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17 Monday Feb 2020
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Molière’s “L’Étourdi,” “The Blunderer” (2)
16 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Molière
Tags
L'Étourdi, Lélie, Mascarille, Molière, music, The Blunderer, Virtue and Virtue, zanni
L’Etourdi par Edmond Geffroy (theatre-documentation.com)
L’Étourdi par Edmond Hédouin (theatre-documentation.com)
Virtue and Virtue
L’Étourdi ou les Contretemps is a comédie d’intrigue. The plot dominates, rather than a portrayal of manners. L’Étourdi‘s plot could be described as an “all’s well that ends well,” which suggests a struggle. In most comedies, young lovers, such as the innamorati of the commedia dell’arte, overcome an obstacle to their marriage.
However, L’Étourdi differs from most comedies because Molière juxtaposed two forms of virtue one of which is standard virtue, and the other, a zanni or rogue virtue. For instance, in Act One, Lélie returns to Anselme a purse that fell to the ground. By doing so, he is morally in the right, by standard virtue. But he unknowingly lost the money Lélie and Mascarille needed to purchase Célie, which was virtue by Mascarille’s standards.
Mascarille calls “virtue” the devilish tricks, or stratagems, he uses in order to ensure the marriage of the young lovers of comedy. His stratagems are an upside-down morality, but they are the means that justify the end. To a certain extent, a zanni’s tricks border on Machiavellianism (see Machiavelli). But, ironically, in L’Étourdi, the young lover himself, Lélie, crosses so many of Mascarille’s plans that the dénouement, the happy ending of comedies, barely stems from the activity of clever characters undoing a pater familias or other blocking character. It stems instead from a largely theatrical anagnorisis, a recognition scene.
You may remember that, in Act One, Lélie, Pandolfe’s son, returned a lost purse, une bourse, to its owner, Anselme, thereby crossing Mascarille’s plan to use the money to purchase Célie, a slave to Trufaldin. Lelio has a rival, Léandre, a “fils de famille,” so matters are pressing.
Sous quel astre ton maître a-t-il reçu le jour? (Célie, v. 152) (fr.wikipedia)
Our dramatis personæ is:
LÉLIE, (Lelio, son of) fils de Pandolphe/Pandolfe.
CÉLIE, (slave of) esclave de Trufaldin.
MASCARILLE, (servant to) valet de Lélie.
HIPPOLYTE, (daughter of) fille d’Anselme.
ANSELME, (an old man) vieillard.
TRUFALDIN, (an old man) vieillard.
PANDOLPHE/PANDOLFE, (an old man) vieillard.
LÉANDRE, (son) fils de famille.
ANDRÈS, (believed to be) cru égyptien.
ERGASTE, valet.
UN COURRIER.
DEUX TROUPES DE MASQUES.
The scene is in Messina
Pandolfe’s feigned death
In Act Two of L’Étourdi, Mascarille’s plan is to make believe that Pandolfe has died. Pandolfe has been sent to his farm, where something has gone wrong. So Mascarille tells Anselme that Pandolfe has died and that Lélie needs money to bury his father appropriatly. The money is therefore lent to Lélie and Mascarille under false pretense. Pandolfe and Anselme are friends and Anselme doubts that Pandolfe is dead. Fearing trouble, he asks for a receipt from Lelio. Mascarille reports that Lélie’s grief is so overwhelming that he cannot provide a receipt. However, from the very moment he is told about Pandolfe’s unexpected death, Anselme suspects a ruse.
Qui tôt ensevelit, bien souvent assassine,/ Et tel est cru défunt qui n’en a que la mine.
Anselme (II. ii)
[He who puts a shroud on a man too hastily very often commits murder; for a man is frequently thought dead when he only seems to be so.]
Anselme (II. 3, p. 24)
However, Pandolfe returns, scaring Anselme. Is Pandolfe a ghost?
Ah ! bon Dieu, je frémi !
Anselme (II. iv)
[Oh Heavens! how I tremble!]
Anselme (II. 5, p. 26)
Therefore, Anselme knows that he has been played and he is quite ashamed of himself:
Et moi, la bonne dupe, à trop croire un vaurien,/630 Il faut donc qu’aujourd’hui je perde, et sens, et bien? Il me sied bien, ma foi, de porter tête grise,/ Et d’être encor si prompt à faire une sottise!/ D’examiner si peu sur un premier rapport…/ Mais je vois…
Anselme, seul (II. iv)
[And I, like a ninny, believe a scoundrel, and must in one day lose both my senses and my money. Upon my word, it well becomes me to have these gray hairs and to commit an act of folly so readily, without examining into the truth of the first story I hear…! But I see…]
Anselme, alone (II. 5, p. 28)
Lélie returns his money to Anselme’s promptly, but foolishly, by a tricskter’s “virtue”. In order to be reimbursed, Anselme also uses a trick, a harmless trick. He claims that some of the money could be counterfeit. However, Lélie is delighted to return the money he and Mascarille had borrowed, and he doubts that any is counterfeit.
Vous me faites plaisir de les vouloir reprendre;
Mais je n’en ai point vu de faux, comme je croi.
Lélie à Anselme (II. v)
[I am very much obliged to you for being willing to take them back, but I saw none among them that were bad, as I thought.]
Lélie to Anselme (II. 6, p. 28)
LÉLIE HAS JUST BLUNDERED
In Act One, Lélie had returned the purse that had fallen to the ground to its owner, Anselme. Matters now differ albeit slightly. Mascarille has a plan. He and Lélie borrow money to bury Pandolfe respectfully which is a nasty ruse. But once the money is returned, Célie cannot be bought. Moreover, Anselme will not allow his daughter Hippolyte to marry Lélie, as previously arranged by their respective fathers. He is disillusioned at an early point in the comedy, except that, in Act One, Scene Seven, Pandolfe, Lélie’s father, told Mascarille, that he is disappointed with his son.
… À parler franchement,
Je suis mal satisfait de mon fils.
Pandolfe à Mascarille (I. vii)
[To tell you the truth, I am very dissatisfied with my son.]
Pandolfe to Mascarille (I. 9, p. 19)
But let us return to Act Two, Scene Five
Ma foi, je m’engendrais* d’une belle manière!/ Et j’allais prendre en vous un beau-fils fort discret./ Allez, allez mourir de honte, et de regret.
Anselme (II. v)
* from gendre (son-in-law)
[Upon my word, I was going to get a nice addition to my family, a most discreet son-in-law. Go, go, and hang yourself for shame and vexation.]
Anselme (II. 6. p. 29)
A Rogue’s Honour
As noted above, in L’Étourdi, Molière juxtaposes Lélie’s morally acceptable behaviour (by societal standards) and the frequently despicable rules of conduct that constitute a rogue’s honour.
Although they remain resourceful, Mascarille, a zanni, and Lélie, the young lover, are now penniless. However, as Mascarille is reprimanding his master, Léandre can be seen purchasing Lélie’s “divinity,” Célie. A clever Mascarille screams and claims to have been beaten by Lélie. He tells Léandre, he will no longer serve Lélie, which is a lie among a multitude of lies. However, all is not lost. Léandre has purchased Célie, but he cannot “collect” her, so to speak, until his father has consented to the marriage. Mascarille is delighted. He has a hiding place: a house where Célie will be “safe.”
Célie will therefore be taken “hors de la ville,” (II. viii), outside town, to a house where Lélie will get her back. Although Mascarille tells everyone he is working for them, he works for his master.
Vivat Mascarille, fourbum imperator!
In Act II, Scene Nine, Léandre is showing the ring Trufaldin must see before freeing Célie. Fearing Célie will be removed, Lélie has a courier deliver a letter to Trufaldin. According to the letter, Célie is the daughter of Dom Pedro de Gusman, from Spain, who will come to get his daughter back. Lélie ruined a perfect plan, so Mascarille is mortified. This episode, however, suggest that Célie may have a father.
Vous avez fait ce coup sans vous donner au diable?
Mascarille à Lélie (II. xi)
[And you did all this without the help of the devil?]
Mascarille to Lelio (II. 14, p. 35)
LÉLIE HAS BLUNDERED
Moreau le Jeune et Jean-Baptiste Simonet (commons.wikimedia.org & BnF)
L’Étourdi par Adolphe Lalauze (etching) (theatre-documentation.com)
ACT THREE
In Act Three, Scene One, Mascarille wonders whether he should continue to serve a master who jeopardizes, or ruins, ploys that should be successful. He thinks matters over and decides that he will carry on, but that, henceforth, he will work for his glory, not his master’s.
915 Mais aussi, raisonnons un peu sans violence ;/ Si je suis maintenant ma juste impatience,/ On dira que je cède à la difficulté,/ Que je me trouve à bout de ma subtilité ;/ Et que deviendra lors cette publique estime,/ Qui te vante partout pour un fourbe sublime, /Et que tu t’es acquise en tant d’occasions, À ne t’être jamais vu court d’inventions ? L’honneur, ô Mascarille, est une belle chose;/ À tes nobles travaux ne fais aucune pause./Et quoi qu’un maîtrepour te faire enrager,/ Achève pour ta gloire, et non pour l’obliger.
Mascarille (III. i)
[But let us argue the matter a little without passion; if I should now give way to my just impatience the world will say I sank under difficulties, that my cunning was completely exhausted. What then becomes of that public esteem, which extols you everywhere as a first-rate rogue, and which you have acquired upon so many occasions, because you never yet were found wanting in inventions? Honour, Mascarille, is a fine thing; do not pause in your noble labours; and whatever a master may have done to incense you, complete your work, for your own glory, and not to oblige him.]
Mascarille (III. 1, pp. 36-37)
By now, Léandre has purchased Célie, but it turns out that he cannot “collect” her, so to speak. Trufaldin cannot release Célie without first seeing a ring and Léandre must first seek his father’s consent. He is a “fils de famille.” Not a problem! Mascarille can take Célie to a safe house. Léandre is duped. Once Clélie leaves Trufaldin’s house, she will be handed over to Lélie, Mascarille being Lélie’s servant, not Léandre’s.
LÉLIE HAS BLUNDERED
In Act Three, Scene Two, Mascarille questions Célie’s integrity. Léandre, if he marries her, he will marry le bien public, public property.
Non, vous ne me croyez pas, suivez votre dessein,/ Prenez cette matoise, et lui donnez la main;/ Toute la ville en corps reconnaîtra ce zèle,/ Et vous épouserez le bien public en elle.
Mascarille à Léandre (III. ii)
[No, pray do not believe me, follow your own inclination, take the sly girl and marry her; the whole city, in a body, will acknowledge this favour; you marry the public good in her.]
Mascarille to Léandre (III. 2, p. 38)
Given that this information comes from Mascarille, whom he trusts, Léandre is inclined to believe that Célie is a loose woman. Lélie is furious. Mascarille confirms that he told Léandre that Célie was not as she appeared. However, Mascarille works for Lélie, not for Léandre. A rogue can do little unless he gains the confidence of the persons he plays. By Lélie’s standard, Léandre’s words are slanderous, whether or not they are Mascarille’s words. He is ready to beat Léandre, which does not surprise Léandre. Mascarille ran away from Lélie because his master, Lélie, was beating him, which was a lie.
Lélie/Lelio is so angry that Mascarille walks in and confirms that Léandre repeated his words, Mascarille’s words. False statements are his “industrie.”
Doucement, ce discours est de mon industrie.
Mascarille à Lélie (III. iv)
[(In a whisper to Lelio). Gently; I told him so on purpose.]
Mascarille to Lelio (III. 4, p. 40)
Lélie is sinning by a rogue’s standards and appeasing him is difficult. He even draws his sword. Léandre walks away and Mascarille cannot believe that Lélie could not see that that he had lied to Lélie’s benefit. Zanni lie. He defamed Célie, but his words were the means that could lead to a happy ending. “All’s well that ends well.” Mascarille is indignant.
LÉLIE HAS BLUNDERED
Et vous ne pouviez souffrir mon artifice?/ Lui laisser son erreur, qui vous rendait service,/ Et par qui son amour s’en était presque allé?/1090 Non, il a l’esprit franc, et point dissimulé:/ Enfin chez son rival je m’ancre avec adresse,/ Cette fourbe en mes mains va mettre sa maîtresse;/ Il me la fait manquer avec de faux rapports;/ Je veux de son rival alentir les transports:/ 1095 Mon brave incontinent vient qui le désabuse,/ J’ai beau lui faire signe, et montrer que c’est ruse;/ Point d’affaire, il poursuit sa pointe jusqu’au bout,/ Et n’est point satisfait qu’il n’ait découvert tout:/ Grand et sublime effort d’une imaginative/ 1100 Qui ne le cède point à personne qui vive! C’est une rare pièce! et digne sur ma foi,/ Qu’on en fasse présent au cabinet d’un roi!
Mascarille à Lélie (III. iv)
[And you could not let the artifice pass, nor let him remain in his error, which did you good service, and which pretty nearly extinguished his passion. No, honest soul, he cannot bear dissimulation. I cunningly get a footing at his rival’s, who, like a dolt, was going to place his mistress in my hands, but he, Lelio, prevents me getting hold of her by a fictitious letter; I try to abate the passion of his rival, my hero presently comes and undeceives him. In vain I make signs to him, and show him it was all a contrivance of mine; it signifies nothing; he continues to the end, and never rests satisfied till he has discovered all. Grand and sublime effect of a mind which is not inferior to any man living! It is an exquisite piece, and worthy, in troth, to be made a present of to the king’s private museum.]
Mascarille to Lélie (III. 5, p. 42)
Mascarille’s tirade provides insight in the difficult role zanni play, a role that may cause Mascarille to be jailed. He changes the subject because he wants to know if Lelio has made peace with his father.
… C’est que de votre père il faut absolument./ Apaiser la colère.
Mascarille à Lélie (III. iv)
[You must, without delay, endeavour to appease your father’s anger.]
Mascarille to Lelio (III. 5, p. 44)
Mascarille has learned that Pandolfe is angry.
Il craint le pronostic [approaching death], et contre moi fâché,
On m’a dit qu’en justice il m’avait recherché :
Mascarille à Lélie (III. iv)
[The good sire, notwithstanding his age, is very fond of life, and cannot bear jesting upon that subject; he is alarmed at the prognostication, is so very angry that I hear he has lodged a complaint against me.]
Mascarille to Lelio (III. 5, p. 44)
Consequently, Mascarille could find himself in the confined “logis du Roi,” jail, and fears he may feel so comfortable that he could be there for a very long time:
J’ai peur, si le logis du Roi fait ma demeure,/ De m’y trouver si bien dès le premier quart d’heure,/ Que j’aye peine aussi d’en sortir par après : / Contre moi dès longtemps on a force décrets ;/ Car enfin, la vertu n’est jamais sans envie,/ Et dans ce maudit siècle, est toujours poursuivie./ Allez donc le fléchir.
Mascarille à Lélie (III. iv)
[I am afraid that if I am once housed at the expense of the king, I may like it so well after the first quarter of an hour, that I shall find it very difficult afterwards to get away. There have been several warrants out against me this good while; for virtue is always envied and persecuted in this abominable age. Therefore go and make my peace with your father.]
Mascarille to Lélio (III. 5, p. 44)
Mascarille’s virtue is a rogue’s virtue. It is upside down. It is not virtue as Lelio sees it. And it is dangerous. He has “killed,” as a joke, a man who is nearing death and who therefore fears his human condition: we die.
Je l’ai fait ce matin mort pour l’amour de vous;/ La vision le choque, et de pareilles feintes/ Aux vieillards comme lui sont de dures atteintes,/ Qui sur l’état prochain de leur condition/ Leur font faire à regret triste réflexion./ Le bonhomme, tout vieux, chérit fort la lumière/ Et ne veut point de jeu dessus cette matière;/ Il craint le pronostic, et, contre moi fâché,/ On m’a dit qu’en justice il m’avait recherché.
Mascarille à Lélie (III. iv)
[Yes, but I am not; I killed him this morning for your sake; the very idea of it shocks him. Those sorts of jokes are severely felt by such old fellows as he, which, much against their will, make them reflect sadly on the near approach of death. The good sire, notwithstanding his age, is very fond of life, and cannot bear jesting upon that subject; he is alarmed at the prognostication, and so very angry that I hear he has lodged a complaint against me.]
Mascarille to Lelio (III. 5, p. 44)
Lélie will blunder again: the maskerades, the dinner at Trufaldin’s. He will also be beaten, disguised as an Armenian. Two Egyptian women will fight so vigorously that both will loose their wig. But one knows that Andrès, who is about to be seen, will be another rival, though briefly. It will be found that he and Célie are in fact Trufaldin’s long lost children. An anagnorisis, a theatrical device, will close the play. (to be continued)
L’Étourdi (theatre-documentation.com)
Allow me to quote Mascarille again.
Car enfin la vertu n’est jamais sans envie,/ Et dans ce maudit siècle, est toujours poursuivie.
Mascarille (III. iv)
[… for virtue is always envied and persecuted in this abominable age.]
Mascarille (III. 5. p. 44)
RELATED ARTICLE
- Molière’s L’Étourdi or The Blunderer (7 February 2020)
Sources and Resources
- L’Étourdi ou les Contretemps is a toutmoliere.net publication.
- The Blunderer is Gutenberg’s [eBook #6563].
- The Blunderer is an Internet Archive publication.
- Our translator is Henri van Laun.
- Images belong to theatre-documentation.com, unless otherwise indicated.
- Notes et Variantes (Maurice Rat’s 1956 Pléiade edition).
- Bold characters are mine.
Love to everyone 💕
and apologies for the delay. This is our last long post on Molière. This writer is exhausted. Besides, I have written posts on every play, except two one-act plays about plays.
Louis XIV and Molière par Jean-Léon Jérôme (commons. wikimedia.org)
© Micheline Walker
16 February 2020
WordPress
michelinewalker.com
Polichinelle / Pulcinella
13 Thursday Feb 2020
Posted in Comédie-Ballet, Commedia dell'arte, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Molière
Polichinelle par Maurice Sand (Getty Images)
Dear Readers,
I was unwell and my computer was failing me. I asked a local technician and friend to buy a computer for me and to set it up. The former computer had not been repaired properly.
Polichinelle is a well-known character in the commedia dell’arte. He is Pulcinella.
Sincere apologies for the delay and love to everyone. We return to L’Étourdi, The Blunderer.
Polichinelle par Maurice Sand
© Micheline Walker
13 February 2020
WordPress
michelinewalker.com
Molière’s “L’Étourdi,” “The Blunderer” (1)
07 Friday Feb 2020
Tags
Beltrame di Milano, comédie d'intrigue, L'Étourdi ou les contretemps, L'Inavvertito, Monsieur Frère du Roi, Petit-Bourbon
L’Étourdi par Edmond Hédouin (théâtre-documentation.com)
In the case of L’Étourdi ou les Contretemps, the short video featured on 5 February is very useful. It is about the young lovers of comedy, called the innamorati in the commedia dell’arte. Molière’s comedies are often rooted in the commedia dell’ arte. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac features a cruel zanno. Sbrigani goes too far in ensuring that Julie marries Éraste.
In the Blunderer, we have a kind zanno, Mascarille but a young lover who blunders. Lélie is in love with Célie, but in Scene One of Act One, he tells us that he has a rival. The rival is a fine young man named Cléandre. So he needs help, Mascarille’s help. Mascarille is the best fourbe or trickster, but Lélio is, the worst young lover. He foils every one of Mascarille eleven attempts to ensure Célie marries Lélie. Mascarille is the best among zanni.
Sources
L’Étourdi originates in Nicolo Barbieri’s L’Inavvertito. Barbieri is also known as Beltrame di Milano. Molière’s play also borrows from Luigi Groto’s Émilia, Fornaris’ Angelica, Cervantès’ La Belle Égyptienne, a Christmas tale by Noël du Fail, and by Tristan’s le Parasite. In the Middle Ages, it may have been called a sotie. Molière also used elements from Plautus and Terence.
L’Étourdi was first produced in Lyon in 1655, but it may have been written earlier. In 1655, Molière still toured the provinces. After Molière returned to Paris, l’Étourdi was performed at the Théâtre du Petit-Bourbon in November 1658 by the Troupe de Monsieur, Frère Unique du Roi. Molière had found patronage, Louis XIV’s only brother, called Monsieur. The play was a great success.
Study for L’Étourdi by François Boucher (Catalogue Gazette Drouot)
Our Dramatis Personæ is
- Lelio (Lélie in the French original), a young aristocrat
- Leander (Léandre), Lelio’s rival
- Mascarille, Lelio’s servant
- Hippolyta (Hippolyte), a young woman
- Celia (Célie), a gypsy girl
- Trufaldin, an old man
- Pandolphus (Pandolfe), Lelio’s father
- Anselmo (Anselme), Hippolyta’s father
- Ergaste, a servant
- Andrès, a young man
The Scene is in Messina.
Lélie, who loves Célie, has learned that he has a rival. Léandre also loves Célie. He therefore needs Mascarille’s help.
In an attempt to know Célie’s wishes, Mascarille visits Célie. Lélie follows. Mascarille needs to ascertain whether Clélie would marry Lélie. Lélie tells Célie that he loves, but uses metaphors she does not like; she does not want to injure anyone’s eyes.
Mon cœur qu’avec raison votre discours étonne,/ N’entend pas que mes yeux fassent mal à personne;/ Et, si dans quelque chose ils vous ont outragé,/ Je puis vous assurer que c’est sans mon congé.
Célie à Lélie (I. iii, p. 6)
[My heart, which has good reason to be astonished at your speech, does not wish my eyes to injure any one; if they have offended you in anything, I can assure you I did not intend it.]
Célie to Lélie (I. 3) Gutenberg’s [eBook #6563]
Clélie lives in Trufaldin’s house. He has bought her when she was a child and is willing to sell her. She loves Lélie.
In Scene Four, Célie says
Si ton maître en ce point de constance se pique,/165 Et que la vertu seule anime son dessein,/ Qu’il n’appréhende pas de soupirer en vain;/ Il a lieu d’espérer, et le fort qu’il veut prendre/ N’est pas sourd aux traités, et voudra bien se rendre.
Célie à Mascarille (I. iv, pp. 8 – 9)
[If your master is really constant in his affections, and if virtue alone prompts him, let him be under no apprehension of sighing in vain: he has reason to hope, the fortress he wishes to take is not averse to capitulation, but rather inclined to surrender.]
Célie to Mascarille (I. 4)
She’s about to tell Mascarille what he must do:
Je vais vous enseigner ce que vous devez faire.
Clélie à Mascarille (I. iv, p. 9)
I am going to teach you what you ought to do.
Clélie to Mascarille (I. 4)
FIRST BLUNDER
But Lélie/Lelio joins the group. He wants to know how much he must pay:
Cessez, ô! Trufaldin, de vous inquiéter,/ C’est par mon ordre seul qu’il vous vient visiter;/175 Et je vous l’envoyais ce serviteur fidèle,/ Vous offrir mon service, et vous parler pour elle,/ Dont je vous veux dans peu payer la liberté,/ Pourvu qu’entre nous deux le prix soit arrêté.
Lélie à Trufaldin (Clélie’s owner) (I. iv, p. 9)
[Trufaldin, give yourself no farther uneasiness; it was purely in obedience to my orders that this trusty servant came to visit you; I dispatched him to offer you my services, and to speak to you concerning this young lady, whose liberty I am willing to purchase before long, provided we two can agree about the terms.]
Lélie to Trufaldin (I. 4)
La peste soit la bête.
[(Aside). Plague take the ass!]
We are still in Act One. Mascarille no longer wants to help Lélie, but he wants to protect his reputation as a fourbe.
Lélie needs money. So he visits Anselme, Hippolytes’ father and tells him that his Nérine is in love with him and wants to marry him. Anselme is flattered. He wants la bourse, a word he replaces with bouche (mouth): “la bouche avec la sienne.”
[So that…
(Endeavouring to take the purse). So that she dotes on you; and regards you no longer…
The purse has fallen to the ground.]
Anselme is about to leave, but turns around. He would like to buy Nérine a ring or other bagatelle. Mascarille has a ring which he will give to Nérine. Anselme will pay if the ring pleases her. Mascarille planned to return.
SECOND BLUNDER
In Scene Six, Lélie sees the purse on the ground and returns it to Anselme. Mascarille planned to take the fallen purse, but Lélie has made a mistake. Lélie says that Anselme would have lost his money, which is to his credit. Lélie doesn’t realize that the money would be used to help him marry Clélie.
Lélie asks: Qu’est-ce donc? qu’ai-je fait?
[What is the matter now? What have I done?]
Mascarille tells him that he has been a sot.
Le sot, en bon françois,
(I. vi, p. 14)
Mascarille à Lélie
[…you have acted like a fool.]
(I. 8)
275 Oui, bourreau, c’était pour la captive,/ Que j’attrapais l’argent dont votre soin nous prive.
Mascarille à Lélie (I. vi, p. 15)
[Yes, ninny; it was to release the captive that I was getting the money, whereof your officiousness took care to deprive us.]
Mascarille to Lélie
In Scene VII, Pandolfe (Lélie’s father) tells Mascarille that he is not very pleased with his son. Mascarille agrees with Pandolfe. He’s having a hard time. Given that Pandolfe wants Lélie to marry Hippolyte (Anselme’s daughter), Pandolfe and Mascarille have different reasons to object to Lélie’s behaviour. Ironically, he tells Pandolfe that Lélie should not refuse to marry Hippolyte.
À l’heure même encor nous avons eu querelle,/ Sur l’hymen d’Hippolyte, où je le vois rebelle;/ 305 Où par l’indignité d’un refus criminel,/ Je le vois offenser le respect paternel.
Mascarille à Pandolfe (I. vii, p. 16)
[Just now we had a quarrel again about his engagement with Hippolyta, which, I find he is very averse to. By a most disgraceful refusal he violates all the respect due to a father.]
Mascarille to Pandolfe (I. 9)
Pandolfe is surprised. But Mascarille has the audacity to tell Pandolfe that he urges his son, Lélie, to be like his father.
He adds that reason is no longer his son guide and that Pandolfe’s wishes are betrayed. He is in love with Célie, which Pandolfe knew.
… Sachez donc que vos vœux sont trahis,/ Par l’amour qu’une esclave imprime à votre fils.
Mascarille à Pandolfe (I. vii, p. 17)
[Know then that your wishes are sacrificed to the love your son has for a certain slave.]
Mascarille to Pandolfe (I. 8)
Anselme is on good terms with Trufaldin. So, Mascarille suggests to Pandolfe that Anselme be asked to buy Célie, who will be transported to a foreign land. However, she will not be sold, will be given to to Lélie.
Hippolyte, Anselme’s daughter, is within hearing distance. She feels betrayed, by Mascarille , but Mascarille reassures her.
Non; mais il faut savoir que tout cet artifice/ Ne va directement qu’à vous rendre service:/385 Que ce conseil adroit qui semble être sans fard,/ Jette dans le panneau l’un et l’autre vieillard:/ Que mon soin par leurs mains ne veut avoir Célie,/ Qu’à dessein de la mettre au pouvoir de Lélie:/ Et faire que l’effet de cette invention./390 Dans le dernier excès portant sa passion,/ Anselme rebuté de son prétendu gendre,/ Puisse tourner son choix du côté de Léandre.
Mascarille à Hippolyte (I. viii, p. 19)
[No; but you must know that all this plotting was only contrived to serve you; that this cunning advice, which appeared so sincere, tends to make both old men fall into the snare; that all the pains I have taken for getting Celia into my hands, through their means, was to secure her for Lelio, and to arrange matters so that Anselmo, in the very height of passion, and finding himself disappointed of his son-in-law, might make choice of Leander.]
Mascarille to Hippolyte (I. 10)
At this point, everyone thinks that Mascarille is working for a person other than Lélie. He makes believe he is working for Pandolfe and for Hippolyte. But, Mascarille continues to work for Lélie, who blunders. Lélie is his master.
THIRD BLUNDER
In Scene Nine, when Anselme tries to purchase Célie, Lélie believes that she will belong to Anselme and not to him. So, he prevents Anselme from buying Célie. She is returned to Trufaldin.
Blunders
In forthcoming acts, Lélie continues to blunder, but he is not always to blame. How could he know the purse he returned to Anselme contained money that would be used to buy Célie, who is a slave. At one point, it is suggested that the two should accorder leurs flûtes. But if this were done, we would lose our Étourdi.
I will tell about other blunders in a second post, but one should know that all ends well.
It turns out that Célie is Trufaldin’s daughter and Andrès, whom Célie once loved, is her brother. A marriage between Andrès and Célia is impossible. Andrès allows Lélie to marry his sister. Anselme had rejected Lélie. Hippolyte will marry Léandre.
(to be continued)
Sources and Resources
- L’Étourdi is a toutmoliere.net publication
- The Blunderer is Gutenberg’s [eBook #6563]
- Images belong to theatre-documentation.com
- Notes et Variantes (Maurice Rat’s 1956 Pléiade edition)
—ooo—
Love to everyone 💕
Menuet des Trompettes – Jean-Baptiste Lully
Lélie par Edmond Geffroy (theatre-documentation.com)
© Micheline Walker
7 February 2020
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michelinewalker.com
The Commedia dell’arte: the Innamorati
05 Wednesday Feb 2020
Posted in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Italy, Molière
Commedia dell’arte troupe I Gelosi in a late 16th-century Flemish painting (wiki2.org)
L’Étourdi (The Blunderer, or the Counterplots, c. 1653) is our next play by Molière. In fact, it is the last play we read, but although I wrote at least one post on every play, I have not always included dialogues. I will edit posts that require quotations. There will remain two short plays that are reflections on Molière’s use of the genre, by Molière and his troupe.
Once again, we have gradations within stock characters originating in the commedia dell’arte. Sbrigani, one of the zanni, is the very devil, but Mascarille, who helps Lélie, is a forgiving zanno.
Similarly, Molière’s plays feature excellent young lovers, such as the Bourgeois gentilhomme‘s Cléonte, but Lélie, L’Étourdi, spoils the work done by Mascarille. Like all the jaloux, he is his own worst enemy, but he is not a jaloux.
Lélie is a scatterbrain. Every time Mascarille succeeds in his attempts to help Lélie marry Célie, Lélie spoils the stratagem. Célie, a slave bought by Trufaldin, can be purchased, but the play features an anagnorisis, a recognition scene.
Isabella was a young lover.
Isabella par Maurice Sand (Wikipedia)
© Micheline Walker
5 February 2020
WordPress
michelinewalker.com
The Commedia dell’arte: the Vecchi
04 Tuesday Feb 2020
Posted in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Molière
Tags
Il Capitano, Il Dottore, stock characters, the blocking character, the Miles Gloriosus, the Vecchi (old)
The Captain uses bravado and excessive shows of manliness to hide his true cowardly nature. Engraving by Abraham Bosse. (wiki2.org)
The Old Men: the Vecchi
The video inserted in Comments on “Monsieur de Pourceaugnac”, was about zanni in the commedia dell’arte. Zanni range from astute servants, confidantes, and laquais to unscrupulous tricksters: Sbrigani. But the video inserted below is about old men, called vecchi (a vecchio). They stand in the way of the innamorati‘s marriage. The innamorati are the commedia dell’arte‘s young lovers.
Among vecchi, we have the pedant or doctor (Il Dottore), the captain (Il Capitano), the miserly Pantalone, the miles gloriosus, (the braggart soldier and fanfaron, and the vecchio (the senex iratus [the angry old man]) Roman dramatist Plautus wrote Miles Gloriosus. Miles Gloriosus finds its origins in a lost Greek play entitled Alazṓn. The alazṓn is the name now given characters opposing the marriage of comedy’s young lovers. Characters supporting the young lovers or the eirôn. The word irony is derived from eirôn (see eirôn, wiki2.org).
In general the vecchi are portrayed as selfish, and quite prone to committing any and all of the seven deadly sins (lust, sloth, greed, pride, wrath, gluttony, envy.)
I am quoting Google’s The characters: the vecchi. One may also visit Micke Kingvall’s Posts. Micke’s posts deal with the commedia dell’arte, which includes “vulgar comedy,” the term used in Comments on “Monsieur de Pourceaugnac”.
Wikipedia now uses videos. I like it.
Sources and Resources
The characters: the vecchi (Google)
Micke Kingvall’s Posts
Love to everyone 💕
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac par Adolphe Lalauze (theatre-documentation.com)
© Micheline Walker
3 February 2020
WordPress
michelinewalker.com
The Post disappeared …
02 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in Sharing
Pulcinella by Maurice Sand
Pulcinella in 1700 (1860) by Maurice Sand, found in Masques et bouffons: comédie italienne.
Maurice Sand is the son of famous French writer George Sand. She was a prolific writer and a woman of extraordinary vitality. She and composer Frédéric Chopin were very close friends, lovers I believe.
I looked at my post this morning, but suddenly it disappeared. I had a copy of my article and reinserted it. However, it was missing a few sentences and I had not printed the images. Besides, I had no captions and older versions of the post surfaced.
The post has been rebuilt. I can’t understand what happened.
Pulcinella (Polichinelle) was a scapegoat among stock characters of the commedia dell’arte.
Love to everyone 💕
Jan Lisiecki plays Chopin
Chopin at 25, by Maria Wodzińska, 1835
© Micheline Walker
2 February 2020
WordPress
michelinewalker.com
Comments on “Monsieur de Pourceaugnac”
31 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in Comédie-Ballet, Commedia dell'arte, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Molière
Tags
Aesthetics, Carnivalesque, Comédie-Ballet, commedia dell'arte, Harold C. Knutson, Jules Brody, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, pharmakos, pour rire, Tricksters
Zanni, oil painting after an engraving by Jacques Callot (Larousse)
Zanni, oil painting after an engraving by Jacques Callot (Vulgar Comedy)
MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC.
ORONTE.
JULIE, fille d’Oronte.
NÉRINE, femme d’intrigue (schemer).
LUCETTE, feinte (false) Gasconne.
ÉRASTE, amant de (in love with) Julie.
SBRIGANI, Napolitain, homme d’intrigue (schemer).
PREMIER MÉDECIN.
SECOND MÉDECIN.
L’APOTHICAIRE.
UN PAYSAN.
UNE PAYSANNE.
PREMIER MUSICIEN.
SECOND MUSICIEN.
PREMIER AVOCAT.
SECOND AVOCAT.
PREMIER SUISSE.
SECOND SUISSE.
UN EXEMPT.
DEUX ARCHERS.
PLUSIEURS MUSICIENS, JOUEURS D’INSTRUMENTS, ET DANSEURS.
La scène est à Paris
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac
- a scapegoat
- aesthetically in the wrong
- a comedy in reverse
- an on-stage dramatist
- pour rire / for the fun of it
A scapegoat
I have already noted that Monsieur de Pourceaugnac seems a scapegoat, or pharmakós. which is not inconsistent with the role pharmakoi play in tragedies and comedies. Northrop Frye writes that the scapegoats, the pharmakós is “neither innocent nor guilty.”[1]
Aesthetically in the wrong
There is no reason why Monsieur de Pourceaugnac should be victimised in Paris, “this country,” or elsewhere. Arranged marriages were common in 17th-century France. Besides, had Julie found Monsieur de Pourceaugnac repulsive, he may not have married her. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac’s only problem is his name and/or looks, which has to do with aesthetics. Let us read Nérine:
S’il a envie de se marier, que ne prend-il une Limosine, et ne laisse-t-il en repos les chrétiens ? Le seul nom de Monsieur de Pourceaugnac m’a mis dans une colère effroyable. J’enrage de Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. Quand il n’y aurait que ce nom-là, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, j’y brûlerai mes livres, ou je romprai ce mariage, et vous ne serez point Madame de Pourceaugnac. Pourceaugnac ! Cela se peut-il souffrir ? Non, Pourceaugnac est une chose que je ne saurais supporter, et nous lui jouerons tant de pièces, nous lui ferons tant de niches sur niches, que nous renverrons à Limoges Monsieur de Pourceaugnac.
Nérine à Julie et Éraste (I. scène première)
[If he wishes to get married why does he not take a lady born at Limoges for a wife, instead of troubling decent Christians? The name alone of Monsieur de Pourceaugnac has put me in a frightful passion. I am in a rage about Monsieur de Pourceaugnac If it were nothing but his name, this Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, I would do everything to succeed in breaking off this marriage, rather than that you should be Madam de Pourceaugnac. Pourceaugnac! is it bearable? No, Pourceaugnac is something which I cannot tolerate; and we shall play him so many tricks, we shall practice so many jokes upon jokes upon him, that we shall soon send Monsieur de Pourceaugnac back to Limoges again.]
Nérine to Julie and Éraste (II. 3, p. 94)
In his analysis of Le Misanthrope and Dom Juan, Professor Jules Brody concluded that Alceste and Dom Juan were “aesthetically in the wrong, but morally in the right” or vice versa. I am paraphrasing Professor Brody.[2] Arranged marriages were relatively common in 17th-century France, so Monsieur de Pourceaugnac cannot be faulted for “buying” a bride who will be provided with a generous dowry.
We should also note that, in Scene Two, Julie is not ready to oppose her father’s choice of a groom beyond entering a convent.
Je le menacerais de me jeter dans un convent
Julie à Éraste (I. ii)
[I would threaten him to bury myself in a convent.]
Julie to Éraste (I. 4, p. 95)
Éraste requests greater proof of her love, but Julie tells him she must await the course of events before allowing further opposition.
Mon Dieu, Éraste, contentez-vous de ce que je fais maintenant, et n’allez point tenter sur l’avenir les résolutions de mon cœur; ne fatiguez point mon devoir par les propositions d’une fâcheuse extrémité dont peut-être n’aurons-nous pas besoin; et s’il y faut venir, souffrez au moins que j’y sois entraînée par la suite des choses.
Julie à Éraste (I. ii)
[Good Heavens! Eraste, content yourself with what I am doing now; and do not tempt the resolutions of my heart upon what may happen in the future; do not make my duty more painful with proposals of annoying rashness, of which, perhaps, we may not be in need; and if we are to come to it, let me, at least be driven to it by the turn of affairs.]
Julie to Éraste (I. 4, p. 96)
Julie is quite right. She has agreed to batteries and machines that will allow people, schemers, to promote her marriage to act, but no one was to go to far. However, it turns out measures taken to let her be Éraste’s wife are too drastic. When Sbrigani is done, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac will stand accused of bigamy and, unless a schemer saves him, Sbrigani, he may be hanged. In Oronte eyes, having abandoned Lucette, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is a méchant homme. Upon learning that Pourceaugnac abandoned Lucette, Oronte, Julie’s father, cannot prevent himself from crying. What irony!
Je ne saurais m’empêcher de pleurer. Allez, vous êtes un méchant homme.
Oronte (II. vii)
[I cannot help crying. (To Monsieur de Pourceaugnac). Go, you are a wicked man.]
Oronte (II. 8, p. 123)
When Pourceaugnac is being led away Oronte suggests that Pourceaugnac be hanged:
Allez, vous ferez bien de le faire punir, et il mérite d’être pendu.
Oronte (II. viii)
[Come, you will do well to have him punished; and he deserves to be hanged.]
Oronte (II. 10, p. 125)
A comedy in reverse
Not only is Monsieur de Pourceaugnac humiliated because of his name, but Molière also rearranged the usual cast of comedies so that Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is treated like a tyrannical pater familias, Oronte’s role. As for the eirôn, the threatened lovers and their usual supporters: laquais, valet, suivante, confidante, an uncle or avuncular figure, such as Le Malade imaginaire’s Béralde, Argan’s brother, they are pitiless tricksters: Sbrigani and his crew who unleash uninterrupted attacks on an innocent man. The person who will marry his daughter to a man she may be attracted to or find repulsive, is Oronte. Oronte, therefore, is the blocking-character or alazṓn. However, the man who is left in the hands of doctors threatening enemas and other procedures, the man whose creditors will be repaid by Oronte, the bigamist or polygamist who should be hanged, is Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, Oronte’s prospective son-in-law. The first doctor claims Pourceaugnac as un meuble, his property. Moreover, we are in Paris, where the accused is hanged before the trial. The play is such a charivari, hullabaloo, that Julie, Éraste’s innamorata, finds Monsieur de Pourceaugnac attractive and follows him as he is led out of “this country,” which is seen as an enlèvement, by Oronte.
Ah ! Monsieur, ce perfide de Limosin, ce traître de Monsieur de Pourceaugnac vous enlève votre fille.
Sbrigani à Oronte (III. vi)
[Ah, Sir! this perfidious Limousin, this wretch of a Monsieur de Pourceaugnac abducts your daughter!]
Sbrigani à Oronte (III. 8, p. 133)
She who would not be forced into a marriage, must marry Éraste, whom, she suspects, created all these pièces, comedies:
Ce sont sans doute des pièces qu’on lui fait, et c’est peut-être lui [Éraste] qui a trouvé cet artifice pour vous en dégoûter.
Julie à Oronte (III. vii)
[They are, no doubt, tricks which have been played upon him, and (Pointing to Eraste) it is perhaps he who invented this artifice to disgust you with him.]
Julie to Oronte and Éraste (III. ix, p. 135)
An on-stage dramatist
Yes and no. Éraste did not oppose Sbrigani’s unacceptable tricks. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is not a théâtre dans le théâtre, but one could suggest that the dramatist is on stage and the play abundantly self-referential:
Je conduis de l’œil toutes choses, et tout ceci ne va pas mal. Nous fatiguerons tant notre provincial, qu’il faudra, ma foi, qu’il déguerpisse.
Sbrigani (II. vii)
[I am managing these things very nicely, and everything goes well as yet. We shall tire our provincial to such an extent that upon my word, he will be obliged to decamp.]
Sbrigani (II. 11, p. 125)
Julie knows about Éraste’s involvement in and provides a redressing of the comedy. She is the dutiful daughter who takes the husband her father chose for her:
They are no doubt tricks which have been played upon him, and (Pointing to Eraste) it is perhaps he who invented this artifice to disgust you with him.
Julie to Oronte (III. 9, p. 135)
Pour rire / for the fun of it
Although Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is cruel and machiavellian, it is for the main part an “all’s well that ends well.” But there are gradations within comedy. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is a pour rire: for laughs, concocted one of the best among zanni: Sbrigani. In Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, wit prevails, and wit is ruthless. It is carnivalesque. My thesis director, Dr Harold C. Knutson, wrote a book entitled: The Triumph of Wit: Molière and Restoration Comedy. I could not end on a better note.[3]
RELATED ARTICLES
Sources and Resources
- Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is a toutmoliere.net publication.
- Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is an Internet Archive publication
- Our translator is Henri van Laun
- Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is Gutenberg’s [eBook #7009]
- Its translator is Charles Heron Wall.
- Bold characters are mine.
- Images are as identified.
- Pulcinella as scapegoat
- Vulgar Comedy (http://commedia.klingvall.com/commedia-dellarte/)
_____________________
[1] Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1957]), p. 41.
[2] Brody, Jules. “Dom Juan and Le Misanthrope, or the Esthetics of Individualism in Molière, ” PMLA, 84, 1969.
[3] Knutson, Harold C. The Triumph of Wit: Molière and Restoration Comedy, Ohio State University Pres, 1988)
Love to everyone 💕
Sincere apologies for rebuilding my post. In theory, this computer was repaired, but it wasn’t. A friend and technician will take me to a store. We will buy the computer and he will set it up.
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (see Pourceaugnac 2)
© Micheline Walker
31 January 2020
WordPress
michelinewalker.com
… and now Point Grey Road.
25 Saturday Jan 2020
Posted in Royal Houses, Sharing
Frogmore Cottage (Getty Images)
Harry and Meghan are in Canada and no one was disturbing them, which is no longer the case. The paparazzi have crossed the pond. This is an update.
They are considering purchasing a house located on Vancouver’s Point Grey Road. Point Grey Road is the street where my husband and I lived when we returned from Wickaninnish Inn, the secluded inn where we spent our honeymoon.
On our return to Vancouver, we settled in a delightful attic apartment located in a waterfront house. It was a lovely apartment and we had a deck. We enjoyed the location. We were about halfway between the University and downtown, but the finer houses were located closer to the University. There were lovely little houses where we lived, but I don’t remember mansions. We enjoyed watching the little sail boats on English Bay. We could also see snow-capped mountains. Raccoons were forever trying to get into the apartment, which scared Chamiche, our cat, but we protected him. These are very happy memories.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s house, if they purchase it, is very expensive, but in the early 1970’s, our rent was very low. If my memory serves me well, renting the apartment cost approximately $300.00 per month, furnished.
We were students and it was an era when ordinary people could live in a waterfront house. Vancouver is now too expensive a location.
So, although I feel that Harry and Meghan are following us, they’re not. The location is the same, but Vancouver has changed. The waterfront apartment was our first home.
As a Royal, Prince Harry didn’t have to attend a university. However, he could overcome this shortcoming by taking courses at the University of British Columbia (UBC). I doubt that he is employable. UBC is a short drive from the mansion Meghan spotted and wishes to purchase, if the couple can afford it.
I think the raccoons have moved away.
RELATED ARTICLE
- Wickanninish Inn, Vancouver Island (2 January 2020)
- Harry and Meghan: please wait…
Love to everyone 💕
Frogmore Cottage
© Micheline Walker
24 January 2020
WordPress
michelinewalker.com
Molière’s “Monsieur de Pourceaugnac” (2)
22 Wednesday Jan 2020
Posted in Comédie-Ballet, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Molière
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac par Horace Vernet (theatre-documentation.com)
Our dramatis personæ is
MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC.
ORONTE. JULIE, (daughter of) fille d’Oronte.
NÉRINE, (a schemer) femme d’intrigue, (false) feinte Picarde.
LUCETTE, (false) feinte Gasconne.
ÉRASTE, (in love with) amant de Julie.
SBRIGANI, Napolitain, (a schemer) homme d’intrigue.
PREMIER MÉDECIN (doctor). SECOND MÉDECIN. L’APOTHICAIRE. UN PAYSAN (peasant). UNE PAYSANNE. PREMIER MUSICIEN (musician). SECOND MUSICIEN. PREMIER AVOCAT (lawyer). SECOND AVOCAT. PREMIER SUISSE (Swiss). SECOND SUISSE. UN EXEMPT. DEUX ARCHERS. PLUSIEURS MUSICIENS, JOUEURS D’INSTRUMENTS, ET DANSEURS.
La scène est à Paris
Act Two
SCENE ONE / Scène première
ORONTE, PREMIER MÉDECIN.
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac escapes the doctor’s house carrying a chair. The first doctor thinks that Monsieur de Pourceaugnac must be treated:
Marque d’un cerveau démonté, et d’une raison dépravée, que de ne vouloir pas guérir.
Premier médecin à Sbrigani (II. i)
[It is a sign of a disordered brain, and of a corrupted reason, not to wish to be cured.]
1st doctor to Sbrigani (II. 1)
Sbrigani tells the 1st doctor that M de Pourceaugnac may be at Oronto’s house. He, Sbrigani, will prepare a new batterie a trick:
Je vais de mon côté dresser une autre batterie, et le beau-père est aussi dupe que le gendre.
Sbrigani au premier médecin (II. i)
I, on my part, will go and bring another battery into play; and the father-in-law shall be duped as much as the son-in-law.
Sbribani to 1st doctor (II. 1, p. 114)
SCENE TWO
ORONTE, PREMIER MÉDECIN.
According to the 1st doctor, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac belongs to him.
Votre prétendu gendre a été constitué mon malade: sa maladie qu’on m’adonné à guérir, est un meuble qui m’appartient, et que je compte entre mes effets; et je vous déclare que je ne prétends point qu’il se marie, qu’au préalable il n’ait satisfait à la médecine, et subi les remèdes que je lui ai ordonnés.
Premier médecin à Oronte (II. ii)
[Your intended son-in-law has been constituted my patient; his disease, which I have been told to cure, is property which belongs to me, and which I reckon among my possessions; and I declare to you that I will not suffer him to marry before he has given satisfaction to the medical Faculty, and taken the remedies which I have prescribed for him.]
1st doctor to Oronte (II. 2, p. 114)
If Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is ill, Oronte will cancel the wedding.
Je n’ai garde, si cela est, de faire le mariage.
Oronte au premier médecin (II. ii)
[If that is the case, I do not intend to conclude this match.]
Pourceaugnac to 1st doctor (II. 2, p. 115)
SCENE THREE
SBRIGANI, en marchand flamand, ORONTE.
Sbrigani goes to Oronte’s house wearing Flemish clothes and says that Monsieur de Pourceaugnac owes a great deal of money:
Et sti Montsir de Pourcegnac, Montsir, l’est un homme que doivre beaucoup grandement à dix ou douze marchanne flamane qui estre venu ici.
Sbrigani to Oronte (II. iii)
[And this Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, Sir, is a man who owes a great deal to ten or twelve Flemish merchants who have come hither.]
Sbrigani to Oronte (II. 3, p. 116)
This Flemish gentleman is awaiting the wedding because Oronte will pay his creditors (ses créanciers).
Oui, Montsir obtenir, et depuis huite mois, nous afoir obtenir une petite sentence contre lui, et lui à remettre à payer tou ce créanciers de sti mariage que sti Montsir Oronte donne pour son fille.
Sbrigani (II. iii)
[Yes, Sir; and eight months ago, we have obtained a little judgment against him; and he has put off paying all his creditors until this marriage, if this Mr. Oronte gives him his daughter.]
Sbrigani dressed in Flemish clothes to Oronte (II. 3, p. 116)
Sbrigani habillé en marchand flamand à Oronte (II. iii).
Oronte thinks that this information is not bad.
L’avis n’est pas mauvais. Je vous donne le bonjour.
Oronte (II. iii)
(Aside). This is not a bad warning. (Aloud). I wish you good day.
Oronte (II. 3, p. 116)
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac par Maurice Sand (theatre-documentation.com)
L’Apothicaire par Maurice Sand (theatre-documentation.com)
SCENE FOUR
SBRIGANI, POURCEAUGNAC.
Sbrigani bumps into Monsieur de Pourceaugnac who tells him that he thought he would dine and sleep, but fell into the hands of doctors. He escaped carrying a chair.
Tout ce que je vois, me semble lavement.
Pourceaugnac à Sbrigani (II. iv)
Everything which I see appears an enemy [enema] to me.
Pourceaugnac to Sbrigani (II. 4, p. 117)
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac remembers his being handed over to doctors and apothecaries. He repeats their words and Sbrigani’s.
Je vous laisse entre les mains de Monsieur. Des médecins habillés de noir. Dans une chaise. Tâter le pouls. Comme ainsi soit. Il est fou. Deux gros joufflus. Grands chapeaux. Bon di, bon di. Six pantalons. Ta, ra, ta, ta: Ta, ra, ta, ta.
Alegramente Monsu Pourceaugnac. Apothicaire. Lavement. Prenez, Monsieur, prenez, prenez. Il est bénin, bénin, bénin. C’est pour déterger, pour déterger, déterger. Piglia-lo sù, Signor Monsu, piglia-lo, piglia-lo, piglia-lo sù. Jamais je n’ai été si soûl de sottises.
Pourceaugnac à Sbrigani (II. iv)
[I leave you in the hands of this gentleman. Doctors dressed in black. In a chair. Feel the pulse. That it be so. He is mad. Two stout boobies. Big hats. Buon di. buon di. Six pantaloons. Ta, ra, ta, ta ; ta, ra, ta, ta. Allegramente, monsu Pourceaugnac. An apothecary. Injection. Take it, Sir; take it, take it. It is gentle, gentle, gentle. It is to loosen, to loosen, loosen. Piglialo su, signor Monsu; piglialo, piglialo, pigliao su. Never have I been so crammed with silliness.]
Pourceaugnac to Sbrigani (II. 4, p. 117)
Ironically, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac tells his woes to the confidence trickster who is engineering his demise. One is reminded of Horace confiding in Arnolphe (The School for Wives). Sbrigani’s next trick is to question Julie’s virtue. She would be a coquette.
SCENE FIVE
ORONTE, POURCEAUGNAC.
When they first meet, Oronte and Pourceaugnac behave like enemies.
Croyez-vous, Monsieur Oronte, que les Limosins soient des sots?
Pourceaugnac (II. v)
Croyez-vous, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, que les Parisiens soient des bêtes?
Oronte (II. v)
Vous imaginez-vous, Monsieur Oronte, qu’un homme comme moi soit affamé de femme?
Pourceaugnac (II. v)
Vous imaginez-vous, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, qu’une fille comme la mienne
soit si affamée de mari?
Oronte (II. v)
[Think you, Mr. Oronte, that the Limousins are fools?
Pourceaugnac (II. 5, p.119-120)
Think you, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, that the Parisians are idiots.
Oronte (II. 5, p. 120)
Do you imagine, Mr. Oronte, that a man like me is so hungry after a woman ?
Pourceaugnac (II. 5, p. 120)
Do you imagine, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, that a girl like mine is so hungry after a husband ?]
Oronte (II. 5, p. 120)
SCENE SIX
JULIE, ORONTE, MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC.
Julie joins her father and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. She makes believe that she can’t wait to be Monsieur de Pourceaugnac’s wife.
On vient de me dire, mon père, que Monsieur de Pourceaugnac est arrivé. Ah le voilà sans doute, et mon cœur me le dit. Qu’il est bien fait! qu’il a bon air! et que je suis contente d’avoir un tel époux! Souffrez que je l’embrasse, et que je lui témoigne…
Julie (II. vi)
[They have just told me, father, that Monsieur de Pourceaugnac has arrived. Ah! this is he no doubt, and my heart tells me so. How well he is built! how well he looks! and how glad I am to have such a husband! Permit me to embrace him, and to show him that . . .]
Julie (II. 6, p. 120)
She would like to caress him, but Oronte will not allow her to touch Pourceaugnac.
Ne voulez-vous pas que je caresse l’époux que vous m’avez choisi?
Julie (II. vi)
[May I not caress the husband whom you have chosen for me?]
Julie (II. 6, p. 120)
Oronte tells Monsieur de Pourceaugnac that he has debts to repay that he is expected to pay debts, which eliminates Monsieur de Pourceaugnac.
La feinte ici est inutile, et j’ai vu le marchand flamand, qui, avec les autres créanciers, a obtenu depuis huit mois sentence contre vous.
Oronte (II. vi)
[The pretence is useless; and I have seen the Flemish merchant, who, with other creditors, obtained judgment against you eight months ago.]
Oronte to Pourceaugnac (II. 7)
Quel marchand flamand? quels créanciers? quelle sentence obtenue contre moi?
Pourceaugnac (II. vi)
[What Flemish merchant? What creditors? What judgment obtained against me?]
Pourceaugnac (II. 7, p. 122)
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac par Lalauze
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac par Moreau le Jeune
SCENE SEVEN
LUCETTE, ORONTE, MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC.
Next, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is confronted by two women, Lucette and Nérine, both of whom claim they were married to Pourceaugnac and that he abandoned them. Beware, Nérine is a trickster, or femme d’intrigue. As for Lucette, she is learning the craft quickly. Lucette says she married in Pézenas and Nérine, in Chin-Quentin. Everyone was in attendance
Ah! tu es assy, et à la fy yeu te trobi aprés abé fait tant de passés. Podes-tu, scélérat, podes tu sousteni ma bisto?
Lucette à Pourceaugnac (II. vii)
[Ah! you are here, and I find you at last, after my many journeys in search of you. Can you bear to look me in the face, you scoundrel?]
Lucette to Pourceaugnac (II. 8, p. 122)
Qu’est-ce veut cette femme-là?
Pourceaugnac (II. vii)
[What does this woman want?]
Pourceaugnac (II. 8, p. 122)
Que te boli, infame! Tu fas semblan de nou me pas connouysse, et nou
rougisses pas, impudent que tu sios, tu ne rougisses pas de me beyre? Nou sabi pas, Moussur, saquos bous dont m’an dit que bouillo espousa la fillo; may yeu bous declari que yeu soun safenno, et que y a set ans, Moussur, qu’en passan à Pezenas el auguet l’adresse dambé sas mignardisos, commo sap tapla fayre, de me gaigna lou cor, et m’oubligel praquel mouyen à y douna la man per l’espousa.
Lucette à Pourceaugnac (II. vii)
[What do I want, you infamous wretch! You pretend not to know me; and you do not blush, rogue that you are, you do not blush to see me. (To Oronte). I do not know, Sir, whether it is you, as I have been told, whose daughter he wants to marry; but I declare to you that I am his wife, and that seven years ago, when he was passing through Pézenas,[1] he was artful enough, with his pretty speeches in which he is so clever, to gain my heart, and, by these means, persuaded me to give him my hand in marriage.
Lucette to Pourceaugnac (II. 8, p. 122)
Oh ! Oh !
Oronte (II. vii)
Que diable est-ce ci ?
[What the devil is this [the syringe]?
Pourceaugnac (II. 8, p. 123)
Lou trayté me quitel trés ans aprés, sul preteste de qualques affayres que l’apelabon dins soun païs, et despey noun ly resçauput quaso de noubelo ; may dins lou tens qui soungeabi lou mens, m’an dounat abist, que begnio dins aquesto bilo, per se remarida danbé un autro jouena fillo, que sous parens ly an proucurado, sensse saupré res de sou prumié mariatge. Yeu ay tout quitat en diligensso, et me souy rendudo dins aqueste loc lou pu leau qu’ay pouscut , per m’oupousa en aquel criminel mariatge, et confondre as elys de tout le mounde lou plus méchant day homme.
Lucette à Pourceaugnac (I. vii)
[The wretch left me three years afterwards, under the pretext of some business which took him to his country; and since then I have had no tidings from him ; but when I was least thinking about it, they warned me that he was coming into this town to marry again another young girl which her parents had promised him, without knowing anything of his first marriage. I immediately left everything, and I have come hither as quickly as I could, to oppose this criminal union, and to unmask the most wicked of men before the eyes of the world.]
Lucette to Pourceaugnac (II. 8, p. 152)
SCENE EIGHT
NÉRINE en Picarde, LUCETTE, ORONTE, MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC.
At first, Scene Eight seems a copy of Scene Seven, because a second woman, Nérine, claims that she married Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. She is from Picardy and speak a dialectical French. Both women quarrel.
Quaign’inpudensso! Et coussy, miserable, nou te soubenes plus de la pauro Françon, et del paure Jeanet, que soun lous fruits de nostre mariatge?
Lucette à Pourceaugnac (II. viii)
[What impudence! How now, you wretch, you remember no longer poor little Francois, and poor Jeannette, who are the fruits of our union?]
Lucette à Pourceaugnac (II. 9, p. 155)
Bayez un peu l’insolence. Quoy? tu ne te souviens mie de chette pauvre ainfain, no petite Madelaine, que tu m’as laichée pour gaige de ta foy?
Nérine à Pourceaugnac (II. viii)
[Just look at the insolence! What! you do not remember that poor child, our little Madelaine, which you left me as a pledge of your fidelity?]
Nérine to Pourceaugnac (II. ix, p. 155)
Beny Françon, beny, Jeanet, beny, toustou, beny, toustoune, benre à un payre dénaturat la duretat qu’el a per nautres.
Lucette aux enfants (II. viii)
[Come here Francois, come here Jeannette, come all of you, come and show an unnatural father his want of feeling for us all.]
Lucette to the children (II. ix, p. 124)
Ah, papa ! papa ! papa !
Les enfants [the children] (II. viii)
Diantre soit des petits fils de putains !
Pourceaugnac (II. viii)
[The devil take the strumpet’s brats!]
Pourceaugnac (II. 10, p. 125)
Lucette says that everyone in Pézenas saw her marry Pourceaugnac and Nérine reports that all Chin-Quentin saw her wed Pourceaugnac.
Tout Pézenas a bist nostre mariatge.
Lucette (II. viii)
Tout Chin-Quentin [St-Quentin] a assisté à no noche.
Nérine (II. viii)
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is exhausted and screams for help.
Au secours ! au secours ! où fuirai-je ? Je n’en puis plus.
Pourceaugnac (II. viii)
[Help! help! where shall fly? I can bear this no longer]
Pourceaugnac (II. 10, 125)
As Monsieur de Pourceaugnac leaves, frightened, Oronte says that he should be hanged. That is our “cas pendable.” This expression is a favourite among students of Molière and moliéristes. Pendable comes from pendre, to hang.
SCENE NINE
MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC, SBRIGANI.
Sbrigani emerges victorious. He has orchestrated all of Monsieur de Pourceaugnac’s setbacks, while asking that no one go too far. Sbrigani can fool anyone. He is one of French literature’s finest tricksters, after Renart (Reynard the Fox).
Je conduis de l’œil toutes choses, et tout ceci ne va pas mal. Nous fatiguerons tant notre provincial, qu’il faudra, ma foi, qu’il déguerpisse.
Sbrigani (II. ix)
[I am managing these things very nicely, and everything goes well as yet. We shall tire our provincial to such an extent that upon my word, he will be obliged to decamp.]
Sbrigani (II. 11, p. 125)
SCENE TEN
MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC, SBRIGANI.
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac continues to believe Sbrigani is a friend, which is not altogether wrong, yet wrong. Above all, Sbrigani is a consummate con-man, or confidence trickster.
Pourceaugnac tells Sbrigani that it rains women and enema in this land.
Oui. Il pleut en ce pays des femmes et des lavements.
Pourceaugnac (II. x)
[Yes. It rains syringes and women in this country.]
Pourceaugnac (II. 12, p. 124)
Afterwards, they discuss legal help. He could be arrested for polygamy. Sbrigani knows exactly whom to pick.
Je le veux, et vais vous conduire chez deux hommes fort habiles; mais j’ai auparavant à vous avertir de n’être point surpris de leur manière de parler; ils ont contracté du barreau certaine habitude de déclamation, qui fait que l’on dirait qu’ils chantent, et vous prendrez pour musique tout ce qu’ils vous diront.
Sbrigani à Pourceaugnac (II. x)
I shall do so, and shall take you to two very able men; but I must warn you beforehand not to be surprised at their way of speaking. They have contracted from the bar a certain habit of declamation which would lead one to suppose that they were singing, and you might mistake everything they say for music.
Sbrigani to Pourceaugnac (II. 12, p. 126)
SCENE ELEVEN
SBRIGANI, MONSIEUR DE POURCEAUGNAC, DEUX AVOCATS musiciens, dont l’un parle fort lentement, et l’autre fort vite, accompagnés de DEUX PROCUREURS et de DEUX SERGENTS.
Scene eleven is an interlude. Two lawyers recite or sing that Monsieur de Pourceaugnac will pay for his “crimes.” Two public prosecutors (procureurs) and sergeants beat them up.
La polygamie est un cas pendable,
Est un cas pendable.
Lawyers (II. xi)
Polygamy is a business,
Is a hanging business.
Lawyers (II.12, p. 126)
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac
http://litteratureiiifr.blogspot.com/2016/04/les-procedes-comiques-chez-moliere.html
ACT THREE
In Act Three, Scene One, Sbrigani describes justice as it is carried out in Paris. The trial takes place after the man who has been arrested was been hanged. There is no trial. That country is one where one likes to see a Limosin, hanged.
N’importe, ils ne s’enquêtent point de cela; et puis ils ont en cette ville une haine effroyable pour les gens de votre pays, et ils ne sont point plus ravis que de voir pendre un Limosin.
Sbrigani à Pourceaugnac (III. ii)
[It matters not; they do not inquire into that; and besides, they have got a terrible hatres in this town for people from your country; and nothing gives them greater delight than to see a Limousin hanged.]
Scribani to Pourceaugnac (III. 2, p. 161)
Pourceaugnac, disguised as a woman, meets two Suisses (guards) who want to make love to Monsieur de Pourceaugnac who seems une femme de qualité. They are stopped by police officers.
In Scene III, Pourceaugnac is arrested by an Exempt, a police officer whom Sbrigani will bribe using Monsieur de Pourceaugnac’s money. The Exempt leads Monsieur de Pourceaugnac out of Paris.
In Scene Six, Sbrigani has news for Oronte. Julie followed Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. In Scene Seven, Éraste takes her back to her father. Oronte is so pleased that he gives his daughter in marriage to Éraste
Je vous suis beaucoup obligé; et j’augmente de dix mille écus le mariage de ma fille. Allons, qu’on fasse venir le notaire pour dresser le contrat.
Oronte (III. ix)
[I am much obliged to you, and I add ten thousand crowns to the marriage portion of my daughter. Come, let them a notary to draw up the contract.]
(III. 9, p. 169)
In Scene Eight, as all wait for the the lawyer, an interlude entertains everyone.
—ooo—
I will close here because of fatigue. However, I will attempt to publish a short conclusion tomorrow, if possible. My first post has commentaries. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is a pharmakós, a scapegoat. Although it has many shades, comedy is comedy. It is home to laughter. Our young lovers will marry, but I doubt Monsieur de Pourceaugnac will ever return to Paris. Sbrigani is the zanni of the commedia dell’arte.
RELATED ARTICLES
Sources and Resources
- Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is a toutmoliere.net publication.
- Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is an Internet Archive publication.
- Our translator is Henri van Laun.
- Most images belong to the BnF.
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[1] During the years he toured the provinces, Molière’s base was Pézenas.
Love to everyone 💕
Lecture de Molière par François de Troy
© Micheline Walker
22 January 2020
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