneur me presse,/ De secourir ici l’oncle de ma maîtresse./ (À Damis.) Je suis à vous Monsieur. (Éraste, mettant la main à l’épée.) Éraste seul et à Damis (III. v)
Though he would have killed me, honour urges me here to rescue the uncle of my mistress. (To Damis). I am on your side, Sir. (He draws his sword and attacks La Riviere and his companions; whom he puts to flight.) Éraste alone and Éraste to Damis (III. 5)
Ô Ciel, par quel secours, D’un trépas assuré vais-je sauver mes jours!795À qui suis-je obligé d’un si rare service? Damis, après leur fuite. (III. v)
[Heavens! By whose aid do I find myself saved from a certain death? To whom am I indebted for so rare a service?] Damis (III. 5)
Quoi celui, dont j’avais résolu le trépas,/ Est celui, qui pour moi, vient d’employer son bras?/ Ah! c’en est trop, mon cœur est contraint de se rendre;/ Et quoi que votre amour, ce soir, ait pu prétendre/ 805 Ce trait si surprenant de générosité,/ Doit étouffer en moi toute animosité./ Je rougis de ma faute, et blâme mon caprice./ Ma haine, trop longtemps, vous a fait injustice;/ Et pour la condamner par un éclatfameux,/ 810Je vous joins, dès ce soir, à l’objet de vos vœux. Damis à Éraste (III. v)
[What! Eraste, whom I was resolved to have assassinated has just used his sword to defend me! Oh, this is too much; my heart is compelled to yield; whatever your love may have meditated tonight, this remarkable display of generosity ought to stifle all animosity. I blush for my crime, and blame my prejudice. My hatred has too long done you injustice! To show you openly I no longer entertain it, I unite you this very night to your love.] Damis to Éraste (III. 5)
SCENE SIX
In Scene VI, a delighted Orphise says that she will marry Éraste.
Si c’est pour lui payer ce que vous lui devez,/ J’y consens, devant tout, aux jours qu’il a sauvés. Orphise (III. vi)
[I owe everything to you; if, therefore, it is to pay him your debt, I consent, as he has saved your life.] Orphise to Eraste (III. 6)
As for Éraste, he no longer knows whether he wakes or dreams.
Mon cœur est si surpris d’une telle merveille,/ 820Qu’en ce ravissement, je doute, si je veille. Éraste à tous (III. vi)
[My heart is so overwhelmed by this great miracle, that amidst this ecstasy, I doubt if I am awake.] Éraste to Orphise and Damis (III. 6)
Finally, Damis is reassured and calls for a celebration.
Célébrons l’heureux sort, dont vous allez jouir; Et que nos violons viennent nous réjouir. (Comme les violons veulent jouer, on frappe fort à la porte.) Damis à tous (III. vi)
[Let us celebrate the happy lot that awaits you; and let our violins put us in a joyful mood.] Damis to all (III. 6)
THE BORES
In Act Three, the bores are Caritidés, a pedant, Ormin, who wishes Éraste to tell the King to build as many ports as possible in France, and Filinte, who has heard that Éraste is threatened. However, we have criminals: La Rivière and friends.
Despite the repetitive nature of the play, one can say that, overall, Les Fâcheux uses the comedic ‟all’s well that ends well formula,” ‟tout est bien qui finit bien.”
Yes, the question d’amour is answered. It is wiser not to be jealous. Act Two, Scene Four seems a play within a play, un théâtre dans le théâtre, more bores, but Orchise is not a ‟cruel fair one,” “une belle inhumaine,” (I. iv).
Si ce parfait amour, que vous prouvez si bien,/Se fait vers votre objet un grand crime de rien,/Ce que son cœur, pour vous, sent de feux légitimes,/ En revanche, lui fait un rien de tous vos crimes. La Montagne à Éraste (I. i)
[If this perfect love, which you manifest so well, makes out of nothing a great crime against her whom you love; the pure flame which her heart feels for you on the other hand converts all your crimes into nothing.] La Montagne to Éraste (I. 1)
In short, if Sostrate (Les Amants magnifiques), kills a boar, earning unknowingly the hand of a delighted Ériphile, matters are almost the same in Les Fâcheux. Éraste fights away La Rivière and his men, saving the life of Orphise’s guardian and turning enmity into gratitude on the part of Damis who wishes for him to marry Orchise. As in chivalry, Éraste serves and earns his lady’s hand. In fact, by defending Damis, Éraste makes himself a deus ex machina.
I may not be able to post Les Fâcheux today. It would be too long a post. But I could indicate that in Les Fâcheux, first performed on 17 August 1661, at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Nicolas Fouquet‘s magnificent castle, the spectator/reader goes from bore to bore, all of whom want to talk to our hero, Éraste, a marquis who loves Orphise to whom he seems unable to catch up. He does catch up to her in an unexpected dénouement.
The play is therefore repetitive. Éraste is forever interrupted by bores. But one of the episodes, Act Two, Scene Four, features Éraste who is asked by Clymène and Orante, to play umpire, adjudicator, in a debate on whether jealousy is a sign of love.
C’est une question à vider difficile,/ Et vous devez chercher un juge plus habile Éraste à Clymène et Orante (II. iv) [That is a question difficult to settle; you had best look for a more skilful judge.] Éraste to Clymène and Orante (II. 4)
Pour moi de son esprit j’ai trop bon témoignage,/ 400Pour craindre qu’il prononce à mon désavantage./ Enfin ce grand débat qui s’allume entre nous,/ Est de savoir s’il faut qu’un amantsoit jaloux. Orante à Éraste (II. iv) [For my part, I am too much assured of his sense to fear that he will decide against me. Well, this great contest which rages between us is to know whether a lover should be jealous.] Orante to Éraste (II. 4)
Ou, pour mieux expliquer ma pensée et la vôtre,/ Lequel doit plaire plus d’un jaloux ou d’un autre. Orante à Éraste (II. iv)
[Or, the better to explain my opinion and yours, which ought to please most, a jealous man or one that is not so?] Orante to Éraste (II. 4)
405Pour moi, sans contredit, je suis pour le dernier. Clymène à tous (II. iv)
[For my part, I am clearly for the last.] Clymène to all (II. 4)
Et dans mon sentiment je tiens pour le premier. Orante à tous (II. iv)
[As for me, I stand up for the first.] Orante to all (II. 4)
Je crois que notre cœur doit donner son suffrage,/ À qui fait éclater du respect davantage. Orante à tous (II. iv)
445 Et je veux, qu’un amant pour me prouver sa flamme, Sur d’éternels soupçons laisse flotter son âme,/ Et par de prompts transports, donne un signe éclatant/ De l’estime qu’il fait de celle qu’il prétend./ On s’applaudit alors de son inquiétude,/ Et s’il nous fait parfois un traitement trop rude,/ Le plaisir de le voir soumis à nos genoux,/450 S’excuser de l’éclat qu’il a fait contre nous,/ Ses pleurs, son désespoir d’avoir pu nous déplaire, /Est un charme à calmer toute notre colère. Orante à tous (II. iv)
[I would that a lover, in order to prove his flame, should have his mind shaken by eternal suspicions, and, by sudden outbursts, show clearly the value he sets upon her to whose hand he aspires. Then his restlessness is applauded; and, if he sometimes treats us a little roughly, the value he sets upon her to whose hand he aspires. Then his restlessness is applauded; and, if he sometimes treats us a little roughly, the pleasure of seeing him, penitent at our feet, to excuse himself for the outbreak of which he has been guilty, his tears, his despair at having been capable of displeasing us, are a charm to soothe all our anger.] Clymène to all (II. 4)
Si pour vous plaire il faut beaucoup d’emportement,/ Je sais qui vous pourrait donner contentement;/ 455Et je connais des gens dans Paris plus de quatre,/ Qui comme ils le font voir, aiment jusques à battre. Orante à tous (II. iv) [If much violence is necessary to please you, I know who would satisfy you; I am acquainted with several men in Paris who love well enough to beat their fair ones openly.] Orante to all (IV. 4)
Éraste’s answer is:
Puisqu’à moins d’un arrêt je ne m’en puis défaire,
Toutes deux à la fois je vous veux satisfaire; 465 Et pour ne point blâmer ce qui plaît à vos yeux,
Le jaloux aime plus, et l’autre aime bien mieux. Éraste to all (II. iv)
[Since I cannot avoid giving judgment, I mean to satisfy you both at once; and, in order, not to blame that which is pleasing in your eyes, the jealous man loves more, but the other loves more wisely.]. Éraste to all (IV. 4)
Who would appreciate reducing a man to sudden outbursts, applauding a man’s restlessness?Who would wish to be treated a little roughly and enjoy seeing the penitent at one’s feet, witness his tears and his despair?
If Clymène enjoys the pain she inflicts, we could perhaps put her on the same footing as our tormented and jaloux, or on the other side of the same coin. This is not love.
Provided to YouTube by CDBaby Courante De Mr. Lully · David Rogers, Joanna Blendulf & Laura Zaerr ℗ 2014 Daniel Stephens Released on: 2014-01-01 Auto-generated by YouTube.
I am not writing a post today. During the month of November, I had no access to a computer and could not read your posts. I ordered a new computer, but after waiting for nearly a month, I cancelled my purchase. For the time being, I am using my older and restored computer. It was returned to the company and contains my complete files. A knowledgeable person will help me choose a new computer.
In short, I had no access to a computer during most of the month of November and did not read posts. I will now try to make up for this long absence.
A Last Quotation
I added, discretely, a quotation to my Dom Garcie posts. Quoting Molière in both French and English can be confusing. This quotation is confirmation on the part of Dom Garcie himself that, due to a “merciless fatality,” he is his own “worst enemy.” Given the innerness of his plight, he can no more combat his jealousy than Elvire can repress her love. Were she not in love, Donna Elvira would walk out on Dom Garcie.
In Act Four, Dom Garcie says to Dom Alvar that he, Dom Garcie, is his worst enemy:
Ah! Dom Alvar, je vois que vous avez raison, Mais l’enfer dans mon cœur a soufflé son poison; Et par un trait fatal d’une rigueur extrême, 1485Mon plus grand ennemi se rencontre en moi-même. Dom Garcie à Dom Alvar (IV. ix)
[Ah! Don Alvarez, I perceive you were in the right; but hell breathed its poison into my soul; through a merciless fatality I am my worst enemy.] Dom Garcie to Dom Alvar (IV. 9)
Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux may have been a failure when it was first performed, but I consider it essential reading for moliéristes.
A long conclusion to Dom Garcie de Navarre is not necessary, not for our purposes. But there is more to say. Dom Garcie’s jealousy is not quite the same as that of a man who fears cuckolding. Dom Garcie truly loves Done Elvire and his feelings are reciprocated. I mentioned three events, two of which are the letters. Done Elvire is offended, but she forgives Dom Garcie. At the very beginning of the play, he tells her that he cannot repress his feelings.
Ah! Madame, il est vrai, quelque effort que je fasse,/ Qu’un peu de jalousie en mon cœur trouve place,/ 265Et qu’un rival absent de vos divins appas/ Au repos de ce cœur vient livrer descombats. Dom Garcie à Done Elvire (I. iii)
[Alas, Madam, it is true, that, notwithstanding my utmost effort, some trifling jealousy lingers in my heart; that a rival, though distant from your divine charms, disturbs my equanimity.] Dom Garcie to Elvira (I. 3)
Molière wrote a comédie héroïque, but Dom Garcie’s jealousy is a tragic flaw. Pity plays a role in Dom Garcie, and we know it does as soon as the curtain lifts.
Pity
At the beginning of Act Four, before our third event, the disguise, Dom Alvar says to Donna Elvira:
1096 Madame, il fait pitié, jamais cœur que je pense,/ Par un plus vif remords n’expia son offense;/ Et si dans sa douleur vous le considériez,/ Il toucherait votre âme, et vous l’excuseriez. Dom Alvar à Done Elvire (IV. i)
[Madam, he deserves your pity. Never was any offence expiated with more stinging remorse; if you were to see his grief, it would touch your heart, and you would pardon him.] Don Alvarez to Elvira (IV. 1)
Dom Alvar also mentions Dom Garcie’s age. Age is a factor in Molière. We have seen it in Dom Juan:
Non, c’est qu’il est jeune encore, et qu’il n’a pas le courage. Sganarelle à Gusman (I. i)
[No, but he is still young, and does not have the heart ….] Sganarelle to Gusman (I. 1)
At first, Dom Alvar’s words do not appease Done Elvire:
Ah! c’est trop en souffrir, et mon cœur irrité/ Ne doit plus conserver une sotte bonté;/ Abandonnons l’ingrat à son propre caprice,/ Et puisqu’il veut périr, consentons qu’il périsse;/ 1430 Élise… À cet éclat vous voulez me forcer,/ Mais je vous apprendrai que c’est trop m’offenser. Done Elvira to Élise (IV. viii)
[Ha! This can no longer be borne; I am too angry foolishly to preserve longer my good nature. Let me abandon the wretch to his own devices, and, since he will undergo his doom, let him—Eliza!… (To Don Garcia). You compel me to act thus; but you shall see that this outrage will be the last. Done Elvira to Élise (IV. 8)
The Anagnorisis: forgiveness
But Elvire forgives. The play features a redeeming anagnorisisor recognition. Done Elvire is Dom Alphonse’s sister:
Un éclatant arrêt de ma gloire outragée,/ À jamais n’être à lui me tenait engagée;/ Mais quand par les destins il est exécuté,/ J’y vois pour son amour trop de sévérité; Et le triste succès de tout ce qu’il m’adresse/ 1565 M’efface son offense, et lui rend ma tendresse./ Oui, mon cœur trop vengé par de si rudes coups, Laisse à leur cruauté désarmer son courroux,/ Et cherche maintenant par un soin pitoyable/ À consoler le sort d’un amant misérable;/ 1570 Et je crois que sa flamme a bien pu mériter/ Cette compassion que je lui veux prêter. Done Elvire (V. ii)
[When my honour was outraged, I vowed openly never to be his; but as I see that fate is against him, I think I have treated his love with too great severity; the ill success that follows whatever he does for my sake, cancels his offence, and restores him my love. Yes, I have been too well avenged; the waywardness of his fate disarms my anger, and now, full of compassion, I am seeking to console an unhappy lover for his misfortunes. I believe his love well deserves the compassion I wish to show him.] Done Elvire (V. 2)
At first sight, this change of heart may seem artificial on Done Elvire’s part, but it isn’t, except that comedy has its rules. Done Elvire is the King’s sister, so her love will be sisterly and Dom Alphonse’s brotherly. Dom Alphonse/Silve will marry Donna Ignès. She was his first love and by Done Elvire’s own standards, one marries one’s first love. Dom Garcie is Elvire’s first love. Failing to marry him would a “crime.”
In fact, the degree to which Dom Garcie’s jealousy frustrates and angers her could be looked upon as proportionate to her love. She is the King’s sister and could dismiss him. As for Dom Garcie, he fails in his mission to kill Mauregat, after which, had he been successful, he planned to die. He sees himself as dishonoured. It is as though Dom Silve and Dom Garcie fought a duel as rivals for Done Elvire’s affection. But the duel was an interior conflict, which Dom Alvar recognizes and, ultimately, Dom Garcie himself.
In Act Four, Dom Garcie says to Dom Alvar that he, Dom Garcie, is his worst enemy:
Ah! Dom Alvar, je vois que vous avez raison, Mais l’enfer dans mon cœur a soufflé son poison; Et par un trait fatal d’une rigueur extrême, 1485Mon plus grand ennemi se rencontre en moi-même. Dom Garcie à Dom Alvar (IV. ix)
[Ah! Don Alvarez, I perceive you were in the right; but hell breathed its poison into my soul; through a merciless fatality I am my worst enemy.] Dom Garcie to Dom Alvar (IV. 9)
But in Done Elvire’s eyes, both she and Dom Garcie have public interests. These are her words, not Dom Garcie’s.
Mais, enfin, vous savez comme nos destinées,/ Aux intérêts publics sont toujours enchaînées,/ Et que l’ordre des Cieux pour disposer de moi,/ 1595 Dans mon frère qui vient, me va montrer mon roi. Done Elvire à Dom Garcie (V. iii)
But you know that it is the doom of such as we are, to be always the slaves of public interests; that Heaven has ordained that my brother, who disposes of my hand, is likewise my King. Done Elvire to Don Garcia (V. 3)
Done Elvire has shown pity previously and will do so again. Moreover, jealousy has harmed Dom Garcie. In no way does Done Elvire perceive jealousy as a sign a love. On the contrary. She vowed not to marry Dom Garcie. However, she loves him.
La Carte de Tendre
Carte du pays de Tendre or The Map of Tendre par François Chauveau (Wikipedia)
In the case of Dom Garcie, a brief look at Madeleine de Scudéry‘s “map of Tendre” is useful. Tendre is the country of love.
The Carte de Tendreis included in Mademoiselle de Scudéry’s Clélie, histoire romaine. It was engraved by François Chauveau. Madeleine de Scudéry, an indefatigable writer, had a Salon. She had attended Catherine de Rambouillet‘s salon, the Chambre bleue d’Arthénice (an anagram of Catherine), but as Catherine de Vivonne grew older, Sappho opened her own salon. Gatherings took place every Saturday. These are referred to as les Samedis de Sappho or La Société du Samedi.
The Map of Tendre consists of three rivers: Inclination, Estime, and the river Reconnaissance. Lovers descending the river Inclination (attraction) had fallen in love. Those descending Estime admire the lover they had chosen. As for the river Reconnaissance, it represents gratitude. Done Elvire’s love for Dom Garcie includes all three rivers. The little villages are steps to love, such as Billet Doux, love letters. All lead to a dangerous sea, une mer dangereuse, but in the salons of the middle to late 17th century, one had accepted that love was dangerous, but that to love and to be loved, was, by and large, worth the risks. Love was the greater good. It was a fact of life, but husbands were galants hommes. They were the Prince d’Ithaque. As of the Princesse d’Élide fewer ladies woke early to go hunting and kill a boar, which is how Sostrate may marry Ériphile (Les Amants magnifiques).
Molière has juxtaposed a prince and jealousy, which in Dom Garcie alienates Done Elvire, were it not, first that an anagnorisis reveals that only sisterly or brotherly love is possible between Elvira and her King. Dom Alphonse will marry his first love, and so will Done Elvire, in whose eyes, Dom Garcie has not been dishonoured. In fact, Dom Alphonse is pleased to serve Dom Garcie’s love.
Mon cœur, grâces au Ciel, après un long martyre, 1845Seigneur, sans vous rien prendre à tout ce qu’il désire, Et goûte d’autant mieux son bonheur en ce jour, Qu’il se voit en état de servir votre amour. Dom Alphonse à Dom Garcie (V. ii)
[My heart, thank Heaven, after a long torture, has all that it can desire, and deprives you of nothing, my Lord. I am so much the happier, because I am able to forward your love.] Dom Alphonse to Dom Garcie (V. 6)
As for Donna Elvira, she shares Dom Alvar’s opinion. She sees Dom Garcie’s as pitiable and his jealousy, as an illness.
… Et votre maladie est digne de pitié./Je vois, Prince, je vois, qu’on doit quelque indulgence,/ Aux défauts, où du Ciel fait pencher l’influence,/ 1870 Et pour tout dire, enfin, jaloux, ou non jaloux;/ Mon roi sans me gêner peut me donner à vous. Done Elvire à Dom Garcie (V. ii)
[… and your malady deserves to be pitied. Since Heaven is the cause of your faults, some indulgence ought to be allowed to them; in one word, jealous or not jealous, my King will have no compulsion to employ when he gives me to you.] (V. 6)
Dom Garcie de Navarre was a failure. It is very long and analytical. Critic René Bray views Dom Garcie as héroïque, but it is his opinion that “preciosity is all the same, something other, and more complex, than the taste for moral analysis.”
La préciosité est tout de même autre chose, et plus complexe, que le goût de l’analyse morale.[1]
He quotes Francis Baumal[2]:
Il se peut après tout que Molière, sauf peut-être dans les Écoles, n’ait point marqué ses préférences et se soit contenté de peindre la société de son temps telle qu’il la voyait.[3]
“It could be after all that Molière, except maybe in his Écoles, did not emphasize his preferences and that he was content to depict the society of his time as he saw it.”
The Misanthrope is a Wikisource publication EN Dom Garcie de Navarre is a toutmoliere.net publication FR Dom Garcie de Navarre is Gutenberg’s [EBook #6740] EN
René Bray’s La Préciosité et les Précieux is an archive.org publication
Images belong to the BnF, but the source of the image featured at the top of his post has been lost.
Bold characters are mine.
I translated Bray and Baumal.
__________________ [1] René Bray, La Préciosité et les Précieux (Paris: Nizet, 1960 [1948]), pp. 222 – 223. [2] Francis Baumal, Molière auteur précieux (Paris: La Renaissance du livre, 1925). [3]René Bray, La Préciosité et les Précieux, loc. cit.
Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux (The Happy Jealousy of Prince Rodrigo) was written shortly after Molière’s return to Paris. The company he founded in 1643, l’Illustre Théâtre, went into bankruptcy in the spring of 1645. Molière was imprisoned briefly in August 1645 and after his release, he left Paris for several years, nearly fifteen years. Molière’s father paid the bulk of Molière’s debts.
The collapse of l’Illustre Théâtre was due, in part, to Molière’s inability to play tragic or serious roles. He did not have the right looks, nor did he have the right voice. However, he could not resist writing Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince Jaloux and gave himself Dom Garcie’s role, a serious role. The play was performed on 4 February 1661, at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, and it closed after 7 performances. It was a failure. The play was not published during Molière’s lifetime, but it was included in the 1682 publication of Molière’s works. In 1661, Molière’s company was la troupe de Monsieur Frère Unique du Roi. Monsieur was Philippe d’Orléans and Louis XIV’s only brother (frère unique).
Sources
Molière’s source was the Gelosie fortunata del principe Rodrigo (The Fortunate Jealousy of PrinceRodrigo), by Italian dramatist Cicognini, a play published in Perugia, in 1654. Prince Rodrigo is very jealous, but he succeeds in marrying the lady he loves. Similarly, Done Elvire will marry Dom Garcie, whom she loves. It will be discovered that Dom Sylve is the rightful heir to the throne of Léon and her brother. She had rejected Dom Sylve as a lover and favoured a marriage between Dom Sylve and Done Ignès, who loves him, but is Done Ignès who was captured by Mauregat, a usurper.
Cicognini may have found his material in a Spanish play. Baumal[1] writes that according to Riccoboni, there was a Spanish source. There may well have been a Spanish source, but unless there were two dramatists named Riccoboni, Riccoboni could not have reported Spanish ancestry to Molière’s Dom Garcie de Navarre. Moreover, Riccoboni was born in 1707, which means that he was ten years old in 1717, when he staged a Dom Garcie in Paris. Yet, a Spanish source is altogether possible. One recognizes the Spanish pun d’honor and remembers Pierre Corneille‘s Cid(1637).
Our DRAMATIS PERSONÆ is
DON GARCIA, Prince of Navarre, in love with Elvira. (Molière’s role)
DON ALPHONSO, Prince of Leon, thought to be Prince of
Castile, under the name of Don Silvio (Sylve).
DON ALVAREZ, confidant of Don Garcia, in love with Eliza (Alvar).
DON LOPEZ, another confidant of Don Garcia, in love with Eliza.
DON PEDRO, gentleman-usher to Inez (Ignès).
A PAGE.
DONNA ELVIRA, Princess of Leon.
DONNA INEZ, a Countess, in love with Don Silvio, beloved
by Mauregat, the usurper of the Kingdom of Leon.
ELIZA, confidant to Elvira.
Scene. ASTORGA, a city of Spain, in the kingdom of Leon.
Plot and Themes
Jealousy
A love question
the Salons
As noted in an introductory paragraph, written on 29 November 2019, although Dom Garcie features young lovers who are about to marry, the main theme of the play is jealousy and the comédie is a comédie héroïque (heroic comedy). However, Molière interiorizes the conflict, or agon, between the alazṓn, a senex iratus or miles gloriosus, and the eirôn. Dom Garcie is so jealous that he offends Done Elvire and jeopardizes his own marriage. He is both the young lover and the blocking-character. This he will realize.
THE SALONS
In 17th-century salons and Précieux milieux, love questions were discussed. One of these was whether jealousy was a sign of love or a source of constant and humiliating suspicion and recriminations that could prevent, or destroy, a marriage. In Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux, Done Elvire rejects Dom Garcie.
ACT ONE
Destiny: “ces chaînes du ciel”
Jealousy as a sign of love
Jealousy as dreadful
SCENE ONE
Done Elvire has been courted by Dom Sylve and Dom Garcie. Dom Garcie extremely jealous, which offends Done Elvire, but he has saved her life. However, what we hear first is that Done Elvire loves Dom Garcie de Navarre, as destiny (ces chaînes du ciel) willed.
Si le mérite seul prenait droit sur un cœur./ Mais ces chaînes du ciel, qui tombent sur nos âmes,/ Décidèrent en moi le destin de leurs flammes;/ Et toute mon estime égale entre les deux,/ Laissa vers Dom Garcie entraîner tous mes vœux. Done Elvire à Élise (I. i)
[If aught but merit could gain my heart, the conqueror were yet to be named; but these chains, with which Heaven keeps our souls enslaved, decide me, and, though I esteem both equally, my love is given to Don Garcia.] Done Elvire to Élise (I. 1)
But Élise sees matters differently. Jealousy is a manifestation of love.
Enfin, si les soupçons de cet illustre amant,/ 90 Puisque vous le voulez n’ont point de fondement;/ Pour le moins font-ils foi d’une âme bien atteinte,/Et d’autres chériraient ce qui fait votre plainte./ De jaloux mouvements doivent être odieux,/ S’ils partent d’un amour qui déplaise à nos yeux./ Mais tout ce qu’un amant nous peut montrer d’alarmes,/Doit lorsque nous l’aimons, avoir pour nous des charmes;/ C’est par là que son feu se peut mieux exprimer,/ Et plus il est jaloux, plus nous devons l’aimer;/ Ainsi puisqu’en votre âme un prince magnanime… Elise à Elvire (I. i)
[Though the suspicions of that illustrious lover have no foundation—for you tell me so—they at least prove that he is greatly smitten: some would rejoice at what you complain of. Jealousy may be odious when it proceeds from a love which displeases us; but when we return that love, such feelings should delight us. It is the best way in which a lover can express his passion; the more jealous he is, the more we ought to love him. Therefore since in your soul a magnanimous Prince… ] Élise to Elvire (I. 1)
Done Elvire’s response is unambiguous:
Ah! ne m’avancez point cette étrange maxime/ Partout la jalousie est un monstre odieux,/ Rien n’en peut adoucir les traits injurieux;/ Et plus l’amour est cher, qui lui donne naissance/ Plus on doit ressentir les coups de cette offense. Done Elvire à Élise (I. i)
[No, no; nothing can excuse the strange madness of his gloomy and unmanly jealousy; I have told him but too clearly, by my actions, that he can indeed flatter himself with the happiness of being beloved. Even if we do not speak, there are other interpreters which clearly lay bare our secret feelings.] Elvira to Élise (I. 1)
Yet, although Done Elvire loves Dom Garcie de Navarre destiny (ces chaînes du ciel) has spoken and destiny is inescapable. The role destiny plays in our lives is often expressed in Molière, but seldom so vigorously as it does in Dom Garcie de Navarre.
Si le mérite seul prenait droit sur un cœur./ Mais ces chaînes du ciel, qui tombent sur nos âmes,/ Décidèrent en moi le destin de leurs flammes;/ Et toute mon estime égale entre les deux,/ Laissa vers Dom Garcie entraîner tous mes vœux. Elvire to Élise (I. i)
[If aught but merit could gain my heart, the conqueror were yet to be named; but these chains, with which Heaven keeps our souls enslaved, decide me, and, though I esteem both equally, my love is given to Don Garcia.] Elvire to Élise (I. 1)
Done Elvire also seems to know that her brother is returning. Her brother is the rightful heir to the Kingdom of Léon. She doesn’t know, however, that Dom Sylve is Dom Alphonse and her brother. Dom Sylve, who first loved Done Ignés, is rejected by Done Elvire, but not harshly. Destiny is also tied to public interest. Rumour has it that Don Alphonse is returning:
Et si les bruits communs ne sont pas des bruits vains;/ Si la bonté du Ciel nous ramène mon frère,/ Les vœux les plus ardents, que mon cœur puisse faire;/ C’est que son bras encor, sur un perfide sang/ Puisse aider à ce frère, à reprendre son rang. Elvire to Élise (I. i)
[If common reports be true, and Heaven should grant my brother’s return, I wish fervently, and with all my heart, that his arm may aid my brother to recover his throne…] Elvire to Élise (I. 1)
SCENE TWO
In Scene Two, Alvar (Alvarez), a confident to Dom Garcie, confirms rumours that the rightful heir, Dom Alphonse, is returning. Jealousy, destiny, and public interest are intertwined in Dom Garcie de Navarre. In Scene Three, Done Elvire says to Dom Garcie that she will tell whether she loves when he knows how to love, which is when he will cease suspecting rivals, but destiny may and will support Dom Garcie, even at the desperate point, as the play closes, when her brother returns. Done Elvire points out that one can hear what one wants to hear. A jealous mind will expect support for his accusations. Done Elvire’s statement is consistent with the current theory of information: expectations may change and, occasionally, distort a message.
239 Souvent on entend mal, ce qu’on croit bien entendre, Et par trop de chaleur, Prince, on se peut méprendre./ Mais puisqu’il faut parler, désirez-vous savoir,/ Quand vous pourrez me plaire, et prendre quelque espoir? Elvire à Dom Garcie (I. iii)
Often we hear badly when we think we hear well. Too much ardour, Prince, may lead us into mistakes. But since I must speak, I will. Do you wish to know how you can please me, and when you may entertain any hope? Elvire to Dom Garcie (I. 3) Ce me sera, Madame, une faveur extrême. Dom Garcie à Elvire (I. iii)
[I should consider this, Madam, a very great favour.] Dom Garcie to Elvire (I. 3) Quand vous saurez m’aimer, comme il faut que l’on aime. Dom Garcie à Elvire (I. iii)
[When you know how to love as you ought.] Elvire to Dom Garcie (I. 3)
Dom Garcie tells Done Elvire that he cannot control his jealousy.
Ah! Madame, il est vrai, quelque effort que je fasse, Qu’un peu de jalousie en mon cœur trouve place, 265 Et qu’un rival absent de vos divins appas/ Au repos de ce cœur vient livrer des combats./ Soit caprice, ou raison, j’ai toujours la croyance/ Que votre âme en ces lieux souffre de son absence;/ Et que malgré mes soins, vos soupirs amoureux/ 270 Vont trouver à tous coups ce rival trop heureux. Dom Garcie à Elvire (I. iii)
Alas, Madam, it is true, that, notwithstanding my utmost effort, some trifling jealousy lingers in my heart; that a rival, though distant from your divine charms, disturbs my equanimity. Whether it be whimsical or reasonable, I always imagine that you are uneasy when he is absent, and that in spite of my attentions, your sighs are continually sent in search of that too happy rival. Dom Garcie to Elvira (I. 3)
Elvire then receives a letter (un billet). The letter is from Done Ignès who bemoans Mauregat’s violence and his wish for Done Elvire to marry his son. Dom Garcie is not appeased until he sees the letter.
Malgré l’effort d’un long mépris,/ Le tyran toujours m’aime, et depuis votre absence,/ 365 Vers moi pour me porter au dessein qu’il a pris,/Il semble avoir tourné toute la violence, Dont il poursuivait l’alliance/ De vous et de son fils./ Ceux qui sur moi peuvent avoir empire/370 Par de lâches motifs qu’un faux honneur inspire,/ Approuvent tous cet indigne lien;/J’ignore encor par où finira mon martyre;/ Mais je mourrai plutôt que de consentir rien./Puissiez-vous jouir, belle Elvire,/375 D’un destin plus doux que le mien.
«Done Ignès.»
Done Ignès to Done Elvire (I. iii)
[ In spite of all that I do to show my contempt for the tyrant, he persists in his love for me; the more effectually to encompass his designs, he has, since your absence, directed against me all that violence with which he pursued the alliance between yourself and his son. Those who perhaps have the right to command me, and who are inspired by base motives of false honour, all approve this unworthy proposal. I do not know yet where my persecution will end; but I will die sooner than give my consent. May you, fair Elvira, be happier in your fate than I am. DONNA INEZ.]
ACT TWO
Dom Élise and Dom Lope (rejected)
The Kind of Navarre has chosen a leader for the Kingdom of Léon.
The second letter
In Scene One, Élise is speaking to Dom Lope. He has, at times, told Garcie about possible rivals. Élise has parted with Dom Lope. She has chosen Dom Alvar who enters the stage in Scene Two announcing that the King of Navarre has declared his support for the Prince of Léon. Public interest surfaces briefly.
Enfin, nous apprenons que le roi de Navarre/ Pour les désirs du Prince, aujourd’hui sedéclare;/470 Et qu’un nouveau renfort de troupes nous attend/ Pour le fameux service, où son amour prétend. / Je suis surpris pour moi, qu’avec tant de vitesse,/ On ait fait avancer… Mais… Dom Alvar à Élise (II.ii)
[At last we have received intelligence that the king of Navarre has this very day declared himself favourable to the Prince’s love, and that a number of fresh troops will reinforce his army, ready to be employed in the service of her to whom his wishes aspire. As for me, I am surprised at their quick movements… but…] Don Alvarez to Élise (II. 2)
THE SECOND LETTER
In Scene Three, Dom Garcie returns wishing to know what Done Elvire is doing. Élise says that Done Elvire has been writing letters.
Quelques lettres, Seigneur, je le présume ainsi;/ 475Mais elle va savoir que vous êtes ici. Élise à Dom Garcie (II. iii)
[I think, my Lord, she is writing some letters; but I shall let her know that you are here.] Élise to Dom Garcie (II. 2)
Dom Garcie is alarmed.
The letter gets separated when Dom Lope picks it up and Léonor grabs half of the letter. One half of the letter belies the other half. Ironically the letter is addressed to a rival, but it tells that Done Elvire has chosen Garcie over Dom Sylvie.
« Quoique votre rival, Prince, alarme votre âme,/ 615Vous devez toutefois vous craindre plus que lui,/ Et vous avez en vous à détruire aujourd’hui/ L’obstacle le plus grand que trouve votre flamme./ « Je chéris tendrement ce qu’a fait Dom Garcie,/ Pour me tirer desmains de nos fiers ravisseurs,/620 Son amour, ses devoirs ont pour moi des douceurs; / Mais il m’est odieux avec sa jalousie./ « Otez donc à vos feux, ce qu’ils en font paraître,/ Méritez les regards que l’on jette sur eux;/ Et lorsqu’on vous oblige à vous tenir heureux,/625Ne vous obstinez point à ne pas vouloir l’être. » Done Elvire à Dom Sylve (II. vi)
[Though your rival, Prince, disturbs your mind, you ought still to fear yourself more than him. It is in your power to destroy now the greatest obstacle your passion has to encounter. I feel very grateful to Don Garcia for rescuing me from the hands of my bold ravishers; his love, his homage delights me much; but his jealousy is odious to me. Remove, therefore, from your love that foul blemish; deserve the regards that are bestowed upon it; and when one endeavours to make you happy, do not persist in remaining miserable.] Done Elvire’ letter to Dom Sylve (II. 6)
ACT THREE
In the First Scene of Act Three, Élise and Elvire discuss the episode of the second letter. Done Elvire has forgiven Dom Garcie and regrets a gesture she sees as unefaiblesse, a weakness. Done Élise’s attitude remains unchanged. Jealousy is a proof of love.
In Scene Two, Dom Sylve visits Done Elvire, seeking her love. She has chosen Dom Garcie. She reminds Dom Sylve that his first choice was “l’aimable comtesse,” Done Ignès, who is now fighting Mauregat’s “violence.” She believes it is a crime to leave one’s first love:
Oui, Seigneur, c’est un crime, et les premières flammes,/ Ont des droits si sacrés sur les illustres âmes,/ Qu’il faut perdre grandeurs, et renoncer au jour,/ 915 Plutôt que de pencher vers un second amour. Done Elvire à Dom Sylve (III. ii)
[Yes, my Lord, it is a crime, for first love has so sacred a hold on a lofty mind, that it would rather lose greatness and abandon life itself, than incline to a second love.] Elvira to Dom Sylve (III. 2)
If leaving Done Ignès, Dom Sylve’s first love, was a crime, Elvire should not marry Dom Garcie, her first love. It would be a crime. However, Dom Sylve’s sentiments give Dom Garcie a rival.
Ah! Madame, à mes yeux n’offrez point son mérite,/ Il n’est que trop présent à l’ingrat qui la quitte;/ 930 Et si mon cœur vous dit, ce que pour elle il sent,/ J’ai peur qu’il ne soit pas envers vous innocent. Dom Sylve à Done Elvire (III. 2)
[Ah, Madam, do not present her merit to my eyes! Though I am an ungrateful man and abandon her, she is never out of my mind; if my heart could tell you what it feels for her, I fear it would be guilty towards you.] Dom Sylve to Elvira (III. 2)
Dom Garcie arrives and sees a rival in Dom Sylve. He despises Dom Sylve and threatens him. He will prevent Done Elvire from ever marrying Dom Sylve.
Si l’ingrate à mes yeux pour flatter votre flamme,/ À jamais n’être à moi, vient d’engager son âme;/ Je saurai bien trouver dans mon juste courroux/ Les moyens d’empêcher qu’elle ne soit à vous. Dom Garcie à Dom Sylve (III. iv)
[If the ungrateful woman, out of compliment to your love, has just now pledged her word never to be mine, my righteous indignation will discover the means of preventing her ever being yours.] Don Garcia to Don Sylvio (III. 4)
Jealousy reaches a peak in Act Four. Wishing to escape her tyrant, Mauregat, Ignès comes to Done Elvire’s home dressed as a man. She has made believe that she is dead and she is seeking a refuge. The door is ajar. In Scene Seven, Dom Garcie sees Done Elvire embracing Ignès dressed as a man. He believes Done Elvire is embracing a man, which tears him apart. Dom Garcie:
J’ai vu ce que mon âme a peine à concevoir, Et le renversement de toute la nature/ Ne m’étonnerait pas comme cette aventure;/ C’en est fait… le destin… je ne saurais parler. Dom Garcie à Dom Alvar (IV. vii)
[I have seen what I can hardly conceive; the overthrow of all creation would less astonish me than this accident. It is all over with me … Fate … I cannot speak.] Dom Garcie to Don Alvarez (IV. 7) Ah! tout est ruiné,/ Je suis, je suis trahi, je suis assassiné;/1240Un homme, sans mourir te le puis-je bien dire,/ Un homme dans les bras de l’infidèle Elvire? Dom Garcie à Dom Alvar (IV. vii)
[Alas! Everything is undone. I am betrayed, I am murdered! A man, (can I say it and still live) a man in the arms of the faithless Elvira!] Dom Garcie to Don Alvarez (IV. 7)
Done Elvire returns and faces unacceptable reproaches. She tries to “reason” with Dom Garcie, but unsuccessfully. Dom Garcie did see a man, but this man was Ignès dressed as a man. Done Elvire rejects Dom Garcie despite Dom Alvar’s opinion that Dom Garcie is to be pitied.
Mais il vous faut de moi détacher à l’instant,/ À mes vœux pour jamais renoncer de vous-même,/ 1385 Et j’atteste du Ciel la puissance suprême,/ Que quoi que le destin puisse ordonner de nous,/ Je choisirai plutôt d’être à la mort qu’à vous;/ Voilà dans ces deux choix de quoi vous satisfaire,/ Avisez maintenant celui qui peut vous plaire. Elvire à Dom Garcie (IV. viii)
[B]ut you must then renounce me at once, and for ever give up all pretensions to my hand. I swear by Him who rules the Heavens, that, whatever fate may have in store for us, I will rather die than be yours! I trust these two proposals may satisfy you; now choose which of the two pleases you. Elvira to Dim Garcie (IV. 8)
(Élise entre.) Faites un peu sortir la personne chérie… Allez, vous m’entendez, dites que je l’en prie. Elvire à Élise (IV. vii )
[Let out, briefly, the beloved person…
Go, you hear me, and say that I beg to see her.] Elvira to Élise Prenez garde qu’au moins cette noble colère,/ Dans la même fierté, jusqu’au bout persévère;/ Et surtout désormais songez bien à quel prix/ Vous avez voulu voir vos soupçons éclaircis./ 1440 Voici, grâces au Ciel, ce qui les a fait naître,/ Ces soupçons obligeants que l’on me fait paraître,/ Voyez bien ce visage, et si de Done Ignès,/ Vos yeux au même instant n’y connaissent les traits. Elvire à Dom Garcie (IV. viii)
[Take care at least that this righteous indignation perseveres in its ardour to the end; above all, do not henceforth forget what price you have paid to see your suspicions removed (To Don Garcia). Thanks to Heaven, behold the cause of the generous suspicions you showed. Look well on that face, and see if you do not at once recognize the features of Donna Inez.] Elvire to Dom Garcie (IV. 9 & 10)
Ô Ciel! Dom Garcie (IV. x)
O Heavens! Dom Garcie (IV. 10)
Dom Garcie knows that jealousy left him no time to reflect. He will continue to see what his jealous mind compels him to see: a rival.
In Act Four, Dom Garcie says to Dom Alvar that he, Dom Garcie, is his worst enemy:
Ah! Dom Alvar, je vois que vous avez raison, Mais l’enfer dans mon cœur a soufflé son poison; Et par un trait fatal d’une rigueur extrême, 1485Mon plus grand ennemi se rencontre en moi-même. Dom Garcie à Dom Alvar (IV. ix)
[Ah! Don Alvarez, I perceive you were in the right; but hell breathed its poison into my soul; through a merciless fatality I am my worst enemy.] Dom Garcie to Dom Alvar (IV. 9)
His despair is such that Dom Garcie feels only his death can wash away the injurious humiliating rage to which he subjected Done Elvire, but he intends to die killing the usurper Mauregat. Dom Sylve kills Mauregat.
Il faut que de ma main un illustre attentat/ Porte une mort trop due au sein de Mauregat,/ Que j’aille prévenir par une belle audace,/ Le coup, dont la Castille avec bruit le menace,/ 1510 Et j’aurai des douceurs dans mon instant fatal,/ De ravir cette gloire, à l’espoir d’un rival. Dom Garcie à Dom Alvar (IV. ix)
[I must attempt a deed of daring, and with my own hand give to Mauregat that death he so justly deserves. My boldness will forestall the blow with which Castile openly threatens him. With my last breath, I shall have the pleasure of depriving my rival of performing such a glorious deed.] Dom Garcie to Don Alvarez (IV. 11)
ACT FIVE
In Act Five, Scene One, Alvar tells Élise, the woman he loves, that Dom Sylve killed Mauregat and that Mauregat’s death will force the rightful heir, Dom Alphonse, to tell who he is. The rightful heir is about to visit his sister, Done Elvire. He is the one who will give his sister’s hand in marriage. Done Elvire still wishes to marry Dom Garcie.
Her destiny and Dom Garcie’s destiny are tied to the well-being of the state.
Mais, enfin, vous savez comme nos destinées,/ Aux intérêts publics sont toujours enchaînées,/ Et que l’ordre des Cieux pour disposer de moi,/ 1595 Dans mon frère qui vient, me va montrer mon roi./ Cédez comme moi, Prince, à cette violence,/ Où la grandeur soumet celles de ma naissance[.] Done Elvire à Dom Garcie (V. iii)
[But you know that it is the doom of such as we are, to be always the slaves of public interests; that Heaven has ordained that my brother, who disposes of my hand, is likewise my King. Yield, as I do, Prince, to that necessity which rank imposes upon those of lofty birth.] Elvira to Dom Garcie (V. 3)
But the king she expects to meet is Dom Sylvie/Dom Alphonse, her brother. A mariage is not possible.
Vous attendez un frère, et Léon son vrai maître,/ 1745 À vos yeux maintenant le Ciel le fait paraître./ Oui, je suis Dom Alphonse, et mon sort conservé,/ Et sous le nom du sang de Castille élevé,/ Est un fameux effet de l’amitié sincère,/ Qui fut entre son Prince, et le Roi notre père. Dom Sylve/Alphonse à Done Elvire (V. v)
[You expect a brother, and Leon its true master; Heaven now presents him before you. Yes, I am Don Alphonso; I was brought up and educated under the name of Prince of Castile; this clearly proves the sincere friendship that existed between Don Louis and the King, my father.] Dom Sylve/Alphonse to Done Elvire (V. 5)
In Scene Six, Done Elvire tells Dom Garcie that she will marry him. She loves him and state interests weigh heavily in favour of her marriage to Dom Garcie, whom she had vowed not to marry. Moreover, she has realized that Dom Garcie cannot help feeling jealous.
Non, non, de ce transport le soumis mouvement,/ Prince, jette en mon âme un plus doux sentiment,/ Par lui de mes serments je me sens détachée,/ 1865 Vos plaintes, vos respects, vos douleurs m’ont touchée,/ J’y vois partout briller un excès d’amitié,/ Et votre maladie est digne de pitié./ Je vois, Prince, je vois, qu’on doit quelque indulgence,/ Aux défauts, où du Ciel fait pencher l’influence,/ 1870 Et pour tout dire, enfin, jaloux, ou non jaloux/ Mon roi sans me gêner peut me donner à vous. Done Elvire à Dom Garcie (V. vi)
[No, no, Prince, your submissive attitude brings more tender feelings into my heart; I feel that the oath I took is no longer binding on me; your complaints, your respect, your grief has moved me to compassion; I see an excess of love in all your actions, and your malady deserves to be pitied. Since Heaven is the cause of your faults, some indulgence ought to be allowed to them; in one word, jealous or not jealous, my King will have no compulsion to employ when he gives me to you.] Done Elvire to Dom Garcie (V. 6) Ciel! dans l’excès des biens que cet aveu m’octroie, Rends capable mon cœur de supporter sa joie. Dom Garcie à Done Elvire (V. vi) Heaven! enable me to bear the excess of joy which this confession produces. Dom Garcia to Elvire (V. 6)
And all leave to enjoy the return of Léon’s true prince and the marriage(s) that take place at the end of a comedy.
So Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jalouxcontains three episodes causing Dom Garcie to be literally sick with jealousy. The first two are letters and the third is finding Done Elvire kissing a person looking like a man. In Dom Garcie de Navarre, fits of jealousy so harm Dom Garcie that we cannot conclude the jealousy is a sign of love. This discussion will be continued.
Sources and Resources
Dom Garcie de Navarre is a toutmoliere.net publication Dom Garcie de Navarre is Gutenberg’s [EBook #6740]
Images belong to the BnF.
Bold letters are mine.
_______________ [1] Francis Baumal, Molière auteur précieux (Paris: La Renaissance du livre, 1925), pp. 86-87.
Love to everyone and apologies for the length of this post. Bilingual posts are lengthy and preparing them may confuse the writer. 💕
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