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Micheline's Blog

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Tag Archives: Miroirs publics

L’Impromptu de Versailles, 3

10 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Molière

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Tags

Miroirs publics, Molière, play within a play, Realism, Théâtre dans le théâtre

FRANCE – JANUARY 01: Moliere (Jean- Baptiste Poquelin). Oil on Canvas. By Pierre Mignard (1612-1695). (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images) [Jean- Baptiste Moliere. oel/Lw. Von Pierre Mignard (1612-1695).]

L’Impromptu de Versailles, 3

DRAMATIS PERSONSÆ
MOLIERE, a ridiculous Marquis,
BRECOURT, a man of Quality.
LA GRANGE, a ridiculous Marquis.
Du CROISY, a poet.
LA THORILLIERE, a fidgety Marquis.
BEJART, a busybody.
FOUR BUSYBODIES.
Mademoiselle DUPARC, 6 a ceremonious Marchioness. Mademoiselle BEJART, a prude. Mademoiselle DEBRIE, a sage coquette. Mademoiselle MOLIERE, a satirical wit. Mademoiselle Du CROISY, a whining plague. Mademoiselle HERVE, a conceited chambermaid.
Scene. VERSAILLES, IN THE KING’ S ANTECHAMBER

L’Impromptu de Versailles features Molière playing Molière and his troupe playing their role. They are characters in a play within a play, le théâtre dans le théâtre. Louis XIV has commissioned this short play because he wants Molière to defend himself against his accusers.

In Scene One, after his actors oppose performing a play, they have yet to rehearse and tell Molière that he is fortunate. He knows the play. But Molière bemoans his role, not to mention the power of a king. The play was performed on 14 October 1663, at Versailles. Molière and his actors knew the play Molière had written despite a script, L’Impromptu, according to which Molière knew the play, but his actors did not. L’Impromptu was performed at the Palais-Royal on 4 November 1663.

We know that Molière wanted to please an audience, but he also had to please, or not earn a living, or money to support his actors. So, they often rehearsed very quickly a play Molière had written in a matter of days. Louis XIV was aware of Molière’s self-ambition and named Lully “director of the Académie Royale de Musique” (1873-1887). (See Lully, Wikipedia.) Molière fell out with Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1672. His composer would be Marc-Antoine Charpentier. History would prove Molière the more remarkable genius. Moreover, Molière, not Lully, created the comédie-ballet. Moreover, the French court sought constant divertissements. It danced, and it sang. Therefore, Molière worried and said so. As a playwright, chef de troupe and actor, he worked to death. Molière died at the age of 51.

Et n’ai-je à craindre que le manquement de mémoire? Ne comptez-vous pour rien l’inquiétude d’un succès qui ne regarde que moi seul? Et pensez-vous que ce soit une petite affaire, que d’exposer quelque chose de comique devant une assemblée comme celle-ci? que d’entreprendre de faire rire des personnes qui nous impriment le respect, et ne rient que quand ils veulent? Est-il auteur qui ne doive trembler, lorsqu’il en vient à cette épreuve? Et n’est-ce pas à moi de dire que je voudrais en être quitte pour toutes les choses du monde?
Molière (Sc I. i)
[And have I nothing to fear but want of memory? Do you reckon the anxiety as to our success, which is entirely my own concern, nothing? And do you think it a trifle to provide something comic for such an assembly as this; to undertake to excite laughter in those who command our respect, and who only laugh when they choose? Must not any author tremble when he comes to such a test? Would it not be natural for me to say that I would give everything in the world to be quit of it.]
Molière (Sc. I. 1, p. 192)

Mon Dieu, Mademoiselle, les rois n’aiment rien tant qu’une prompte obéissance, et ne se plaisent point du tout à trouver des obstacles. Les choses ne sont bonnes que dans le temps qu’ils les souhaitent ; et leur en vouloir reculer le divertissement est en ôter pour eux toute la grâce. Ils veulent des plaisirs qui ne se fassent point attendre, et les moins préparés leur sont toujours les plus agréables, nous ne devons jamais nous regarder dans ce qu’ils désirent de nous, nous ne sommes que pour leur plaire ; et lorsqu’ils nous ordonnent quelque chose, c’est à nous à profiter vite de l’envie où ils sont. Il vaut mieux s’acquitter mal de ce qu’ils nous demandent, que de ne s’en acquitter pas assez tôt ; et si l’on a la honte de n’avoir pas bien réussi, on a toujours la gloire d’avoir obéi vite à leurs commandements. Mais songeons à répéter s’il vous plaît.
Molière (Sc. i)
[Oh! Mademoiselle, Kings like nothing better than a ready obedience, and are not at all pleased to meet with obstacles. Things are not acceptable, save at the moment when they desire them; to try to delay their amusement is to take away all the charm. They want pleasures that do not keep them waiting; and those that are least prepared are always the most agreeable to them. We ought never to think of ourselves in what they desire of us; our only business is to please them; and, when they command us, it is our part to respond quickly to their wish. We had better do amiss what they require of us, than not do it soon enough; if we have the shame of not succeeding, we always have the credit of having speedily obeyed their commands. But now, pray, let us set about our rehearsal.]
Molière (Sc. 1, p. 193)

Scene Three

Scene Three provokes a strange feeling, which is consistent with works of fiction. They may seem real. Roland Barthes has given a name to this phenomenon: l’effet de réel, which, in L’Impromptu de Versailles reaches dizzying heights. Molière protrayed his century and did so because he wrote “d’après nature.” He observed carefully, which led to the Querelle de l’École des femmes. On 4 June 1664, his realism unleashed fury. His Tartuffe was condemned and, to a certain extent members of la Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement could be fooled. They could see a real dévot, in a faux dévot. Molière rewrote his play until it could be performed with producing a scandal.

L’effet de réel also generates feelings. Form and feelings are not easily dissociated. Susanne K. Langer‘s Feeling and Form: A Theory of Art (1953) is very convincing. When the play begins, we are in the “green” room. For instance, Molière says that he does not want to be Molière and denies having played the marquis ridicule in La Critique de l’École des femmes, but a little further down the page, he admits having played the marquis ridicule. However, La Grange wants to bet, cent (a hundred) pistoles that Molière was the marquis ridicule and Brécourt has just arrived and says that both are “fools.” Suddenly, we remember Perrin Dandin.

Scene Four

Brécourt as umpire says that both Molière and La Grange are “fools,” which takes us back to La Critique’s Uranie who suggests that characters presented on the stage are “miroirs publics” (public mirrors) and “une thèse générale,” generalities. Molière does not attack anyone in particular, he depicts a group.

Comme l’affaire de la comédie est de représenter en général tous les défauts des hommes, et principalement des hommes de notre siècle; il est impossible à Molière de faire aucun caractère qui ne rencontre quelqu’un dans le monde; et s’il faut qu’on l’accuse d’avoir songé toutes les personnes ou l’on peut trouver les défauts qu’il peint, il faut sans doute qu’il ne fasse plus de comedies.
Brécourt (Sc. iv)
[As the business of comedy is to represent in a general way all the faults of men, and especially of the men of our day, it is impossible for Moliere to create any character not to be met with in the world; and if he must be accused of thinking of everyone in whom are to be found the faults which he delineates he must, of course, give up writing comedies.]
Brécourt (Sc. iii, p. 203)

Moreover, Molière is not running out of material. The following quotation names all kinds of courtiers he could depict as hypocrites. They greet one another politely, only to indulge in backbiting. This tirade, a soliloquy, is a prelude to the Misanthrope, which would not be performed until 4th June 1666. Molière still has everything to say. A tirade follows, but it is too long to quote in its entirety. The full quotation has become a post entitled L’Impromptu, Sc. iv.

Attendez, il faut marquer davantage tout cet endroit, écoutez-le-moi dire un peu. «Et qu’il ne trouvera plus de matière pour… — Plus de matière! Hé, mon pauvre Marquis, nous lui en fournirons toujours assez, et nous ne prenons guère le chemin de nous rendre sages pour tout ce qu’il fait et tout ce qu’il dit. Crois-tu qu’il ait épuisé dans ses comédies tout le ridicule des hommes? Et sans sortir de la cour, n’a-t-il pas encore vingt caractères de gens où il n’a point touché? N’a-t-il pas, par exemple, ceux qui se font les plus grandes amitiés du monde, et qui le dos tourné font galanterie de se déchirer l’un l’autre? Voilà à peu près comme cela doit être joué.
Molière (Sc. iv)
[You must be more emphatic with this passage. Just listen to me for a moment. “And that he will find no more subjects for . . . No more subjects? Ah, dear Marquis, we shall always go on providing him with plenty, and we are scarcely taking the course to grow wise, for all that he can do or say. Do you imagine that he has exhausted in his comedies all the follies of men; and without leaving the Court, are there not a score of characters which he has not yet touched upon? For instance, has he not those who profess the greatest friendship possible, and who, when they turn their backs, think it a piece of gallantry to tear each other to pieces?]
Molière (Sc. 3, pp. 204-205)

Read the full quotation at L’Impromptu, Sc. iv

In Scene Five, all members of Molière’s troupe are delighted because authors have got together to write a play against Molière, entitled Le Portrait du peintre. Vengeance is expected on Molière’s part. We suspect, first, that others attack him because they see themselves in the ridiculous characters his plays depict. What we see and hear is unlikely to correspond to what is said. Second, Molière was the better playwright.  

Brécourt feels that a new play, a superior play, is the appropriate response.

Molière describes the society of his century “d’après nature.” In other words, he depicts his society realistically, which is the source of the querelle de l’École des femmes and will also be the source of Tartuffe‘ condemnation. Molière’s kwowledge of human nature brings to mind humanists such as Montaigne, l’humayne condition, and Rabelais‘ various characters.

The End of a Project

I have now written posts on every play Molière wrote. Some posts are less bilingual than others which can be remedied. I do not think, however, that I can write a full book on Molière. I no longer live near a research library and my memory is failing me. I forget the spelling of words. But my posts will be my contribution to Molière scholarship, other than articles I have written. I am glad Internet Archives published Henri van Laun’s translation of every play Molière wrote.

I have chosen music composed by Louis XIII. Louis XIII did not live with his wife, yet he fathered two children. The kings of France loved entertainment.

RELATED ARTICLES
Page on Molière
L’Impromptu, Sc. iv (11 December 2020)
L’Impromptu de Versailles, 2 (10 December 2020)
L’Impromptu de Versailles, 1 (30 November 2020)
La Critique de l’École des femmes: pleasure (20 November 2020)
La Critique de l’École des femmes: details (15 November 2020)
La Critique de l’École des femmes (10 November 2020)
Destiny in L’École des femmes (1st November 2020) (no 62)

Sources and Resources
L’Impromptu de Versailles is a toutmolière.net publication.
L’Impromptu de Versailles is an Internet Archive publication.
La Critique de l’École des femmes is a toutmolière.net publication.
The School for Wives criticised is an Internet Archive publication.
Our translator is Henri van Laun.
Wikipedia: various entries.
The Encyclopædia Britannica: various entries.

Kindest regards to all of you. 💕

Tu crois ô beau soleil par Louis XIII
J. S Grimaldi as Scaramouche

© Micheline Walker
10 December 2020
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L’Impromptu de Versailles, 2

08 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Molière

≈ Comments Off on L’Impromptu de Versailles, 2

Tags

Commedia de l'arterte, Miroirs publics, Théâtre dans le théâtre, Tiberio Fiorilli

L’Impromptu de Versailles par Edmond Hédouin (théâtre-documentation.com)
L’Impromptu de Versailles par Adolfe Lalauze (théâtre-documentation.com)

L’Impromptu de Versailles, 2

Dramatis Personæ

MOLIÈRE, marquis ridicule.
BRÉCOURT, homme de qualité.
DE LA GRANGE, marquis ridicule.
DU CROISY, poète.
LA THORILLIÈRE, marquis fâcheux.
BÉJART, homme qui fait le nécessaire.
MADEMOISELLE DU PARC, marquise façonnière.
MADEMOISELLE BÉJART, prude.
MADEMOISELLE DE BRIE, sage coquette.
MADEMOISELLE MOLIÈRE, satirique spirituelle.
MADEMOISELLE DU CROISY, peste doucereuse.
MADEMOISELLE HERVÉ, servante précieuse.

La scène est à Versailles dans la salle de la Comédie.
The scene is at Versailles in the room used for plays.

L’Impromptu de Versailles presents a problem. Scenes are uneven. I, therefore, consulted Jacques Schérer’s La Dramaturgie classique en France. Schérer’s book is the standard reference on form in seventeenth-century French drama and other dramatic works. One can combine short scenes and long scenes. First, a scene is not an act. There is no entr’acte or intermission in a one-act plays. Scene One is very long, but Scene Two is shorter. A bore, un fâcheux, whose name is La Thorillière wants to know everything about a play that is not ready. He wants to know the name of the play and if it was commissioned by Louis XIV. He knows the King has commissioned the play, but he asks. Bores will waist anyone’s time. He tells Mademoiselle du Croisy that she is lovely and that without her the comedy would be worthless:

Sans vous la comédie ne vaudrait pas grand’chose.
[Without you, the comedy would not be worth much.]
La Thorillière to Mademoiselle du Croisy (I. ii, p. 8) (I. 2, p. 200)

Molière then asks his actresses to chase away La Thorillière
Monsieur nous avons ici quelque chose à répéter ensemble.
Mademoiselle de Brie à La Thorillière
But …
Mademoiselle de Brie to La Thorillière (I. 2, p. 200)

Before leaving La Thorillière says that he will tell the King that Molière and his comedians are ready.

If we return to Scene One, where Mademoiselle Béjart reminds Molière that he once wanted to write a comedy about comedians. Why didn’t he? He could have mocked actors from l’Hôtel de Bourgogne at that time. Molière had something else in mind:

J’avais songé une comédie, où il y aurait eu un poète que j’aurais représenté moi…
I thought of a comedy in which there should have been a poet, whose part I would have taken myself,
Molière à ses comédiens ( I. i, p. 4) (I. 1, p. 194)

What Molière had in mind was being asked if he had comedians who could do justice to a script, which is what he has done his entire life as chef de troupe. As of this comment, we know that much of the comedy will be about Molière who will again be pressed, as he has always been.

Molière is then asked to imitate the actors of l’Hôtel de Bourgogne, his rivals. Their schedule is the same, so he has not seen them sufficiently to imitate them, which he goes on to do: Montfleury, Mademoiselle Beauchâteau, Hauteroche, Villiers …

Scene Three

In Sc. iii, Molière tells Molière tells La Grange that he does not want to play Molière.

Cela est bon pour toi, mais pour moi je ne veux pas être joué par Molière.
[That may do for you; but I do not wish Moliere to take me off.]
Molière à La Grange (iii, p.10) (3, p. 202)

He claims he did not play the Marquis ridicule in La Critique, which he did according to La Grange.

Quoi! tu veux soutenir que ce n’est pas toi qu’on joue dans le marquis de La Critique
[Yet I think, Marquis, that it is you he takes off in The School for Wives criticised.]
La Grange à Molière (iii, p.10/) (3, p. 202)

In the end, he admits that he indeed played the marquis ridicule. A large group of marquis ridicule are featured in Molière’s plays. They are the courtiers depicted in the Misanthrope. Climène is Arsinoé who was Célimène earlier in life.

Il est vrai c’est moi. Détestable, morbleu, détestable! Tarte à la crème. C’est moi, c’est moi, assurément, c’est moi.
[Just so; it is I. ‘Detestable; egad! detestable! Cream tart!’ Oh, it is I, it is I, assuredly it is I!]
Molière à La Grange (iii, p.10) (3, p. 202)

Je gage cent pistoles que c’est toi.
[I bet a hundred pistoles that it is you.]
La Grange à Molière (iii, p. 10) (3, p. 202)
Et moi cent pistoles que c’est toi.
[And I bet a hundred it is you.]
Molière à La Grange (iii, p. 10) (3, p. 202)

However, La Grange wants to ask an umpire to tell whether Molière played a marquis ridicule in La Critique. Brécourt will be the judge.

Scene Four

Brécourt tells La Grange and Molière that they are fools. He has heard Molière himself say that he did not depict individuals. Such is Uranie’s explanation in La Critique de l’École des femmes. Molière’s portraits are « miroirs publics » (sc. vi, near footnote 22).

Il disait que rien ne lui donnait du déplaisir, comme d’être accusé de regarder quelqu’un dans les portraits qu’il fait. Que son dessein est de peindre les mœurs sans vouloir toucher aux personnes; et que tous les personnages qu’il représente sont des personnages en l’air, et des fantômes proprement qu’il habille à sa fantaisie pour réjouir les spectateurs.
[He said that nothing annoyed him so much as to be accused of animadverting upon anyone in the portraits he drew; that his design is to paint manners without striking at individuals, and that all the characters whom he introduces are imaginary phantoms, so to speak, which he clothes according to his fancy in order to please his audience …]
Brécourt à La Grange et Molière (iv, p. 11 ) (I. 3, p. 203)

The above is a reiteration of Uranie’s thèse générale (sc vi, before footnote 24).

Molière then asks if perhaps Molière has not run of subject matter (la matière). There follows a litany of hypocritical exchanges worthy of a bilious Alceste (The Misanthrope). I will have to provide the tirade in a separate post. Molière (sc. iv, pp. 17-18) (sc. 3, pp. 204-205)

Scene Five

As Scene v begins, Mademoiselle de Brie introduces Lysidas (the pedant in La Critique) who will tell that a play has been written which les grands comédiens, actors working for l’Hôtel de Bourgogne,[1] will perform. Molière knew, but he cannot remember the full name of the playwright. The name is Boursaut, says Du Croisy, but others have lent a hand. Since authors considered Molière their greatest enemy all have got together, including Lysidas I presume. Tout le Parnasse. Several authors have written the play, but they have hidden behind the name of yet unknown author.

In Scenes vi, vii, viii, ix and x, the nécessaire/Béjart/busybody ask Molière to begin the play. In Scene xi, Béjart tells all that Louis XIV has delayed the performance and that the comedians can play a comedy they know. He is a deus ex machina, which is an acceptable way of creating a happy ending.

Tiberio Fiorilli, a note

When Molière shared the Petit-Bourbon with the Italians, he took lessons from Tiberio Fiorilli, portrayed above, Tiberio was Scaramuccia (Scaramouche). Both les Italiens (commedia dell’arte) were protégés of Monsieur Frère Unique du Roi (Philippe 1er, duc d’Orléans). The Petit-Bourbon was demolished to make room for the colonnade du Louvre, a masterpiece by architect Claude Perrault, Charles Perrault‘s brother, the author of Histoires ou contes du temps passé, or Mother Goose Tales. La Troupe du Roi, Molière’s troupe, moved to the Palais-Royal, with les Italiens. (See Tiberio Fiorilli, Wikipedia.)

In the third and final post on l’Impromptu, I will fill in a few gaps and make a few comments.

RELATED ARTICLES
Page on Molière
L’Impromptu de Versailles, 1 (30 November 2020)
La Critique de l’École des femmes: pleasure (20 November 2020)
La Critique de l’École des femmes: details (15 November 2020)
La Critique de l’École des femmes (10 November 2020)
Destiny in L’École des femmes (1st November 2020) (no 62)

Sources and Resources
L’Impromptu de Versailles is a toutmolière.net publication.
L’Impromptu de Versailles is an Internet Archive publication.
La Critique de l’École des femmes is a toutmolière.net publication.
The School for Wives criticised is an Internet Archive publication.
Our translator is Henri van Laun.
Images belong to théâtre-documentation.com (BnF).
Wikipedia: various entries.
The Encyclopædia Britannica: various entries.

____________________
[1] There were several theatres in Paris. The grands comédiens performed à l’Hôtel de Bourgogne.

Love to everyone 💕

Scaramouche (Fiorilli) teaching Élomire (Molière) his student, frontispiece to Le Boulanger de Chalussay’s attack on Molière, 1670 (Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
8 December 2020
WordPress

Micheline's Blog

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La Critique de l’École des femmes

10 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Molière

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

L'École des femmes, La Critique de l'École des femmes, Laughter, Miroirs publics, Obscénité, Prude

La Critique de l’École des femmes par François Boucher & Laurent Cars


L’École des femmes is a five-act play written at a relatively early date after Molière’s return to Paris. Molière had fled Paris after his first troupe, l’Illustre Théâtre, faced bankruptcy. L’Illustre Théâtre was founded on 30 June 1643 but, in August 1645, Molière was imprisoned briefly. After his release, he changed his name and left Paris. While touring the provinces, he was based in Pézenas, until he returned to Paris, in the late 1650s.

L’École des femmes was first performed on 26 December 1662. It is a mature play, written in alexandrine verses, which suggests Molière may have written plays while touring the provinces. A story about a suitcase has long circulated, but the suitcase has yet to be found. L’École des femmes premièred at the Palais-Royal when Molière and his comedians were la troupe de Monsieur Frère Unique du Roi, Louis XIV’s only brother, known as Monsieur. Molière’s Précieuses ridicules, first performed on 18 November 1659, was enormously successful, but L’École des femmes caused a scandal, albeit minor compared to the storm unleashed by Tartuffe ou l’Imposteur (1664). There was une Querelle de l’École des femmes.

Molière chose to respond to objections concerning l’École des femmes by writing La Critique de l’École des femmes, which premièred on 1st June 1663. The play was followed by L’Impromptu de Versailles, first performed on 14th October 1663. Both are single-act plays that Britannica calls “discussions.” In other words, neither play features a young couple or young couples whose marriage is threatened by a blocking-character.

La Critique de l’École des femmes par François Boucher & Laurent Cars

Dramatis personæ

URANIE.
ÉLISE.
CLIMÈNE.
GALOPIN, laquais.
LE MARQUIS.
DORANTE ou LE CHEVALIER.
LYSIDAS, poète.

SCENE ONE

We are at Uranie’s house. She and her cousin Élise have been alone for hours. Élise is visiting. Both Uranie and Élise have seen Molière’s L’École des femmes (The School for Wives). It would appear that the persons they know are attending a performance of Molière’s play. However, someone is at the door. It is Climène, a précieuse, and la plus grande façonnière (mannerist) du monde.

SCENE TWO

Galopin lets Climène, our précieuse, into the house. Uranie does not want to see her, but it is too late. She is still outdoors but she knows Uranie is at home.

SCENE THREE

Uranie and Élise have also seen L’École des femmes, but they have liked the play.

“Je ne suis pas si délicate, Dieu merci; et je trouve pour moi, que cette comédie serait plutôt capable de guérir les gens, que de les rendre malades.”
Uranie à Climène et Élise (Scène iii)
[I am not so delicate, thank Heaven! For my part, I fancy that this comedy would be more likely to cure folks, than to make them sick.]
Uranie to Climène and Élise (Scene 3)

Later, she will stay that:

“L’honnêteté d’une femme n’est pas dans les grimaces; et je ne vois rien de si ridicule, que cette délicatesse d’honneur, qui prend tout en mauvaise part ; donne un sens criminel aux plus innocentes paroles ; et s’offense de l’ombre des choses.”
Uranie à Climène (Scène iii)
[A woman’s modesty (honnêteté) does not consist in grimacing. It ill becomes us to be overwise. Affectation of this kind is worse than anything; and I see nothing more ridiculous than that delicate honour which takes everything amiss, gives a bad meaning to the most innocent words, and is startled at shadows.]
Uranie à Climène (Scene 3)

“Ah ! ruban, tant qu’il vous plaira; mais ce, le, où elle s’arrête, n’est pas mis pour des prunes. Il vient sur ce, le, d’étranges pensées. Ce, le, scandalise furieusement ; et quoi que vous puissiez dire, vous ne sauriez défendre l’insolence de ce, le.”
Climène à Uranie (Scene iii)
[Oh yes, the ribbon! But that “the,” when she checks herself, is not put there for nothing. Odd ideas are suggested by this “the.” That “the” is tremendously scandalous.]
Climène to Uranie (Scene 3)

La Critique de l’École des femmes par
Adolphe Lalauze (théâtre-documention.com)
La Critique de l’École des femmes par Edmond Hédouin (théâtre-documention.com)

SCENE FOUR

The Marquis arrives. He has attended a performance of L’École des femmes which he considers

“…la plus méchante chose du monde. Comment, diable! à peine ai-je pu trouver place. J’ai pensé être étouffé à la porte, et jamais on ne m’a tant marché sur les pieds. Voyez comme mes canons et mes rubans en sont ajustés, de grâce.”
Le Marquis à tous (Scène IV)
[The most wretched piece imaginable. What the deuce! I could hardly get a seat. I thought I should have been crushed to death at the door, and I was never so trampled upon. Pray see what a state my rolls and
ribbons are in!
]
The Marquis to everyone (Scene 4)

If he found himself trampled by a crowd, Molière’s play is one the public wishes to see. It is not the most wretched piece imaginable. It is a success. Irony is Molière’s main weapon is La Critique.

SCENE FIVE

When Dorante, an ancestor to Philinte, the Misanthrope‘s raisonneur, finally joins the group, le Marquis cannot substantiate his accusation. He cannot say why the play is “détestable.”

“Elle est détestable parce qu’elle est détestable.”
Le Marquis à tous (Scène v)
[It is detestable because it is detestable.]
Le Marquis to everyone (Scene 6)

The Marquis’ opinion is based on his not being able to enter the theatre. There was a crowd at the door. But worse is the laughter he heard. It cripples the play:

“Il ne faut que voir les continuels éclats de rire que le parterre y fait. Je ne veux point d’autre chose pour témoigner qu’elle ne vaut rien.”
Le Marquis (Scène V)
[You have only to mark the continual bursts of laughter from the pit. I wish no more to prove its utter worthlessness.]
Le Marquis (Scene 6)

Worse still, the Marquis has not “listened to the play.”

“Que sais-je moi ? je ne me suis pas seulement donné la peine de l’écouter. Mais enfin je sais bien que je n’ai jamais rien vu de si méchant, Dieu me damne; et Dorilas, contre qui j’étais a été de mon avis.”
Le Marquis (Scène V)
[How can I ? I did not so much as give myself the trouble to listen to it. But yet I assure you I never saw anything so wretched, as I hope to be saved ; and Dorilas, who sat opposite to me, was of my mind.]
Le Marquis to Dorante (Scene 6)

Laughter is what Molière wants to generate. L’École des femmes is a comedy. Therefore, the Marquis’ statement is extremely ironic. The Marquis is like the balloon one pricks. He is totally deflated. He will walk away saying cream tart, cream tart… Arnolphe tells Chrysalde that knowing where one uses cream tart, une tarte à la crème, is the only knowledge Agnès requires.

SCENE SIX

The poet Lysidas enters the conversation. He has liked the play, la comédie, he just saw.

“Je la trouve fort belle.”
Lysidas à tous (Scène VI)
[I think it very fine.]
Lysidas to everyone (Scene 7)

THE RULES: THE UNITIES, ETC.

Not to shock the company, Lysidas reverses his statement slighty, but convincingly. Connaisseurs do not approve of L’École des femmes. Yet, rules are not broken. Nor are they in La Critique. There is one plot, all happens in Uranie’s salon, one place, and everything happens in less than twenty-four hours. The three unities are the chief rules. They make the play credible (vraisemblance) and obscenity is in the mind of the audience (bienséances).

“Il est vrai qu’elle n’est approuvée par les connaisseurs.”
Lysidas à tous (Scene VI)
True, it is not admired by connoisseurs.
Lysidas to every one (Scene 7)

He ends up thinking it is “misérable” (wretched).

“Parbleu! tous les autres comédiens qui étaient là pour la voir en ont dit tous les maux du monde.” (Scene VI)
[Gad, all the other actors who went to see it spoke all the ill they could of it.]
Lysidas (Scene 7)

MIROIRS PUBLICS

Molière does not target one person in his satires, says Uranie. His depictions are public mirrors.

“Ce sont miroirs publics où il ne faut jamais témoigner qu’on se voie, et c’est se taxer hautement d’un défaut que se scandaliser qu’on le reprenne.”
Uranie à tous (Scène vi)
[They are public mirrors, in which we must never pretend to see ourselves. To bruit it about that we are offended at being hit, is to state openly that we are at fault.]
Uranie to everyone (Scene 7)

TRAGEDY AND COMEDY COMPARED

“Lorsque vous peignez des héros, vous faites ce que vous voulez; ce sont des portraits à plaisir, où l’on ne cherche point de ressemblance; et vous n’avez qu’à suivre les traits d’une imagination qui se donne l’essor, et qui souvent laisse le vrai pour attraper le merveilleux. Mais lorsque vous peignez les hommes, il faut peindre d’après nature; on veut que ces portraits ressemblent; et vous n’avez rien fait si vous n’y faites reconnaître les gens de votre siècle.”
Dorante à tous (Scène vi)
[These are fancy portraits, in which we do not look for a resemblance ; you have only to follow your soaring imagination, which often neglects the true in order to attain the marvellous. But when you paint men, you must paint after nature. We expect resemblance in these portraits ; you have done nothing, if you do not make us recognise the people of your day. In a word, in serious pieces, it suffices, to escape blame, to speak good sense, and to write well. But this is not enough in comedy.]
Dorante to everyone (Scene 7)

But making gentlefolk laugh is a “strange undertaking.”

“… et c’est une étrange entreprise que celle de faire rire les honnêtes gens.”
Dorante (Scène vi)
[You must be merry ; and it is a difficult undertaking to make gentle folk laugh.]
Dorance (Scene 7)

THE RULE OF RULES: TO PLEASE AND TO BE PLEASED

The great rule, the rule of rules, is to please an audience. The Marquis and Lysidas have seen people laugh.

“Je voudrais bien savoir si la grande règle de toutes les règles n’est pas de plaire; et si une pièce de théâtre qui a attrapé son but n’a pas suivi un bon chemin? Veut-on que tout un public s’abuse sur ces sortes de choses, et que chacun n’y soit pas juge du plaisir qu’il y prend? ”
Dorante à tous (Scène vi)
[I should like to know whether the great rule of all rules is not to please; and whether a play which attains this has not followed a good method ? Can the whole public be mistaken in these matters, and cannot everyone judge what pleases him?]
Dorante to everyone (Scene 7)

The rule of rules is to please. So, to appreciate a comedy, one yields to the pleasure it provides. The great rule is not only to please, but also to allow oneself to be pleased.

“Laissons-nous aller de bonne foi aux choses qui nous prennent par les entrailles, et ne cherchons point de raisonnements pour nous empêcher d’avoir du plaisir.”
Dorante à tous (Scène vi)
[Let us give ourselves up honestly to whatever stirs us deeply, and never hunt for arguments to mar our pleasure.]
(Scene 7)

All repair to the dining-room.

RELATED ARTICLES
Page on Molière
Destiny in L’École des femmes (1st November 2020) no 62

Sources and Resources
La Critique de l’École des femmes is a toutmolière.net publication
The School for Wives Criticised is an Internet Archive publication
Our translator is Henri van Laun
Images belong to théâtre-documention.com (BnF)
Wikipedia: various entries
The Encyclopædia Britannica: various entries

Love to everyone 💕

Le Roi danse, Te Deum de Lully
Molière dans le costume d’Arnolphe by Eustache Lorsay (commons.wikimedia.org)

© Micheline Walker
10 November 2020
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