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Tag Archives: comedy of intrigue

“Les Fourberies de Scapin” (Part One)

28 Wednesday Aug 2019

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

comedy of intrigue, Galère, lazzi, Les Fourberies de Scapin, Molière, Scapin the Schemer, The Impostures of Scapin, zanni

Scapin (Les fourberies de Scapin) (2)

Scapin par Maurice Sand (théâtre-documentation.com)

Les Fourberies de Scapin

  • a three-act comedy of intrigue
  • a farce in prose
  • rooted, mostly, in Roman playwright Terence’s Phormio and
    borrows from Roman playwright Plautus’ Bacchides (II. vi)
  • Greek New Comedy (Menander)
  • premièred at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
  • on 24 May 1671

Terence lived from c. 195/185 – c. 159? BCE and
Plautus from c. 254 – 184 BCE

Legend has it that Molière’s grandfather took him to see the Italians, and we know that Molière’s only teacher was Scaramouche (Scaramuccia). Therefore, despite links with Terence and Plautus and their source, Greek New Comedy, the plays of Menander chiefly, Molière was also inspired by his French contemporaries: Cyrano de Bergerac (Le Pédant joué), Jean Rotrou (La Sœur), and others.

Molière’s Les Fourberies de Scapin premièred at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, on 24 May 1671. It was not as successful as expected when it was first performed, but it became and remained a popular play after Molière’s death, on 17 February 1673. Molière used many registres (levels), so Boileau wrote that he could no longer recognize the author of the Misanthrope in Les Fourberies de Scapin.

Dans ce sac ridicule où Scapin s’enveloppe,
Je ne reconnais plus l’auteur du Misanthrope
Art poétique, chant III, v. 395-400.
Toutmolière.net, Notice

The Plot

  • reversal
  • doublings
  • lazzi
  • anagnorisis

However, do not expect a clear barbon-berne-blondin plot, a straightforward “all’s well that ends well.” When this comedy begins, one of the two young couples has married without seeking the approval of the pater familias. Such approval will be sought and the young couples helper will be Scapin. Moreover, the play is a series of lazzi, tricks played by Scapin.

Our dramatis personæ is

ARGANTE, father to OCTAVE and ZERBINETTE.
GÉRONTE, father to LÉANDRE and HYACINTHA.
OCTAVE, son to ARGANTE, and lover to HYACINTHA.
LÉANDRE, son to GÉRONTE, and lover to ZERBINETTE.
ZERBINETTE, daughter to ARGANTE, believed to be a gypsy girl.
HYACINTHA, daughter to GÉRONTE.
SCAPIN, servant to LÉANDRE.
SILVESTRE, servant to OCTAVE.
NÉRINE, nurse to HYACINTHA.
CARLE, a trickster.
TWO PORTERS.

The scene is at NAPLES.

Doublings

  • two fathers: Argante and Géronte,
  • two sons: Octave and Léandre,
  • two ingénues: Zerbinette1 and Hyacinthe2
  • Scapin (servant to Léandre)
  • Sylvestre (servant to Octave)

1 Argante’s daughter
2 Géronte’s daughter

Ironically, Argante wants his son Octave to marry Hyacinthe. As for Géronte, he wants his son Léandre to marry Zerbinette, Argante’s daughter. We may expect recognition scenes (anagnorisis). 

ACT ONE

In Act One, Scene One, we learn that Octave’s father has returned from a trip and that his plans are for Octave to marry Géronte’s daughter. In the meantime, Octave has married Hyacinthe, a poor girl.

In Scene Two, Octave tells Scapin that he is desperate. Scapin isn’t.

À vous dire la vérité, il y a peu de choses qui me soient impossibles, quand je m’en veux mêler. J’ai sans doute reçu du Ciel un génie assez beau pour toutes les fabriques de ces gentillesses d’esprit, de ces galanteries ingénieuses à qui le vulgaire ignorant donne le nom de fourberies ; et je puis dire sans vanité, qu’on n’a guère vu d’homme qui fût plus habile ouvrier de ressorts et d’intrigues ; qui ait acquis plus de gloire que moi dans ce noble métier : mais, ma foi, le mérite est trop maltraité aujourd’hui, et j’ai renoncé à toutes choses depuis certain chagrin d’une affaire qui m’arriva.
Scapin à Octave  (I. ii)
To tell you the truth, there are few things impossible to me when I once set about them. Heaven has bestowed on me a fair enough share of genius for the making up of all those neat strokes of mother wit, for all those ingenious gallantries to which the ignorant and vulgar give the name of impostures; and I can boast, without vanity, that there have been very few men more skillful than I in expedients and intrigues, and who have acquired a greater reputation in the noble profession. But, to tell the truth, merit is too ill rewarded nowadays, and I have given up everything of the kind since the trouble I had through a certain affair which happened to me.
Scapin to Octave (I. 3)

In Scene Three, Hyacinthe says she fears losing Octave:

J’ai ouï dire, Octave, que votre sexe aime moins longtemps que le nôtre, et que les ardeurs que les hommes font voir, sont des feux qui s’éteignent aussi facilement qu’ils naissent.
Hyacinthe à Octave (I. iii)
[I have heard say, Octave, that your sex does not love so long as ours, and that the ardour men show is a fire which dies out as easily as it is kindled.
Hyacinthe to Octave (I. 3)

In Scene Three/Four, Scapin wants Octave to prepare for “firmness’
In Scene Three/Five, Octave runs off and Scapin says: “Leave it to me.”

Reason, Destiny, Age and Fear

In Scene Four/Six, Argante enters. He knows about Octave’s marriage and is angry. Scapin does not disagree. He too was angry, but he submitted to reason. As for Octave, he is young. Wouldn’t Argan have done the same in earlier years? Finally, Hyacinthe’s family expected him to respect Hyacinthe’s reputation:

Si fait, j’y ai d’abord été, moi, lorsque j’ai su la chose, et je me suis intéressé pour vous, jusqu’à quereller votre fils. (…) Mais quoi, je me suis rendu à la raison, et j’ai considéré que dans le fond, il n’a pas tant de tort qu’on pourrait croire.
Scapin à Argante (I. iv)
[Quite so. I was angry myself when I first heard it; and I so far felt interested in your behalf that I rated your son well. (…) But what of that? I submitted to reason, and considered that, after all, he had done nothing so dreadful.]
Scapin to Argante (I. 6)

Ah, ah, voici une raison la plus belle du monde. On n’a plus qu’à commettre tous les crimes imaginables, tromper, voler, assassiner, et dire pour excuse, qu’on y a été poussé par sa destinée.
Argante à Scapin (I. iv)
Oh, oh! You give me there a fine reason. One has nothing better to do now than to commit the greatest crime imaginable—to cheat, steal, and murder—and give for an excuse that we were urged to it by destiny.
Argante à Scapin (I. 6)

Voulez-vous qu’il soit aussi sage que vous ? Les jeunes gens sont jeunes, et n’ont pas toute la prudence qu’il leur faudrait, pour ne rien faire que de raisonnable[.]
Scapin à Argante (I. iv)
[Do you expect him to be as wise as you are? Can you put an old head on young shoulders, and expect young people to have all the prudence necessary to do nothing but what is reasonable?] (I. 6)

Eussiez-vous voulu qu’il se fût laissé tuer ? Il vaut mieux encore être marié, qu’être mort.
Scapin à Argante (I. iv)
[Would you have him suffer them to murder him?] It is still better to be married than to be dead.]
Scapin to Argante (I. 6)

Sylvestre, Octave’s valet, adds that Octave was married against his wish.

A Father’s Love

We are then treated to a lovely dialogue Argante says he will use punitive measures, against his son, i. e. break the contract and disinherit him. Scapin responds that he will not because he loves his son.

ARGANTE. Hoy. Voici qui est plaisant. Je ne déshériterai pas mon fils.
SCAPIN. Non, vous dis-je.
ARGANTE. Qui m’en empêchera ?
SCAPIN. Vous-même.
ARGANTE. Moi ?
SCAPIN. Oui. Vous n’aurez pas ce cœur-là.
Argante et Scapin (I. iv, pp. 14-15)
[ARG. Well! This is really too much! I shall not disinherit my son!
SCA. No, I tell you.
ARG. Who will hinder me?
SCA. You yourself.
ARG. I?
SCA. Yes; you will never have the heart to do it.]
Argante and Scapin (I. 6)

In Scene Five/Seven, Scapin enlists Sylvestre’s support. He knows how to disguise a face and a voice.

ACT TWO

  1. Géronte tells Argante that his son may not be innocent. Scapin talked.
  2. Argante meditates.
  3. Léandre is angry at Scapin. They nearly fight. Léandre has a sword. Octave intervenes.
  4. Gypsies capture Zerbinette. She must be bought back.
  5. Scapin will seek help from Hyacinthe’s ‘brother’ Sylvestre. He does not want Argante to go to court.

DETAILS AND CONTINUATION

In Scene One, Géronte and Argante are together. Géronte suggests to Argante that his son Léandre may not be innocent. Scapin spoke.

Cela veut dire, Seigneur Géronte, qu’il ne faut pas être si prompt à condamner la conduite des autres; et que ceux qui veulent gloser, doivent bien regarder chez eux, s’il n’y a rien qui cloche.
Argante à Géronte (II. i, pp. 17-18)
[I mean, Mr. Géronte, that we should never be so ready to blame the conduct of others, and that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.]
Argante to Géronte (II. 1)

Votre Scapin, dans mon dépit, ne m’a dit la chose qu’en gros; et vous pourrez de lui, ou de quelque autre, être instruit du détail. Pour moi, je vais vite consulter un avocat, et aviser des biais que j’ai à prendre. Jusqu’au revoir.
Argante à Géronte (II. i, p. 18)
[Your servant Scapin, in his vexation, only told me the thing roughly, and you can learn all the particulars from him or from some one else. For my part, I will at once go to my solicitor, and see what steps I can take in the matter. Good-bye.]
Argante to Géronte (II. 1)

In Scene Two, Géronte meditates. What could his son have done?

In Scene Three, Léandre who is delighted to see his father, learns that Scapin has spoken about him.

Géronte. Scapin pourtant a dit de vos nouvelles.
Léandre. Scapin!
(II. ii, p.19)
Géronte. And yet Scapin has told me all about you.
Léandre. Scapin!
(II. 3)

In Scene Three/Four, Léandre feels betrayed by Scapin.

Me trahir de cette manière! Un coquin, qui doit par cent raisons être le premier à cacher les choses que je lui confie, est le premier à les aller découvrir à mon père. Ah! je jure le Ciel que cette trahison ne demeurera pas impunie.
Léandre à Octave ([I.iii, p. 20)
[To betray me after that fashion! A rascal who for so many reasons should be the first to keep secret what I trust him with! To go and tell everything to my father! Ah! I swear by all that is dear to me not to let such villainy go unpunished.]
Léandre to Octave (I. 4)

Léandre picks up a sword.

Léandre. Ah, ah, vous voilà. Je suis ravi de vous trouver, Monsieur le coquin.
Scapin. Monsieur, votre serviteur. C’est trop d’honneur que vous me faites.
Léandre (en mettant l’épée à la main.)  Vous faites le méchant plaisant. Ah! je vous apprendrai…
Scapin (se mettant à genoux.) Monsieur.
Octave (se mettant entre-deux, pour empêcher Léandre de le frapper.) Ah, Léandre. Non, Octave, ne me retenez point, je vous prie.
Léandre et Scapin (1.iii, p. 20)

Léandre. Ah, ah! here you are, you rascal!
Scapin. Sir, your servant; you do me too much honour.
Léandre. (drawing his sword). You are setting me at defiance, I believe…Ah! I will teach you how….
Scapin. (falling on his knees). Sir!
Octave. (stepping between them). Ah! Léandre.
Léandre. No, Octave, do not keep me back.
Scapin to Léandre. Eh! Sir.
Léandre and Scapin (II. 5)

Les fourberies de Scapin par Moreau le Jeune

Les Fourberies de Scapin par Moreau le Jeune  (théâtre-documentation.com)

Les fourberies de Scapin par Ed. Héd. (1)

Les Fourberies de Scapin par Edmond Hédouin (théâtre-documentation.com

Zerbinette enlevée, captured

In Scene Four/Six, Carle tells that Zerbinette has been captured. A ransom is needed within two hours.

Vos Égyptiens sont sur le point de vous enlever Zerbinette; et elle-même, les larmes aux yeux, m’a chargé de venir promptement vous dire, que si dans deux heures vous ne songez à leur porter l’argent qu’ils vous ont demandé pour elle, vous l’allez perdre pour jamais.
Carle (II. iv, p. 23)
[The gypsies are on the point of carrying off Zerbinette. She came herself all in tears to ask me to tell you that, unless you take to them, before two hours are over, the money they have asked you for her, she will be lost to you for ever.]
Carle (II, 6)

Scapin has been insulted, but he will help.  He must get the money from our two fathers.

Je veux tirer cet argent de vos pères. Pour ce qui est du vôtre, la machine est déjà toute trouvée: et quant au vôtre, bien qu’avare au dernier degré, il y faudra moins de façon encore; car vous savez que pour l’esprit, il n’en a pas grâces à Dieu grande provision, et je le livre pour une espèce d’homme à qui l’on fera toujours croire tout ce que l’on voudra. Cela ne vous offense point, il ne tombe entre lui et vous aucun soupçon de ressemblance; et vous savez assez l’opinion de tout le monde, qui veut qu’il ne soit votre père que pour la forme.
Scapin à tous (II. iv, p. 25)
[I must extract this money from your respective fathers’ pockets. (To OCTAVE) As far as yours is concerned, my plan is all ready. (To LÉANDRE) And as for yours, although he is the greatest miser imaginable, we shall find it easier still; for you know that he is not blessed with too much intellect, and I look upon him as a man who will believe anything. This cannot offend you; there is not a suspicion of a resemblance between him and you; and you know what the world thinks, that he is your father only in name.]
Scapin to Léandre and Octave (II. 7)

In Scene Five/Eight, Scapin seeks money from Argante. A ‘brother’ of Hyacinthe will fight.

J’ai donc été trouver le frère de cette fille qui a été épousée. C’est un de ces braves de profession, de ces gens qui sont tous coups d’épée ; qui ne parlent que d’échiner, et ne font non plus de conscience de tuer un homme, que d’avaler un verre de vin. Je l’ai mis sur ce mariage; (…) Enfin je l’ai tant tourné de tous les côtés, qu’il a prêté l’oreille aux propositions que je lui ai faites d’ajuster l’affaire pour quelque somme; et il donnera son consentement à rompre le mariage, pourvu que vous lui donniez de l’argent.
Scapin à Argante ([II. v, p. 27)
[The brother of the young girl whom your son has married. He is one of those fire-eaters, one of those men all sword-thrusts, who speak of nothing but fighting, and who think no more of killing a man than of swallowing a glass of wine. I got him to speak of this marriage; (…) I managed him so that at last he lent a ready ear to the propositions I made to him of arranging the matter amicably for a sum of money. In short, he will give his consent to the marriage being cancelled, provided you pay him well.]
Scapin to Argante (II. 8)

Sylvestre is Octave’s valet in disguise.

I am skipping part of Scene Five/Eight. Scapin pleads with Argante not to go to court.

ACT TWO, SCENE SIX

The following scene, Scene VI, is borrowed from Plautus. Sylvestre, who says to Scapin that he is Hyacinthe’s brother, wants to see Argante and kill him for wishing to annul Octave’s marriage to his sister Hyacinthe. Argante is standing behind, but Scapin insists the person Sylvestre sees is not Argante.

(Sylvestre is not a brother to Hyacinthe but Octave’s valet in disguise. His assistance has been requested. [See II. v, p. 27 ; II. 8]).

Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?

In Act Two, Scene Seven, Scapin tells Géronte that his son Léandre is being held for ransom on a Turkish boat.  It is une fourberie, a trick, a lazzi, but Géronte must provide money.

This scene is famous because it is the source of an expression that is still used. As Géronte puts together the money the Turks want, Géronte keeps saying:

Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?
[What the deuce did he want to go in that galley for?]

geronte-scapin

Géronte et Scapin  (Gallica)

In Act Two, Scene Eight

Scapin gives back to Octave the money he took from his father Argante. He then gives Léandre the money he needs to purchase Zerbinette.

Conclusion

I must close. We know there will be a recognition scene (anagnorisis). Argante and Géronte do not know their sons have found the very wife they had chosen from them. Hyacinthe has married Octave, but Zerbinette hasn’t married.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Molière page

Sources and Resources

  • Les Fourberies de Scapin is a toutmolière.net publication
  • The Impostures of Scapin is Gutenberg’s The Impostures of Scapin [EBook #8776]
  • Our translator is Charles Heron Wall
  • Travaux, lettres, textes/théâtre.php (cette galère)
  • Molière 21
  • L’École des loisirs
  • ralentirtravaux.com
  • http://www.ralentirtravaux.com/lettres/textes/theatre/fourberies-scapin.php

Love to everyone 💕

« Le sort me fait souffrir »
Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre
L’Humaine comédie, Estienne Moulinié

Scapin (Les fourberies de Scapin) (2)

© Micheline Walker
27 August 2019
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Molière’s “L’Avare:” Doublings

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Posted by michelinewalker in Comedy, Molière

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

chiasmus, comedy of intrigue, comedy of manners, doublings, ISBN 0-920980-30-9, L'Avare, Micheline Bourbeau-Walker, The Age of Theatre in France, The Miser

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L’Avare by François Boucher (drawing) and Laurent Cars (engraving) (Photo credit: Pinterest)

Background

  • Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BCE)
  • commedia dell’arte
  • French 17th-century misers: sources
  • Hellenic (ancient Greek) sources
  • French medieval farces and fabliaux
  • translations into English

As indicated in a previous post, Molière‘s L’Avare, The Miser, was first performed on 9 September 1668 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. It is a five-act play, in prose, inspired by Roman dramatist Plautus‘ (254 – 148 BCE) Aulularia, the Pot of Gold. As we have seen, it is also rooted in the commedia dell’arte as well as Italian comedies and tales, and in France’s own medieval farces and the largely scatological fabliaux.

However, Molière also drew his material from La Belle Plaideuse (1655), by François le Métel de Boisrobert, which features a father-as-usurer, and Jean Donneau de Visé‘s La Mère coquette (1665), where a father and son are in love with the same woman.[1]

L’Avare is one of Molière’s better-known comedies and it was translated into English by Thomas Shadwell (1772) and Henry Fielding, the author of Tom Jones. However, it was not a huge success in Molière’s own days. It has been speculated that Molière’s audience expected a play written in verse, the nobler alexandrine verse (12 feet or syllables), first used in the twelfth-century Roman d’Alexandre.

89860644

L’Avare (www.gettyimages.fr)

The dramatis personæ is:

Harpagon, father to Cléante, in love with Mariane.
Cléante, Harpagon’s son, lover to Marianne.
Valère, son to Anselme, lover to Élise, and “intendant” to Harpagon
Anselme / Dom Thomas d’Alburcy, father to Valère and Mariane, and 
Master Simon, broker.
Master Jacques, cook and coachman to Harpagon.
La Flèche, valet to Cléante.
Brindavoine, and La Merluche, lackeys to Harpagon.
A Magistrate and his Clerk.
Élise, daughter to Harpagon.
Mariane, daughter to Anselme.
Frosine, an intriguing woman.
Mistress Claude, servant to Harpagon.

The scene is at Paris, in Harpagon’s house.

Act One

We will be focusing on the manner in which the young couples featured in the Miser, L’Avare, manage to overcome the obstacle to their marriage. Short of a miracle, they are condemned to do as their father’s greed dictates. All the elements of L’Avare’s plot are introduced in the first act of the play, which reflects the Græco-Roman origins of comedy and tragedy. As a five-act play, Molière’s L’Avare is a ‘grande comédie,’ not a farce (Molière wrote both), and its plot is the archetypal struggle, also called the agôn, between, on the one hand, the alazṓn of Greek comedy, or the blocking character, and, on the other hand, the eirôn, the young couple and their supporters: valets, maids, zanni. In other words, it is a traditional blondin-berne-barbon plot. The young couples will succeed in marrying.

A Comedy of Manners and A Comedy of Intrigue

  • doublings: two young couples and two fathers
  • Harpagon is the father of Élise and Cléante
  • Anselme is Valère and Mariane’s father, which we do not know until the fifth act (V. v) of the comedy

L’Avare is both a comedy of manners, a form we inherited mostly from Greek dramatist Menander, and a comédie d’intrigue, a comedy where the plot prevails. As the portrayal of a miser, L’Avare is a comedy of manners (see the full text in Wikisource and eBook #6923). Harpagon’s greed constitutes the obstacle to the marriage of Cléante (Harpagon) and Mariane as well as the marriage of Valère and Élise (Harpagon).

Cléante gambles and wins, which allows him to buy elegant clothes and court Mariane, but he does not have sufficient money to marry and must therefore go to a moneylender. Ironically, the moneylender happens to be Harpagon himself who demands no less than the now metaphorical “pound of flesh” (Shylock) as repayment. The moneylender episode—act two, scene two (II. i) [II. 2]—shows to what extent Harpagon’s greed is an obstacle to the marriage of our young couples. The plot advances in that Cléante cannot obtain a loan that might enable his marriage. Another “trick” must be devised. However, plot and manners (greed) are inextricably woven.

Obstacles to Two Marriages

  • “genre” art
  • a family tyrant

The action takes place in Harpagon’s house in Paris and can be described as genre art, a depiction of ordinary people engaged in ordinary activities. Will G Moore has remarked that Molière’s characters

“[a]re concerned with everyday life; the stuff of which it was made was by tradition the doings of ordinary people in ordinary surroundings.”[2]

L’Avare is a five-act comedy, but it is written in prose, not verse, and Harpagon, our blocking character, is an enriched bourgeois. Although he does not feed his horse properly, he owns a carriage and he has servants. As depicted by François Boucher, the interior of his house is rather elegant. However, he is extremely greedy and he behaves as though he owned his children. He is a domestic tyrant. In act one, Harpagon states that he has arranged for his children to marry, but has not consulted them. Cléante will marry a “certain widow,” our tyrant has just heard of, and Élise will be “given” to Mr. Anselme, a gentleman who will not request the customary dowry, or “sans dot”

Quant à ton frère, je lui destine une certaine veuve dont ce matin on m’est venu parler; et, pour toi, je te donne au seigneur Anselme. (Harpagon to Élise, [I. iv])
[As to your brother, I have thought for him of a certain widow, of whom I heard this morning; and you I shall give to Mr. Anselme. [1. 6] [eBook #6923]

Élise does not know Mr Anselme and refuses to marry him, threatening to commit suicide. As for Harpagon, he plans to marry Mariane, who loves his son (Cléante). For Harpagon, Mr Anselme is a perfect choice because Élise will marry at no cost to the miser: “sans dot.” (I. iv FR) (I. 6 EN) 

Harpagon’s Rigidity

Valère will attempt to save Élise from a marriage to a person other than himself. Valère, Harpagon’s “intendant,” begs Harpagon to free Élise. However, the objections he presents are followed by Harpagon’s “sans dot” (without a dowry). Molière’s blocking characters are inflexible or rigid. This rigidity is the feature Henri Bergson (18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) attached to the comical or comedic in his Laughter. Valère’s objections having been rebuked by a litany of “sans dot,” he is literally speechless. He simply repeats what the Harpagon, the miser, has told him:

Lorsqu’on s’offre de prendre une fille sans dot, on ne doit point regarder plus avant. Tout est renfermé là-dedans, et sans dot tient lieu de beauté, de jeunesse, de naissance, d’honneur, de sagesse, et de probité. (Valère à Harpagon, I. v)
[When a man offers to marry a girl without a dowry, we ought to look no farther. Everything is comprised in that, and “without dowry” compensates for want of beauty, youth, birth, honour, wisdom, and probity.] (I. 10) [eBook #6923]

But there is some hope. As the story goes, Valère’s father, Dom Thomas d’Alburcy, is believed to have drowned when he and his family (his wife, Valère and Mariane) were fleeing Naples. It appears, however, that Dom Thomas has survived and that he is a man of means. Valère was looking for him when he met Élise. At her request, he decided to stay near her and made himself Harpagon’s “intendant,” but someone else is looking for Valère’s father.

Mais enfin, si je puis, comme je l’espère, retrouver mes parents, nous n’aurons pas beaucoup de peine à nous le rendre favorable. J’en attends des nouvelles avec impatience, et j’en irai chercher moi-même, si elles tardent à venir. (I. i)
[However, if I can find my parents, as I fully hope I shall, they will soon be favourable to us. I am expecting news of them with great impatience; but if none comes I will go in search of them myself.] [I.1]

The curtain will then fall on an anagnorisis  (V. v) [V. 5], a recognition scene. However, when Anselme enters Harpagon’s house and hears that there is opposition to the contract he has come to sign, he tells Harpagon that he will not coerce a woman into a mariage, which frees Élise. He also remarks that he will not “lay claim to a heart which has already bestowed itself,” thereby allowing Mariane, his daughter, to marry Cléante, Harpagon’s son, rather than Harpagon.

Ce n’est pas mon dessein de me faire épouser par force, et de rien prétendre à un cœur qui se serait donné ; mais pour vos intérêts, je suis prêt à les embrasser ainsi que les miens propres. (Anselme to Harpagon [V. v])
[It is not my intention to force anybody to marry me, and to lay claim to a heart which has already bestowed itself; but as far as your interests are concerned, I am ready to espouse them as if they were my own.] (V. 5) [eBook #6923]

Anselme seems a fine gentleman whom the anagnorisis (V. v) [V. 5], the dénouement (see Dramatic Structure, Wikipedia), will identify as Valère and Mariane’s father. A greedy Harpagon has chosen Anselme as the perfect groom because Anselme would marry Élise without requesting the customary dowry, or at no cost to the miser: “sans dot.” (I. v) [I. 5]

7_l_avare_de_pauline_boutal_large

Qu’il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour manger. (III. i)

A Comedy of Intrigue

  • a plot or intrigue
  • a chiasmus (a mirror image in a sentence)
  • a quiproquo (a misunderstanding)
  • the doubling of the father figure (mirror image)

Harpagon’s greed is enormous, so students are taught that Molière concentrates on manners rather than the plot. He does, but in L’Avare, although the plot is mainly episodic, manners and plot (intrigue) are inextricably linked. For instance, when Harpagon is having a meal prepared to celebrate the marriage(s) that are to take place that very day, Harpagon hears Valère say that il faut manger pour vivre and not vivre pour manger, that one should eat to live and not live to eat, Harpagon so loves Valère’s witty chiasmus, that he wants these words engraved in gold and placed above his fireplace. (III. i) [III. 1] It is unlikely that Harpagon would use gold to celebrate greed, but it is true to character and comical. A meal often ends comedies and may solemnize a wedding.

Moreover, it is a quiproquo, a comical misunderstanding which, in L’Avare, leads to the anagnorisis. When Harpagon realizes his cassette has disappeared and may have been stolen, he loses his composure and accuses Valère, at the instigation of Maître Jacques. Maître Jacques resents the trust Harpagon has placed in Valère. If he could, Harpagon would have Valère drawn and quartered. Valère has not stolen Harpagon’s cassette, but he and Élise have signed a promise to marry another. Valère has ‘robbed’ Harpagon, but it is Élise he has taken, not a cassette. (V. iii & iv) [V. 3 & 4] [eBook #6923]

Anselme first steps foot on the stage as the battle rages. Given Élise’s promise, he cannot and would not marry her. However, Valère stands accused of a theft and wants to tell his story. The anagnorisis has now begun. To give himself credibility, Valère says that he is the son of Dom Thomas d’Alburcy, which Anselme hesitates to believe because he is a friend of Dom Those and, to his knowledge, all members of Dom Thomas’ family drowned as they were trying to flee Naples, which is not the case.Valère says that he was rescued by Pedro, a servant, and later adopted by the captain of the ship he and Pedro were allowed to board. He can prove his identity. As he speaks, Mariane realizes that Valère is her brother.

For their part, Mariane and her mother were also saved, but their helpers were corsaires, pirates, who enslaved them. Following ten years of enslavement, they were released and they returned to Naples where they could not find Dom Thomas d’Alburcy. They therefore picked up a small inheritance in Genoa and moved to Paris. Mariane’s mother is Valère’s  mother and Dom Thomas d’Alburcy’s wife. As he watches this scene, Dom Thomas learns that no member of his family died leaving Naples. He has just found his children and his wife. He would not stand in the way of Valère and Mariane’s marriage who wish to marry Harpagon’s children. Le sieur Anselme knows le sieur Harpagon.

Le Ciel, mes enfants, ne me redonne point à vous, pour être contraire à vos vœux. Seigneur Harpagon, vous jugez bien que le choix d’une jeune personne tombera sur le fils plutôt que sur le père. Allons, ne vous faites point dire ce qu’il n’est point nécessaire d’entendre, et consentez ainsi que moi à ce double hyménée. (V. v)

[Heaven, my dear children, has not restored you to me that I might oppose your wishes. Mr. Harpagon, you must be aware that the choice of a young girl is more likely to fall upon the son than upon the father. Come, now, do not force people to say to you what is unnecessary, and consent, as I do, to this double marriage.] [V. 5] [eBook #6923]

Doublings

Molière’s L’Avare has an intrigue which resembles the intrigue of most comedies. A young couple wishes to marry, but a blocking character, or alazṓn, prevents their marriage. However, Molière has doubled the young couple who are a brother and sister wishing to marry a brother and a sister, so Molière has therefore doubled the father figure which happens during the anagnorisis. As Dom Thomas d’Alburcy, Anselme is the eirôn who allows the young couples to marry.

The anagnorisis, the recognition scene, does not take place unannounced. As mentioned earlier, as he despairs,Valère tells Élise that he hopes to find his father who may still be alive. Act one (I. i) [I. 1] has prepared the reader or spectator:

Mais enfin, si je puis comme je l’espère, retrouver mes parents, nous n’aurons pas beaucoup de peine à nous le rendre favorable. (Valère à Élise, I. i)
[However, if I can find my parents, as I fully hope I shall, they will soon be favourable to us.] [I. 1] [eBook #6923]

der_geizige-1810

Der Geizigue, Harpagon & La Flèche by August Wilhelm Iffland, 1810 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Comments

In L’Avare, Molière does not use a deus ex machina. He simply introduces a second father figure who will allow the young couples to marry and will pay all costs. L’Avare‘s young couple are in fact very resourceful, but one cannot marry without money. Mariane (Dom Thomas) recoils at wishing Harpagon’s death, feelings that are reciprocated by Cléante (Harpagon).

Mon Dieu, Frosine, c’est une étrange affaire, lorsque pour être heureuse, il faut souhaiter ou attendre le trépas de quelqu’un, et la mort ne suit pas tous les projets que nous faisons. (Mariane à Frosine, III. iv)
[Oh, Frosine! What a strange state of things that, in order to be happy, we must look forward to the death of another. Yet death will not fall in with all the projects we make.] [III. 8] [eBook #6923]

Que veux-tu que j’y fasse ? Voilà où les jeunes gens sont réduits par la maudite avarice des pères ; et on s’étonne après cela que les fils souhaitent qu’ils meurent. (II. i)
[What would you have me do? It is to this that young men are reduced by the accursed avarice of their fathers; and people are astonished after that, that sons long for their death.] [II. 1] [eBook #6923]

When his father falls, accidentally, Cléante is worried:

Qu’est-ce, mon père, vous êtes-vous fait mal ? (III. ix)
[What’s the matter, father? Have you hurt yourself?] [III. 14] [eBook #6923]

Critic Northrop Frye states that “[t]he tendency of comedy is to include as many people as possible in its final society: the blocking characters are more often reconciled or converted than simply repudiated.”[3]

As for Harpagon, although he may he has been tyrannical, when Dom Thomas and the young couples leave to bring good news to Dom Thomas’ wife, Harpagon is off to see his dear cassette. His cassette, a casket, his vital to Harpagon.

Et moi, voir ma chère cassette. (I. vi)
[And I to see my dear casket.][1. 6] [eBook #6923]

Conclusion

I have already suggested that Molière uses doubling and fusion of functions.[4] Harpagon is a miser and will remain a miser ready to sacrifice his children. It is a sad reflection on humanity but perhaps less sad than the intervention of a deus ex machina. Dom Thomas d’Alburcy is a  major member of the play’s society, the intervention of a second father figure allows the happy ending the play demands. An anagnorisis may not be as dazzling a dénouement as the intervention of a deus ex machina, the prince in Tartuffe and a godlike figure in Dom Juan, but all’s well that ends well. 

Love to everyone ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

Molière

  • Misers in Literature (22 November 2016)
  • Pantalone and Molière’s Miser (20 November 2016)
  • Molière’s George Dandin (24 June 2016)
  • Destiny in L’École des femmes (10 June 2016)
  • L’École des femmes, part two (2 June 2016)
  • L’École des femmes, part one (29 May 2016)
  • Recurrence in Molière: Le Dépit amoureux (24 May 2016)
  • Molière’s Tartuffe, a reading (17 May 2016)
  • Edmond Geffroy’s Molière (11 May 2016)
  • Molière: Farces and “Grandes Comédies” (8 May 2016)
  • Molière’s Enigmatic Comedies (6 May 2016)
  • Molière’s Dom Juan (25 February 2016)

Commedia dell’arte

  • Pantalone: la Commedia dell’arte (20 June 2014)

Farce

  • Molière: Farces and “Grandes Comédies” (8 May 2016)

Sources and Resources

The Miser is a Wikisource eBook (Charles Heron Wall, translator)
The Miser is an Internet Archive publication EN
The Miser is a Project Gutenberg publication [eBook #6923] EN
The Miser, Henri Fielding is an eText EN
L’Avare is a toutmoliere.net publication FR
Molière21 is a research group
Le Salon littéraire FR
The Miser is a LibriVox text publication (YouTube)
Laughter, Henri Bergson is an Internet Archive publication EN

____________________
[1] L’Avare in Maurice Rat, Œuvres complètes de Molière (Paris : Éditions Gallimard, coll. La Pléiade, 1956), p. 968.
[2] Will  G. Moore, Molière, a New Criticism (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1968 [1949], pp. 69-70.
[3] Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1957]), p. 165.
[4] Micheline Bourbeau-Walker, « Le Misanthrope, ou la comédie éclatée, » in David Trott & Nicole Boursier, eds. L’Âge du théâtre en France (Edmonton, Alberta: Academic Printing and Publishing, 1988 ), 53 – 63. (papers from a conference held in Toronto, May 14 – 16, 1987) ISBN 0-920980-30-9 — PQ527.A33 1988

The Miser

21313562_1_x

L’Avare by Jean Degrassi, 1955 (liveauctioneers.com)

© Micheline Walker
1 December 2016
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Recurrence in Molière: Le Dépit amoureux

24 Tuesday May 2016

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Anagnorisis, comédie d'intrigue, comedy of intrigue, Le Dépit amoureux, Molière, recurrence

 

39f2c2fc420e978ea89e7c10747d35eb

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
Scapin, Maurice Sand or Geoffroy
Scapin, Maurice Sand or Geoffroy

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.

62

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.

5282437338_b8a6641e47

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 ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Lysandre, a “jeune premier” in Molière (20 May 2016)
  • Molière’s “Tartuffe:” a reading (17 May 2016)
  • Casuistry, or how to sin without sinning (5 March 2012)
  • Edmond Geffroy’s Molière (11 May 2016)
  • Molière’s Enigmatic Comedies (6 May 2016)
    (This list will be expanded.)

Sources and Resources

  • Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism is an Internet Archive publication.
  • Le Dépit amoureux (Louandre, 1910) is a Wikisource publication FR
  • Les Amants magnifiques, Molière 21

____________________

[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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