Tag Archives: Miles gloriosus

Dom Juan, encore …

07 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by in Comedy, France, Molière

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Dom Juan by François Boucher (dessin) & Laurent Cars (gravure) (Google images)

Writing about Dom Juan has been a pleasure. In fact, I received a comment about libertinage in 17th century France.

Le Libertinage

I read René Pintard’s Le Libertinage érudit dans la première moitié du XVIIe  siècle when I was writing my thesis, years ago, but I do not own a copy of this book. Wikipedia FR has an entry on the subject and the book is summarized, by GRIHL FR. But obtaining the material one requires to write a book is truly difficult.  

By virtue of his profession, a playwright and an actor, Molière is associated with  libertinage érudit. Actors were excommunicated. But libertinage érudit and libertinage are not synonyms. Molière did not lead a dissolute life.[1] However, his Tartuffe (1664) and his Dom Juan (1665) were attacked by la cabale des dévôts. He had to rewrite Tartuffe twice before the play could be performed (1669). As for his Dom Juan, although it was a great success, it closed after 17 performances and was not published until 1682, in Amsterdam. 

La Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement

The most important group of dévots, or faux-dévots, was the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, a secret society. Louis XIV himself could not protect Molière fully. Not that impiety went unpunished in Dom Juan, but that devotion is linked to religion and that there were in France genuinely devout persons as well as faux-dévots, persons feigning devotion. Feigned devotion is a powerful mask, and all the more so when it fills the needs of a potentially tyrannical, but frightened pater familias. 

It so happens that Orgon needs Tartuffe and is therefore easily blinded by his own needs. He sees what he wishes to see and hears what he wishes to hear. Only Orgon and his mother, Madame Pernelle, see a dévot in Tartuffe. Other members of Orgon’s family can tell that Tartuffe is a hypocrite and a rogue, but they do not have a strong-box, une cassette, containing potentially incriminating evidence. A friend of Orgon was involved in the Fronde and Orgon has his strong-box. So Orgon gives Tartuffe the cassette to breathe easier. However, Tartuffe takes it to the Prince, “our monarch,” endangering Orgon.

The villain who so long imposed upon you,
Found means, an hour ago, to see the prince,
And to accuse you (among other things)
By putting in his hands the private strong-box
Of a state-criminal, whose guilty secret,
You, failing in your duty as a subject,
(He says) have kept.
Valère to Orgon (V. 6)
Valère à Orgon (1835-40, V. vi, p. 104) FR

The prince, our monarch, “ennemi de la fraude”  (v. 1906, p. 107) sees that Tartuffe is a criminal. Orgon is forgiven. (V. last scene). L’Exempt (an officer) returns the cassette to Orgon as well as the deed to his property. 

“The surprise twist ending, in which everything is set right by the unexpected benevolent intervention of the heretofore unseen King, is considered a notable modern-day example of the classical theatrical plot device Deus ex machina.” (See Tartuffe, Wiki2.org.) 

The above could have been taken out of my thesis. I studied the pharmakós in six of Molière’s plays. The thesis was entitled: L’Impossible entreprise: une étude sur le pharmakós dans le théâtre de Molière. (The Impossible endeavour: a study of the pharmakós in Molière’s Theatre). In Molière’s comedies, the society of the play may be powerless, hence the use of a deus ex machina. Doublings, as in L’Avare (The Miser), are another recourse. In L’Avare, a second (real and benevolent) father surfaces. Truth be told, Tartuffe goes to prison, but he took little more than he was given. He was given the cassette by Orgon. The cassette comes back to haunt Orgon (V. i; V. 1), which makes him, to a significant extent, a scapegoat.

Feigned Devotion in Dom Juan

Feigned devotion is a mighty mask. Dom Juan fools Dom Louis, his father, and silences Dom Carlos who is ready to fight a duel that will avenge his sister, Done Elvire. There were real dévots in 17th France, but several members of the cabale des dévôts were faux-dévots. In 17th century France, one could also use casuistry, which could legitimize nearly all sins. Tartuffe reassures Elmire using casuistry. Moreover, there were dévots and faux-dévôts in high places. The Prince de Conti and the Sieur de Rochemont were aristocratic censeurs.

The Alazṓn: the senex iratus and the miles gloriosus

There is recurrence in Molière’s plays and intertextuality, a concept pioneered by Julia Kristeva. I should note that the alazṓn can be a senex iratus or a miles gloriosus. Plautus wrote a Miles gloriosus based on Aristophanes‘ Alazṓn, now lost. Under the heading Alazṓn, two types of blocking character are mentioned: both the senex iratus and the miles gloriosus, the braggart soldier, can be the alazṓn, or blocking character. Dom Juan is a miles gloriosus. I updated a post. We do not see young lovers opposing a heavy father, but Dom Juan is a miles gloriosus and, therefore, an alazṓn.

Varia

  • the Baroque
  • sources
  • “pièce assez mal construite ”

I did not mention Baroque aesthetics in Dom Juan, but he has been called an homme de vent, windy. Nor did I mention sexuality, except briefly, in another post. Dom Juan would like to be an Alexandre, Alexander the Great. The word to conquer puts an emphasis on numbers. Sganarelle tells the peasant-girls that his master is an “épouseur du genre humain,” (II. iv); “the groom of the entire human race” (II.4, p. 27), but there is no eroticism in Dom Juan.

As for sources, most scholars mention Tirso de Molina’s (24 March 1579 – 12 March 1648) Burlador de Sevilla. He is considered the source in what could be described as the “Don Juan cycle,” but Molière’s source may have been Italian. Two of Molière’s contemporaries wrote a Don Juan: Dorimond (1659) and Villiers (1660).[2] Whether they influenced Molière cannot be ascertained. But if Don Juan is a legendary figure, when Molière wrote his Dom Juan, the story had circulated for several years.

Finally, Dom Juan has been considered a poorly-constructed play, une pièce “assez mal construite.”[3] It takes us from grands seigneurs to Pierrot, a peasant who does not want to lose his fiancée to Dom Juan. The play does seem poorly constructed. For instance, I have mentioned the picaresque nature of Molière’s Dom Juan. Picaresque suggests a horizontal line broken, with each encounter, by a vertical line (see Paradigms and Syntagms). It seems Dom Juan and Sganarelle are walking along, meeting artistocrats and peasants, all the way to the supernatural Statue. The trompeur trompé (deceiver deceived) plot formula is circular.

We must stop here. This is our last post on Dom Juan. I should note that Louis XIV banned secret societies in 1666. I doubt he did so to eliminate the Société du Saint-Sacrement. I suspect absolutism precluded secret societies.

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____________________

[1] Earlier literary criticism used biography to explain a literary masterpiece. Biography is not irrelevant, but it is one of many referents.

[2] Maurice Rat, ed., Molière, Œuvres complètes (Paris: La Pléiade, 1956), p. 895.

[3] Maurice Rat, loc. cit.

Love to everyone 💕

Don Giovanni’s “La ci darem la mano,” encore
Samuel Ramey and Kathleen Battle with Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan

im244-321px-Le_Festin_de_Pierre

The title page of Le festin de pierre, also known as Dom Juan, the play by Molière, published in Amsterdam in 1683. This is the first publication of the uncensored edition. (Wiki2.org.)

© Micheline Walker
7 March 2019
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Pantalone and Molière’s Miser

20 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Molière

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Pantalone (1550) by Maurice Sand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Maurice Sand

Below is an excerpt from an article I posted in 2014, when our topic was the commedia dell’arte. Pantalone is a mask, a stock character. His name may differ from play to play, but his function, or role, does not change. He is the blocking character, or the obstacle to the marriage of comedy’s young lovers, the innamorati of the commedia dell’arte and, in the case of Pantalone, money prevents the marriages that comedy favours. He is an ancestor to Molière’s Harpagon, L’Avare‘s protagonist.

The portrait I am featuring above is by Maurice Sand, whose full name is Jean-François-Maurice-Arnauld, Baron Dudevant (1823–1889). He was the son of writer George Sand  (1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), who separated from her husband, but brought up her son Maurice and daughter Solange (1828–1899). She may be the most colourful woman in 19th-century France and a prolific author. We will discuss George Sand in a future post.

Maurice Sand’s depiction of Pantalone is delightful. One of Maurice’s subject matters was la commedia dell’arte. You may remember that one of Molière‘s artists was Edmond Geffroy (29 July 1804-8 February 1895) FR. Maurice Sand’s Masques et bouffons de la comédie italienne, texte et dessins was published in 1860. Maurice was also a writer. He was a self-effacing gentleman, but kept company with the most famous writers and artists of his days.

A few weeks ago, I read André Maurois‘ biography of the three Dumas: mulatto général Dumas, Alexandre Dumas père and Alexandre Dumas fils. Maurois mentions Maurice several times. Dumas père, the most notorious Dumas (The Three Musketeers, etc.), was a very close friend of George Sand, but not her lover. Her famous lovers were composer and virtuoso pianist Chopin and poet Alfred de Musset (called Musset).

Molière and the Commedia dell’arte

Molière (15 January 1622 – 17 February 1673) was influenced by the comédie italienne and, in particular, by the commedia dell’arte. He once shared a theatre with the Italians. Moreover, Molière’s first troupe,  L’Illustre Théâtre, went bankrupt in 1645, the year it was founded. Molière spent 24 hours in jail and then left Paris and toured the provinces until 1658. We do not have the text of the many comedies he performed during the 13 years he lived outside Paris, but he may have posted a canevas, the plot, and members of his troupe improvised their role as did the actors of the commedia dell’arte.

Pantalone, the greedy alazôn, vs the eirôn

Pantalone is a heavy father or an alazôn, the blocking character of comedy, or the person who opposes the young lovers’ marriage. As for Pantalone, he is a ‘needy’ blocking character or Pantalon de’ Bisognosi, Italian for ‘Pantalone of the Needy.’ His name derives from San Pantaleone, or Saint Pantaleon. (See Pantalone and Saint Pantaleon, Wikipedia.) As an alazôn, Pantalone is the opponent of the victorious eirôn (as in the word ironic), who helps bring about the marriage of the young lovers. The role, or function, of the alazôn may be played by several characters such as a braggart soldier, a miles gloriosus, or a pedant, il dottore. Roman playwright Plautus (c. 254–184 BCE) wrote the Aulularia, featuring the miser Euclio.

Pantalone is an ancestor to Molière’s L’Avare (The Miser). L’Avare‘s other ancestor is Euclio, the miser featured in Aulularia, the pot of gold, a play by Roman dramatist Plautus. Molière’s Miser was first performed on 9 September 1668, in the theatre of the Palais-Royal, le théâtre du Palais-Royal. Harpagon is a descendant of Plautus’ Euclio (see L’Avare, Wikipedia).

Molière’s L’Avare

My article on Molière’s L’Avare (The Miser) is ready for posting, but it is too long. This post will help me make it shorter. L’Avare originates in Greek Old Comedy and Greek New Comedy (Menander c. 342/41 – c. 290 BCE). He may be a type in the Latin Fabula palliata and Atellan Farce, but Molière’s best known-sources are Plautus‘ Aulularia and the commedia dell’arte. Money, or lack thereof, is a common obstacle to the marriage of comedy’s young lovers. As we will see in a future post, Molière’s L’Avare features two young couples and two father figures.

You may notice that a large number of individuals can be associated with Plautus’ Miles gloriosus and the commedia dell’arte‘s Pantalone, il Dottore and il Capitano. Comedies, farces in particular, often feature a boastful character. But Molière’s L’Avare is the depiction of a miser, a less prominent figure than boastful characters.

At any rate, here is a quotation from a post entitled Pantalone: la Commedia dell’arte (20 June 2014).

An Excerpt

Costume: Money

Pantalone is dressed as Pantalone and his costume is part of his mask. It is always the same and he looks like a hunchback. However, he is not Victor Hugo‘s Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). He is a hunchback because of the bag of money he conceals. Pantalone is lustful, jealous, deceitful, selfish, lazy, full of himself (“Il Magnifico”), but, above all, greedy.

Pantalone is the metaphorical representation of money in the commedia world. (See Pantalone, Wikipedia.)

Pantalone is “di bisognosi” (dans le besoin, the needy).

Other than his hunch, Pantalone wears a red cap, red tights, yellow Turkish slippers, a short vest and a long coat. (continue reading)

Love to everyone ♥

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François Couperin 2/3, Airs, Gillot/Watteau

antoine_watteau_-_the_italian_comedians_-_google_art_project

The Italian Comedians by Watteau, 1721 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
20 November 2016
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Pantalone: la Commedia dell’arte

20 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by in Comedy

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Pantalone, Maurice Sand

Pantalone 1550 by Maurice Sand[i] (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pantalone: a Blocking Character or Alazôn

the alazôn
an improvised comedy
the zanni
the sketch (canevas)
 

Featured above is Maurice Sand‘s depiction of Pantalone. Maurice Sand was the son of French writer George Sand (1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), and of the baron Dudevant.

An Alazôn, or blocking character

Pantalone is one of the stock characters of the commedia dell’arte, an “improvised” form of theatrical performance originating in 16th-century Italy, or what is now Italy. He is an alazôn, one of the characters who oppose the marriage of the innamorati, the young lovers.

With the assistance of very astute and entertaining servants, called zanni, the innamorati fool Pantalone. The plot is therefore consistent with that of comedies. The young lovers overcome obstacles to their marriage. So Pantalone and his fellow blocking characters share the same function, or role, but the role may be played by another actor or mask.

In other words, Pantalone, or Pantaloon, wears a mask and is a mask. The commedia dell’arte is akin to the masquerades of carnivals,[ii] except that it is not associated with a season. Pantalone’s role, his mask, his function, is the same from performance to performance, but there are other blocking characters whose personality is different.

Costume: Money

Pantalone is dressed as Pantalone and his costume is part of his mask. It is always the same and he looks like a hunchback. However, he is not Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). He is a hunchback because of the bag of money he conceals. Pantalone is lustful, jealous, deceitful, selfish, lazy, full of himself (“Il Magnifico”), but, above all, greedy.

Pantalone is the metaphorical representation of money in the commedia world. (See Pantalone, Wikipedia.)

Yet he is Pantalone “di bisognosi” (besoin, the needy).

Other than his hunch, Pantalone wears a red cap, red tights, yellow Turkish[ii] slippers, a short vest and a long coat.

Position

Pantalone has his own way of walking: hips forward, and he sometimes requires assistance from other actors as he tends to fumble. He is old, a genuine senex or vecche, a consummate “trickster,” often cruel, but always a loser. The innamorati end up marrying. He does not have a wife, but he and Il Dottore may be the guardian of a young woman.

As guardian of a young woman, his role will be that of Molière‘s Arnolphe a character in L’École des femmes FR (The School for Wives; 1662). He will also be Pierre Beaumarchais‘ Bartolo, a dottore, in The Barber of Seville, 1775 (1773).[iv]

The Blocking Character

Pantalone
Il Dottore
Il Capitano
 

As noted above, Pantalone’s function as blocking character, or alazôn, can be filled by another alazôn. The most prominent are Il Dottore and Il Capitano. The dottore is a pedant sometimes called Gratiano. He is not necessarily a physician. He may be a professor or a lawyer, but, whoever he is, he makes grammatical errors or otherwise disgraces himself. As for Il Capitano, he is a braggart soldier borrowed from Plautus‘ Miles gloriosus.

Il Dottore

Il Dottore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

Il Capitano

Il Capitano (Photo credit: Google images)

Commedia dell’Arte & Commedia erudita

Although it is improvised, i.e. there is no complete written text, commedia dell’arte borrows from the commedia erudita of ancient Rome: Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BCE) and Terence 195/185–159 BCE). For instance, Il Capitano, a braggart soldier, is Plautus‘ Miles gloriosus. He is a fanfaron and may have other names, but he is always boasting, listing feats that no one could accomplish in three lifetimes. However, contrary to the commedia erudita, the actors of the commedia dell’arte are professionals.

As a fanfaron, Il Capitano is all too human and has found his way into many comedies. Interestingly, he can be linked with the mythic Don Juan. He is Tirso de Molina‘s El Burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest) (c. 1616 – 1630), Molière’s Dom Juan (1660) and Mozart’s Don Giovanni (1787). Molière’s Dom Juan is a “grand seigneur méchant homme” (a great lord, but a man of evil) who will in the end be hit by a ghost. Dom Juan, however, is less a seducer than he is an accountant. He keeps a catalogue of the women he has seduced: his conquests. Il Capitano is different from Pantalone, but his function is to put obstacles in the way of the young couple.

Molière borrowed his Miser (L’Avare; 1668) from Plautus‘ Aulularia. Although Molière’s theatre includes farces and farcical elements,  Molière’s miser, Harpagon, is not a farcical figure. L’Avare is one of Molière’s “grandes comédies.” Molière, however, was extremely fond of the commedia dell’arte.

The plot of Molière’s plays is the archetypal the-young-man-fools-the-old-man, or “le blondin berne le barbon.” In other words, the innamorati are always victorious. We have accounts of the commedia dell’arte, but as noted above, no complete text. Molière, on the other hand, wrote his plays, or most of his plays, which does not preclude a degree of improvisation on the part of members of his troupe, or company. I would love to have seen him play Monsieur Jourdain.

I will continue discussing the commedia dell’arte, but in short simple posts.

Best regards to all of you.

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_________________________ 

[i] Jean-François-Maurice-Arnauld, Baron Dudevant, better known as Maurice Sand.

[ii] The Carnival season begins with Epiphany and ends on Mardi-Gras (Shrove Tuesday). It resembles the Roman Saturnalia.

[iii] You may recall that Byzantium was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Greek scholars fled carrying their books. Their presence in Italy, or Italian city-states, led to the Renaissance. 

[vi] The second date refers to the year the play was written, or the book, first published.

“commedia dell’arte”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Jun. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127742/commedia-dellarte>.

“commedia erudita”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Jun. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchected/topic/127767/commedia-erudita>.

“Capitano”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Jun. 2014                                <http://www.britannica.com/EBchected/topic/93989/Capitano>.

“Dottore”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Jun. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/169794/Dottore>.

“Pantaloon”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Jun. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topc/441501/Pantaloon>.

Music: “On the Wire,” by Yann Tiersen 

capitano (1)

© Micheline Walker 
20 June 2014 
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