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,/ 400 Pour craindre qu’il prononce à mon désavantage./ Enfin ce grand débat qui s’allume entre nous,/ Est de savoir s’il faut qu’un amant soit 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)

405 Pour 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;/ 455 Et 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.

—ooo—

Molière, Jean-Baptiste Lully (music) and Pierre Beauchamp (ballet) performed their first comédie-ballet, Les Fâcheux, at Vaux-le-Vicomte. Les Fâcheux (The Bores) was then performed at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, on 4 November 1661. In 1661, Molière’s troupe was la troupe de Monsieur, frère unique du Roi. The play’s main source is Horace‘s Satires. Les Fâcheux is a divertissement.

Love to everyone 💕

 

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.

© Micheline Walker
12 December 2019
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