La Princesse de Clèves, 4

08 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in 17th-century France, France, French Literature, Gallantry, Love

Tags

amour fatal, Diane de Poitiers, Henri II, Jansenism, La Princesse de Clèves, Le Duc de Nemours, Le Prince de Clèves, Predestination, Two moral standards, Virtue

Madame de La Fayette,
gravure de 1840 d’après Desrochers.

We know the immediate historical background of the Princesse de Clèves, and I have suggested intertextuality. Marguerite de Navarre’s L’Heptaméron features intrigues and disloyalty at court. But the discourse on love takes us back to the ancient Roman poet Ovid’s Ars Amatoria, and it may have antecedents such as extremely distant fairytales. These will be refined in seventeenth-century French salons. Charles Perrault’s Tales of Mother Goose are “re-told” tales.

LE COUP DE FOUDRE

However, let us return to our narrative. The Princess of Cleves and the Duc de Nemours have fallen in love. It is the coup de foudre, or love at first sight, à première vue. In Jansenist France, this is l’amour fatal, as fatal as Tristan’s love for Iseult and Iseult’s love for Tristan, but without recourse to a magical potion. They have seen one another and fallen in love. But the Princess of Clèves has married and she has been taught loyalty to one’s husband. A liaison with the Duc de Nemours would be illicit. Therefore, she must suppress and hide her feelings, which is not possible.

The Mareschal de St. André’s Second Ball

The mareschal de St. André’s will host a second ball which the Princess is expected to attend. However, after hearing that the Duc de Nemours would not want his mistress to attend a ball he is not hosting, she feigns illness not to attend the ball. She has betrayed herself.

Vous voilà si belle, lui dit madame la dauphine, que je ne saurais croire que vous ayez été malade. Je pense que monsieur le prince de Condé, en vous contant l’avis de Nemours sur le bal, vous a persuadée que vous feriez une faveur au maréchal de Saint-André d’aller chez lui que vous feriez une faveur au maréchal de Saint-André d’aller chez lui, et que c’est ce qui vous a empêchée d’y venir. Madame de Clèves rougit de ce que madame la dauphine devinait si juste, et de ce qu’elle disait devant monsieur de Nemours ce qu’elle avait deviné. (ebooks, p. 19)
[You look so pretty, says the Queen-Dauphin to her, that I can’t believe you have been ill; I think the Prince of Conde when he told us the duke de Nemours’s opinion of the ball, persuaded you, that to go there would be doing a favour to the mareschal de St. André, and that that’s the reason which hindered you from going, Madam de Cleves blushed, both because the [Q]ueen-[D]auphin (Marie Stuart), had conjectured right, and because she spoke her conjecture in the presence of the Duke de Nemours.] (Wikisource [31])

Madame de Chartres has accompanied her daughter and vows that the Princess was genuinely ill, but le Duc de Nemours is not convinced. Madame de Clèves has behaved the way he wants his mistress to behave. Besides, Madame de Clèves blushes in the presence of the Duc. As she is dying, Madame de Chartres tells the Princess of Clèves that she is “sur le bord du précipice” (ebooks, p. 21), “on the brink of a precipice.” (Wikisource [35-36])

Mademoiselle de Chartres is so beautiful that when she arrives at court she appears as in the word “apparition.”

Il parut alors une beauté à la cour, qui attira les yeux de tout le monde, et l’on doit croire que c’était un beauté parfaite, puisqu’elle donna de l’admiration dans un lieu où l’on était si accoutumé à voir de belles personnes. Elle était de la même maison que le vidame de Chartres, et une des plus grandes héritières de France.
(ebooksgratuits, p. 7)
[There appeared at this time a lady at Court, who drew the eyes of the whole world; and one may imagine she was a perfect beauty, to gain admiration in a place where there were so many fine women; she was of the same family with the Viscount of Chartres, and one of the greatest heiresses of France, (…)]
(Wikisource [8])

As for the Duc de Nemours, he is described as “perfection” itself. Therefore, a worried Madame de Chartres tells her daughter that he Duke of Nemours is incapable of falling in love.

Elle se mit un jour à parler de lui ; elle lui en dit du bien, et y mêla beaucoup de louanges empoisonnées sur la sagesse qu’il avait d’être incapable de devenir amoureux, et sur ce qu’il ne se faisait qu’un plaisir, et non pas un attachement sérieux du commerce des femmes. (ebooksgratuits, p. 20)
[One day she set herself to talk about him, and a great deal of good she said of him, but mixed with it abundance of sham praises, as the prudence he showed in never falling in love, and how wise he was to make the affair of women and love an amusement instead of a serious business.] (Wikisource [32])

The Death of Madame de Chartres

After her mother dies, the princess of Clèves leaves court. Given that she is mourning her mother, her absence is motivated. The Prince of Clèves returns to “faire sa cour,” but should his wife delay her return to Paris, suspicion would arise. Many of the denizens of Henri II’s court may discover why the Duc de Nemours no longer behaves as he did. The Duke is expected to marry Elizabeth I^st of England, and the time has come for him to meet Elizabeth in person or face her scorn. The Court speculates that he is in love, but no one can tell whom he so loves that he would lose interest in marriage to Elizabeth. Marie Stuart, the Queen-Dauphin, cannot wait to tell her friend, the princesse de Clèves.

No, the Queen-Dauphin cannot wait:

Dès le même soir qu’elle fut arrivée, madame la dauphine la vint voir, et après lui avoir témoigné la part qu’elle avait prise à son affliction, elle lui dit que, pour la détourner de ces tristes pensées, elle voulait l’instruire de tout ce qui s’était passé à la cour en son absence ; elle lui conta ensuite plusieurs choses particulières. — Mais ce que j’ai le plus d’envie de vous apprendre, ajouta−t−elle, c’est qu’il est certain que monsieur de Nemours est passionnément amoureux, et que ses amis les plus intimes, non seulement ne sont point dans sa confidence, mais qu’ils ne peuvent deviner qui est la personne qu’il aime. Cependant cet amour est assez fort pour lui faire négliger ou abandonner, pour mieux dire, les espérances d’une couronne. (ebooks, p. 29)
[The evening of her arrival the queen-dauphin made her a visit, and after having condoled with her, told her that in order to divert her from melancholy thoughts, she would let her know all that had passed at court in her absence; upon which she related to her a great many extraordinary things; but what I have the greatest desire to inform you of, added she, is that it is certain the duke de Nemours is passionately in love; and that his most intimate friends are not only not entrusted in it, but can’t so much as guess who the person is he is in love with; nevertheless this passion of his is so strong as to make him neglect, or to speak more properly, abandon the hopes of a crown.] (Wikisource [48])

L’Amour fatal: Two Moral Compasses

Madame de Clèves is perturbed. Who is this woman who would make the Duke de Nemours abandon his marriage with Elizabeth 1^st of England? If she, the Princess of Cleves, is the cause of such changes in the Duc de Nemours, he is “in love,” l’amour fatal. But although she is powerless, she feels guilty. She has been raised by a virtuous mother, but at court liaisons are acceptable. Princes and princesses marry to perpetuate a lineage. Therefore, they may have liaisons. However, Madame de Clèves has been taught virtue. When she hears that the Duc de Nemours is no longer interested in marrying Elizabeth 1^st of England, which is a huge sacrifice, the Princess feels extremely distressed. The Duc de Nemours has fallen in love and it is l’amour fatal, Tendre-sur-Inclination. The seventeenth century in France was largely Jansenist. One cannot choose; one is chosen: predestination. The Princess and the Prince are powerless.

RELATED ARTICLES

About Marguerite de Navarre (1 January 2021)
La Princesse de Clèves, 1 (15 December 2020)
La Princesse de Clèves, 2 (17 December 2020)
La Princesse de Clèves, 3 (22 December 2020)

Sources and Resources

La Princesse de Clèves is a Librivox and Internet Archive Publication FR.
La Princesse de Clèves is an ebooksgratuits.com Publication FR
The Princess of Cleves is a Wikisource publication EN.
La Princesse de Clèves is a Wikisource publication FR.
La Princesse de Clèves is Gutenberg’s [eBook # 18797] FR.
La Princesse de Clèves is Gutenberg’s [eBook # 467] EN.
La Princesse de Clèves is a Librivox and Internet Archive Publication.
Britannica.
Wikipedia.

Love to everyone 💕

Le Bal

The Princesse d’Élide’s Récit de l’Aurore

20 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comédie galante, Comédie-Ballet, Fêtes galantes, Gallantry

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Dom Garcie de Navarre, Galant Music, Il Cortegiano, Jean-Baptiste Lully, l'honnête homme, La Princesse d'Élide, Le Galant homme, Le Récit de l'Aurore

Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux par François Boucher, dessin, et Laurent Cars, gravure

Our next play is Dom Garcie de Navarre. It was not a success, but it is a fine discourse on jealousy.

I must also mention that Molière’s Princesse d’Élide is not entirely rooted in Agustín Moreto‘ El Desdén, con el desdén, (Scorn for Scorn). I forgot to mention that Molière was also influenced by Rabelais′ Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Third of Five Books [eBook #1200]. Panurge wonders whether he should marry. (See Chapter Three of the Third Book of Gargantua and Pantagruel.)

Moreover, before leaving la Princesse d’Élide, a comédie galante, the word galant should be investigated. Although Italy’s Baldassare Castiglione wrote Il Cortegiano, France is the birthplace of both l’honnête homme and le galant homme. As I have noted in an earlier post, sprezzatura is not associated with l’honnête homme because “honnêteté” is not a stance. L’honnête homme had to be virtuous.

I should also note that the term ‘galant,’ overrides disciplines. I know the word ‘galant’ mainly from musicology classes. Johann Sebastian Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, was a founder of the galant style in music and, according to the Wikipedia entry on galant music, Johann Christian Bach took it further. Galant music is less complex than Baroque music.

However, the term galant originates in France where the galant homme was a close relative of l’honnête homme. The birth of l’honnête homme can be traced back to Baldassare Castiglione. But l‘honnête homme was not a “dandy.”

RÉCIT DE L’AURORE

Quand l’amour à vos yeux offre un choix agréable,
Jeunes beautés laissez-vous enflammer:
Moquez-vous d’affecter cet orgueil indomptable,
Dont on vous dit qu’il est beau de s’armer:
Dans l’âge où l’on est aimable
Rien n’est si beau que d’aimer.

[When Love presents a charming choice
Respond to his flame, oh youthful fair!
Do not affect a pride which no one can subdue,
Though you’ve been told such pride becomes you well.
When one is of a lovely age.]

Soupirez librement pour un amant fidèle,
Et bravez ceux qui voudraient vous blâmer;
Un cœur tendre est aimable, et le nom de cruelle
N’est pas un nom à se faire estimer:

↵ Dans l’âge

Dans le temps où l’on est belle,
Rien n’est si beau que d’aimer.

[Breathe freely sighs for him who faithful loves
And challenge those who wish to blame your ways.
A tender heart is lovely; but a cruel maid
Will never be a title to esteem.
When one is fair and beautiful
Naught is so handsome as to love.]

RELATED ARTICLES

Molière’s “Forced Marriage” or “Le Mariage forcé” (1 July 2019)
Gallantry and “l’honnête homme” (16 April 2016)

Love to everyone 💕

Panurge by Albrecht Dürer (BnF)

Molière’s “Jalousie du Barbouillé”

20 Monday May 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Gallantry, Molière

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Angélique, Cocuage, Cuckoldry, George Dandin, Gorgibus, jealousy, La Jalousie du Barbouillé, Micheline Bourbeau-Walker

La Jalousie du Barbouillé (documentation.théâtre.com)

I have not found illustrations for La Jalousie du Barbouillé. The image above is a detail from an illustration by Abraham Bosse, showing Turlupin and Gaultier-Garguille, French farceurs at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. The Hôtel de Bourgogne, was the foremost venue for Paris actors and farceurs. Another venue was Le Théâtre du Marais, a jeu de paume, an interior tennis court.

Un Jeu de Paume by Abraham Bosse (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

La Jalousie du Barbouillé is a one-act farce, first performed in 1660. It is often associated with Le Médecin volant. Both are early plays. However, Le Barbouillé seems the blueprint for George Dandin, first performed in 1668. George Dandin is a rich peasant who foolishly marries into an impoverished aristocracy. La Jalousie du Barbouillé was staged a few times after it premièred, but the farce was unexpectedly removed from Molière’s répertoire and the text itself vanished. It was found by Jean-Baptiste Rousseau in the eighteenth century, but was not included in the complete works of Molière until the 1819 edition.

Sources

The Molière21 research group warn that ancestors to Molière’s plays are probably too numerous to list. Cuckoldry and jealousy have long been the subject of farces and fabliaux. Cuckoldry also provided canevas, plots, to the commedia dell’arte. However, Wikipedia’s entry on La Jalousie du Barbouillé mentions sources. One is the commedia dell’arte‘s Villano gelosi, another is a tale from Boccacio’s Decameron, Le Jaloux corrigé. Moreover, the angry or disconsolate Barbouillé and Dandin are incarnations of Pedrolino (Pierrot), the rejected and sad clown.

Farceurs français et italiens, 1670 (anonymous)

Our dramatis personæ are:

Le Barbouillé, husband to Angélique.
The Doctor.
Angélique.
Valère, lover to Angélique.
Cathau, maid to Angélique.
Gorgibus, father to Angélique.
Villebrequin (accompanies Gorgibus).
La Vallée.

Le Jaloux

La Jalousie du Barbouillé features one of Molière’s main figures: the jaloux. Le jaloux combines two comedic functions. On the one hand, he is “in love,” but on the other hand, he is the blocking character of comedy, the alazṓn of Greek Old Comedy. If he has yet to marry, he resembles Arnolphe. Reprimands and imprecations are his native and only tongue. We have just read Le Sicilien ou l’Amour peintre. Had Dom Pèdre known the laws of gallantry, Isidore may not have fled with Adraste.

After le Jaloux marries, he remains a jaloux because he fears cuckoldry, which is his fate. The cocu is the laughing-stock of the society of the play. In La Jalousie du Barbouillé, his name suggests that his face is smeared: barbouillé.

Angélique

Yes, Angélique has met Valère and, serving the couple, is Cathau, Angélique’s maid. She is on the lookout. If she sees Gorgibus, Angélique’s father, she warns Valère and Angélique, who stop speaking as lovers do. Valère knows how to change topics:

Mademoiselle, je suis au désespoir de vous apporter de si méchantes nouvelles ; mais aussi bien les auriez-vous apprises de quelque autre ; et, puisque votre frère est fort malade…
Valère à Angélique (Sc. iv, p. 5)
[Mademoiselle, I am very sorry to bring you such bad news, but, you would have heard it from some one else, and since your brother is ill…]
Valère to Angélique (Sc. 4)

The Barbouillé’s Soliloquy

As the curtain lifts, the Barbouillé engages in a soliloquy, as will George Dandin. His soliloquy, or tirade, is a litany of the wrongs he endures, saddled as he is, with a flirtatious wife. He wishes her dead, but would be hanged if he had no proof of adultery:

Il faut avouer que je suis le plus malheureux de tous les hommes ! J’ai une femme qui me fait enrager : au lieu de me donner du soulagement et de faire les choses à mon souhait, elle me fait donner au diable vingt fois le jour ; au lieu de se tenir à la maison, elle aime la promenade, la bonne chère, et fréquente je ne sais quelle sorte de gens. Ah ! pauvre Barbouillé, que tu es misérable ! Il faut pourtant la punir. Si tu la tuais… L’intention ne vaut rien, car tu serais pendu. Si tu la faisais mettre en prison… La carogne en sortirait avec son passe-partout. Que diable faire donc ? Mais voilà monsieur le docteur qui passe par ici, il faut que je lui demande un bon conseil sur ce que je dois faire.
Barbouillé (Sc. I, p. 1)
[Everybody must acknowledge that I am the most unfortunate of men! I have a wife who plagues me to death; and who, instead of bringing me comfort and doing things as I like them to be done, makes me swear at her twenty times a day. Instead of keeping at home, she likes gadding about, eating good dinners, and passing her time with people of I don’t know what description. Ah! poor Barbouillé, how much you are to be pitied! But she must be punished. Suppose you killed her…? It would do no good, for you would be hung afterwards. If you were to have her sent to prison…? The minx would find means of coming out. –What the deuce are you to do?
But here is the doctor coming out this way; suppose I ask his advice on my difficulties.]
Barbouillé (Sc. 1)

The Barbouillé seeks the help of a doctor, a pedant, who is passing by. This doctor cannot give advice. The Barbouillé says a few words, which is all our pedant requires to display his knowledge. Doctors have the reputation of presenting bills. At the end of Scene two, the Doctor therefore indulges in a long tirade aimed at showing that expense is no object. He does’nt take money. The tirade being too long, I will indicate that it is at the very end of Scene ii, p. 4, FR Scene 2, EN.

Gorgibus

In the meantime, Monsieur Gorgibus, Angélique’s father, walks on stage, accompanied by Villebrequin, his entourage. Gorgibus fears cuckoldry as much as the Barbouillé, if not more. Should his daughter commit adultery, which is almost unavoidable, Gorgibus’ reputation would suffer. He is forever visiting his daughter and her husband, begging them to stop quarrelling. They quarrel. (Sc. v, p. 5):

Hé quoi? toujours se quereller! vous n’aurez point la paix dans votre ménage?
Gorgibus au Barbouillé (Sc. v)
[What! will you always be quarrelling! Will you never have peace at home?]
Gorgibus to Barbouillé (Sc. 5)

An incoherent doctor butts in. For instance, he asks the Barbouillé not to use the word enrager: j’enrage [I am bursting with rage.], which is not the correct verb.[1] Whether the Barbouillé uses enrager or an another word is irrelevant. He is a nuisance. As the scene ends, the doctor is dragged away, a cord attached to his foot.

Au milieu de tout ce bruit, le Barbouillé attache le Docteur par le pied, et le fait tomber ; le Docteur se doit laisser sur le dos ; le barbouillé l’entraîne par la corde qu’il lui a attachée au pied, et, pendant qu’il l’entraîne, le Docteur doit toujours parler, et compter par ses doigts toutes ses raisons, comme s’il n’était point à terre.
(Sc. vi, pp. 8-9)
[In the midst of all this, Le Barbouillé ties the Doctor by the legs with a rope, throws him down on his back, and drags him away; the Doctor goes on talking all the time, and counts all his arguments on his fingers, as if he were not on the ground.]
(Sc. 6)

Cuckoldry

In La Jalousie du Barbouillé, Molière rehearses George Dandin ou le Mari confondu, performed in 1668. The two comedies share an episode. The Barbouillé’s Angélique is late returning home and finds herself locked out of the Barbouillé’s house. The Barbouillé will not open the door to let his wife enter.

Oui? Ah! ma foi, tu peux aller coucher d’où tu viens, ou, si tu l’aimes mieux, dans la rue, dans la rue : je n’ouvre point à une coureuse comme toi. Comment, diable! être toute seule à l’heure qu’il est! Je ne sais si c’est imagination, mais mon front m’en paraît plus rude de moitié.
Barbouillé à Angélique (Sc. xi, p. 10)
[Yes, you catch me! You may go and sleep where you come from; I shall not open to a gad-about like you. What! alone at this time of night! I don’t know if it is fancy, but my forehead seems to me already rougher by half.]
Barbouillé to Angélique (Sc. 11)

The Barbouillé so insists on keeping the door closed that Angélique says she will do something he will regret.

Sais-tu bien que si tu me pousses à bout, et que tu me mettes en colère, je ferai quelque chose dont tu te repentiras?
Angélique au Barbouillé (Sc. xi, p. 11)
[Do you know that if you push me too far, and put me in a passion, I may do something which will make you repent your unkindness.]
Angélique to Barbouillé (Sc. 11)

Tiens, si tu ne m’ouvres, je m’en vais me tuer devant la porte ; mes parents, qui sans doute viendront ici auparavant de se coucher, pour savoir si nous sommes bien ensemble, me trouveront morte, et tu seras pendu.
Angélique au Barbouillé (Sc. xi, p. 11)
[I declare that if you do not open to me, I will kill myself before the door; my parents will no doubt come here before going to bed, to see if we are all right together, and they will find me dead, and you will be hanged.]
Angélique to Barbouillé (Sc. 11)

She then makes believe she’s killed herself. Frightened, he goes out of the house, allowing her to enter. It was a trick which George Dandin will play on his wife, in the hope he will be vindicated. He would have the upper hand from the point of you of the law. (Act III. final scenes)

Comments

Le jaloux is doomed, whether or not he is in the right. Courting, le Jaloux cannot make himself loved. He cannot be loved. Once he marries, Molière’s jaloux is cuckolded, un cocu and barbouillé, smeared. He is the laughing-stock of the play’s society and he shames his in-laws, however vigilant a Gorgibus or a Barbouillé. Gorgibus asks his daughter to kiss her “husband:”

Allons, ma fille, embrassez votre mari, et soyez bons amis.
Gorgibus à Angélique (Sc. xii, p. 12)
[Come, daughter, kiss your husband, and be friends.]
Gorgibus to Angélique (Sc. 13)

One does not ask a woman to kiss her husband, nor does one ask a husband to apologize to his wife (George Dandin, p. 291). Angélique and Valère will become lovers. The Sotenville (George Dandin) are prosperous again, but they have sold a daughter and Dandin regrets marrying into the aristocracy. He blames himself.

As the curtain falls, Villebrequin, who has refused the hear sixty to eighty pages of instruction from a reappearing doctor, suggests all go to supper.

Allons-nous-en souper ensemble, nous autres.
Villebrequin à tous (Sc. xiii, p. 13)
Let us all go and have some supper together.
Villebrequin to all (Sc. 13)

This invitation is formulaic and The Jealousy of the Barbouillé, an enigmatic comedy. “Nous autres” go to supper, but George Dandin, a second Barbouillé, feels he may as well drown (George Dandin, p. 291).

RELATED ARTICLES

Kasyan Yaroslavovitch Golejzovsky’s Harlequin (11 November 2017)
Molière’s George Dandin (24 June 2016)
Molière’s « Sicilien » or “Love Makes the Painter ” (14 May 2016)
Molière page

Sources and Resources

Wikipedia
Britannica
The Jealousy of the Barbouillé is Gutenberg’s [eBook #27074] (transl. Charles Heron Wall)
La Jalousie du Barbouillé is a Wikisource publication (Édition Louandre, 1910)
La Jalousie du Barbouillé is a toutmoliere.net publication
George Dandin is an Internet Archive publication (transl. Henri van Laun)
The first image belongs to (documentation.théâtre.com)

____________________
[1] It is the correct verb.

With kind regards to everyone. 💕
(Apologies for a belated post.)

Four_Commedia_dell’Arte_Figures_claude-gillot

Claude Gillot (1673–1722), Four Commedia dell’arte Figures: Three Gentlemen and Pierrot, c. 1715 (Wiki2.org)

L’École des femmes, part two

02 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Comedy, Gallantry, Molière

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

irony, jealousy, L'École des femmes, Molière, Précaution inutile, trompeur trompé

b852e75263205ccb228054f0d9df4ef3

L’École des femmes, François Boucher (dessin) & Laurent Cars (gravure)

Our dramatis personæ is:

Arnolphe, or Monsieur de la Souche
Agnès, une ingénue, raised by Arnolphe
Horace, the jeune premier whose father is Oronte
Oronte, Horace’s father and a friend of Arnolphe
Chrysalde, the raisonneur and Arnolphe’s friend
Enrique, Chrysalde’s brother-in-law

The dramatis personæ also includes a notary, a maid (Georgette), and a valet (Alain).

Arnolphe & Monsieur de la Souche

a fortuitous victory
two names

In L’École des femmes (1662), the victory of the young couple, Horace and Agnès, is mostly fortuitous and irony is the main literary device used by Molière. Ironically, Horace tells Arnolphe, the blocking character, or senex iratus, everything he and Agnès have done and everything they plan to do.

Molière has made this possible by creating a barbon who has just changed his name. Young Horace, our jeune premier, thinks his rival is Monsieur de la Souche, not Arnolphe. Our pedant, Arnolphe, is a friend of his father as well as Chrysalde’s friend. Horace does not hesitate to ask him for money no more than Arnolphe hesitates to loan him the amount he needs. He also gives him the wallet. Arnolphe knows he will be repaid. Ironically, Horace has no reason to think that Arnolphe is not supportive of him in every way. On the contrary.

In fact, after he and Agnès have fled the house in which she was kept by Monsieur de la Souche, a jealous man, Horace asks Arnolphe, his rival, to look after Agnès while he makes preparations for what we suspect is a wedding. Horace wishes to protect Agnès’ reputation and he must speak to his father’s regarding his marriage. He therefore asks Arnolphe to be Agnès’ temporary guardian. Irony suffuses the comedy and, at this point, reaches its climax.

C’est à vous seul [Arnolphe] aussi, comme ami généreux,
Que je puis confier ce dépôt amoureux. (Horace, V. ii, 1430-5.)
[(…) and as I have trusted the whole secret of my passion to you, being assured of your prudence, so to you only, as a generous friend, can I confide this beloved treasure.]
The School for Wives, p. 24.

Octave Uzanne, Le Livre, Paris, A. Quantin, 1880 [1719 edition]. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

L’École des femmes, Moreau le Jeune

Éloignement fatal ! Voyage malheureux !

(Arnolphe, II. ii, 384.)
The School for Wives, p. 9.

Irony also stems from Agnès’ ignorance. Arnolphe has Agnès raised in a convent, asking that she learn as little as possible about the ways of the world. That, he believes, is his very best precaution. He doesn’t want to cuckolded.

As you know, before leaving for about ten days, Arnolphe directs Georgette, Agnès’ maid, and Alain, her manservant, not to let anyone into Agnès’ house. He also directs Agnès not to see anyone. However, Arnolphe has learned from Horace that he has seen a lovely woman and that he is in love, which is why he needs the money he has just borrowed. Arnolphe is afraid and decides to speak with Agnès. He tells her that he has he has been told than an unknown young man came to her house. These people, he says, are méchantes langues, slandering tongues. He claims he is ready to bet they are not telling the truth.

Mon Dieu, ne gagez pas : vous perdriez vraiment. (Agnès, II. v, 473.)
[Oh, Heaven, do not bet; you would assuredly lose.]
The School for Wives, p. 10.

Quoi! c’est la vérité qu’un homme… (Arnolphe II. v, 474.)
[What! It is true that a man… ]
(…) Chose sûre.
Il n’a presque bougé de chez nous, je vous jure. (Agnès II. v, 475-6.)
[Quite true. I declare to you that he was scarcely ever out of the house.]
The School for Wives, p. 10-11.

She has given him a ribbon, and he has kissed her arms, Arnolphe wants to know more.

Passe pour le ruban. Mais je voudrais apprendre,
S’il ne vous a rien fait que vous baiser les bras. (Arnolphe, II. v, 580-1.)
[Oh! let the ribbon go. But I want to know if he did nothing to you but kiss your arms.]
The School for Wives, p. 12.

Comment. Est-ce qu’on fait d’autres choses ? (Agnès, II. v, 582.)
[Why! do people do other things?]
The School for Wives, p. 12.

(…) Non pas.
Mais pour guérir du mal qu’il dit qui le possède,
N’a-t-il point exigé de vous d’autre remède ? (Arnolphe, II. v, 583-4.)
[Not at all. But, to cure the disorder which he said had seized him, did he not ask you for any other remedy?]
The School for Wives, p. 12.

Non. Vous pouvez juger, s’il en eût demandé,
Que pour le secourir j’aurais tout accordé. (Agnès, II. v, 585-6.)
[No. You may judge that I would have granted him anything to do him good, if he had asked for it.]
The School for Wives, p. 12.

Chrysalde was right. Virtue is not enough:

(…) L’honnêteté suffit. (Arnolphe, I. i, 106.)
Mais comment voulez-vous, après tout, qu’une bête
Puisse jamais savoir ce que c’est qu’être honnête. (Chrysalde, I. i, 107-8.)
(…) Virtue is quite enough.
But how can you expect, after, all, that a mere simpleton can ever know what it is to be virtuous?]
The School for Wives, p. 4.

I Gelosi performing, by Hieronymous Francken I, ca. 1590

Destiny

The School for Wives combines several comic texts: the farce, the comedy of manners, and the comedy of intrigue. It is also rooted in the commedia dell’arte. Arnolphe resembles Il Dottore, an inflated character who ends up deflated.

Arnolphe has the audacity to think he can fool destiny and destiny undoes him. In LÉcole des femmes, destiny reigns supreme and Arnophe will be the trompeur trompé of farces:

(…) Oui ; mais qui rit d’autrui
Doit craindre qu’en revanche on rie aussi de lui. (Chrysalde, I. i, 45-6.)
[Yes; but he who laughs at another must beware, lest he in turn be laughed at himself.]
The School for Wives, p. 3.

He, Chrysalde, believes he cannot control destiny. He therefore refrains from mocking others so others do not mock him. According to the laws of comedy, lashing out leads to a backlash. The deceiver is deceived.

In Act I, scene 4, Arnolphe tells Horace that watching cocus is like watching a comedy. But he is now on the same stage, as the cocus he ridiculed, thinking he could shape destiny and boasting about it.

C’est un plaisir de prince, et des tours que je voi
Je me donne souvent la comédie à moi. (Arnolphe, I. iv, 295-6.)
[It is a pleasure fit for a King; to me it is a mere comedy to
see the pranks I do.]
The School for Wives, p. 7.

In this scene, we see to what extent Arnolphe himself has caused his demise. Agnès is so innocent she “would have granted him [Horace] anything to do him good, if he had asked.” Would that she had known more! Chrysalde was right. Virtue is not enough.

(…) L’honnêteté suffit. (Arnolphe, I. i, 104.)
[Mais comment voulez-vous, après tout, qu’une bête
Puisse jamais savoir ce que c’est qu’être honnête.] (Chrysalde, I. ii, 105-6.)

(…) Virtue is quite enough.
[But how can you expect, after, all, that a mere simpleton can ever know what it is.]
The School for Wives, p. 4.

Arnolphe is fully undone. However, he is included in the final society, imperfect as it may be.

Allons dans la maison débrouiller ces mystères,
Payer à notre ami ces soins officieux,
Et rendre grâce au Ciel qui fait tout pour le mieux. (Chrysalde, V. scène dernière, 1775-7.)
[Let us go inside, and clear up these mysteries. Let us shew our friend some return for his great pains, and thank Heaven, which orders all for the best.]
The School for Wives, p. 29.

Molière as Arnolphe (detail)

Les Farceurs français et italiens depuis soixante ans et plus, 1670

Anagnorisis

When Horace first meets Arnolphe, in Act one, he is carrying two letters addressed to Arnolphe. These indicate that Oronte, Horace’s father, will be visiting with a person Horace does not know.

We know, therefore, that there may be unexpected changes, a discovery: anagnorisis.

It so happens that the guest who will accompany Oronte, Horace’s father is Enrique, Chrysalde’s brother-in-law. It was a private marriage and a daughter was born to Henrique and Angélique. Enrique had to leave France unexpectedly, so the child was left in the custody of a woman who grew too poor to look after Agnès. This woman had to entrust her charge to a person who could afford to raise Agnès. Agnès was 4 years old. These are the circumstances under which Arnolphe became Agnès’ ward. She is now 17.

In Act V, when Enrique arrives, Agnès ceases to be Arnolphe’s ward. Suddenly, after 13 years, Arnolphe no longer has any authority over Agnès. In fact, Agnès can talk. She is not “bête.” Arnolphe therefore leaves devastated and unable to speak: “tout transporté et ne pouvant parler.”

Scholar Bernard Magné has noted that in the final discovery scene (reconnaissance) scene, Arnolphe loses the ability to speak:

(…) Dans la scène de reconnaissance finale,
Arnolphe perd réellement l’usage de la parole.[1]

Earlier, when he was pulling a reluctant Agnès away, Arnolphe called her causeuse (a talker):

Allons, causeuse, allons. (Arnolphe, V. ix, 1726.)
[Come along, chatterbox.]
L’École des femmes, p. 29.

Agnès has indeed gained the ability to speak :

Oui : mais pour femme, moi, je prétendais vous prendre,
Et je vous l’avais fait, me semble, assez entendre. (Arnolphe, V. iv, 1510-11.)
[Yes; but I meant to take you to wife myself; I think I gave you to understand it clearly enough.]
The School for Wives, p. 26.

Oui : mais à vous parler franchement entre nous,
Il est plus pour cela selon mon goût que vous. (Agnès, V. ix, 1512-13.)
[You did. But, to be frank with you, he is more to my taste for a husband than you. With you, marriage is a trouble and a pain, and your descriptions give a terrible picture of it; but there—he makes it seem so full of joy that I long to marry.]
The School for Wives, p. 26.

Vraiment, il en sait donc là-dessus plus que vous ;
Car à se faire aimer il n’a point eu de peine. (Agnès, V. iv, 1539-40.)
[Of a truth then he knows more about it than you; for he had no difficulty in making himself loved.] The School for Wives, p. 26.

Le moyen de chasser ce qui fait du plaisir (Agnès, V. iv, 1527.)
[How can we drive away what gives us pleasure?]
The School for Wives, p. 26.

According to the laws of comedy, lashing out at someone leads to a backlash: trompeur trompé, deceiver deceived.

Honour is fragile

In Act I, Arnolphe expresses a view of marriage according to which a wife is dependent on her husband. He is glad that Agnès will owe him everything.

Je me vois riche assez, pour pouvoir, que je croi,
Choisir une moitié, qui tienne tout de moi,
Et de qui la soumise, et pleine dépendance,
N’ait à me reprocher aucun bien, ni naissance. (Arnolphe, I. i, 123-6.)
[I think I am rich enough to take a partner who shall owe all to me, and whose humble station and complete dependence cannot reproach me either with her poverty or her birth.]
The School for Wives, p. 4.

However, after realizing that he nearly lost Agnès, Arnolphe tells Agnès that he has difficulty making himself loved and that his honour is fragile. Horace knows how to make himself love:

Que ne vous êtes-vous comme lui fait aimer ? (Agnès, V. iv, 1535.)
[Why did you not make yourself loved, as he has done?]
The School for Wives, p. 26.

Car à se faire aimer il n’a point eu de peine. Agnès. (Agnès, V. iv, 1540.)
[For he had no difficulty in making himself loved.]
The School for Wives, p. 26.

In Act III, Arnolphe says:

Songez qu’en vous faisant moitié de ma personne ;
C’est mon honneur, Agnès, que je vous abandonne :
Que cet honneur est tendre, et se blesse de peu ;
Et qu’il est aux enfers des chaudières bouillantes,
On l’on plonge à jamais les femmes mal vivantes.
Ce que je vous dis là ne sont pas des chansons :
Et vous devez du cœur ces leçons. (Arnolphe III. i, v, 721-28.)
[Remember, Agnès, that, in making you part of myself, I give my honour into your hands, which honour is fragile, and easily damaged; that it will not do to trifle in such a matter, and that there are boiling cauldrons in hell, into which wives who live wickedly are thrown for evermore.]
The School for Wives, p. 14.

In short, Arnolphe is like Orgon who needs Tartuffe to be a tyrant. He also resembles Alceste who preaches truthfulness so he can believe those who praise him. If Arnolphe’s honour depends on marital fidelity, it is best he remain unmarried in a world that is at the complete mercy of destiny.

The problem with this play is the overwhelming power of destiny. The reconnaissance scene he is recourse no one should have to use. But Arnolphe’s précaution was useless. In fact, knowing everything Agnès and Horace were doing, Arnolphe loses Agnès. However, he does not lose her because he asks Arnolphe to look after her, he loses her because a real father arrives after a very long absence. Enrique suddenly replaces Arnolphe and does so fortuitously. Arnolphe loses his ability to speak, which, in the eyes of most people, is a privilege given human beings only.

Paul Scarron, La Précaution inutile (Source : Molière 21)

Something borrowed

Molière borrowed his École des femmes from Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris), the author of the Roman comique (1651-1657) who also translated Spanish stories, one of which was La Précaution inutile.

Antoine Le Métel d’Ouville also wrote a Précaution inutile. (See Molière 21.) Moreover, the full title of Beaumarchais’ Barbier de Séville is Le Barbier de Séville ou la Précaution inutile. The useless precaution is an archetypal mythos (story). It has affinities with Spanish and Italian comedies and the sketches of the commedia dell’arte. It seems Molière had read L’Astuta simplicitá di Angiolo.[2]

Conclusion

To conclude, I will quote Britannica:

The delicate portrayal in Agnès of an awakening temperament, all the stronger for its absence of convention, is a marvel of comedy, as are Arnolphe’s clumsy attempts at lover’s talk. Meanwhile, a young man, Horace, falls in love with Agnès at first sight.[3]

RELATED ARTICLE

L’École des femmes, part one (29 May 2016)

Sources and Resources

L’École des femmes is a toutmolière.net publication FR
L’École des femmes is a Tout.molière.net publication FR
The School for Wives is an Internet publication (UK) EN
The Plays of Molière are an Internet Archive publications EN

Love to everyone ♥

____________________
[1] Bernard Magné, “L’École des femmes” ou la conquête de la parole, Revue des Sciences humaines, 145 (1972), p. 140.

[2) Molière, Maurice Rat ed, Œuvres complètes (Paris : Gallimard, coll. La Pléiade, 1956), p. 866.

[3] “The School for Wives”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 31 mai. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/topic/The-School-for-Wives-play-by-Moliere>.

“J’avois cru qu’en vous aymant”
Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien

moliere-622x390-1389653020

Molière’s Enigmatic Comedies

06 Friday May 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Commedia dell'arte, Gallantry, Molière

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Célimène, Dom Juan, Incongruous Juxtapositions, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Le Misanthrope, Molière, Molière 21, Tartuffe

300px-TheatreMoliereO9

Alceste, Le Misanthrope by Edmond Geffroy

Problematical Comedies

Tartuffe
Dom Juan
Le Misanthrope

Molière wrote several enigmatic comedies, but Tartuffe, Dom Juan, and Le Misanthrope are the better known. All three feature masks and all three could be described as incongruous. They present daring juxtapositions.

Tartuffe

Tartuffe is our first case. Tartuffe feigns devotions to ruin a (barely) recoverable, but recoverable, father, Orgon, and his family. In Reynard the Fox, Reynard escapes a death sentence by claiming he has converted and will go to the Crusades. Feigned devotion is not a new mask. However, given Jansenism, Casuistry and Protestantism, in 17th-century France, devotion was too sensitive a subject, which imperiled Molière’s play. Tartuffe is a faux dévot and a casuiste.

Tartuffe was first performed in the summer of 1664 during Les Plaisirs de l’Isle enchantée, multi-day festivities held at the newly built Versailles. The play was banned by Louis XIV and Molière had to revise his comedy twice, in 1667 and in 1669, before it was considered as acceptable.

Dom Juan

Our second play is Molière’s Dom Juan, which premièred the following year, on 15 February 1665 and was promptly censored. Dom Juan’s valet, Sganarelle,[1] describes his master as a “grand seigneur méchant homme,” (“a great lord but a bad man”) and “un épouseur à toutes mains,” (“one who’ll marry anyone”) (I, 1). Given his rank, it seems unfitting on the part of Dom Juan to stoop to infidelities with peasant girls. Molière’s Dom Juan does not seduce Charlotte and Mathurine, but he has left his home and his wife, Done Elvire, and there was already a Dom Juan of legend. Tirso de Molina‘s (24 March 1579 – 12 March 1648) El Burlador de Sevilla lingered in the mind of spectators.

Most importantly, however, Dom Juan is calling for the wrath of God by trivializing unacceptable, sinful, behaviour. Molière’s Dom Juan will therefore suffer the fate awaiting the trompeur of all farces. The traditional plot of farces is that of the “deceiver deceived,” or “trompeur trompé,” (a reversal) and, in Dom Juan’s case, the trompé is heaven itself. Consequently, although Molière’s Dom Juan is less of a seducer than the audience might expect, he is engulfed into the earth, by a “machine,” a theatrical device, to which he is led by the hand of the dead-yet-alive stone guest, the commandeur he has killed.

Dom Juan’s father reminds his son that “noblesse oblige.” In other words, there is incongruity in Dom Juan’s behaviour and although he is a “grand seigneur,” it is arrogant on his part to ignore the commandments of a greater lord, our Lord.

Le Misanthrope

Our third case is The Misanthrope (4 June 1666). The play was not banned. However, in a letter to d’Alembert[2], a letter on theatre, Lettre à Monsieur d’Alembert sur les spectacles (1758),[3] Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778), who was an admirer of Molière, criticized the Misanthrope (4 June 1666) because Molière had ridiculed Alceste who is a good man. In Rousseau’s opinion, “l’homme de bien” should not be subjected to ridicule. Such a juxtaposition is incongruous, not to mention discourteous.

Where Alceste is concerned, gallantry is a factor. Alceste lives in the beau monde. However, no sooner does the curtain lift than Alceste pounces on gallants. In a world where everybody praises everybody, galanterie, good persons and scoundrels, “l’honnête et le fat,” how can he, Alceste, believe those who praise him and whose praise he needs?

“Quel avantage a-t-on qu’un homme vous caresse,
Vous jure amitié, foi, zèle, estime, tendresse,
Et vous fasse de vous un éloge éclatant,
Lorsqu’au premier faquin il court en faire autant ?”
Le Misanthrope, I. i, 49-52, p. 3
(www.toutmolière.net)

“But what advantage is it to you if a man courts you, swears friendship, faith, zeal, honor, tenderness, makes you some fulsome compliment, and than turn round to the first rascal he meets, and does the same.”
The Misanthrope, Internet Archive (pp. 4-5)

Alceste likes compliments and must be praised. He disgraces himself irredeemably.

Je veux qu’on me distingue, et pour le trancher net,
L’ami du genre humain n’est point du tout mon fait.
I. i, 61-62 (www.toutmolière.net)

[I must be singled out; to put it flatly,
The friend of all mankind’s no friend for me.]
I. 1, Wikisource

We are in Célimène’s home, the young widow with whom Alceste has fallen in love and who loves Alceste. In other words, we’re at court with the individuals, courtiers and gallants, Alceste despises, threatening to find a refuge in one of the many “deserts” of French 17th-century literature. They are the very people Célimène entertains by depicting their faults gracefully: “Les rieurs sont pour vous, Madame…” (“The laughers are on your side, Madam…”) Yet, Célimène’s “portraits” match Alceste’s depictions of others. She makes fun of the very people Alceste criticizes. In short, the misanthrope and the mondaine are the opposite sides of the very same coin.

Alceste and Célimène differ however in that Célimène can survive at court. She is twenty, pretty and witty. He’s older, he growls, and he demands frankness, not on moral grounds, but because he wishes to be certain that compliments addressed to him are true. Alceste is not a misanthrope; he is vain and insecure.

Ironically, a little gallantry would benefit Alceste, morally and esthetically. As Philinte exclaims, one does not tell a woman that she is too old to wear the makeup she uses. Moreover, would that Alceste had not criticized Oronte’s poem (I, 2) but simply changed the subject while escorting him to the door.

Alceste does combine, in himself, not only “l’homme de bien” (the good man) and “le personnage ridicule,” (the ridiculous character) but also the young lover of comedy, le blondin, barely out of boyhood, but whose marriage is awaited, and the barbon, the bearded older man who opposes the blondin‘s legitimate wishes. Alceste combines two functions, a most incongruous juxtaposition.

Célimène doesn’t feel she can follow Alceste into a “desert,” not at the age of twenty, but she will marry him.

Moi, renoncer au monde, avant que de vieillir!
Et dans votre désert aller m’ensevelir!
Célimène à Alceste, V. scène dernière, p. 69

La solitude effraye une âme de vingt ans;
Je ne sens point la mienne assez grande, assez forte,
Pour me résoudre à prendre un dessein de la sorte.
Si le don de ma main peut contenter vos vœux,
Je pourrai me résoudre à serrer de tels nœuds:
Et l’hymen . . .
Célimène à Alceste, V, scène dernière,

But solitude has terrors for a soul
Of twenty; mine’s not great and firm enough,
I fear, to let me take that high resolve.
But if my hand can satisfy your wishes,
I’ll bring myself to suffer such a bond,
And marriage . . .
Célimène to Alceste, V, last scene, The Misanthrope
Célimène to Alceste, V, last scene, The Misanthrope)

However, he insists on taking her to a “desert” and rejects her because she can’t follow him:

“Non ; mon cœur à présent vous déteste,
Et ce refus lui seul fait plus que tout le reste. ”
(Alceste to Célimène, V, scène dernière. vv 1777-78, p. 70)
No; my heart detests you now.
This one rebuff does more than all the rest.
(Alceste to Célimène, V, last scene, The Misanthrope)

Tartuffe, Tartuffe by Edmond Geffroy

Monsieur Loyal,Tartuffe by Edmond Geffroy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Comedy: all’s well that ends well

Dom Juan
Tartuffe
the use of a “deus ex machina”
Le Misanthrope

The above-mentioned plays may seem and are problematical, but Molière is writing comedies. In comedies, the Shakespearean “all’s well that ends well” prevails. God punishes Dom Juan. As for Tartuffe, a prince who hates fraudulent activities, “un prince ennemi de la fraude,” sees that Tartuffe is in the process of defrauding Orgon and strikes. Monsieur Loyal, the bailiff pictured above, is about to take Orgon’s belongings away, when an “Exempt” arrives and arrests the faux dévot.

But it’s a close call, too close a call. A comedy ends well, but a prince, a “deus ex machina,” should not have to intervene so that Orgon’s family is freed of its faux dévot. Nor should Molière have to use une machine. Dom Juan is led to eternal perdition by the dead-yet-alive commandeur whom he has killed. The earth rises and swallows him.

Such remedies are too drastic. A guilty finger is therefore pointed at society. It cannot remove Dom Juan, but should do so. In Tartuffe’s case, Orgon, the pater familias, has empowered Tartuffe. Therefore, Tartuffe seems a scapegoat, the pharmakós of ancient Greek comedy.

In The Misanthrope, no machine is required. Alceste is precisely as Célimène describes him in the portrait scene (II, 4): “Il prend contre lui-même assez souvent les armes[.]” (“He often takes up arms against himself[.]”).
(see Wikisource, The Misanthrope)

Conclusion

In an insightful analysis of Dom Juan and The Misanthrope, Professor Jules Brody[4] described, as follows, the problematic of both plays. In Dom Juan and, especially, the Misanthrope, we witness the victory of the esthetically right over the morally wrong. Célimène makes people laugh by mocking them in her portraits, which is esthetically right, but morally wrong. Alceste’s behaviour, he gets angry, is esthetically wrong, but morally right. As for Dom Juan, he is un grand seigneur.

I will simply add that, in Dom Juan and Le Misanthrope, Molière pushes comedy as a genre to its very limits. In the Misanthrope, by virtue of the play’s structure, le blondin (the young lover) is le barbon (the blocking character, or the eirôn) is the alazṓn (Greek comedy).[5] In The Misanthrope, Molière may have replaced the forgiving “All’s well that ends well” by comedy’s other schéma: the farcical deceiver deceived.

Love to everyone. ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

Charles Sorel’s “Laws of Gallantry” (1 May 2016)
“Galanterie” & “L’Honnête Homme” (16 April 2016)
Jesuits & Jansenists (2 April 2015)
Jansenism: a Church Divided (24 March 2015)
Casuistry, or how to sin without sinning (5 March 2012)

Sources and Resources

The Misanthrope is an Internet Archive publication
The Misanthrope is a Wikisource publication, translated by Curtis Hidden Page
http://fresques.ina.fr/jalons/fiche-media/InaEdu05426/le-misanthrope-de-moliere.html (the portrait scene [II, 4], video) FR

_________________________

[1] Sganarelle was Molière’s mask. (He was Brighella)

[2] Jean Le Rond d’Alembert and Denis Diderot were the co-founders of L‘Encyclopédie.

[3] Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du Contrat social (Paris : Classiques Garnier, 1962), p. 150.

[4] Jules Brody, “Don Juan” and “Le Misanthrope,” or The Esthetics of Individualism in Molière,” PMLA, 84 (May 1969), p. 559 – 575.

[5] Micheline Bourbeau-Walker, “Le Misanthrope, ou la comédie éclatée,” in ed. David Trott & Nicole Boursier. L’Âge du Théâtre en France /The Age of Theater in France (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Academic Printing and Publishing, 1988), p. 53 – 61.

Handel‘s Sarabande
« Concerts royaux, Quatrième concert: Sarabanda »
Armonie Symphony Orchestra, Stefano Seghedoni

Pierrot (Gilles) by Watteau (Photo credit: Google images)

Charles Sorel’s Laws of Gallantry

01 Sunday May 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in France, Gallantry

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Charles Sorel, Dandyism, Loix de la galanterie, Moreau le Jeune, Nicolas Faret, petit coucher, petit lever, Style galant

La Galanterie by Moreau le Jeune

The Loix de la galanterie, first published in 1644, is a work by Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny, the author of L’Histoire comique de Francion, 1623, and Le Berger extravagant, 1627-1628.

We have two e-texts, one of which is a Molière 21 (a research group) edition:

Lois de la galanterie, (18 laws or rules).[1]

The second is:

Loix de la galanterie (17 rules). It was published in a rare book most of which was authored by Marguerite de Valois, king Henri IV‘s wife.

Both e-texts, the Molière 21’s and Ludovic Lalanne’s, are based on the 1658 publication, revised and augmented, by l’Assemblée générale des Galants de France. The summary I am providing is based on Ludovic Lalanne’s 1855 text.

Bourgeois and Aristocrats

Charles Sorel’s galant is more of a dandy than a womanizer. He is told what to wear and what to possess if he wishes to enter le beau monde. In 1644, the beau monde would still be the aristocrats, but the more refined milieux were the salons, where our galant should be seen. Salonniers could be members of the aristocracy, but not necessarily. The 17th century in France is Molière‘s century as well as La Fontaine’s. Molière and La Fontaine were bourgeois, and so were Charles Perrault, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

Let us look at Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault (12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) is the author of the Tales of Mother Goose EN or Les Contes de ma mère l’Oye FR. Perrault had been the secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, the leader of the Modernes in the Quarrel of the Moderns and the Ancients. He was one of the forty-member French Academy and had worked at court with Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a bourgeois and Louis XIV’s finance minister. Charles’ brother Claude designed la colonnade du Louvre. The Perraults were honnêtes gens, the plural form of honnête homme, and, although they probably dressed well, their appearance was not as important to them as it was to the galants who wanted to be noticed and had to look distingués.

In fact, our galant resembles the characters of Molière’s Précieuses ridicules. Magdelon and Cathos yearned to be invited to salons and wanted to look the part. Mascarille shows them his petite oie (literaly, little goose but, figuratively, a decoration such as a ribbon or lace). He also shows them his canons (frills below his breeches; see Monsieur Jourdain).

Monsieur Jourdain, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aristocrats moving to Paris

Molière’s Précieuses ridicules Magdelon and Cathos are middle-class women, but Gorgibus, Magdelon’s father and Cathos’ uncle, is probably wealthy. Sorel’s galant, however, could be an aristocrat who had left the provinces and moved to Paris so he could be seen at court, particularly when the king rose (le petit lever and le grand lever) or when he went to bed (le petit coucher and le grand coucher).[2] Charles Sorel’s (c. 1582 – 1674) Laws of Gallantry could be useful to such an aristocrat. In 17^th-century France, appearances were extremely important.

Charles Sorel’s Audience

Sorel is addressing men. At the very end of the Laws of Gallantry, Lalanne writes that:

[w]omen should not be surprised if they have not been given any directives in his [Charles Sorel’s] text, because their gallantry is not the same as it is for men and is properly called “coquetterie,” which is for them only [women] to regulate.

Il ne faut pas que les Dames s’estonnent de ce qu’il n’y a eu icy aucune ordonnance pour elles, puisque leur Galanterie est autre que celle des hommes, et s’appelle proprement Coquetterie, de laquelle il n’appartient qu’à elles de donner des reigles.

In Les Loix de la galanterie, Sorel mentions Baldassare Castiglione (6 December 1478– 2 February 1529), the author of the enormously influential Book of the Courtier, Il Cortegiano, 1527. He also mentions Nicolas Faret‘s L’Honnête Homme: ou, l’Art de plaire à la cour (1630), The Gentleman: or, the Art of Pleasing at Court (a literal translation). There is more continuity than difference between these texts.

I have summarized Charles Sorel’s the Laws of Gallantry, Les Loix de la galanterie, as presented by Ludovic Lalanne in 1855. My summary is very short; it is a sampling. I will edit it using he Molière 21 text: Lois de la galanterie, the finer rendition, but not today.

“Have no fear” by Moreau le Jeune

Moreau le Jeune

Two Ladies by Moreau le Jeune

A Dancer by Moreau le Jeune

The Rules, abridged

Only the French could be galants. The galant could not be from the provinces; Paris was his element. He was otherwise like a large fish in a small pond;
The gallant (modern spelling) had to be rich so he could dazzle and hide his defects. He also needed a title. It was useful;
If the galant was not rich it was essential that he borrow from every source (“de touz costez”). He also needed an entourage. In order to be happy, beauty, luck, and riches were necessary to galants;
Castiglione had written about the courtier and so had Nicolas Faret: L’Honnête Homme: ou, l’Art de plaire à la cour. L’honnête homme was Castiglione’s courtier. He had to give money away (des libéralités);
He had to spend every penny he had [or had borrowed] because it made him look like a member of the nobility. It was not too much of a risk as he could hope that he would be lucky and come into money through an inheritance or a donation, or by marrying a rich widow (une veuve pécunieuse), if he was properly attired.
He had to socialize with the rich and perhaps organize a ball or ballet [the ballet de cour]. If the ball or ballet was praised, no one would tell that the galant had used borrowed money;
A carriage (un carrosse) was a necessity. People would say: Il a bon carrosse. Besides, Paris was dirty and a galant did not soil a carpet. Only doctors could walk around covered by a cloth (une hausse).
If he could not own a carrosse, he had to befriend someone who did or sit in a chaise [where his clothes and boots would not be soiled]. The chaise was carried by servants one in front, one at the back;
He also had to be clean, wash his hands with almond soap, go and see the ‘bathers’ (baigneurs), wash his hair or clean it with powder, shave one’s face using the services of a barber who was not a doctor [some were surgeons], for fear of contamination. In fact, it was better to have one’s own staff. He should have his beard shaped. Clothes had to be clean. Rooms had to be clean;
His clothes had to be impeccable even if he felt uncomfortable. He wore lace or frilly fabric at the bottom of his breeches (canons), a starched (lace) collar, no collar, the right boots. If he wore silk stockings, they had to be made in England. But most importantly, the galant had to wear the latest (à la mode);
He should put ribbons around his hat or his wrists or legs. Women did. It was not expensive, but it improved one’s appearance;
Thus dressed, he had to find the places where women gathered [women were the hostesses]. During the winter, he had to find their réduits (small places: ruelles [the side of a bed in an early salon], the alcôve) and, for instance, play cards. It was essential for our man to know where there was a ball or a ballet, or, as the case may be, where a play was being performed [“comedy” meant comedy or tragedy and actors were and remain: comédiens, hence la Comédie française].
He also had to know where there were musicians. [Mascarile and Jodelet hire musicians (violins) in Les Précieuses ridicules]. To play his part as galant admirably, our candidate also had to know which books were fashionable and buy the appropriate ones, the latest, promptly;
Our galant could not be a real galant if he hadn’t yet hosted a ball or had a play performed followed by refreshments (une collation) or a banquet. He, of course, had to know the good caterers (les traiteurs);
One had to speak properly and, for instance, avoid articles. One must say il a esprit (he is witty) and not the old-fashioned il a de l’esprit. Il a folie, (he is foolish), rather than il a de la folie; il a prudence (he is prudent), rather than il a de la prudence.
One had to be the first to greet someone and be ready, at all times, to lift one’s hat. One had to look humble [so others would seem important]. If our galant /galand came across a man whose status was inferior and recognized him, he had to say that he did not know that person: Je ne le connoy point.
These rules must be observed by everyone…

Cleanliness

In his Preface, Lalanne emphasizes cleanliness.

He writes that, under Henri IV, there was a decline in hygiene, because of the religious wars. It was possible for Marguerite de Valois, well-known for her galanterie, to say to a lover, without hurting his vanity: “ ‘Look at these lovely hands, although I have not scrubbed them for eight days, let’s bet that they outshine yours, and that even though they have not been cared for, they make yours lose their luster.’ The good lady could not guess that, one day, Voltaire would write :

Sans propreté, l’amour le plus heureux
N’est plus amour, c’est un besoin honteux.

[Without cleanliness, the most blissful love
Ceases to be love. It is a shameful need.]”

(Loix de la galanterie)

Conclusion

Sorel’s Laws of Gallantry constitute the portrait of a social climber. He hopes he will be admitted to salons where the beau monde gather. But our galant is still at the bottom of the ladder making sure his boots do not get soiled and that he appear a salonnier. Once he had entered the salon, more would be demanded of him. Most salonniers were witty and had mastered the art of conversation.

Wearing a bow tie does not a salonnier make, nor a dandy.

I apologize for the huge delay. It was unavoidable.

Love to everyone. ♥

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