There had been progress. Ambroise Paré, a barber-surgeon who lived in the 16th century had advanced medicine, especially surgery. He is considered the father of surgery. One should also mentioned Guy Patin, who was doyen (dean) of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris (1650–1652) and professor in the Collège de France starting in 1655. He died one year before Molière’s Le Malade imaginaire (1673) was first performed. Although he was a rather poor doctor, he wrote a body of letters that are “an important document for historians of medicine.” (See Guy Patin, Wiki2.org.) It is believed Molière mocked Patin.
The Greeks investigated medicine. Hippocrates is considered the father of medicine. He coined the term Hippocratic Oath. In particular, Græco-Arabic medicine was based on humourism, or the idea that humans belonged to one of four temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic. (See Psychologia.co)
Molière ridiculed blood-letting, the use of emitics, as well as the use of enemas. The use of enemas is now considered sexual assault, if the “patient” does not consent. Enemas are also used as a means of torture and humiliation.
Molière as Sganarelle, Gravure de Simonin (Larousse)
Molière
Molière wrote four comedies in which he mocked doctors.
I have removed L’Impromptu de Versailles from an earlier list. In the Imaginary Invalid, Béralde explains Molière. But characters in our first three plays do not refer to Molière. L’Impromptu de Versaillesis an example of théâtre dans le théâtre.
It should be noted however that Sganarelle was played by Molière and would always be played by Molière until the dramatist’s death. The Flying Doctor originates in Italian comedy.
In the first three plays mentioned above, love is the cure to a young woman’s feigned or real illness triggered by a heavy father who wishes to marry his daughter to a person the daughter does not love. Villebrequin is an older gentleman who may have fine qualities. However, Lucile wants to marry Valère. The dreaded marriage is approaching
Since Gorgibus, the father, believes his daughter is truly sick, he must find a doctor. Lucile’s cousin, Sabine, tells her story to Valère, the young lover (jeune premier) who asks Sganarelle (a role performed by Molière) to make believe he is a doctor. Gros-René, Gorgibus’ valet, is looking for a doctor. Sganarelle will be the suitable candidate. He need only wear the disguise. He hesitates, but money, dix pistoles, convinces him that he can play the role. The doctor is to advise Lucile to go outdoors to a little pavilion. She needs fresh air. Valère would go to the pavilion and take her away. InLe Médecin volant, the plan is as follows:
SABINE.— Vraiment, il y a bien des nouvelles. Mon oncle veut résolument que ma cousine épouse Villebrequin, et les affaires sont tellement avancées, que je crois qu’ils eussent été mariés dès aujourd’hui, si vous n’étiez aimé; mais comme ma cousine m’a confié le secret de l’amour qu’elle vous porte, et que nous nous sommes vues à l’extrémité par l’avaricede mon vilain oncle, nous nous sommes avisées d’une bonne invention pour différer le mariage. C’est que ma cousine, dès l’heure que je vous parle, contrefait la malade; et le bon vieillard, qui est assez crédule, m’envoie quérir un médecin. Si vous en pouviez envoyer quelqu’un qui fût de vos bons amis et qui fût de notre intelligence, il conseillerait à la malade de prendre l’air à la campagne. Le bonhomme ne manquera pas de faire loger ma cousine à ce pavillon qui est au bout de notre jardin, et par ce moyen vous pourriez l’entretenir à l’insu de notre vieillard, l’épouser, et le laisser pester tout son soûl avec Villebrequin. Sabine à Valère (Sc I, p. 1)
[I have really much to tell you. My uncle is bent upon marrying my cousin to Villebrequin, and things have gone so far, that I believe the wedding would have taken place to-day if you were not loved by her. However, as my cousin told me the secret of all the love she feels for you, and as we were almost driven to desperation through the avarice of our niggardly uncle, we thought of a capital device to prevent the marriage: at the present moment my cousin affects to be ill, and the foolish old man, who is easily deceived, has just sent me to fetch a doctor. Could you not find one, some friend of yours, who would be on our side, and order the invalid to go into the country for a change of air? The old man will be sure to send my cousin to live in the pavilion, which is at the bottom of our garden. In that way you will be able to see her, unknown to our uncle, and marry her; then let him and Villebrequin curse as much as they please.] Sabine to Valère (Sc. 1)
The above ploy is successful. Sganarelle accepts to play doctor after being given ten pistoles. Gros-René is sent to look for a doctor, but meanwhile Sabine, Lucile’s cousin, has managed to lead Sganarelle to Gorgibus’ home. Sganarelle meets a lawyer whose opinion of doctors is consistent with the views expressed by Molière’s characters. If one gets better, it has nothing to do with the remedies or knowledge of a doctor.
Ce n’est pas qu’on doive mépriser un médecin qui n’aurait pas rendu la santé à son malade, parce qu’elle ne dépend pas absolument de ses remèdes, ni de son savoir[.] L’avocat à Sganarelle (Sc. 8, p. 7)[1]
[Not that any one should despise a doctor who has not given back health to his patient, since health does not altogether depend on his remedies or his knowledge: interdum docta plus valet arte malum.] The lawyer to Sganarelle (Sc. 8)
However, a problem arises when Gorgibus meets Sganarelle wearing his valet clothes. Suddenly Sganarelle must play two roles: a doctor and a valet. Sganarelle tells Gorgibus that he has an identical twin and that they are not on good terms. Could Gorgibus help? Sganarelle goes in and out of a window, dressed as valet and then as a doctor. However, Gros-René picks up the doctor’s costume. There is but one Sganarelle: the valet.
Sganarelle fears being hanged[2] and tells Gorgibus that Valère is definitely “sortable,” a suitable husband.
In the final scene of the play, Gorgibus forgives Lucile and Valère and allows them to marry.
____________________ [1]Interdum docta plus valet arte malum: parfois le mal est plus fort que l’art
et que la science. (Ovide, Ovid, Pontiques, livre Ier, chant III, v. 18).
I intended to discuss The Flying Doctor and L’Amour médecin in one post, but there were interruptions. Also, I prefer working on one play at a time, even though I also provide general information. I am slowing down.
NETHERLANDS – CIRCA 2002: Angelica and Cleanthes’ duet, scene from the second act of The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere (1622-1673), 1673, by Cornelis Troost (1696-1750) oil. The Netherlands, 18th century. Berlin, Bauhaus-Archiv, Museum Für Gestaltung (Bauhaus Museum) (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)
During the weekend, I reread parts of W. G. Moore’s Molière, a New Criticism and I added this sentence to my article: “[t]he plot of Le Malade Imaginaire is … little more than the various gullibilities of a hypochondriac.”[1] This sentence and the image at the top of this post simplify Le Malade Imaginaire. Argan needs help and finds a doctor in the young man his daughter wishes to marry, not to mention that he may help himself …
Early in the play, I. i & ii, Argan is counting his money and then rings for help. He is alone and he is gullible and vulnerable. When Toinette enters his room, she says to Argan that he is being milked, which explains why he needs a doctor as a relative.
In the image placed above, Angélique and Cléante are singing in order to communicate their feelings. This is is not a play-within-a-play. It is a ploy, but Argan and the doctors are watching. Argan does not want a young man, including a singing teacher, to be alone with Angélique. Argan wants Angélique to marry a doctor. Idée fixe.
An Anagnorisis
Therefore, we could look at the third and final act as a form of anagnorisis, effected through a play-within-a-play and serving Argan’s needs first, and, second, the young couple’s needs.
First, the doctors leave because they have been insulted. Argan is desperate, but in comes Toinette playing doctor. These scenes are theatrical, but Argan’s fancy will not go away. He is a hypochondriac, which is a real illness, so he needs a doctor (V. viii). By helping her master, Toinette also helps Angélique and Cléante.
Toinette as doctor leaves and re-enters as Toinette.
Second, Argan agrees to feign death twice, although it scares him.
Argan’s wife is seen as a fortune hunter
Argan recognizes his own blood in Angélique’s grief.
Argan lifts obstacles to the marriage of the young lovers. Cléante may marry Angélique, if he agrees to become a doctor, which he does.
But Béralde also suggests that Argan could be his own doctor. Brilliant! The inference is that problems can be solved from within:
Mais, mon frère, il me vient une pensée. Faites-vous médecin vous-même. La commodité sera encore plus grande, d’avoir en vous tout ce qu’il vous faut. Béralde à Argan (V. scène dernière, p. 68)
[But, brother, it just strikes me; why don’t you turn doctor yourself? It would be much more convenient to have all you want within yourself.] Béralde to Argan (V. last scene)
However, Argan needs doctors, and Cléante says he is ready to do anything.
En tout cas, je suis prêt à tout. Cléante à tous (V. scène dernière, p. 68)
[Anyhow, I am ready for everything.] Cléante to all (V. 5. Last scene)
The rest is an interlude during which Argan is turned into a doctor. So, all’s well that ends well.
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Viewed as an agnanorisis, the spectacles of the final act boil down to
delivering Argan of parasites (not doctors), and
ensuring the young couple marries.
But most importantly, it is suggested that we can find help within ourselves, or within our household. Toinette and Béralde do not mistreat Argan. He is a beloved father and although comedy leads to the marriage of young lovers, which means overcoming a father’s, the pater familias, resistance, the final society of the play includes the father. Everyone accepts Argan’s fancy. We all have petites lubies, whims.
When I was a student, professors used the terms play-within-a-play and théâtre dans le théâtre interchangeably. The main example was Pierre Corneille‘s L’Illusion comique (1636), which was also considered a mise en abyme. Additionally we read Jean Rotrou‘s Le Véritable Saint-Genest (1647).In fact, Rotrou wrote a play entitled L’Hypochondriaque (1631), but it is not a forerunner of Le Malade imaginaire.
Antecedents to The Imaginary Invalid are Molière’s plays on doctors:
However, Le Médecin malgré luiis rooted in a thirteenth-centuryfabliau entitled Le Vilain Mire (Wikisource FR). Mire meant médecin in medieval French. Le Médecin malgré luiwill be discussed in my next post which will also include a few words on Le Médecin volant and L’Amour médecin. These are very short farces.
I did not mention Élomire hypocondre ou les Médecins vengés (1670, according to Maurice Rat [2]). It is a comedy published by Le Boulanger de Chalussay. The text is available through Amazon and other booksellers. Élomire is an anagram of Molière. Molière was not a hypochondriac. He suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis. The comedy was never performed.
____________________ [1]Will G. Moore, Molière a New Criticism(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949), p. 72. [2] Maurice Rat, ed., Les Œuvres complètes de Molière (Gallimard: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1956). p. 998.
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I thank you most sincerely for helping me write my book.
Long posts cause earlier drafts to surface. In fact, putting in images causes earlier drafts to surface. Therefore, as first published, my post was a draft …
I am getting older, but matters are not too severe. I make spelling errors and get confused looking for the English translation of the original French text. Wikisource publishes fine translations.
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However, I did take my post away and wrote a conclusion I had hesitated to publish. The many spectacles point to a rather dark world vision on the part of Molière. Was/is society this powerless and humanity, so frail? Molière is a very complex author.
Ironically, Molière had started to die when he played the Imaginary Invalid, on 17 February 1673. That was reality.
It could be that an editor removed a few lines or a paragraph or two from the draft. It was very long. Although a paragraph or quotation may have been removed, the post is complete, and its conclusion, entirely mine.
I thank you for your kindness and apologize for not having read as many of your posts as I normally do during the last few days. Weeks have started to go by so quickly.
ARGAN, an imaginary invalid.
BÉLINE, second wife to ARGAN.
ANGÉLIQUE, daughter to ARGAN, in love with CLÉANTE.
LOUISON; ARGAN’S young daughter, sister to ANGÉLIQUE.
BÉRALDE, brother to ARGAN.
CLÉANTE, lover to ANGÉLIQUE.
MR. DIAFOIRUS, a physician.
THOMAS DIAFOIRUS, his son, in love with ANGÉLIQUE.
MR. PURGON, physician to ARGAN.
MR. FLEURANT, an apothecary.
MR. DE BONNEFOI, a notary.
TOINETTE, maid-servant to ARGAN.
The Imaginary Invalid is a comédie-ballet, but Molière having fallen out with Lully, the music for Le Malade imaginaire was composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Pierre Beauchamp choreographed the comédie-ballet. It was performed for the first time on 10th February 1673 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. On 17th February, during the fourth performance of his play, Molière collapsed. He finished playing his role and was taken home where he hemorrhaged and died. He was 51. Molière, born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), suffered from tuberculosis.
Le Malade imaginaire is the fourth play in which Molière mocked doctors. There had been relatively recent progress in medicine. In the 16th century, Ambroise Paré, a French barber surgeon made advances in surgery and other areas of medicine. Other scientists were also studying the human body. However, during Molière’s life time, most doctors did more harm than good. Many of Louis XIV’s legitimate children died due to poor treatment at the hands of doctors. When Louis died, only one of his legitimate children had survived. A woman protected Louis XIV’s only heir by keeping him away from doctors.
The play is rooted in various plays that featuring a theatre in the theatre, a play-within-a-play, on Molière’s own plays and farces on doctors and medieval farces and fabliaux.In fact, Béralde, Argan’s brother, defends Molière himself, which I would call “nouveau théâtre.”The play is also rooted in Molière’s own L’Impromptu de VersaillesFR (1663), a defence of Molière within Molière.
Hypochondria is considered a medical diagnosis, but the society of the play does not view Argan as sick. His brother Béralde tells Argan that he is not sick. Toinette also suggests that Argan is not sick. When the curtain lifts, Argan is counting how much his treatments are costing him. Money is always important in comedies and plays a role in Argan’s choice of a husband for his daughter Angélique. She is to marry a doctor, as Argan needs an in-house doctor.
Toinette & her Master
Toinette, the maid, walks in and says, unrestrained by her position, that Argan’s doctors have found a “milk-cow:”
Ce Monsieur Fleurant-là, et ce Monsieur Purgon s’égayent bien sur votre corps; ils ont en vous une bonne vache à lait; et je voudrais bien leur demander quel mal vous avez, pour vous faire tant de remèdes. Toinette à Argan (I. ii, p. 9)
[This Mr. Fleurant and Mr. Purgon amuse themselves finely with your body. They have a rare milk-cow in you, I must say; and I should like them to tell me what disease it is you have for them to physic you so.] Toinette to Argan (I. 2)
Où est-ce donc que nous sommes? et quelle audace est-ce là à une coquine de servante de parler de la sorte devant son maître? Argan à Toinette (I. V, p. 16)
[What have we come to? And what boldness is this for a scrub of a servant to speak in such a way before her master?] Argan à Toinette (I. 5)
Quand un maître ne songe pas à ce qu’il fait, une servante bien sensée est en droit de le redresser. Toinette à Argan (I. V, p. 16)
[When a master does not consider what he is doing, a sensible servant should set him right.] Toinette to Argan (I. 5)
The Doctors
However, Angélique wishes to marry Cléante, and, in a quiproquo (I. v), she agrees to marry Thomas Diafoirus, a doctor who fares poorly as a suitor:
Nous lisons, des anciens, Mademoiselle, que leur coutume était d’enlever par force de la maison des pères les filles qu’on menait marier, afin qu’il ne semblât pas que ce fût de leur consentement, qu’elles convolaient dans les bras d’un homme. Thomas Diafoirus à Angélique (II. vi, p. 42) Les anciens, Monsieur, sont les anciens, et nous sommes les gens de maintenant. Les grimaces ne sont point nécessaires dans notre siècle, et quand un mariage nous plaît, nous savons fort bien y aller, sans qu’on nous y traîne. Donnez-vous patience; si vous m’aimez, Monsieur, vous devez vouloir tout ce que je veux. Angélique à Thomas Diafoirus (II. vi, p. 42)
[We read in the ancients, Madam, that it was their custom to carry off by main force from their father’s house the maiden they wished to marry, so that the latter might not seem to fly of her own accord into the arms of a man. Thomas Diafoirus to Angélique (II. 6)
The ancients, Sir, are the ancients; but we are the moderns. Pretences are not necessary in our age; and when a marriage pleases us, we know very well how to go to it without being dragged by force. Have a little patience; if you love me, Sir, you ought to do what I wish.] Angélique to Thomas Diafoirus (II. 6)
Fortunately, we have doublings, particularly in the case of Argan. Béralde is Argan’s brother and a benevolent uncle, which may explain why Angélique mistakenly agreed to marry Thomas Diafoirus. She probably thought her uncle had spoken to Argan.
The New Wife: Béline
Argan has remarried. Béline flatters Argan as much as possible, but as comedy would have it, a second wife may be a fortune hunter. She is, in fact, the archetypal and often derided belle-mère (mother-in-law):
Chacun a son but en se mariant. Pour moi, qui ne veux un mari que pour l’aimer véritablement, et qui prétends en faire tout l’attachement de ma vie, je vous avoue que j’y cherche quelque précaution. Il y en a d’aucunes qui prennent des maris seulement pour se tirer de la contrainte de leurs parents, et se mettre en état de faire tout ce qu’elles voudront. Il y en a d’autres, Madame, qui font du mariage un commerce de pur intérêt; qui ne se marient que pour gagner des douaires; que pour s’enrichir par la mort de ceux qu’elles épousent, et courent sans scrupule de mari en mari, pour s’approprier leurs dépouilles. Ces personnes-là à la vérité n’y cherchent pas tant de façons, et regardent peu la personne. Angélique à Béline (II. vi, p. 43)
[We all have our own end in marrying. For my part, as I only want a husband that I can love sincerely, and as I intend to consecrate my whole life to him, I feel bound, I confess, to be cautious. There are some who marry simply to free themselves from the yoke of their parents, and to be at liberty to do all they like. There are others, Madam, who see in marriage only a matter of mere interest; who marry only to get a settlement, and to enrich themselves by the death of those they marry. They pass without scruple from husband to husband, with an eye to their possessions. These, no doubt, Madam, are not so difficult to satisfy, and care little what the husband is like.] Angélique to Béline (II. 7)
Béline would not force Angélique to marry Thomas Diafoirus, but she would have her locked up in a convent.
Écoute, il n’y a point de milieu à cela. Choisis d’épouser dans quatre jours, ou Monsieur, ou un couvent. Ne vous mettez pas en peine, je la rangerai bien. Argan à Angélique (II. vi, p. 44)
[Listen to me! Of two things, one. Either you will marry this gentleman or you will go into a convent. I give you four days to consider. (TO BÉLINE) Don’t be anxious; I will bring her to reason.] Argan to Angélique (II. 8)
Doublings
Toinette
Béralde
Early in the comedy, we learn that Angélique and her younger sister Louison have lost their mother. Angélique discusses her “lover” with Toinette (I.iii and iv, pp. 9-10). Therefore, one assumes that, in the eyes of Angélique and her younger sister Louison, Toinette is more than a servant. She may not be a surrogate mother, but she is also a doubling, un dédoublement. Were she not, Béline, Argan’s second wife, would be too powerful. For instance, Argan wants to make a Will and Béline herself brings in the notary (I. vi, p. 79; I. 8).
The real threat, however, is Argan’s wish to have a doctor as his son-in-law. Argan is marrying his daughter to Thomas Diafoirus, so his needs are satisfied. That is his reason:
Ma raison est, que me voyant infirme, et malade comme je suis, je veux me faire un gendre, et des alliés médecins, afin de m’appuyer de bons secours contre ma maladie, d’avoir dans ma famille les sources des remèdes qui me sont nécessaires, et d’être à même des consultations, et des ordonnances. Argan à Toinette (I. V, pp. 13- 14)
[My reason is, that seeing myself infirm and sick, I wish to have a son-in-law and relatives who are doctors, in order to secure their kind assistance in my illness, to have in my family the fountain-head of those remedies which are necessary to me, and to be within reach of consultations and prescriptions.] Argan à Toinette (I. 5)
Comedy as a genre seldom creates fathers so objectionable that, as the curtain falls, they cannot re-enter the society of the play. L’Avare‘s Harpagon is happy to have found his precious cassette and his children are marrying at no cost to him. In the Imaginary Invalid, Toinettes says to Argan:
Vous n’aurez pas ce cœur-là. (I. v, p. 15) [You will never have the heart to do it.] (1. 5)
Moreover, not only does Angélique have a surrogate mother, but, as mentioned above, Molière has also created a surrogate father. Béralde, Argan’s brother, is an uncle and an avuncular figure. He visits Argan to propose a husband for Angélique:
J’étais venu ici, mon frère, vous proposer un parti pour ma nièce Angélique. Béralde à Argan (II. ix, p. 49)
I came here, brother, to propose a match for my niece, Angélique. Béralde to Argan (II. 12)
Argan gets angry, revealing a degree of strength he claimed he did not possess when his brother arrived. He also shows his total dependence on doctors. He needs to put a doctor in his household.
Béralde on Doctors and Molière
At this point, a long discussion takes place regarding Argan’s medical needs, medicine, doctors and Molière (III. iii, p. 51-58). In Béralde’s eyes, his brother Argan is perfectly healthy, which could be, but hypochondria is an illness in itself. In Molière’s comedies, characters are as they are. No one can change fancies and obsessions, or chimères. L’Avare‘s Harpagon is a miser and will remain a miser. Monsieur Jourdain is made into a mamamouchi and, in the end, although all his doctors leave, Argan allows Cléante to marry Angélique, provided he becomes a doctor. Clothes suffice. They make you into what you appear.
Béralde explains Molière to his besotted brother. Molière was very sick. His sickness was all he could bear. The doctors of the day knowing little about medicine could have incapacitated him:
Il [Molière] a ses raisons pour n’en point vouloir, et il soutient que cela n’est permis qu’aux gens vigoureux et robustes, et qui ont des forces de reste pour porter les remèdes avec la maladie; mais que pour lui il n’a justement de la force, que pour porter son mal. Béralde à Argan (III. iii, p. 55)
[He has his reasons for not wishing to have anything to do; he is certain that only strong and robust constitutions can bear their remedies in addition to the illness, and he has only just enough strength for his sickness.] Béralde to Argan (III. 3)
Béralde criticizes doctors, but reasonably so. Who could have cured Molière of turberculosis? He at least did not lose time seeking the help of doctors and losing energy through blood-letting, une saignée, a favourite remedy in 17th-century medicine.
But in come the doctors ready to give Argan his enema. There were all kinds of enemas, not just water. But Béralde gets after the doctors who end up leaving, which is a tragedy for Argan who is convinced he needs the care of a physician, even if it means forcing his daughter to marry Thomas Diafoirus. Thomas Diafoirus believes that forcing a woman into a marriage is acceptable.
Le Théâtre dans le Théâtre
The doctors having left Toinette, a servant and caregiver to Angélique and Louison, decides to play doctor. She diagnoses a lung problem, which was Molière’s disease. She also suggests treatments that Argan cannot accept: the removal of an eye and an arm. This is a play.
The doctors having left, the time has also come to discuss Angélique’s marriage. Argan wishes to do as his new wife has suggested, which is to throw Angélique into a convent. But Béline should be coming home soon. So, Toinette asks Argan to make believe he is dead. Feigning death is also theatrical. When Béline is informed of his death, she thanks heaven:
Le Ciel en soit loué. Me voilà délivrée d’un grand fardeau. Que tu es sotte, Toinette, de t’affliger de cette mort! Béline à Toinette (III. xii, p. 65)
[Heaven be praised. I am delivered. How silly of you, Toinette, to be so afflicted at his death.] Béline to Toinette (III. 16) Va, va, cela n’en vaut pas la peine. Quelle perte est-ce que la sienne, et de quoi servait-il sur la terre? Un homme incommode à tout le monde, malpropre, dégoûtant, sans cesse un lavement, ou une médecine dans le ventre, mouchant, toussant, crachant toujours, sans esprit, ennuyeux, de mauvaise humeur, fatiguant sans cesse les gens, et grondant jour et nuit servantes, et valets. Béline à Toinette (III. xii, p. 65) [Pooh! it is not worth the trouble. What loss is it to anybody, and what good did he do in this world? A wretch, unpleasant to everybody; of nauseous, dirty habits; always a clyster or a dose of physic in his body. Always snivelling, coughing, spitting; a stupid,
tedious, ill-natured fellow, who was for ever fatiguing people and scolding night and day at his maids and servants.]
Béline to Toinette ((III. 16)
Béline quickly asks Toinette to help her get to the money.
Argan feigns death a second time, another theater. When Angélique hears that her father has died, she is devastated.
Ô Ciel! quelle infortune! quelle atteinte cruelle! Hélas! faut-il que je perde mon père, la seule chose qui me restait au monde; et qu’encore pour un surcroît de désespoir, je le perde dans un moment où il était irrité contre moi? Que deviendrai-je, malheureuse, et quelle consolation trouver après une si grande perte? Angélique à Toinette (III. viii, p. 67)
O heavens! what a misfortune! What a cruel grief! Alas why must I lose my father, the only being left me in the world? and why should I lose him, too, at a time when he was angry with me? What will become of me, unhappy girl that I am? What consolation can I find after so great a loss? Angélique to Toinette (III, 20)
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Doublings play an important role in The Imaginary Invalid. Toinette and Béralde do help the comedy’s young lovers. We find in Toinette and Béralde such ruse and determination, that Argan allows Angélique and Cléante to marry. However, Argan makes the marriage conditional on Cléante becoming a doctor. The young lovers may marry, which is the goal of comedy, but our heavy father succeeds in having a son-in-law who is a doctor. His needs are satisfied.
A post is a post, so I cannot discuss the Interludes. Yet, one performance should be noted. Cléante arrives at Argan’s house. Antoinette hesitates, but allows him to enter Orgon’s room. He and Angélique must speak before entering a life-long relationship. Marriage follows courtship. In order to speak to Angélique, Cléante makes Orgon believe that he is replacing Angélique’s singing teacher. Another performance is required. Once the singing lesson is over, Cléante is reassured that both lovers share the same feelings. The lovers in this play are therefore active and earn the support of Béralde and Toinette.
Doublings occur in Le Malade imaginaire, but spectacles follow spectacles, including the singing lesson. The ultimate among these performances is Argan feigning death, is théâtre dans le théâtre. He discovers his second wife isn’t what he thought she was. He feigns death a second time, and realizes he has a loving daughter. The ceremony during which Cléante will be transformed into a doctor is also theatrical.
Angélique tells her uncle: Mais, mon oncle, il me semble que vous vous jouez un peu beaucoup de mon père. Angélique à Béralde (III. xiv, p. 69) Mais, ma nièce, ce n’est pas tant le jouer, que s’accommoder à ses fantaisies. Tout ceci n’est qu’entre nous. Nous y pouvons aussi prendre chacun un personnage, et nous donner ainsi la comédie les uns aux autres. Le carnaval autorise cela. Allons vite préparer toutes choses. Angélique à Béralde (III. xiv, p. 69)
[But, uncle, it seems to me that you are making fun of my father.] Angélique to Béralde (III. last scene)
[But, niece, it is not making too much fun of him to fall in with
his fancies. We may each of us take part in it ourselves, and thus
perform the comedy for each other’s amusement. Carnival time
authorises it. Let us go quickly and get everything ready.] Béralde to Angélique (III. last scene)
Ruses (trickery) are perfectly acceptable in comedy, farce, in particular. However, The Imaginary Invalidis a series of spectacles. “Carnival time authorises it,” but recourse to so many ploys mocks reality to a barely acceptable degree. It seems too audacious a redemptive mechanism. All the world’s stage.
Yet, as Will More puts it, “[t]he plot of Le Malade Imaginaire is … little more than the various gullibilities of a hypochondriac.”[1]
____________________
Will G. Moore, Molière a New Criticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949), p. 72.
I had expressed regret that my brother died when he could have survived. He would have been 76 yesterday. I have just returned from a memorial service in his honour.
I also shared my view of the strange manner in which certain doctors believe anxiolytics and sleeping pills are the same medication. They may belong to the same family, but one does not take sleeping pills before getting into one’s car.
As well, I mentioned being told that I was responsible for the hemorrhage I suffered. I should have known that aspirins thin the blood.
Moreover, I am seeing abuse of the elderly. If one loses one’s driver’s license, one also loses one’s autonomy and helpers may start controlling your life.
Finally, promoters have found ways of having hastily constructed near or abo make life easier for persons who are ageing. These apartments cost a fortune. One can buy or rent. Promoters want to make millions and do, at the expense of the elderly.
We now enter Molière’s Imaginary Invalid. During the fourth performance of the play, Molière collapsed. He fainted. However, he decided to finish the performance. He was then taken home, hemorrhaged and died. He suffered from tuberculosis.
Louis XIV authorized his being buried in consecrated grounds, but he was buried at night.
A revised Les Femmes savanteshas been published. I hope you will not be taken back to ealier drafts, which the computer does. I think it will work. If it does’nt, I will reinsert the article in a new post. The post is in Word, but my computer is not working well.
A reference to Martine, the kitchen-maid, is missing. Martine is fired because she has made a grammar mistake. She is told she should know Vaugelas, a grammarian. Philaminte rules the household.
My posts will be used in the book. The book however is more analytical and scholarly. Writing posts is nevertheless extremely helpful. I can see how the plays work. In Molière, the plot is not as significant as manners, but there has to be a plot that brings about the marriage that takes place as the curtain falls. Ariste brings letters that tell of the family’s financial demise and Trissotin, three times a fool, leaves.
For instance, Armande combines two functions: the young lover and the blocking character, as does Alceste in the Misanthrope. Bélise is sottise itself. She thinks Clitandre loves her until the very end of the play, when she condemns haste.
Qu’il prenne garde au moins que je suis dans son cœur. Par un prompt désespoir souvent on se marie, Qu’on s’en repent après tout le temps de sa vie.
Bélise à tous (V. scène dernière, p. 74)
[Let him take care, for I still retain my place in his heart. Despair often leads people to conclude a hasty marriage, of which they repent ever after.]
Bélise to all (V. last scene)
This is information we can add to the post. In Molière’s comedies, people are what they are. Clitandre was rejected by Armande, but when he decides to marry Henriette, it is because he is what he is and Henriette will accept him as he is.
The picture that adorns the Poème Harmonique’s video of Le Roi a fait battre tambour is by Charles Coypel, who also illustrated Les Femmes savantes. I love combining the play, the music, and the illustrations.
My computer truly harmed my post on Les Femmes savantes. It devoured entire sections. So, I will publish it again, when it has been revised. First, I must rest. I had not kept an entire copy of the post in Word.
It is interesting to see that in Les Femmes savantes, Molière transferred the power vested in men to a tyrannical woman. The play is not about knowledge on the part of woman, but on the very genuine abuse young women suffered in seventeenth-century France. One marries a person one is attracted to and who will be a friend for life.
Trissotin and Vadius are pedants who can no more control their anger than Philaminte. To make matters worse, Trissotin is also trying to marry Henriette so he can help himself to the family’s wealth. He’s a parasite.
A knowledgeable woman would not be fooled by pedants and swindlers. As for Trissotin and Vadius, they would not be allowed in a Salon.
Now that the papers have been signed, it could well be that a petit savant will be allowed entrance into the world. In French venir au mondemeans to be born.
I did not include a discussion of Les Femmes savantes in my thesis. I worked on the problematic plays. Henriette resembles Tartuffe‘s Elmire, Orgon’s wife, an admirable woman.
Events are definitely keeping me humble. In comedy, this is the place to be.
Love to everyone 💕
J. P. É. Martini: Plaisir d’amour (1785) for soprano and fortepiano / Le Poème Harmonique
CHRYSALE, an honest bourgeois PHILAMINTE, wife to CHRYSALE
ARMANDE & HENRIETTE, their daughters ARISTE, brother to CHRYSALE
BÉLISE, his sister CLITANDRE, lover to HENRIETTE
TRISSOTIN, a wit (bel esprit) VADIUS, a learned man MARTINE, a kitchen-maid LÉPINE, servant to CHRYSALE
JULIEN, servant to VADIUS
A NOTARY
The scene is in Paris
Background
Les Précieuses ridicules
The Salons
l’honnête homme & galanterie
literature
Les Femmes savantes is the last of Molière’s three grandes comédies: five acts written in alexandrine verses. It was preceded by Tartuffe (1664) and Le Misanthrope(1666). It would be classified as a comedy of manners(mœurs).
Molière may have drawn his inspiration from a play by Calderón, or Chappuzeau’s L’Académie des femmes.[1]There is a degree of intertextuality in Molière’s Femmes savantes. However,the play originates in Molière’s own Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), a one-act play, first staged on 18 November 1659 at the Petit-Bourbon, Molière told Donneau de Visé that he wished to revisit Les Précieuses ridicules.
Préciosité was a seventeenth-century movement that had a civilizing influence on courtiers and the rapidly-growing bourgeoisie. L’honnêtehomme was born in Salons, but he is a descendant of Baldassare Castiliogne‘s (6 December 1478 – 2 February 1529) Il Cortegiano or The Book of the Courtier, written between 1508 and 1528.
The galant homme also developed in the Salons. Courtship was modelled onMadeleine de Scudéry‘s Carte de Tendre, featured in Clélie, one of her novels. The map of the country of love, a French Arcadia, was engraved by Francois Chauveau. Précieuses (precious women) wanted to be courted as indicated in the Carte de Tendre, a monument to proper galanterie, based on rather astute psychology. It represented three forms of love: reconnaissance (roughly, indebtedness), inclination (attraction), and estime.
Les Femmes savantes features three femmes savantes. They are Philaminte (Chrysale’s wife), their daughter Armande, and Chrysale’s sister Bélise. Armande has a younger sister, Henriette, who wishes to marry. For our femmes savantes, sexual intercourse is bestial. In this respect, Molière is revisiting his Précieuses ridicules. Précieuses enjoyed listening to the witty poetry of the gentlemen they entertained, but were not easily convinced to marry. Our learned women are besotted.
For instance, when Clitandre tells Bélise that he loves Henriette, hoping to win an ally, but Bélise believes he is using an oblique approach to tell her that he loves her.
Ah certes le détour est d’esprit, je l’avoue, Ce subtil faux-fuyant mérite qu’on le loue; Et dans tous les romans où j’ai jeté les yeux, Je n’ai rien rencontré de plus ingénieux.
Bélise à Clitandre (I. iv. p. 9)
[Ah! truly now, the subterfuge shows excellent wit. This subtle evasion deserves praise; and in all the romances I have glanced over, I have never met with anything more ingenious.]
Bélise to Clitandret (I. 4)
Bélise has read too many romances inhabited by shepherds and shepherdesses. She cannot be Clitandre’s ally.
As for Clitandre, he is an honnête homme who wishes to marry a woman who does not consider sexual intimacy bestial. He finds in Henriette a young lady who looks forward to being a loving wife and a good mother. Henriette tells her sister Armande, a learned lady, that if their mother had always rejected men, Armande would not be alive. Procreation ensures the perpetuation of human life and nature has made lovemaking pleasurable.
Mais vous ne seriez pas ce dont vous vous vantez, Si ma mère n’eût eu que de ces beaux côtés; Et bien vous prend, ma sœur, que son noble génie N’ait pas vaqué toujours à la philosophie. De grâce souffrez-moi par un peu de bonté Des bassesses à qui vous devez la clarté; Et ne supprimez point, voulant qu’on vous seconde, Quelque petit savant qui veut venir au monde. Henriette à Armande (I. i, p. 3) [But you would not have been what you boast yourself to be if our mother had had only her nobler qualities; and well it is for you that her lofty genius did not always devote itself to philosophy. Pray, leave me to those littlenesses to which you owe life, and do not, by wishing me to imitate you, deny some little savant entrance into the world.]
Henriette to Armande (I. 1)
Philaminte is forewarned by Julien, a valet to Vadius, a “learned gentleman” whom Trissotin introduces in Chrysale’s home, that Trissotin wants to marry her daughter, because of the family’s wealth, and that he plagiarizes (IV. iv, p. 59) (IV. 4 EN). But Philaminte is so blinded by Trissotin that she does not heed Julien’s warning. On the contrary.
Et moi, pour trancher court toute cette dispute, Il faut qu’absolument mon désir s’exécute. Henriette, et Monsieur seront joints de ce pas; Je l’ai dit, je le veux, ne me répliquez pas: Et si votre parole à Clitandre est donnée, Offrez-lui le parti d’épouser son aînée.
Philaminte à Chrysalde (V. iii, p. 70)
[And I, to put an end to this dispute, will have my wish obeyed. (Showing TRISSOTIN) Henriette and this gentleman shall be united at once. I have said it, and I will have it so. Make no reply; and if you have given your word to Clitandre, offer him her elder sister.]
(Philaminte to Chrysale, V. 3)
Trissotin will be unmasked by the raisonneur, Ariste, Chrysale’s brother, who fools Trissotin into believing that Chrysale and Philaminte have lost their fortune. Trissotin no longer wishes to marry Henriette who may therefore marry Clitandre, to whom she is attracted.
A Portrait of Armande
Ironically, Clitandre, who will marry Henriette, first courted Armande, who claims him for herself on the grounds of immorality on his part, an absurd claim.
Au changement de vœux nulle horreur ne s’égale, Et tout cœur infidèle est un monstre en morale. Armande à Clitandre (IV. ii, p. 52)
[Nothing can be compared to the crime of changing one’s vows, and every faithless heart is a monster of immorality.]
Armande to Clitandre (IV. 2)
Est-ce moi qui vous quitte, ou vous qui me chassez?
Clitandre à Armande (IV. II, p. 52)
[Do I leave you, or do you not rather turn me away?]
Clitandre to Armande (IV. 2)
Armande so loves Clitandre that she is ready to overcome her aversion for nœuds de chair and chaînes corporelles. She has harmed herself.
Hé bien, Monsieur, hé bien, puisque sans m’écouter Vos sentiments brutaux veulent se contenter; Puisque pour vous réduire à des ardeurs fidèles, Il faut des nœuds de chair, des chaînes corporelles; Si ma mère le veut, je résous mon esprit À consentir pour vous à ce dont il s’agit.
Armande à Clitandre (IV. ii, p. 53) [Well, well! Sir, since without being convinced by what I say, your grosser feelings will be satisfied; since to reduce you to a faithful love, you must have carnal ties and material chains, I will, if I have my mother’s permission, bring my mind to consent to all you wish.]
Armande to Clitandre (IV. 2)
But it’s too late, says Clitandre.
Il n’est plus temps, Madame, une autre a pris la place; Et par un tel retour j’aurais mauvaise grâce De maltraiter l’asile, et blesser les bontés,
Où je me suis sauvé de toutes vos fiertés. Clitandre à Armande (IV. ii, pp. 53-54)
[It is too late; another has accepted before you and if I were to return to you, I should basely abuse the place of rest in which I sought refuge, and should wound the goodness of her to whom I fled when you disdained me.]
Clitandre to Armande (IV. 2)
Bélise still thinks she is in Clitandre’s heart.
On pourrait bien lui faire Des propositions qui pourraient mieux lui plaire: Mais nous établissons une espèce d’amour Qui doit être épuré comme l’astre du jour; La substance qui pense, y peut être reçue, Mais nous en bannissons la substance étendue.
Bélise à tous (V. iii, pp. 70-71)
[Propositions more to his taste might be made. But we are establishing a kind of love which must be as pure as the morning-star; the thinking substance is admitted, but not the material substance.]
Bélise to all (V. 3)
Trissotin and Vadius
In the meantime, Trissotin and Vadius, have quarelled bitterly. Molière did not depict real persons. He used miroirs publics (La Critique de l’École des femmes, sc. 6). However, Trissotin is modelled on l’abbé Cotin, who had a vile temper, and Vadius is the sarcastic Gilles Ménage. Both gentlemen dishonour themselves by quarrelling, which is not insignificant. They are not to be admitted to Salons, where there is no room for anger. Nor is Philaminte a candidate for a Salon.
Les Femmes savantes is a mundus inversusin that the pater familias is a mater familias. Philaminte, Chrysale’s wife, rules. In Les Femmes savantes, Molière has vested unto a woman, the authority normally vested in men. Women are just as capable of opposing a marriage as men are. In this play, the blocking character is used at its most basic level, that of function. So, Philaminte, Henriette’s mother, is our alazṓn. As for Chrysale, Henriette and Armand’s father, let us read.
Non: car comme j’ai vu qu’on parlait d’autre gendre, J’ai cru qu’il était mieux de ne m’avancer point.
Chrysale à Ariste (II. ix, p. 27) Certes votre prudence est rare au dernier point! N’avez-vous point de honte avec votre mollesse? Et se peut-il qu’un homme ait assez de faiblesse Pour laisser à sa femme un pouvoir absolu, Et n’oser attaquer ce qu’elle a résolu?
Ariste à Chrysale (II. ix, p. 27)
[No; for as she talked of another son-in-law, I thought it was better for me to say nothing.
Chrysale to Ariste (II. 9)
Your prudence is to the last degree wonderful! Are you not ashamed of your weakness? How can a man be so poor-spirited as to let his wife have absolute power over him, and never dare to oppose anything she has resolved upon? ]
Ariste to Chrysale (II. 9)
Chrysale is not so docile. Philaminte is as Chrysale describes her to his brother Ariste: bilious, “un vrai dragon,” and a “diable.”
Mon Dieu, vous en parlez, mon frère, bien à l’aise, Et vous ne savez pas comme le bruit me pèse. J’aime fort le repos, la paix, et la douceur, Et ma femme est terrible avecque son humeur. Du nom de philosophe elle fait grand mystère, Mais elle n’en est pas pour cela moins colère; Et sa morale faite à mépriser le bien, Sur l’aigreur de sa bile opère comme rien Pour peu que l’on s’oppose à ce que veut sa tête, On en a pour huit jours d’effroyable tempête. Elle me fait trembler dès qu’elle prend son ton. Je ne sais où me mettre, et c’est un vrai dragon; Et cependant avec toute sa diablerie, Il faut que je l’appelle, et «mon cœur», et «ma mie» Chrysale à Ariste (II. ix, p. 28)
[Ah! it is easy, brother, for you to speak; you don’t know what a dislike I have to a row, and how I love rest and peace. My wife has a terrible disposition. She makes a great show of the name of philosopher, but she is not the less passionate on that account; and her philosophy, which makes her despise all riches, has no power over the bitterness of her anger. However little I oppose what she has taken into her head, I raise a terrible storm which lasts at least a week. She makes me tremble when she begins her outcries; I don’t know where to hide myself. She is a perfect virago; and yet, in spite of her diabolical temper, I must call her my darling and my love.]
Chrysale to Ariste (II. 9)
Philaminte has un pouvoir absolu (absolute power). So, a form of doubling, or a comedy is required. The marriage that ends comedies will take place because the raisonneur, Chrysale’s brother, will bring to Philaminte and Chrysale letters indicating that they have lost their wealth. Trissotin will no longer wish to marry Henriette and Clitandre will attempt to look after Chrysale’s family.
In other words, salvation comes through a ploy. No deus ex machina is required, but Ariste resorts to a “théâtre dans le théâtre.” This process underscores the powerlessness of the society of the play. The alazṓn, a senex iratus, would block the marriage comedy demands, were it not for a little “farce.”
La Querelle des femmes
Moreover, we cannot includeLes Femmes savantes in the querelle des femmesor the woman question, as Philaminte, whom I call the blocking character, is a woman. Given that she would force sexual intercourse on her daughter. Philaminte is extremely cruel.
The title of Les Femmes savantesmay lead the reader or spectator to expect a discussion on the merits of knowledge in the case of women. However, Molière’s play has little to do with the benefits of educating women. Les Femmes savantes is yet another comedy where a blocking character opposes the marriage of young lovers. However, there is a difference. The blocking character is not the traditional heavy father. Philaminte, a woman, is our tyrant.
My doctor asked me to take one Aspirin tablet every morning, to avoid a cardiovascular accident. It was prescribed medication. However, I suffer from a very mild form of haemophilia, so I haemorrhaged. It happened during the night, when I was sound asleep. I did not notice I had bled until morning, when I saw dry blood on the bedclothes, all around my mouth, my teeth, my hands, my night gown. What a mess!
Les Femmes savantes (1672) is hilarious, but there are comments that could lead one to think that Molière was a misogynist. He wasn’t, but he featured pedants and women who opposed marriage, sexual intercourse, especially. The laws governing comedies demand a marriage, i.e. the perpetuation of life.
Molière features characters who cannot steer a middle-ground (called modération [restraint]) and threaten the marriage of comedy’s young lovers. Les Femmessavantes has affinities with LesPrécieuses ridicules (1659). Magdelon and Cathos are blinded by their wish to open a salon. They cannot tell that Mascarille and Jodelet are valets to La Grange and Du Croisy, fine young men they have rejected.
Henriette’s mother, Philaminte, her sister Armande and aunt, Bélise, are blinded not so much by genuine knowledge, but by pedantry. They want Henriette to marry Trissotin (sotmeans fool or idiot, and tri suggests trinity [three]). As for Henriette’s father, Chrysalde, although he wishes his daughter to marry Clitandre, he does as his wife dictates. Philaminte runs their household, their ménage.
The Cast
our femmes savantes are Philaminte, Chrysale’s wife, Bélise and Armande
the young lovers are Henriette (Armande’s sister) and Clitandre
our pedant is Trissotin (bel esprit)
Chrysale is Armande and Henriette’s father
Ariste is Chrysale’s brother, a helper, and the raisonneur
Vadius is a learned man
the play also features servants, Martine is the most important
Monsieur Jourdain, bourgeois.
Madame Jourdain, his wife. Lucile, their daughter.
Nicole, maid. Cléonte, suitor of Lucile.
Covielle, Cléonte’s valet.
Dorante, Count, suitor of Dorimène.
Dorimène, Marchioness.
Music Master.
Pupil of the Music Master.
Dancing Master.
Fencing Master.
Master of Philosophy.
Tailor.
Tailor’s apprentice.
Two lackeys.
Many male and female musicians, instrumentalists, dancers, cooks,
tailor’s apprentices, and others necessary for the interludes.
The Plot
l’ingénue (the young woman)
le jeune premier (the young man)
valets, maids, etc. (helpers)
We know the plot of the Would-be Gentleman. Monsieur Jourdain, who is attempting to elevate himself from bourgeoisie to gentilhommerie, wants his daughter to marry an aristocrat. Therefore, Monsieur Jourdain is a threat to Lucile and Cléonte, his daughter and the young man she wishes to marry, a bourgeois.
Helping Lucile, l’ingénue, is Nicole, a saucy servant. Helping Cléonte, the jeune premier, is Covielle, a valet. In some comedies, the young lovers are helpless and would never marry, were it not for the stratagems or their valets and servants. In the commedia dell’arte, zanni are very clever. They are tricksters. Covielle may not be a Brighella, but he devises the turquerie that fools our would-be gentleman, Monsieur Jourdain. Cléonte plays along.
The Maîtres
music
dance
fencing
philosophy
Monsieur Jourdain believes one can learn gentilhommerie and hires a group of maîtres. The music and dance masters are the first to arrive at the bourgeois‘ house and mention that Monsieur Jourdain’ wish to be an aristocrat, provides them with a good income. The music master says:
This is a nice source of income for us — this Monsieur Jourdain, with the visions of nobility and gallantry that he has gotten into his head. You and I should hope that everyone resembled him. (I. 1) [Il est vrai. Nous avons trouvé ici un homme comme il nous le faut à tous deux. Ce nous est une douce rente que ce Monsieur Jourdain, avec les visions de noblesse et de galanterie qu’il est allé se mettre en tête. Et votre danse, et ma musique, auraient à souhaiter que tout le monde lui ressemblât.] (I. i, p. 2)
However, the music master says that applause and praise do not necessarily bring money and that Monsieur Jourdain is in fact quite clever.
J’en demeure d’accord, et je les goûte comme vous. Il n’y a rien assurément qui chatouille [tickles] davantage que les applaudissements que vous dites; mais cet encensne fait pas vivre. (I. i, p. 2)
[ I agree, and I enjoy them as you do. There is surely nothing more agreeable than the applause you speak of; but that incense does not provide a living.] (I. 1) Il a du discernement dans sa bourse. (I. i, p. 2)
[He has discernment in his purse. His praises are in cash, and this ignorant bourgeois is worth more to us, as you see, than the educated nobleman who introduced us here.] (I. 1)
In scene two, a musician sings a new song:
I languish night and day, my suffering is extreme Since to your control your lovely eyes subjected me; If you thus treat, fair Iris, those you love, Alas, how would you treat an enemy? (I. 2)
Monsieur Jourdain finds the song a “little mournful” (lugubre) He proposes a song that has a sheep in it: “Il y a du mouton dedans.”
I thought my Jeanneton As beautiful as sweet; I thought my Janneton Far sweeter than a sheep. Alas! Alas! She is a hundred times, A thousand times, more cruel Than tigers in the woods! (Monsieur Jourdain sings, I. 2) (I. ii, p. 4 FR)
His masters praise him, so he says that he knew “sans avoir appris la musique” (I. ii, p. 4) (“It’s without having learned music.” I. 2). It is always without his having learned, or because he does not want the lesson.
The next master is the fencing master (le maître d’armes). The fencing master is delighted with Monsieur Jourdain’s progress: You did marvelously! (II. 2); Vous faites des merveilles! (II. ii, p. 10).
As I have told you, the entire secret of fencing lies in two things: to give and not to receive; and as I demonstrated to you the other day, it is impossible for you to receive, if you know how to turn your opponent’s sword from the line of your body. This depends solely on a slight movement of the wrist, either inward or outward.
(Fencing Master to Monsieur Jourdain, II. 2)
In this way then, a man, without courage, is sure to kill his man and not be killed himself?
(Monsieur Jourdain to Fencing Master, II. 2)
I believe the image featured above shows a degree incompetence on the part of Monsieur Jourdain. One of his legs should be behind him, so he can pull himself away, and one ahead, so he can attack. That is how he will “kill his man and not be killed.”
Philosophy Master
morale
prose/verse
the marchioness: “Marquise, vos beaux yeux… ”
His philosophy master wants to know whether Monsieur Jourdain wishes to learn morale, among other subjects. Monsieur Jourdain enquires: “Qu’est-ce qu’elle dit cette morale?” (What does this morale say?) When the philosophy master tells him that it “teaches men to moderate their passions,” he stops the master: “No, let’s leave that. I’m as choleric as all the devils and there’s no morality that sticks, I want to be as full of anger as I want whenever I like.” (“Non, laissons cela. Je suis bilieux comme tous les diables; et il n’y a morale qui tienne, je me veux mettre en colère tout mon soûl, quand il m’en prend envie.” (II. iv, p. 14 FR ; II. 4 EN)
First, Monsieur Jourdain’s philosophy master teaches Monsieur Jourdain the difference between prose and verse. He learns that he has spoken prose his entire life and was never told. But he knew prose. He knew it without instruction.
Par ma foi, il y a plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose, sans que j’en susse rien; et je vous suis le plus obligé du monde, de m’avoir appris cela. (Monsieur Jourdain au maître de philosophie, II. iv, p. 16)
[By my faith! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing anything about it, and I am much obliged to you for having taught me that.]
(Monsieur Jourdain to his philosopher master, II. 4)
Monsieur Jourdain has been mentioning a Marchioness. So he asks his maître de philosophie to teach him how to phrase: “Beautiful marchioness, your lovely eyes make me die of love.” (“Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour.”) Monsieur Jourdain’s philosophy master moves the words around:
“Of love to die make me, beautiful marchioness, your beautiful eyes.” “Your lovely eyes, of love make me, beautiful marchioness, die.” “Die, your lovely eyes, beautiful marchioness, of love make me.”
Or else: “Me make your lovely eyes die, beautiful marchioness, of love.”
(The philosophy master, II. 4 EN; II. iv, p. 16 FR)
When asked by Monsieur Jourdain which of the above is the best tournure, phrase, the maître de philosophie replies that it would be: “Beautiful marchioness, your lovely eyes make me die of love.” (“Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour.”) Monsieur Jourdain is delighted to learn that he had said it correctly without instruction. In fact, he does things without instruction and refuses instruction if the topic does not suit him: morale. However, he has learned that he phrase a compliment, without instruction.
Madame Jourdain, Lucile, Nicole (maid), and Covielle (valet)
Before the arrival of the fencing master, the maîtres quarrel. All believe that their skill is the superior skill. A tailor has also visited. Monsieur Jourdain is “decked out.” He says, however, that his shoes hurt him but he is told, peremptorily, that they don’t.
As of Act Three, the maîtres have left. The rest of the play is devoted to the lovers[1]and a possible second couple. Madame Jourdain has heard that her husband might be planning to court a marchioness: Dorimène. In fact, Dorante is courting Dorimène at Monsieur Jourdain’s expense. Dorimène has a beautiful diamond ring. He has borrowed money from Monsieur Jourdain, promising to pay his debts. Dorante takes Dorimène to Monsieur Jourdain’s house where they dine sumptuously: music and all… (at Monsieur Jourdain’s expense).
Nicole, the maid, and Madame Jourdain, our bourgeois’ “sensible” wife, make fun of Monsieur Jourdain’s craze for aristocracy… Madame Jourdain wants a faithful husband, Nicole will not have these people mess up the house. Finally, Cléonte is angry at Lucile because she ignored him when he bumped into her. Cléonte is resentful, and will not let Covielle talk him out ofdépit amoureux (III. ix, p. 31 ; III. 9), until Covielle starts mentioning imperfections in Lucile. Cléonte disagrees. He loves Lucile and would die for her. A lover is as The Misanthrope‘s Éliante says in her tirade. He loves “even the faults of her whom he admires.” (II. iv, 711-730, pp. 30-31; II. 5)
Madame Jourdain wants Lucile to marry a bourgeois, Cléonte, not Dorante. Bourgeois have money, but Dorante is borrowing money… Under Louis XIV, aristocrats had to be seen. So they maintained homes, carriages, etc. in Paris. They sought the privilege of seeing Louis rise and Louis go to bed: le grand lever,le petit lever, le grand coucher, le petit coucher. (See Levée [ceremony], Wiki2. org.) Few could sit on a bench, usually an ottoman, the only seats available. Moreover, Madame Jourdain will not be humiliated. George Dandin is humiliated. When she learns Lucile is marrying the Grand Turc‘s son, Madame Jourdain is alarmed, but Covielle reassures her.
All’s well that ends well. Lucile and Cléonte marry and so do Dorimène and Dorante. Monsieur Jourdain is perfectly happy as a mamamouchi. I doubt that Dorante will pay his debt. He needed money to court the Marchioness, and Monsieur Jourdain loaned him the money he required. Dorante did not intend to marry Lucile.
Conclusion
No one can change Monsieur Jourdain, so a mere disguise allows the young lovers, Lucile and Cléonte to marry, with Madame Jourdain’s blessing. Besides, although his masters are at times ridiculous, the questions are asked by Monsieur Jourdain and Monsieur Jourdain is the person who answers. The philosophy master is not ridiculed. In fact, Monsieur Jourdain has been generous with his masters and it appears that as a veuve, a widow, Dorimène is quite capable of looking after Dorante, who seems an impoverished gentleman.
Attending a good performance of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme will delight an audience, but one can also read Molière. There is a sense in which Molière is in the words and in the dialogues. For instance, the masters quarrel, but it is among themselves, which is revealing. Monsieur Jourdain does not participate in the quarrel. He says little more than: Doucement (softly), Tout beau (all’s well), De grâce (for pity’s sake) and Je vous en prie (I beg you), but the maître de philosophie arrives “just in time” to relieve Monsieur Jourdain :
Holà, Monsieur le philosophe, vous arrivez tout à propos avec votre philosophie. Venez un peu mettre la paix entre ces personnes-ci.
[Aha! Monsieur Philosopher, you come just in time with your philosophy. Come, make a little peace among these people.]
(Monsieur Jourdain, II. iii, p. 11; II. 3)
