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Tag Archives: Cuckoldry

Molière’s “George Dandin,” revisited (2)

31 Friday May 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comedy, Molière

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cuckoldry, farce, George Dandin, impoverished nobility, jealousy, Marriage, Molière, Sotenville, the agroikos, the right & wrong

George Dandin (Gravure Edmond Hédouin?)   (documentation.théâtre.com)

(This post is very long. If you have read Molière’s “George Dandin” revisited (1), go to Act Two.)

George Dandin: a Comédie-Ballet & Pastoral

George Dandin ou le Mari confondu (George Dandin or the Abashed Husband) is a comédie-ballet combining a three-act farce and a pastoral in the form of interludes mainly. The comedy and the lyrics to the pastoral were written by Molière to music by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Contemporaries loved the music to George Dandin. It premièred at Versailles on 15 July 1668, as part of a Grand Divertissement royal celebrating the French victory at Aix-la-Chapelle. The comédie-ballet was performed three times at Saint-Germain-en-Laye from 3 to 6 November. However, when, on 9 November 1668, the three-act George Dandin was given in Paris, at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, the pastoral had been removed.

Henri van Laun‘s six-volume translation of the plays of Molière, an Internet Archive publication, includes the text of a three-act play and the text of the pastoral. The two could be separated. The pastoral lightened an otherwise sombre farce. We are still using Henri van Laun’s translation of the three-act play and the toutmoliere.net’s collection of Molière’s plays.

In my post on the Jalousie du Barbouillé, I stated that the Jalousie du Barbouillé was a blueprint for George Dandin. George Dandin repeats the bolted door episode (Act Three)rom . In Molière, the unfortunate daughters of the nobility who were married against their will not be wives. Cuckoldry enters the picture. La Jalousie du Barbouillé does establish one of Molière central figures, le jaloux. It also introduces le cocu. If he marries, le jaloux faces cuckoldry.

Sources

Listed below, are sources Molière may have used when he wrote George Dandin:

  • Guarini‘s (Il Pastor Fido) and Boccacio (The Decameron)
  • the Dolopatos (the tale of a woman locked into a tower)*
  • Aristophanes’ The Clouds
  • the Greek agroikós: the rustic
  • La Jalousie du Barbouillé
  • a French fabliau

*The Dolopatos was an Indian work written before the Common Era, and translated into Arabic and Hebrew (see Salon littéraire).

However, ascertaining sources for George Dandin and other plays by Molière is difficult. We know that Molière was well educated. He was a student at the Collège de Clermont, the current Lycée Louis-le-Grand. It was the finest lycée in Paris. Molière read Roman dramatists Plautus and Terrence, and may have read Greek dramatist Aristophanes. He also studied law. 

Molière’s first company, l’Illustre Théâtre, established in June 1643, went bankrupt two years later. So, in August 1645, Molière was jailed briefly, a day or so. He then left Paris and toured the provinces of France until the late 1650s. His base was Pézenas, but the répertoire of his troupe cannot be determined in an accurate manner. He didn’t write the plays members of his troupe performed. There is a story about a lost suitcase, but it seems his actors may have improvised their role, or nearly so, as did the stock characters of the Commedia dell’arte. 

However, Molière also borrowed from native French farces and fabliaux. As we have seen Le Médecin malgré lui (The Doctor in spite of himself) is rooted in the Vilain Mire, a medieval French fabliau about a doctor. By the seventeenth century, the original text of the Vilain Mire may have been a mere memory, but its subject matter had entered an oral tradition to return to a written tradition. In 1656, Barbazan published the first volume of his: Fabliaux et contes des poètes français du XIIIe, XIVe et XVe siècles. Barbazan’s collection “shares several elements with Le Médecin malgré lui, and, incidentally, Georges [sic] Dandin.” (See Molière 21). The complete French fabliaux were published in 1986. (See Molière 21.) For our purposes, the closest source of George Dandin is Molière’s own Jalousie du Barbouillé.

The Dramatis Personæ are as follows:

  • Georges Dandin (George Dandin), husband of Angelica
  • Angelica (Angélique), Georges Dandin’s wife
  • Sir Sotenville (Monsieur de Sotenville), Angelica’s father
  • Mrs Sotenville (Madame de Sotenville), Sir Sotenville’s wife
  • Clitander (Clitandre), in love with Angelica
  • Claudine, Angelica’s servant
  • Lubin, Clitandre’s servant
  • Colin, Dandin’s servant

ACT ONE

As the curtain lifts, Dandin tell spectators or readers how foolish he was to marry above his rank. He is a wealthy peasant.

Ah! qu’une femme Demoiselle est une étrange affaire, et que mon mariage est une leçon bien parlante à tous les paysans qui veulent s’élever au-dessus de leur condition, et s’allier comme j’ai fait à la maison d’un gentilhomme.
George Dandin, seul (I. i, p. 1) (or p. 349)
[Ah ! what a strange thing it is to be a woman of quality and a wife! and what an instructive lesson my marriage is to all peasants who wish to raise themselves above their condition…, and to ally themselves, as I have done, to a nobleman’s family.]
George Dandin, alone (I. 5, p. 261) ( or p. 349)

Dandin more or less bought Angélique, thereby affording the Sotenvilles money that would allow them to live up to their rank.

He complains that all he has acquired is a title: “de La Dandinière,” and being related to both the Sotenville and the La Prudoterie families. To the Sotenvilles and their daughter, he remains a peasant:   

L’alliance qu’ils font est petite avec nos personnes. C’est notre bien seul qu’ils épousent, et j’aurais bien mieux fait, tout riche que je suis, de m’allier en bonne et franche paysannerie[.]
Dandin, seul (I. i, p. 1)
[We ourselves count for very little in the match : they only marry our property; and I would have done much better[.]
Dandin, alone (I. 1, p. 261) (or p. 349)

Dandin realizes he has made a mistake:

George Dandin, George Dandin, vous avez fait une sottise la plus grande du monde.
[George Dandin! George Dandin! you have committed the greatest folly in the world.]
Dandin, alone (I. 1, p. 261) (or p. 349)

So, the action begins in scene two, when Dandin sees someone leaving his house. The person he sees is Lubin, Clitandre’s valet, who has delivered a message to Angélique. Not knowing who Dandin is, he tells him everything:

C’est que je viens de parler à la maîtresse du logis de la part d’un certain Monsieur qui lui fait les doux yeux, et il ne faut pas qu’on sache cela. Entendez-vous?
Lubin à Dandin (I. ii, p. 3)
[Because I have just been delivering a message to the mistress of the house from a certain gentleman who has an eye upon her; and it must not be known. Do you understand?]
Lubin to Dandin (I. 2, p. 261) or p. 350
Voilà la raison. On m’a enchargé de prendre garde que personne ne me vît, et je vous prie au moins de ne pas dire que vous m’ayez vu.
Lubin à Dandin (I. ii, p. 3)
[I have been told to take care that no one should see me; and let me beg of you, at least, not to say that you have seen me.]
Lubin to Dandin (I. 2, p. 262) or p. 351
Le mari, à ce qu’ils disent, est un jaloux qui ne veut pas qu’on fasse l’amour à sa femme, et il ferait le diable à quatre si cela venait à ses oreilles. Vous comprenez bien.
Lubin à Dandin (I. ii, p. 3 )
[The husband, from what they tell me, is dreadfully jealous, who will not allow his wife to be made love to; and there would be the devil to pay if it came to his ears. Now, do you understand?]
Lubin à Dandin (I. 2, p. 263) (or p. 351)

Dandin wishes to know whether Angélique sent a message back to Clitandre.

Elle m’a dit de lui dire… Attendez, je ne sais si je me souviendrai bien de tout cela. Qu’elle lui est tout à fait obligée de l’affection qu’il a pour elle, et qu’à cause de son mari qui est fantasque, il garde d’en rien faire paraître, et qu’il faudra songer à chercher quelque invention pour se pouvoir entretenir tous deux.
Lubin à Dandin (I. ii, p. 5)
[She has told me to tell him . . . stop; I do not know if I shall remember it all: that she is very much obliged to him for his affection towards her, and that he must be very  careful not to show it, on account of her husband, who is whimsical, and that he must bethink himself to invent something, so that they may converse with each other.]
Lubin to Dandin (I. 2, p. 264) (or p. 352)

Having heard Lubin, Dandin engages in another soliloquy. It appears he will be a “cocu,” which is a breech of the marriage contract. He must tell the Sotenvilles, but his in-laws find fault with the language he uses. Madame de Sotenville does not want to be called belle-mère, mother-in-law. She belongs to the nobility:

Ne vous déferez-vous jamais avec moi de la familiarité de ce mot de ma belle-mère, et ne sauriez-vous vous accoutumer à me dire Madame.
Madame de Sotenville à Dandin (I. iv. p. 6)
[Will you never divest yourself, with me, of the familiarity of that word, mother-in-law, and can you not accustom yourself to call me Madam?]
Madame de Sotenville to Dandin (I. 4, p. 255) (or p. 354)

Monsieur de Sotenville will not allow Dandin to refer to his daughter as “ma femme” (my wife). She is Madame. He also insists on being called “Sir:”

Doucement, mon gendre. Apprenez qu’il n’est pas respectueux d’appeler les gens par leur nom, et qu’à ceux qui sont au-dessus de nous il faut dire Monsieur tout court.
Monsieur de Sotenville à Dandin (I. iv, p. 6)
[Gently, son-in-law. Let me tell you that it is not respectful to address people by their names, and that we must only say, “Sir,” to those above us.]
Monsieur de Sotenville to Dandin (I. 4, p. 254) (or p. 354)

Moreover, George Dandin is told that being related to the Sotenville and the La Prudoterie families is a privilege. Madame de Sotenville is a La Prudoterie. His title has not elevated Dandin. Having been duly humiliated, he dares tell that a gentleman is in love with Angélique.

Je vous ai dit ce qui se passe pour vous faire mes plaintes, et je vous demande raison de cette affaire-là.
Dandin aux Sotenvilles (I. iv, p. 9)
[I have told you what is going on, to justify my complaints; and I ask you for satisfaction in this matter.]
Dandin to Sotenville (I. 4, p. 258) (or p. 357)

The Sotenvilles will investigate.

Nous allons éclaircir l’affaire. Suivez-moi, mon gendre, et ne vous mettez pas en peine, vous verrez de quel bois nous nous chauffons lorsqu’on s’attaque à ceux qui nous peuvent appartenir.
Sotenville à Dandin (I. iv, p. 10)
[We are going to clear the matter up. Follow me, son-in-law, and do not trouble yourself. You shall see what we are made of, when people attack those who
may belong to us.]
Sotenville to Dandin (I. 4, p. 258) (or p. 357)

Monsieur de Sotenville speaks to Clitandre who tells him that he is being slandered.

Voilà une étrange médisance. Qui vous a dit cela, Monsieur?
Clitandre à Sotenville (I. v, p. 11)
[What strange slander is this ! Who has told you
that, Sir?]
Clitandre to Sotenville (I. 5. p. 259) (or p. 359)

Having denied he sent une ambassade to Angélique, Clitandre wants to know who told Dandin that he sent une ambassade to Angélique. It could be Angélique herself: 

Est-ce donc vous, Madame, qui avez dit à votre mari que je suis amoureux de vous ?
Clitandre à Angélique (I. vi, p. 12)
[Is it you then, Madam, who have told your husband that I am in love with you?]
Clitandre to Angélique (I. 6, p. 260) (or p. 360)

She defends herself by making believe she is accusing him, but if reversed her words are an invitation to Clitandre to continue the galanterie. It’s a brilliant double entendre.

Moi, et comment lui aurais-je dit? Est-ce que cela est? Je voudrais bien le voir Je voudrais bien le voir vraiment que vous fussiez amoureux de moi. Jouez-vous-y, je vous en prie, vous trouverez à qui parler. C’est une chose que je vous conseille de faire. Ayez recours  pour voir à tous les détours des amants. Essayez un peu par plaisir à m’envoyer des ambassades, à m’écrire secrètement de petits billets doux, à épier les moments que mon mari n’y sera pas, ou le temps que je sortirai pour me parler de votre amour. Vous n’avez qu’à y venir, je vous promets que vous serez reçu comme il faut.
Angélique à Clitandre (I. vi, pp. 12-13)
[I? And how could I have told him? Is it so then? I should really like to see you in love with me. Just attempt it, pray; you will find out with whom you have to deal; I advise you to try the thing! Have recourse, by way of experiment, to all the lovers’ stratagems: just attempt to send me, for the fun of it, some messages, to write me some small love letters secretly; to watch the moments of my husband’s absence, or when I am going out to tell me of your love: you have only to set about it, I promise you you shall be received as you ought.]
Angélique to Clitandre (I. 6, p. 260) (p. 360)

After speaking with Angélique, Clitandre and Angélique both deny having sent or received a message. Clitandre is a gentilhomme and Angélique, Dandin’s wife, the daughter of the Sotenvilles. They are credible, but Dandin isn’t. Despite the money he gave the impoverished Sotenvilles, all Dandin received is a hollow title and a marriage contract, he remains a peasant. He has no credibility.

Si bien donc que si je le trouvais couché avec ma femme, il en serait quitte pour se dédire?
Dandin à Sotenville (I. vi, p. 15)
[Thus, if I had found him in bed with my wife, he would get off by simply denying it?]
Dandin to Sotenville (I. 8, p. 262) (or p. 363)

I will skip the episode where Dandin has to apologize to the Sotenvilles and Clitandre. They’ve lied, but they are “personnes de qualité,”

Head_of_a_Young_Girl_c_1745_4128

Woman’s Head by François Boucher, c. 1750 (WikiArt.org)

george dandin1

George Dandin, Alexandre-Joseph Desenne (Photo credit: Internet Archive) 

Act Two

In Greek literature, George Dandin, would be called an agroikós (rustic), a stock character. He is a peasant who has married into the upper classes and wishes to be separated from his wife when he realizes that he has simply bought a title: de la Dandinière. His marriage is a mésalliance. There have always been mésalliances. Some of us marry the wrong man or woman. In 17th-century France, aristocrats spent a fortune in an attempt to see Louis getting up (le lever) and going to bed (le coucher). They wanted to be ‘seen.’ Consequently, they spent a great deal of money and could not endow more than one of their daughters.

The Sotenvilles do not live in Paris, but they needed money and their best source was a rich peasant, the agroikós of Greek comedy. Dandin, our agroikós tells Angélique that she should live as wives live:

Je veux que vous y fassiez ce que fait une femme qui ne veut plaire qu’à son mari. Quoi qu’on en puisse dire, les galants n’obsèdent jamais que quand on le veut bien, il y a un certain air doucereux qui les attire ainsi que le miel fait les mouches, et les honnêtes femmes ont des manières qui les savent chasser d’abord.
Dandin à Angélique (II. i, p. 22)
[I wish you to do what a wife who only wishes to please her husband should do. Whatev[er people may say, gallants never trouble a woman unless she wishes it. There are certain sweet looks which attract them, as honey does flies; and virtuous women have a manner that drives them away immediately.]
Dandin to Angélique (II. 4, p. 269) (or p. 369)

Angélique disagrees: 

Moi, les [men] chasser! et par quelle raison? Je ne me scandalise point qu’on me trouve bien faite, et cela me fait du plaisir.
Angélique à Dandin (II. ii, p. 22)
[I, drive them away! and for what reason? I am not scandalised at being thought handsome, and it affords me pleasure.]
Angélique to Dandin (II.4, p. 270) (or p. 369)

Angélique thinks her husband should be pleased to know that other men admire his wife. Dandin should play that part:

Le personnage d’un honnête homme qui est bien aise de voir sa femme
considérée.
Angélique à Dandin (II. iv, p. 23)
[The part of a sensible man, who is glad to see his wife admired.]
Angélique to Dandin (II. 4, p. 270) (or p. 369)

But the Dandins do not admire wives committing adultery. Besides, does she have obligations? She claims she doesn’t and that the Dandins will get used to her lifestyle, if they want to:

Oh les Dandins s’y accoutumeront s’ils veulent. Car pour moi je vous déclare que mon dessein n’est pas de renoncer au monde, et de m’enterrer toute vive dans un mari. Comment, parce qu’un homme s’avise de nous épouser, il faut d’abord que toutes choses soient finies pour nous, et que nous rompions tout commerce avec les vivants? C’est une chose merveilleuse que cette tyrannie de Messieurs les maris, et je les trouve bons de vouloir qu’on soit morte à tous les divertissements et qu’on ne vive que pour eux. Je me moque de cela, et ne veux point mourir si jeune.
Angélique à Dandin (II. iv, p. 23)
[I declare that I do not intend to renounce the world, and to bury myself alive with a husband. What ! because a man thinks fit to marry us, everything must be at an end immediately, and we must break off all intercourse with every living being! This tyranny of husbands is a marvellous thing; and I think it very kind of them to wish that we should be dead to all amusements; and that we should live for them only! I laugh at that, and do not wish to die so young.]
Angélique to Dandin (II. 4, p. 270) (or pp. 369-370)
Moi? je ne vous l’ai point donnée de bon cœur, et vous me l’avez arrachée. M’avez-vous avant le mariage demandé mon consentement, et si je voulais bien de vous? Vous n’avez consulté pour cela que mon père, et ma mère, ce sont eux proprement qui vous ont épousé, et c’est pourquoi vous ferez bien de vous plaindre toujours à eux des torts que l’on pourra vous faire. Pour moi, qui ne vous ai point dit de vous marier avec moi, et que vous avez prise sans consulter mes sentiments, je prétends n’être point obligée à me soumettre en esclave à vos volontés, et je veux jouir, s’il vous plaît, de quelque nombre de beaux jours que m’offre la jeunesse; prendre les douces libertés, que l’âge me permet, voir un peu le beau monde, et goûter le plaisir de m’ouïr dire des douceurs. Préparez-vous-y pour votre punition, et rendez grâces au Ciel de ce que je ne suis pas capable de quelque chose de pis.
Angélique à Dandin (II. iv, p. 23)
[I did not make them willingly, and you forced them from me. Did you, before marriage, ask me my consent, and whether I cared for you ? You consulted only my father and mother. In reality, they have married you, and therefore you will do well always to complain to them about the wrongs which you may suffer. As for me, who did not tell you to marry me, and whom you took without consulting my feelings, I do not pretend to be obliged to submit, like a slave, to your will; and, by your leave, I mean to enjoy the few happy days of my youth, to take the sweet liberties which the age allows me, to see the fashionable world a little, and to taste the pleasure of having pretty things said to me. Prepare yourself for this, for your punishment; and thank Heaven that I am not capable of something worse.]
Angélique to Dandin (II. 4, p. 270) (or p. 370)

Clitandre has been prowling around and George Dandin has seen him.  He then learns from Lubin that Monsieur le Vicomte is with Angélique. George looks through the keyhole and sees Clitandre with his wife. At that very moment, kairos, the Sotenvilles arrive. Clitandre is about to leave, but he sees the Sotenvilles and Dandin. Angélique will make believe she is angry at Clitandre and will hit him with a stick. But it is her husband she hits: Dandin. The Sotenvilles are delighted to see their daughter chase Clitandre away and tell Dandin that he must be very happy.

Lubin (George Dandin) (4)

Lubin (documentation.théâtre.com)

Act Three

In Act Three, during a dark night, Lubin takes Clitandre to Dandin’s house and Claudine leads him to Angélique. Because it is dark, there is quite the chassé-croisé, a mix-up. Our lovers believe Dandin is sound asleep. He was, but he has heard his wife going down the steps and he inadvertently bumps into Lubin who thinks Dandin is Claudine and talks again. Dandin knows that the Vicomte is with Angélique. He asks Colin, his servant, to fetch the Sotenvilles and to do so as quickly as possible.

When Clitandre is about to leave Angélique, he thinks that perhaps she is a wife to Dandin.

Oui. Mais je songe qu’en me quittant, vous allez trouver un mari. Cette pensée m’assassine, et les priviléges qu’ont les maris sont des choses cruelle pour une amant  qui aime bien.
Clitandre à Angélique (III. v, p. 38)
[Yes. But I cannot help remembering that, when you leave me, you go back to a husband. This thought kills me; and a husband’s privileges are cruel things to a fond lover.]
Clitandre to Angélique (III. 5, 282) (or p. 385)
Serez-vous assez fort pour avoir cette inquiétude, et pensez-vous qu’on soit
capable d’aimer de certains maris qu’il y a. On les prend, parce qu’on ne s’en peut défendre, et que l’on dépend de parents qui n’ont des yeux que pour le bien, mais on sait leur rendre justice, et l’on se moque fort de les considérer au delà de ce qu’ils méritent.
Angélique à Clitandre (III. v, p. 38)
[Are you weak enough to have such anxiety, and do you think it possible to love a certain sort of husbands? We marry them, because we cannot help ourselves, and
because we depend upon our parents, who look only riches; but we know how to be even with them, and we take good care not to value them above their deserts.]
Angélique to Clitandre (III. 5, p. 282-283) (or p. 385)

Claudine warns Angélique that she and Clitandre must part.

Madame, si vous avez à dire du mal de votre mari, dépêchez vite, car il est tard.
Claudine à Angélique (III. v, p. 38)
[Madam, if you have any harm to say of your husband, you had better make haste, for it is getting late.]
Claudine to Angélique (III. 6, p. 283) (or p. 386)

Angélique and Claudine are returning indoors, but the door is locked. This episode was rehearsed in the Jalousie du Barbouillé. Angélique pleads with Dandin, but she must feigns suicide to re-enter the house. When the Sotenvilles arrive, Angélique is free to accuse her husband of having been out drinking.

Angélique’s father asks her to forgive Dandin:

Allons, venez, ma fille, que votre mari vous demande pardon.
Sotenville à Angélique (III. vii, p. 47)
[Come hither, daughter, that your husband may ask your pardon.]
Sotenville to Angélique (III. 14, p. 290) (or p. 393)

Moi ? lui pardonner tout ce qu’il m’a dit ? Non, non, mon père, il m’est impossible de m’y résoudre, et je vous prie de me séparer d’un mari avec lequel je ne saurais plus vivre.
Angélique to Sotenville (III. vii, p. 47)
[I! pardon him after all that he has said to me? No, no, father I cannot possibly make up my mind to it; and I beg of you to separate me from a husband with whom I can no longer live.]
Angélique to Sotenville (III. 14, p. 290) (or p. 393)

Angélique wants to end the marriage and so does Dandin, but Angélique’s father will not let her leave her husband.

Ma fille, de semblables séparations ne se font point sans grand scandale, et vous devez vous montrer plus sage que lui, et patienter encore cette fois.
[Such separations, daughter, are not brought about without a great deal of scandal; and you should show yourself wiser than he, and be patient once more.] (p. 395)
Sotenville
Comment patienter après de telles indignités? Non, mon père, c’est une chose où je ne puis consentir.
[How can I be patient after such indignities? No, father, I cannot consent to it.]
Angélique
Il le faut, ma fille, et c’est moi qui vous le commande.
[You must, daughter; I command you.] (p. 395)
Sotenville
Ce mot me ferme la bouche, et vous avez sur moi une puissance absolue.
[This word stops my mouth. You have absolute authority over me.]
Angélique
What gentleness.
Claudine
FR III. vii, p. 47
EN III. 14, p. 290-291 (or p. 395)

As for Dandin, he must kneel down and apologize to his wife, repeating, word for word, as though he were a child, what Monsieur de Sotenville says.

792336

George Dandin by François Boucher, Laurent Cars

Therefore, George says to himself that all he can do is drown himself:

Ah ! je le quitte maintenant, et je n’y vois plus de remède, lorsqu’on a comme moi épousé une méchante femme, le meilleur parti qu’on puisse prendre, c’est de s’aller jeter dans l’eau la tête la première.
Dandin (III. viii, p. 48)
[Ah! I give it up altogether, and I can see no help for it. When one has married, as I have done, a wicked wife, the best step on can take is to go and throw one’s self into the water, head foremost.]
Dandin (III. 15, p. 291) (or p. 396)

Conclusion

Angélique provides the most probable dénouement, which is the absence of a dénouement. Yet nothing is missing.

Tout ce que vous me faites faire ne servira de rien, et vous verrez que ce sera dès demain à recommencer.
Angélique à M. de Sotenville (III. vii, p. 47)
[Whatever you make me do will be of no use; we shall have to recommence to-morrow, you will see.]
Angélique to the Sotenvilles (III. 14, p. 291) (or p. 395)

If Dandin doesn’t drown, he will seek and find Angélique and Clitandre, perhaps in flagrante delicto, in the midst of it. He will run to the Sotenvilles and ask for satisfaction. There is a contract, but Angélique was never consulted. Her father probably said to her: “I command you.” Sotenville is both a pater familias and an impoverished aristocrat. All he could think of were his needs. The Sotenvilles are besotted by their rank, as we can see in Act One. As for Angélique, she was wronged, but she’s a “coquette.” However, the comedic formula used by Molière is consistent with that of farces: the deceiver deceived, except that Dandin knows he made a mistake.

J’enrage de bon cœur d’avoir tort, lorsque j’ai raison. (Dandin, I. vi, p. 15 )
[It makes me mad to be put in the wrong when I am in the right.] (I. 7. p. 262) (or p. 262)

Will Moore writes that “Dandin is essentially in the right, but he is in all actual cases made to appear in the wrong.”[2] But, according to Jules Brody, Alceste is “morally” right and “esthetically” wrong. In George Dandin, Molière remembers Le Misanthrope. Alceste is a jaloux and vain. “Je veux qu’on me distingue…” (I. i. v. 64, p. 3). “I must be singled out; to put it flatly,” (I. 1, Wikisource), but he seems “morally” right. 

Love to everyone ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Molière’s “George Dandin” revisited (1) (29 May 2019)
  • Molière’s “George Dandin” (24 June 2016)

Sources and Resources

  • George Dandin is an Internet Archive publication (p. 221…) EN
  • George Dandin is a Google eText FR
  • George Dandin is a toutmoliere.net publication FR
  • Le Misanthrope is a toutmoliere.net publication FR
  • The Misanthrope is a Wikisource publication (transl. Curtis Hidden Page (EN)
  • Salon littéraire
  • Molière21 is a research group

_________________________
[1] There is disagreement concerning the date.
[2] See W. G. Moore, Molière: a New Criticism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968 [1949]), p. 118.
[3] See Jules Brody, “Don Juan” and “Le Misanthrope,” or the Esthetics of Individualism in Molière,” PMLA, 84 (May 1969) pp.
539-76.

th

© Micheline Walker
31 May 2019
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Molière’s “George Dandin,” revisited (1)

29 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Contract, Cuckoldry, George Dandin, Right or Wrong, the Nobility, Vanity

Lubin (George Dandin) (4)

Lubin (théâtre.documentation.com)

George Dandin par Moreau le Jeune

George Dandin by Moreau le Jeune (théâtre.documentation.com)

I found an anecdote in a book on Molière published by Paris-Match. Boileau, a key figure in the development of the French language and literature, was asked by Louis XIV to identify the greatest writer of his reign. Boileau said that it was Molière. Louis was surprised, but he told Boileau that he, Boileau, was in a better position to judge.

Quel a été le plus grand écrivain de mon règne? (Louis)
[Who was the greatest writer of my reign?]
C’est Molière. (Boileau)
[It’s Molière.]
Ma foi, je ne l’aurais pas cru. Mais, indubitablement, vous êtes meilleur juge que moi en la matière. (Louis)
[Is that so? I wouldn’t have thought so. But you are, undoubtedly, the better judge in this matter.]

I bought this book when I lived in France. It had just been published. It is not an academic presentation of Molière, but it is informative, accurate by 1969 standards, and it has illustrations I have not seen navigating the internet. 

About George Dandin

There are several procès (legal proceedings or trials) in Molière. In George Dandin, we are dealing with a contract, a marriage contract. All George Dandin knows is what Lubin, Valère’s valet, has told him. Angélique has received a letter from Clitandre. He is in love. Lubin takes the letter to Angélique who replies that she is very interested in Clitandre, but that he must be careful, because her husband is jealous.

The Sotenvilles, Angélique’s parents, will investigate. Clitandre will deny having sent a letter (une ambassade) and Angélique will deny having received a letter.

Hearsay is not valid and aristocrats deny allegations credibly, or by way of being aristocrats: dans les formes. Dandin has a title. He is George de La Dandinière, but he will always be a peasant. As for Angélique, she will always say that he signed a contract with her family, and not with her. She had nothing to do in this matter, which is mostly accurate. As early as the end of Act One, Dandin has to apologize to the Sotenvilles and Clitandre. He repeats words dictated to him by Monsieur de la Sotenville.

With George Dandin, we move a little past cuckoldry. Dandin, a wealthy peasant, learns that his wife, Angélique, has a lover,[1] Clitandre, an aristocrat. Dandin believes this is proof of adultery or impending adultery, but it isn’t proof. The Sotenvilles, Angélique’s parents, would need to see Clitandre in bed with Angélique. But even if they did,  Clitandre might still get off, by denying. Dandin is a mere peasant.  

Si bien donc que si je le trouvais couché avec ma femme, il en serait quitte pour se dédire.
Dandin aux Sotenvilles (I. vi, p. 15)
[Thus, if I had found him in bed with my wife, he would get off by simply denying it?]
Dandin to the Sotenvilles (I. 7, p. 262)

Aristocracy is a mask and Dandin was naïve and vain. Vanity is a sin. Dandin could not become a gentilhomme. He may as well drown. Although he is right, he is wrong.

J’enrage de bon cœur d’avoir tort, lorsque j’ai raison.
Dandin, seul (I. vi, p. 15)
[(Aside). It makes me mad to be put in the wrong, when I am in the right.]
Dandin, alone (I. 8, p. 262)

George Dandin is not an “all’s well that ends well” scenario. George Dandin is a farce. The formula for farces is “tel est pris qui croyait prendre” or “deceiver deceived.” According to this comedic formula, Dandin will always complain and will always be forced to apologize.

With kind regards to everyone  💕

_________________________
[1] Someone in love.

Une jeune fillette
Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre

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Toile de Jouy (Pinterest)

© Micheline Walker
29 May 2019
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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 barbouille

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.

169331 (2)

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.

52539

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)

François Couperin 2/3, Airs, Gillot/Watteau

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