Tag Archives: Anagnorisis

Sganarelle’s Wife, etc.

22 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by in Comedy, Molière

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Sganarelle ou le Cocu imaginaire de Molière : « Allez, fripier d’écrits, impudent plagiaire. » Œuvres: Dessins par Lorentz, Jules David, etc. Gravures par les meilleurs artistes, Paris, Schneider, 1850.  (Wiki2.org)

—ooo—

I wrote a very long post on Sganarelle, ou le Cocu imaginaire and apologize. Yet there are points I would like to underline, the first of which is Célie’s suivante’s praise of marriage.

Célie’s Suivante: a Praise of Marriage

In those pleasant times, which flew away like lightning, I went to bed, in the very depth of winter, without kindling a fire in the room; even airing the sheets appeared then to me ridiculous; but now I shiver even in the dog days. In short, madam, believe me there is nothing like having a husband at night by one’s side, were it only for the pleasure of hearing him say, “God bless you,” whenever one may happen to sneeze. Clélie’s suivante praise of marriage (Scene 2).

Can this praise of marriage reassure Célie? She faints and drops her portrait of Lélie.

Sganarelle’s Wife: Jealousy or Love

I did write that Sganarelle’s wife was jealous, but did not quote her. When she sees Sganarelle helping Célie who has fainted, Sganarelle’s wife thinks he is unfaithful to her.

Ah! what do I see? My husband, holding in his arms… But I shall go down; he is false to me most certainly; I should be glad to catch him.
Sganarelle’s wife (Scene 4)

Moreover, Sganarelle’s wife knows that her husband is not a handsome man. She says that the young man the portrait depicts is the kind of person a woman would find attractive.  

Que n’ai-je un mari d’une aussi bonne mine,
Au lieu de mon pelé, de mon rustre…
Sganarelle’s wife, (Sc. 6, p. 6)
Alas! why have I not a handsome man like this for my husband instead of my booby, my clod-hopper…?
Sganarelle’s wife (Scene 6)

Yet, in the “recognition” scene (Scene 22), an anagnorisis, Sganarelle’s wife asks Célie not to seduce her husband’s heart. She is fond of her husband despite poor looks.

I am not inclined, Madam, to show that I am over-jealous; but I am no fool, and can see what is going on. There are certain amours which appear very strange; you should be better employed than in seducing a heart which ought to be mine alone.
Sganarelle’s wife to Célie (Scene 22)

Sganarelle viewed by Lélie

But Lélie is confused. Not only has Célie chosen Sganarelle, but the man is ugly, uglier than Lélie was told. How could Célie have found qualities in Sganarelle?

Alas! what have I heard! The report then was true that her husband was the ugliest of all his sex. Even if your faithless lips had never sworn me more than a thousand times eternal love, the disgust you should have felt at such a base and shameful choice might have sufficiently secured me against the loss of your affection… But this great insult, and the fatigues of a pretty long journey, produce all at once such a violent effect upon me, that I feel faint, and can hardly bear up under it.
Lélie, alone (Scene 10)

Lélie cannot see Sganarelle’s heart. He thinks his good looks should have served him. He doesn’t know the “other” man is Valère, nor does he know that “the cœur has its reasons, which reason doesn’t know.” (“Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point.”) (Blaise Pascal)

It is at this point that Célie’s maid decides to “interfere.” She knows that Célie loves Lélie and that Gorgibus has decided his daughter would marry Valère, rather than Lélie. What Célie’s suivante does not appear to know is that Célie dropped her portrait of Lélie and that Sganarelle’s wife picked it up and admired it. Hearing his wife praise the portrait, Sganarelle snatched the portrait and became extremely jealous.

Célie’s suivante (maid) “interferes”

Célie’s suivante knows that Célie is in love with Lélie, but that her father wants her to marry Valère.

Upon my word, I do not know when this entanglement will be unravelled. I have tried for a pretty long time to comprehend it, but the more I hear the less I understand. Really I think I must interfere at last. (Placing herself between Lelio and Celia). Answer me one after another, and (To Lelio) allow me to ask what do you accuse this lady of?
Célia’s maid to Lélie (Scene 22)

In other words she knows that Célie is not Sganarelle’s lover and that his wife is keeping him on a short leash.

But, the plot is as Lélie says, except that Célie has not married Sganarelle. Célie dropped the portrait which is in Sganarelle’s hands when Lélie talks to him.

As soon as I heard she was going to be married I hastened hither, carried away by an irrepressible love, and not believing I could be forgotten; but discovered, when I arrived here, that she was married to Sganarelle.
Lélie to Clélie’s suivante (Scene 22)

Lélie does have a rival, but the rival is an invisible Valère. That is why he was riding back to Paris as quickly as possible. So there is a blondin berne le barbon (the young man fools the old man). But as the plot unfolds, Gorgibus does not seem a blocking-character. The blondin berne le barbon seems to provide a frame story. The themes are jealousy, cuckolding, and false appearances. Sganarelle imagines that he is a cocu, and he can’t resist his bile.

Comments

By the way, yes Les Précieuses ridicules were extremely successful when the farce was first performed, on 18 November 1659. But, in the long run, Sganarelle, ou le Cocu imaginaire has been the more popular play. It’s progeny is truly impressive. I have unearthed more sources, but Sganarelle was paraphrased, imitated and adapted time and again. (See The Imaginary Cuckold, Le Cocu imaginaire, Wiki2.org.) During Molière’s life time, or from 1660 to 1673, Sganarelle was played 122 times.[1] 

The fact that Sganarelle’s wife loves her husband says a great deal about Molière. Sganarelle, played by Molière, may not be handsome in the eyes of other persons. In fact, his wife knows that he is not handsome, but he is her man.

Célie’s suivante unravels the mess, and her praise of marriage makes sense. A good husband provides warmth and reassurance. A man and wife are a household. They operate a small business and may become the best of friends. We will be looking at Les Quinze joyes de mariage (The Fifteen Joys of Marriage) a satire, but… Molière read it. It’s an Internet Archive publication, in old French, but I had to study old French.

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Painting of Blaise Pascal made by François II Quesnel for Gérard Edelinck in 1691

Imagination

As for Blaise Pascal on imagination, see Section two #82 of his Pensées. It is Gutenberg [eBook #18269].

Imagination. It is that deceitful part in man, that mistress of error and falsity, the more deceptive that she is not always so; for she would be an infallible rule of truth, if she were an infallible rule of falsehood. But being most generally false, she gives no sign of her nature, impressing the same character on the true and the false.

—ooo—

The computer works quite well, but be very careful. Internet criminals are now very convincing. They use a form of terrorism. They say they want to protect you from the “bad guys” who are already helping themselves to your pension fund and stealing your identity. This isn’t true. They are the “bad guys.”

Yesterday, I realized I could not copy passages from my usual internet publications, such as toutmolière.net. I hope this is a temporary setback.

I apologize for not reading your posts. I could not use the computer.

Sources and Resources

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[1] Maurice Rat, ed., Les Œuvres complètes de Molière (Paris: Gallimard, collection La Pléiade, 1956), pp. 850-855.

Love to everyone 💕

 Lalande – Symphonies pour les soupers du Roi: Caprice de Villers-Cotterets (Part 1) (beautiful music)

© Micheline Walker
21 Juin 2019
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“Le Malade imaginaire,” an anagnorisis

09 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Comédie-Ballet, Molière

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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.

—ooo—

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 lui is rooted in a thirteenth-century fabliau entitled Le Vilain Mire (Wikisource FR). Mire meant médecin in medieval French. Le Médecin malgré lui will 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.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

____________________
[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.

—ooo—

I thank you most sincerely for helping me write my book.

Love to everyone 💕

Jean-Baptiste Lully

© Micheline Walker
9 April 2019
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L’École des femmes, part one

29 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in Comedy, French Literature, Molière

≈ 10 Comments

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

Jealousy

In Molière’s comedies, the one fault that dooms a marriage or a possible marriage is jealousy. In this regard, Molière’s École des femmes is our most celebrated example. It was first performed on 26 December 1662 at the Palais-Royal. Molière’s troupe was at the time la Troupe de Monsieur, frère unique du Roi, the company of the Duke of Orleans, the only brother of Louis XIV. It is une grande comédie and it created a controversy. Molière response was in the form of a short play entitled: La Critique de l’École des femmes.

In Molière’s theatre, jealousy affects most barbons, because its stems from the same flaw in character that blinds Orgon and allows Tartuffe to dispossess Orgon’s family. French scholar Paul Bénichou has labelled this flaw a vanité inquiète, vanity combined with insecurity.[1] Were it not for Tartuffe, it would be difficult for Orgon to force his daughter Mariane to marry Tartuffe. Yet, Orgon would not take Tartuffe into his home if he did not wish to be a tyrant with impunity.

In the case of Arnolphe, fear of being cuckolded is an obsession and, as Chrysalde—the plays raisonneur—tells him, he should not laugh at those whose wives are not faithful because humans are at the mercy of destiny. Molière lived in the century that opposed casuistes and Jansenists. In the eyes of Jansenists, humans could not ensure their salvation.

Another French scholar, René Bray[2] entitled one of the chapters of his Molière, homme de théâtre (1954) Molière pense-t-il ? Molière theatre is rooted, first and foremost, in comedy, including farces and his own comedies. In earlier days, biography was used to “explain” Molière’s plays.

We cannot dismiss Zeitgeist, but it is important to study Molière using other criteria such as the dramatic structure of his plays, its “types,” and other organizing principles. According to Northrop Frye, one should study a work of literature using a “conceptual framework.”[3] Moreover, there was a time when Molière’s plays were not read as plays but as texts. Molière thinks, but he does so within a genre, comedy, that constitutes, in and of itself, a “conceptual framework.”

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The commedia dell’arte troupe of the Gelosi in a late 16th-century Flemish painting (Musée Carnavalet, Paris). The woman is usually identified as Isabella, after Isabella Andreini  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The dramatist 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 Arnophe
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).

The Plot

At one level, the plot is that of farces: the trompeur trompé. But, combined with the trompeur trompé, the plot of L’École des femmes is also the archetypal struggle between the eirôn (the young lovers) and the alazṓn (the blocking character or personnage-obstacle). Le blondin berne le barbon.

In this post, I am telling the plot of the School for Wives, l’École des femmes and write an analysis in a second post. The plot itself is significant. Genre is the starting-point.

Act I

Arnolphe adopted Agnès when she was four years old. He wants to marry her, but fearing he might be cuckolded, he had his ward raised in a convent where she was taught as little as possible about the ways of the world. He thinks that a wife who is sotte and bête, stupid or a beast, will be faithful. He is 42 years old and Agnès, 17.

As the curtain rises, Chrysalde is warning Arnolphe not to boast. Despite his precautions, he may be cocu and people would laugh at him outloud. A cocu is a man whose wife is unfaithful. It is best, expains Chrysalde not to make fun of others. If one does not laugh at others, their laughter will be hushed if destiny strikes a blow, which it often does (I. i)(I.1)

Arnophe returns from a trip (I. i)(I. 1). He tries to enter his house, but Georgette and Alain do not seem to know that they should open the door (I. ii).

Arnolphe talks to Agnès who has been sewing (I. iii). Arnolphe also meets Horace, the jeune premier, who tells Arnophe that his father will soon have a visitor, Enrique, and he asks for money which Arnolphe provides (I. iii)(I. 3).

Horace tells Arnolphe that he has met a lovely woman who is being kept in a house by some sort of senex iratus who is very jealous, Arnolphe is 42 (I. iv)(I. 4).

Horace does not know that Arnophe has changed his name to Monsieur de la Souche.

Act II

Arnolphe expresses his feelings. He is in pain (II. i)(II. 1). He talks with his valet and maid who let a man enter the house (II. ii). Alain explains that Arnolphe is jealous and that Georgette would also be jealous if someone took the soup she is eating (II. iii)(II. 3).

Arnolphe is thinking (II. iv)(II. 4).

Our senex iratus confronts Agnès, thinking she can deny what Horace has said. She cannot. On the contrary, she has been polite, obedient and truthful, as she was taught. Horace waved at her and she waved back, not to be impolite. He waved again, and she waved back again. Agnès had been told not to see anyone, but she had also been taught civility. She did as she was taught.

Arnolphe is alarmed. He was to know if Horace touched Agnès. Again she tells the truth. He did. He caressed her hands and arms. Arnolphe wanders if he has caressed anything else. She hesitates, but says that she gave Horace the ribbon Arnolphe had given her (II. iii)(II.3).

Arnolphe says she will marry that very evening. She thinks her spouse will be Horace, but Arnolphe’s intentions are different. He will be the spouse.

Act II ends with a famous verse, borrowed from Corneille’s Sertorius (V. 1867-1868):

Je suis maître, je parle : allez obéissez.  [I am the Master, I speak : go obey.]

Act III

In Act III, Arnolphe instructs Agnès on how to be a good wife: she must be docile because the husband is in charge, etc. L’une est moitié suprême, et l’autre subalterne[.] (III. ii; III. 2)
[The one half is supreme, and the other subordinate.] (The School for Wives) He describes the boiling cauldrons of hell.]

Et qu’il est aux enfers des chaudières bouillantes
Où l’on plonge à jamais les femmes mal vivantes. (III. ii, 725. 3; III.2)
[There are boiling cauldrons in hell, into which wives who live wickedly are thrown for evermore.]

He then has her repeat:

« Les Maximes du Mariage ou les devoirs de la femme mariée, avec son exercice journalier. »
[The Maxims of Marriage ; or the Duties of a Wife ; together with her Daily Exercise.] (III. ii; III. 2).

Arnolphe speaks alone, a soliloquy (III. iii; III. 3). Soliloquies are frequent in L’École des femmes.

Horace tells Arnolphe that Agnès has managed to attach a message to a rock she was to thrown at him. (III. iv; III, 4).

Arnolphe speaks alone (III. iv,[III. 4] a soliloquy).

Act IV

Arnolphe cannot believe that Horace should be confiding in him. Horace is doing very well. He tells Arnolphe that Agnès has seen him and let him into her room. When she heard Arnolphe, she put Horace in a closet. They will be meeting that evening (IV. vii).

Chrysalde visits. There will be no supper, i.e. no wedding (IV. viii; IV. 7).

Act V

In Act V, Arnolphe thinks that Georgette and Alain have killed Horace, but they haven’t. In fact, Horace is quite well and Agnès is with him. To protect her reputation, he wishes for Arnolphe to look after her. Agnès thinks he loves her less than she loves him (dépit amoureux). Ironically she is being returned to Arnolphe.  

Anagnorisis

Enrique is Agnès’ father. Her real name is Angélique. He has made arrangements to marry her to Oronte’s son. Oronte’s reaction is the following:

(…) Si son cœur a quelque répugnance,
Je tiens qu’on ne doit pas lui faire résistance. (V. vii, 1684-85; V. 7)
[If it is repugnant to him, I think we ought not to force him. I think my brother will be of my mind.]

Horace learns that Arnolphe is now called Monsieur de la Souche, which is why he told him about Agnès. It turns out, however, that Enrique would like Oronte’s son Horace to marry Agnès. Arnolphe leaves.

Nature claimed its “rights.” Horace intended to marry the woman who happens to be Enrique’s daughter. So, all’s well that ends well.

Conclusion

I will break here, without a conclusion. It is too long to be posted with the plot. Moreover, this play was controversial.

Love to everyone. ♥

Sources and Resources 

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[1] Paul Bénichou, Morales du Grand Siècle (Paris : Gallimard, 1948), p. 295-296.
[2] René Bray is the author of La Formation de la doctrine classique en France.
[3] Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1971 [1957]), p. 6.

Francois Boucher étude pour la critique

Étude pour La Critique de l’École des femmes by François Boucher, sanguine

“Tendre Amour” (Jean-Philippe Rameau) – YouTube

320px-Rameau_Carmontelle

Jean-Philippe Rameau by Carmontelle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
29 May 2016
(updated: 30 May 2016)
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Recurrence in Molière: Le Dépit amoureux

24 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Molière

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Le Dépit amoureux by François Boucher (drawing) and Laurent Cars (engraving) (Photo credit: Pinterest)

Recurrence: Le Dépit amoureux

There is recurrence in Molière’s plays. In fact, my colleague James Gaines has published The Molière Encyclopedia. I have yet to read or purchase this book, but I suspect Dr Gaines, whom I met a long time ago, has listed the many jeunes premiers in Molière’s plays. I also suspect he has listed scenes of dépit amoureux (scorned love) and the one play Molière dedicated to that theme or motif. Le Dépit amoureux (1656 [Béziers] and 1659 [Paris]) was performed before Molière’s return to Paris and performed again in Paris, hence the two dates: 1656 and 1659.

The play may not have been committed to paper until Molière returned to Paris and his company became the Company of Monsieur,[1] the name given to the King’s brother. Moreover, a similar play, entitled La Cupidité, had been written by Italian dramatist Niccolò Secchi (see Le Dépit amoureux, Wikipedia).

Portraits_oeuvres_de_Moliere_-_693_Les_fourberies_de_Scapin_-_Scapin

Scapin, Edmond Geffroy
Scapin, Edmond Geffroy

The Plot

Recurrence happens at many levels. Although Tartuffe (1664 – 1669), Dom Juan (1665) and Le Misanthrope (1666) are independent plays, the plots are the plots of comedy: that of the farcical trompeur trompé (the deceiver deceived), as in the Précieuses ridicules, or the Shakespearean “all’s well that ends well” of most grandes comédies. A comedy may in fact combine both plots, or mythoi, which seems to be the case in Molière’s problematical Tartuffe, Dom Juan and Le Misanthrope.

Moreover, literature has archetypes. The plots mentioned above are archetypal plots. As well, comedy always opposes the eirôn (as in ironic) and the alazṓn, or the blondin and the barbon.

Recurrence may occur within a genre or override genre. Our best source with respect to recurrence in general is Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism.[2] Archetypes, however, may be rooted in ancient rituals and older comedies: Greek comedy, the Atellan farce, Latin comedy (Plautus and Terrence), the commedia dell’arte. There is in fact a comic text. But let us return to dépit amoureux in Molière.

Le Dépit amoureux: a scene

Dépit amoureux (scorned love) may be a scene. In Act II of Tartuffe, Mariane tells Dorine, her maid, that Valère should fight off obstacles to their marriage. Mariane may well be doubting his love and therefore prone to jealousy. At any rate, in Tartuffe, her helplessness tends to mirror Orgon’s inability to be a tyrannical father without Tartuffe as if humane feelings were a sign a weakness. Orgon empowers Tartuffe who, in turn empowers Orgon. Similarly, Mariane would be at a loss if Dorine, her maid, did not step in to help her avoid a mariage forcé, a forced marriage. Dorine is the descendant of the astute zanni of the commedia dell’arte.

Le Dépit amoureux: an entire play

Le Dépit amoureux may also be an entire play. Molière’s Dépit amoureux (1656 – 1659) is a five-act comedy where the playwright focuses more on the young couples than on the blocking character. Le Dépit amoureux is a comédie d’intrigue, or comedy of intrigue, rather than a comédie de mœurs, or comedy of manners. A discovery, anagnorisis,[3] puts an end to the torment two young couples are subjected to. There is a great deal of suspense. The lovers[4] nearly leave one another and the audience can’t wait for the young couples to know the truth.

Our characters are the following. The name of maids and valets are between parentheses.

  • Lucile (Marinette) & Éraste (Gros-René)
  • Ascagne (Frosine) & Valère (Mascarille)
  • Albert (Lucile & Ascagne’s father)
  • Polydore (Valère’s father)
  • Métaphraste, a pedant and fâcheux
  • La Rapière, a swordsman

Before the play begins, Valère has married Ascagne, but he thinks he has married Lucile, Ascagne being a male. It is a secret marriage. Valère was the rightful heir to the fortune Ascagne has inherited.

Lucile and Ascagne are the daughters of Albert. If Ascagne had been a son, he would have been heir to a substantial amount of money. A neighbour had a son who died in early childhood. Ascagne, a girl, was given the dead child’s identity.

Lucile asks her maid Marinette to take a message to Éraste. She wants to meet him in the garden that very evening. We learn from Gros-René that Éraste is jealous of Valère (I, 2). The note reassures Éraste. All he needs to do, according to the message, is ask Albert, Lucile’s father, to give him his daughter in marriage:

Travaillez à vous rendre un père favorable. (Marinette to Éraste)
[Work on making a father agree.] (I, 3)

Éraste and Valère then bump into one another (I, 2). Valère is certain that Lucile loves him. Ascagne confides in Frosine, her maid. She says that she is a woman, that she is in love and that she has married Valère, but that the matter of the inheritance has yet to be resolved (II, 1).

We meet Albert, Lucile’s and Ascagne’s father. He wants to seek advice from the teacher Métaphraste, who is a mere fâcheux, a bore. The arrangement he made troubles Albert. He wants to put an end to his lie. Albert and Polidore, the fathers, meet. Albert wants to return the inheritance (III, 3), but Polidore says that Lucile is romantically involved with Valère, Polidore’s son, which is not acceptable (III, 4). Both fathers decide to repair the harm.

Valère meets Lucile and tells her that their marriage is no longer a secret. Lucile doesn’t know what Valère is talking about. As for Ascagne, who does not see her husband during the day, she is desperate. Her husband thinks he has married her sister. She tells Frosine that she will have to kill herself (IV, 1). Meanwhile, Éraste has decided no longer to love Lucile because she loves Valère (IV, 2). Later, Lucile also decides no longer to love Éraste. It is at this point that dépit amoureux reaches a climax. However, as it reaches a climax, Lucile and Éraste reveal to what extent they loved one another. Éraste walks Lucile home…

A swordsman, La Rapière, offers to help Mascarille and Valère (V, 3). There were duels at the time.

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Marinette & Gros-René by Edmond Geffroy

quiz-bourgeois

Monsieur Jourdain et son maître d’armes (Google Images)

Anagnorisis

But the moment of recognition has come (V, 4). Polidore arrives and calls Ascagne “ma fille,” my daughter, (V, 5). Valère apologizes to his father (V, 6) whose permission to marry he has not sought. He learns that Ascagne is a woman and that she, not Lucile, is the woman he married. Valère is surprised but he is pleased. He was the rightful heir, but, together, he and Ascagne are the rightful heirs. Valère forgives Lucile and Lucile forgives Valère. There will not be a duel.

Let’s look at the characters once again:

  • Lucile (Marinette) & Éraste (Gros-René)
  • Ascagne (Frosine) & Valère (Mascarille) (Ascagne has already married Valère)
  • Albert (Lucile & Ascagne’s father)
  • Polydore (Valère’s father)
  • Métaphraste, a pedant & fâcheux
  • La Rapière, a swordsman

Comic Relief

At the end of the play Lucile is about to marry Éraste and Marinette, Gros-René. For comic relief, the dépit amoureux, occurs between both masters and servants.

The Molière 21 project has featured a scene of dépit amoureux. It occurs in Molière’s Les Amants magnifiques, a comédie-ballet, first performed during Carnival season, in February 1670. Pierre Beauchamp was the choreographer and Jean-Baptiste Lully composed the music.

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Gros-René by Maurice Sand

Conclusion

So the time has come to pause.

The dépit amoureux has been dissected. Interestingly, these scenes may start with spite, but the lovers cannot help but disclose their true feelings. There is irony in dépit amoureux.

In his Molière: a New Criticism, Will Moore wonders how Molière could have written so many plays in so little time. W. Moore’s answer to his question is that Molière dealt with the “Res privata: this gave to comedy both the setting and the characters. Molière’s plays deal with the stock comic characters, in everyday situation: parents, children, the doctor, the schoolmaster, the soldier, the valet, relatives, in-laws, suitors.”[5]

As Northrop Frye writes, “‘It’s supposed to be that way.’”[6] Comedies have a happy ending. They are formulaic. However, in the case of Le Dépit amoureux, we have an interesting image. Lucile asks Marinette to take a note to Éraste. She wants to meet him Éraste that very day in the evening and in a garden. The circumstances have changed. Lucile believes Éraste has chosen another spouse. But, having expressed a wish to separate, both tell how much they loved one another, which is how comedies are “supposed” to end.

“The obstacles to the hero’s desire, then form the comic resolution.”[7] As mentioned in an earlier post, Frye also writes that “the tendency of comedy is to include as many people as possible,” in which it differs from tragedy. Moreover, as quoted in an earlier post,  “Tartuffe is sure of Orgon, and Molière is sure of his public.”[8]

However, despite the recurrences, each play is new, just as each day is new. It’s matter of intertextualité. Texts are written in the context of literature. So it follows that Molière’s plays are written in the context of comedy as a genre. But Molière’s Dépit amoureux presents a metaphor: the garden. Éraste and Lucile do meet in the garden as Lucile asked at the beginning of the play. Molière’s Dépit amoureux therefore reaches back to the Roman de la Rose, not literally but symbolically. Flowers die and are reborn and die and are reborn…

Therefore matters happen as expected. Éraste meets Lucile at the appointed hour, and they meet in a ‘garden,’ a symbol of fertility.
 

Love to everyone ♥

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Sources and Resources

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[1] Monsieur was Philippe de France, duke of Orleans. The brother to the king was the duke of Orleans. Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793) was guillotined during the French Revolution. The House of Orleans was a cadet branch of the Bourbon kings or the House of Bourbon. Louis XIV had one brother.

[2] Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1957])

[3] “At the end of the play the device in the plot that brings hero and heroine together causes a new society to crystallize around the hero, and the moment when this crystallization occurs is the point of resolution in the action, the comic discovery, anagnorisis or cognitio” (Frye, p. 163).

[4] In 17th-century France, lovers, amants, were people in love. The term “lover” did not suggest sexual intimacy.

[5] Will G. Moore, Molière, a New Criticism (Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, 1949), p. 69 – 70.

[6] Northrop Frye, op. cit., p. 87.

[7] Northrop Frye, op. cit., p. 164.

[8] Will G. Moore, op. cit., p. 64.

— ooo—

Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Te Deum – Prelude

Lysandre by Edmond Geffroy

Lysandre by Edmond Geffroy

©  Micheline Walker
24 May 2016
(concluded: 24 May 2016)
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