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Molière’s “L’École des maris,” “The School for Husbands” (Part One)

18 Thursday Jul 2019

Posted by in Comedy, Molière

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L’École des maris was a great success for Molière, but it is a three-act farce written in verse, the twelve-syllable, or “pieds,” alexandrine verse. The play has ancient roots. It was written by Menander (born c. 342—died c. 292 BCE) and featured two brothers. Menander’s play was entitled (the) Adelphoe (The Brothers). Menander was the foremost dramatist of Greek New Comedy. According to Britannica, Menander’s “Second Adelphoe (Les Adelphes) constitutes perhaps his greatest achievement.” L’École des maris’ Greek roots may explain the use of le vers noble and, therefore the degree of tension characterizing the play. We associate the celebrated Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BCE) with Old Comedy.

Roman playwrights Terence (c. 195/185 – c. 159? BC) and Plautus were influenced by Greek comedy, but they wrote comedies which were considered erudite by Renaissance playwrights: commedia sostenuta. Terence‘s Adelphoe is rooted in Menander’s play and features two brothers. It may have been Molière main source. The play also borrows from Giovanni Boccacio’s Decameron (Book III, 3). Boccacio’s (16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) The Decameron was a main source of stories. These are plague stories devised by individuals who have fled Florence to avoid the plague.

Closer to Molière are Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza’s (1581-1639) Le Mari fait la femme (The Husband makes the Wife), Dorimond’s La Femme industrieuse (1661), Larivey’s Les Esprits (1653) and Boisrobert’s Le Comble de l’impossible (The Height of the Impossible), which borrowed from Lope de Vega.

Molière dans Sganarelle de l'école des maris (3)

Sganarelle dans L’École des maris (théâtre-documentation.com)

Our characters are:

  • Sganarelle, 40 years old (Molière)
  • Ariste, 60 years old and Sganarelle’s older brother
  • Valère, in love with Isabella
  • Ergaste, Valère’s valet
  • A Magistrate
  • A Notary
  • Isabella, in ward to Sganarelle
  • Léonor, Isabella’s sister, in ward to Ariste
  • Lisette, Leonor’s maidservant

ACT ONE

  • two brothers & two world views (Weltanshauung)
  • enters Valère, the young lover

In Act One of The School for Husbands, the spectator-reader is introduced to Molière’s two brothers and, whatever the source of the play, the brothers are Molière’s brothers and the comedy altogether Molière’s. Sganarelle will develop into The School for Wives’ Arnolphe, but he is the coarse Arnolphe and altogether selfish and cruel. He is putting  Isabelle into the service of his needs.

Il me semble, et je le dis tout haut,
Que sur un tel sujet, c’est parler comme il faut.
Vous souffrez que la vôtre, aille leste et pimpante,
Je le veux bien: qu’elle ait, et laquais, et suivante,
J’y consens: qu’elle coure, aime l’oisiveté,
Et soit des damoiseaux fleurée en liberté;
J’en suis fort satisfait; mais j’entends que la mienne,
Vive à ma fantaisie, et non pas à la sienne;
Que d’une serge honnête, elle ait son vêtement,
Et ne porte le noir, qu’aux bons jours seulement.
Qu’enfermée au logis en personne bien sage,
Elle s’applique toute aux choses du ménage;
À recoudre mon linge aux heures de loisir,
Ou bien à tricoter quelque bas par plaisir;
Qu’aux discours des muguets, elle ferme l’oreille,
Et ne sorte jamais sans avoir qui la veille.
Enfin la chair est faible, et j’entends tous les bruits,
Je ne veux point porter de cornes, si je puis,
Et comme à m’épouser sa fortune l’appelle,
Je prétends corps pour corps, pouvoir répondre d’elle.
Sganarelle à Ariste (I. ii, pp. 5-6)
[It seems to me, and I say it openly, that is the right way to speak on such a subject. You let your ward go about gaily and stylishly ; I am content. You let her have footmen and a maid; I agree. You let her gad about, love idleness, be freely courted by dandies ; I am quite satisfied. But I intend that mine shall live according to my fancy, and not according to her own ; that she shall be dressed in honest serge, and wear only black on holidays ; that, shut up in the house, prudent in bearing, she shall apply herself entirely to domestic concerns, mend my linen in her leisure hours, or else knit stockings for amusement; that she shall close her ears to the talk of young sparks, and never go out without some one to watch her. In short, flesh is weak; I know what stories are going about. I have no mind to wear horns, if I can help it ; and as her lot requires her to marry me, I mean to be as certain of her as I am of myself.]
Sganarelle to Ariste (I. 2, p. 13)

Isabelle tries to say something, but she is told to keep quiet:

Taisez-vous; Je vous apprendrai bien s’il faut sortir sans nous.
Sganarelle à Isabelle (I. ii, p. 6)
Hold your tongue; I shall teach you how to go out without us.
Sganarelle to Isabelle (I. 2, p. 13)

Moreover, Sganarelle is days away from forcing Isabelle into a marriage she loathes. Ariste and Sganarelle signed a contract that gave them the right not only to bring up their respective ward as they pleased, but also stipulated that they marry their wards. Molière has introduced the contract George Dandin brandishes claiming he has a right to his wife.

Mon Dieu, chacun raisonne, et fait comme il lui plaît.
Elles sont sans parents, et notre ami leur père,
Nous commit leur conduite à son heure dernière;
Et nous chargeant tous deux, ou de les épouser,
Ou sur notre refus un jour d’en disposer,
Sur elles par contrat, nous sut dès leur enfance,
Et de père, et d’époux donner pleine puissance;
D’élever celle-là, vous prîtes le souci,
Et moi je me chargeai du soin de celle-ci;
Selon vos volontés vous gouvernez la vôtre,
Laissez-moi, je vous prie, à mon gré régir l’autre.
Sganarelle (I. ii, p. 5)

[By Heaven! each one argues and does as he likes. They are without relatives, They are without relatives, and their father, our friend, entrusted them to us in his last hour, charging us both either to marry them, or, if we declined, to dispose of them hereafter. He gave us, in writing, the full authority of a father and a husband over them, from their infancy. You undertook to bring up that one ; I charged myself with the care of this one. You govern yours at your pleasure. Leave me, I pray, to manage the other as I think best.]
Sganarelle to Ariste (I. 2, p. 13)

Ariste has been a kind and easy-going father and, despite the contract, he is not planning a forced marriage:

Qu’il nous faut en riant instruire la jeunesse,
Reprendre ses défauts avec grande douceur,
Et du nom de vertu ne lui point faire peur;
Mes soins pour Léonor ont suivi ces maximes,
Des moindres libertés je n’ai point fait des crimes,
À ses jeunes désirs j’ai toujours consenti,
Et je ne m’en suis point, grâce au Ciel, repenti;
J’ai souffert qu’elle ait vu les belles compagnies,
Les divertissements, les bals, les comédies;
Ce sont choses, pour moi, que je tiens de tout temps,
Fort propres à former l’esprit des jeunes gens;
Et l’école du monde en l’air dont il faut vivre,
Instruit mieux à mon gré que ne fait aucun livre:
Elle aime à dépenser en habits, linge, et nœuds,
Que voulez-vous, je tâche à contenter ses vœux,
Et ce sont des plaisirs qu’on peut dans nos familles,
Lorsque l’on a du bien, permettre aux jeunes filles.
Un ordre paternel l’oblige à m’épouser;
Mais mon dessein n’est pas de la tyranniser,
Je sais bien que nos ans ne se rapportent guère,
Et je laisse à son choix liberté tout entière,
Si quatre mille écus de rente bien venants,
Une grande tendresse, et des soins
Si quatre mille écus de rente bien venants,
Une grande tendresse, et des soins complaisants,
Peuvent à son avis pour un tel mariage,
Réparer entre nous l’inégalité d’âge;
Elle peut m’épouser, sinon choisir ailleurs,
Je consens que sans moi ses destins soient meilleurs,
Et j’aime mieux la voir sous un autre hyménée,
Que si contre son gré sa main m’était donnée.
Ariste à tous (I. ii, p. 8)
[Have it so; but still I maintain that we should instruct youth pleasantly, chide their faults with great tenderness, and not make them afraid of the name of virtue. Leonor’s education has been based on these maxims. I have not made crimes of the smallest acts of liberty, I have always assented to her youthful wishes, and, thank Heaven, I never repented of it. I have allowed her to see good company, to go to amusements, balls, plays. These are things which, for my part, I think are calculated to form the minds of the young; the world is a school which, in my opinion, teaches them better how to live than any book. Does she like to spend money on clothes, linen, ribands what then? I endeavour to gratify her wishes; these are pleasures which, when we are well-off, we may permit to the girls of our family. Her father’s command requires her to marry me; but it is not my intention to tyrannize over her. I am quite aware that our years hardly suit, and I leave her complete liberty of choice. If a safe income of four thousand crowns a-year, great affection and consideration for her, may, in her opinion, counterbalance in marriage the inequality of our age, she may take me for her husband; if not she may choose elsewhere. If she can be happier without me, I do not object; I prefer to see her with another husband rather than that her hand should be given to me against her will.]
Ariste to all (I. 2, pp. 14-15)

l'école des maris 4

L’École des maris (théâtre-documentation.com)

Valère

In fact, far from teaching Isabelle obedience, privations and confinement have prepared her to flee at any cost. As for Sganarelle, he has acted much as the School for Wives’ Arnolphe will. He has kept Agnès away from the world believing she would be a loving wife and never turn him into a cuckold.

Agnès will grow into a woman and fall in love when she meets Horace, as does the School for Husband’s Isabelle when she meets Valère. A scientist must be methodical, but we cannot separate reason from instinct, or intuition.

Well, although Isabelle has received very little education and has not been exposed to the world, she uses Sganarelle himself as the means of contacting Valère and escaping. Sganarelle is about to force Isabelle into a marriage with a man she loathes, so she uses the means to justify the end. Both Ariste and Sganarelle have a right to marry their wards, Ariste, however would not coerce Leonor into marrying him.

However, Isabelle will find a way to speak to Valère and, ironically, she will use
Sganarelle to the young man she has seen and is attracted to. Their eyes have spoken for four months.

At the end of Act One, Valère and his valet, Ergaste, return to their home to dream up a stratagem that will liberate Isabelle.

What am I to do to rid myself of this vast difficulty, and to learn whether the fair one has perceived that I love her ? Tell me some means or other.
Valère to Ergaste (I. 6. p. 19)
That is what we have to discover.
Let us go in for a while the better to think over.
Ergaste to Valère (I. 6. p. 19)

I will break here and go through the plot in my next post. Molière’s L’École des maris is considered a comédie d’intrigue: twists and turns. Until now, it has been a comedy of manners (une comédie de mœurs): two conflicting views on how to raise a young woman have been expressed. We will now see how an extremely clever Isabelle frees herself, with a little help for Léonor, and uses Sganarelle to achieve her goal.

Sources and Resources

_________________________
[1] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Menander
Encyclopædia Britannica (last edited February 05, 2019)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Menander-Greek-dramatist
(accessed July 17, 2019)

Love to everyone 💕

J’avois crû qu’en vous aymant. Brunete (Paris, 1703)
Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien (dir. François Lazarevitch)
Claire Lefilliâtre (soprano)

l'école des maris par Desenne (3)

L’École des maris, Gravure Desenne (théâtre-documentation.com) BnF

© Micheline Walker
19 July 2019
WordPress

 

 

Molière’s “Forced Marriage,” “Le Mariage forcé”

07 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by in Comédie-Ballet, Comedy, Molière

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Dorimène (Le mariage forcé)

Dorimène, Le Mariage forcé (théâtre.documentation)

Le Mariage forcé

Molière and Lully’s Le Mariage forcé (The Forced Marriage), is a farce and a comédie-ballet, in prose. It was first performed on 29 January 1664 in the Queen Mother’s apartments, at the Louvre. On 15 February 1664, it was performed at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, where it proved less popular. It closed after 12 performances. It was performed again on 12 May 1664 during festivities known as Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée, The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island. Louis XIV wanted to show Versailles at an early date. He had hired architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun. These gentlemen had built Nicolas Fouquet‘s castle at Vaux-le-Vicomte. Molière’s La Princesse d’Élide and Tartuffe also premièred during Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée, on 8 May 1664. In its original form, The Forced Marriage was a three-act comédie-ballet, by Molière and Lully It did not use figures from a mythology in which it differed from earlier comédies-ballets. At Versailles, King Louis XIV and other aristocrats performed in the comedy. In 1664, Louis was very much in love with Louise de La Vallière who lived at Versailles, in the small castle used as a hunting-lodge by the very private Louis XIII.

Molière transformed Le Mariage forcé into a one-act play in 1668, which is Le Mariage forcé as we know it. However, it was reborn as a comédie-ballet in 1672. Lully having broken with Molière, the music was composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

In his Preface to the Forced Marriage, Henri van Laun provides information concerning the posterity of the play. Sganarelle is Sir Toby Doubtful in Love’s Contrivance, a play by Mrs. Carroll, born Susanna Centlivre (c. 1667–1670 – 1 December 1723).

Parnurge_par_Alfred_Albert

Panurge by Albrecht Dürer (BnF)

Origins

  • other
  • Gallic
  • Rabelais
  • pedants & philosophy: Aristotle and Pyrrho (doubt)

Although Molière drew some of his material from Spanish author Lope de Vega’s Intermède du sacristain [sacristan] Soguizo, and Giordano Bruno’s[1] Candelaio, or The Candle Bearer, entitled Boniface et le Pédant in French, Le Mariage forcé belongs mainly to a French tradition.

The Forced Marriage is rooted primarily in Rabelais‘ Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Third of Five Books [EBook #1200]. Molière’s Sganarelle reminds us of Panurge, as featured in Chapter Three of the Third Book of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

 How Panurge asketh counsel of Pantagruel whether he should marry, yea, or no. 

Affinities between Molière and Rabelais leap off the page, and so does Pantagruel’s advice to Panurge. Pantagruel urges Panurge not to marry, which is Géronimo’s initial response, until he learns that Sganarelle has obtained permission to marry Dorimène from Alcantor, her father. In the Third Book, Panurge has decided to marry, but revisits his decision. In Rabelais’ Third Book, Panurge also seeks the advice of Trouillogan, the model for Molière’s Marphurius, a Pyrrhonian philosopher, and a pedant. He prefigures The Learned Ladies, or Femmes savantes‘ Trissotin and Vadius. The mouton de Panurge is featured in the fourth of five books constituting Pantagruel and Gargantua. A mouton de Panurge, “describes an individual that will blindly follow others regardless of the consequences.” (See Panurge, Wiki2.org.) We cannot exclude Sganarelle.

Molière’s Mariage Forcé also has affinities with Guez de Balzac’s Socrate chrétien. Théophile de Viau’s Fragments d’une histoire comique, Dorimond’s L’École des cocus (the School for Cuckolds), and Charles Sorel’s Polyandre (see polyandry, Wiki2.org). These are 17th-century French authors.[2]

 

Gravure Lalauze (théâtre.documention)
Le Mariage forcé (théâtre.documentation)

 

Gravure Edmond Hédouin
Moreau le Jeune

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

SGANARELLE. (Molière)
GÉRONIMO.
ALCANTOR, father to Dorimène.
ALCIDAS, brother to Dorimène.
LYCASTE, in love with Dorimène.
PANCRACE, an Aristotelian Philosopher.
MARPHURIUS, a Pyrrhonian Philosopher.
DORIMÈNE, a young coquette betrothed to Sganarelle.
Two GIPSIES.
The Scene is in a Public Place.

The Plot

  • Dorimène surprises us
  • la race des Sganarelles

Scene One of Le Mariage Forcé, Sganarelle, Molière’s mask, wants to know from his friend Géronimo whether he should marry. Sganarelle has already sought and obtained from Dorimène’s father, Alcantor, permission to marry Dorimène. Alcantor has agreed. In his mind, the mind of a pater familias, le Seigneur Sganarelle, a well-to-do 53-year-old gentleman, is a perfect match for his daughter.

However, Dorimène surprises us. One would expect her to oppose her tyrannical father, but she differs from other ingénues, forced to marry or be thrown in a convent. Young Dorimène is une mondaine who thinks a marriage to Sganarelle will allow her to escape her father. When she and Sganarelle meet in Scene II, she makes it clear that she wishes to be free. In fact, as we will see later, she has a lover, Lycaste, who cannot understand why she is marrying Sganarelle. She reassures Lycaste. Sganarelle is an older gentleman who has no more than six months “in his belly.” She wants to be a widow, the privileged women of 17th-century France. Widows were free to marry whom they pleased, or not to marry. Le Misanthrope‘s Célimène is a widow.

Yet, although arrangements are being made for Dorimène to marry Sganarelle that very day, Sganarelle would like to discuss marriage with his friend Géronimo, which should have happened earlier. When Géronimo learns that the bride-to-be is the lovely Dorimène and that she is not opposing Alcantor, her father, Géronimo has little left to do than exclaim:

Mariez-vous promptement; je ne dis plus rien.
Géronimo to Sganarelle (Scene I, p. 9)
[Make haste and get married.]
Géronimo to Sganarelle (Scene Four, p. 227)

The most amusing lines of Scene One are Sganarelle’s:

Outre la joie que j’aurai de posséder une belle femme, qui me fera mille caresses; qui me dorlotera, et me viendra frotter, lorsque je serai las; outre cette joie, dis-je, je considère, qu’en demeurant comme je suis, je laisse périr dans le monde la race [3] des Sganarelles; et qu’en me mariant, je pourrai me voir revivre en d’autres moi-mêmes… [4]
Sganarelle à Géronimo (Scene I, p. 8)
[Besides the pleasures I shall have in possessing a wife to fondle me when I am tired; besides this pleasure, I consider that, by remaining as I am, I suffer the race of the Sganarelles to become extinct ; whilst, by marrying, I may see myself reproduced, and shall have the joy of seeing children sprung from me…
Sganarelle to Géronimo (Scene Two, p.  226)

Marriage and Marriage

Matters change. Sganarelle believed he would own Dorimène:

Hé bien, ma belle, c’est maintenant que nous allons être heureux l’un et l’autre. Vous ne serez plus en droit de me rien refuser; …
Sganarelle à Dorimène (Scène II, pp. 9-10)
[Well, my dear, both of us are going to be happy now. You will no longer have a right to refuse me anything; and I can do with you just as I please, without any one being shocked. You will be mine from head to foot, and I shall be master of everything, of your little sparkling eyes, your little roguish nose, your tempting lips, your lovely ears, your pretty little chin, your little round breasts, your … ]
Sganarelle to Dorimène (Scene Four, pp. 227-228)

Dorimène, however, wants to escape her father’s tyranny and would not accept to marry a tyrannical Sganarelle. Two contrary discourses are juxtaposed. The second all be erases the first. Sganarelle realizes that he has made a mistake.

Tout à fait aise, je vous jure: car enfin la sévérité de mon père m’a tenue jusques ici dans une sujétion la plus fâcheuse du monde. Il y a je ne sais combien que j’enrage du peu de liberté, qu’il me donne; et j’ai cent fois souhaité qu’il me mariât, pour sortir promptement de la contrainte, où j’étais avec lui, et me voir en état de faire ce que je voudrai.
Dorimène à Sganarelle (Scene II, p. 10)
[Immensely glad, I assure you. For, indeed, my father’s severity has kept me hitherto in the most grievous subjection. I have been raging, I do not know how long, at the scanty liberty he allows me ; I have wished a hundred times that he would get me a husband, so that I might quickly escape from the durance in which I have been kept by him, and be able to do as I pleased.
Dorimène to Sganarelle (Scene Four, pp. 228-229)

The Dream

In Scene Three (FR), Géronimo returns. He has found a jeweler who has a beautiful diamond for sale. Sganarelle is no longer so eager to marry. He would like to confide that he has had a dream:

Avant que de passer plus avant, je voudrais bien agiter à fond cette matière; et que l’on m’expliquât un songe que j’ai fait cette nuit, et qui vient tout à l’heure de me revenir dans l’esprit.
Sganarelle à Géronimo (Scene III, p. 11)
[Before going farther I wish to sift this matter to the bottom, and to have interpreted to me a dream which I had last night, and which just recurred to me.]
Sganarelle to Géronimo (Scene Five, p. 229)

Dreams are mentioned in Rabelais.

Trouillogan : [estampe] ([Fumé]) / G. Doré

Trouillogan by Gustave Doré (BnF)

Pancrace and Marphurius (Trouillogan)

In Scene Three (FR), Géronimo returns. He has found a jeweller who has a beautiful diamond for sale. Sganarelle is no longer so eager to marry. He would like to confide that he has had a dream:

Avant que de passer plus avant, je voudrais bien agiter à fond cette matière; et que l’on m’expliquât un songe que j’ai fait cette nuit, et qui vient tout à l’heure de me revenir dans l’esprit.
Sganarelle à Géronimo (Scene Three, p. 11)
[Before going farther I wish to sift this matter to the bottom, and to have interpreted to me a dream which I had last night, and which just recurred to me.]
Sganarelle to Géronimo (Scene Five, p. 229)

Pancrace & Marphurius

Géronimo is too busy, so he asks Sganarelle to speak to his neighbours: Pancrace, an Aristotelian philosopher and Marphurius, a Pyrrhonean philosoper. Sganarelle fears cuckolding. It so happens that Pancrace is also busy. He is wondering whether one should use the word “form” or “figure” concerning the shape of a hat. Moreover, Sganarelle pressures Pancrace a little. Pancrace nevertheless delays the process by asking Sganarelle which tongue he will use. Sganarelle says that he will use the tongue (la langue) in his mouth, but Pancrace means “language” (la langue). Matters deteriorate, so Sganarelle leaves.

Parbleu, de la langue que j’ai dans la bouche; je crois que je n’irai pas
emprunter celle de mon voisin.
Sganarelle à Pancrace (Scene IV, p. 15)
[Zounds! The tongue I have in my mouth.]
Sganarelle to Pancrace (Scene Six, p. 232)

So, as of “Zounds,” matters truly deteriorate. Sganarelle leaves. (I am not discussing the quotations in Latin.)

Sganarelle then visits another neighbour, a Pyrrhonian skeptic. This character reflects Sganarelle’s uncertainty and adds to his distress. Doubt has entered Sganarelle’s mind and matters will not improve. When Sganarelle says: “[I]t seems to me,” (il me semble que), Marphurius corrects him. “Me” expresses certainty, which is wrong.  “Nous devons douter de tout” (we must doubt everything), says Marphurius. Sganarelle is so frustrated that he ends up hitting Marphurius with a stick and speaks Marphurius’ language:

Corrigez, s’il vous plaît, cette manière de parler. Il faut douter de toutes choses; et vous ne devez pas dire que je vous ai battu; mais qu’il vous semble que je vous ai battu.
Sganarelle à Marphurius (Scène V, p. 22)
[Pray, correct this manner of speaking. We are to doubt everything; and you ought not to say that I have beaten you, but that it seems I have beaten you.]
Sganarelle to Marphurius (Scene Ten, p. 238)

Marphurius is Rabelais’ Trouillogan. He doubts everything (Chapter 3.XXXV)

 How the philosopher Trouillogan handleth the difficulty of marriage.

Sganarelle has entered a cul-de-sac.

Cuckoldry and Widowhood

Le Mariage Forcé was a comédie-ballet, with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Unlike other comédies-ballets, Le Mariage forcé did not use characters inhabiting mythologies. In Scene Twelve, Sganarelle asks three Égyptiennes (Gypsies) whether he will be cuckolded.

In Scene Twelve, Lycaste, who loves Dorimène, wonders why she is marrying Sganarelle. She reassures him. Not only will she be free, but she expects Sganarelle to die within a few months. She looks forward to widowhood. In 17th-century France, widowhood freed women who have married against their will.

Je vous le garantis défunt dans le temps que je dis; et je n’aurai pas longuement à demander pour moi au Ciel, l’heureux état de veuve.
Dorimène à Lycaste (Scene XII, p. 25)
[I guarantee that he is dead in the time I say. I shall not long have to pray Heaven for the happy state of widowhood.]
Dorimène to Lycaste (Scene Twelve, p. 240)

Sganarelle has heard everything. Lycaste gets away as does Dom Juan. Dom Juan’s father, Dom Louis tell his son that “la naissance n’est rien où la vertu n’est pas,” IV. iv (Birth is nothing without virtue, IV. 4).  Dom Juan’s response is appalling. He invites his father to sit down so he will be more comfortable. Dom Louis is speechless. Lycaste’s obsequious response to Sganarelle, also leaves Sganarelle speechless. It is formulaic.

Agréez, Monsieur, que je vous félicite de votre mariage, et vous présente en même temps mes très humbles services. Je vous assure que vous épousez là une très honnête personne.
Lycaste à Sganarelle (Scene VII, p. 25)
[Allow me, sir, to congratulate you on your marriage, and at the same time to offer you my most humble services. Let me tell you that the lady, whom you are marrying, possesses great merits…]
Lycaste to Sganarelle (Scene Twelve, p. 240)

Lycaste then goes away, having silenced Sganarelle.

A Forced Marriage

The remaining scenes feature Dorimène’s family. Alcantor will not allow Sganarelle to roll back his promise to marry Dorimène.

Seigneur Alcantor, j’ai demandé votre fille en mariage, il est vrai; et vous me l’avez accordée: mais je me trouve un peu avancé en âge pour elle; et je considère que je ne suis point du tout son fait.
Sganarelle à Alcantor (Scene VIII, p. 27)
[Mr. Alcantor, it is true I asked your daughter in marriage, and you granted my request; but I find that I am rather old ; I think that I am by no means a proper match for her.]
Sganarelle to Alcantor (Scene Fourteen, p. 241)

Vous vous êtes engagé avec moi, pour épouser ma fille; et tout est préparé pour cela. Mais puisque vous voulez retirer votre parole, je vais voir ce qu’il y a à faire; et vous aurez bientôt de mes nouvelles.
Alcantor à Sganarelle (Scene VIII, p. 28)
[You gave me your word that you would marry my daughter, and everything is prepared for the wedding; but since you wish to withdraw, I shall go and see what can be done in the matter; you shall hear from me presently.]
Alcantor to Sganarelle (Scene Fourteen, p. 242)

During Scene IX, Sganarelle refuses to fight Alcidas, Dorimène’s brother, who has brought swords. In the end, Sganarelle is compelled to marry.

Hé bien! j’épouserai, j’épouserai…
Sganarelle à Alcidas  (Scene IX, p. 30)
Well then, I will marry, I will marry!
Sganarelle to Alcidas (Scene Fourteen, p. 244)

 

Sganarelle (www.cosmovisions.coms.com)
Sganarelle (Wikipedia)

Conclusion

The Forced Marriage turns matters upside down:

  • Sganarelle makes wedding arrangements before seeking advice from Géronimo, or taking matters into consideration.
  • An older gentleman is forced to marry.
  • Dorimène is pleased to marry a senex iratus. She will be a widow.
  • Sganarelle is a cocu (cuckolded) before he marries.
  • Our philosophers have long left reality. Molière has created Les Femmes savantes‘ Trissotin and Vadius.

We are therefore reminded of Mikhail Bakhtin’s Rabelais and His World: carnival and grotesque. We are also reminded of the comic genre’s plasticity. It isn’t always an “all’s well  that ends well,” a tout est bien qui finit bien. And we are not dealing with Rabelais’ giants.

Floating just below the surface of this play is the farcical trompeur trompé, the deceiver deceived. How can Lycaste ever trust Dorimène? The extremely polite manner he uses to greet Sganarelle could be read as a criticism of Dorimène’s ploy. It is “affected.” As for Dorimène, she is her own senex iratus and will not change. Besides, destiny rules. She should be prepared to love the husband she has married and to give birth to a petit Sganarelle.

The play also features pedants. Pancrace’s pursuit of a correct term, forme or figure, for the shape of hats is trivial. As for Marphurius, he is Rabelais Trouillogan (See Chapter 3, XXXVI) in Gutenberg’s [EBook #1200])

I am leaving behind the comédie-ballet, as written and composed in 1664. This post is already too long. But it is interesting to know that at Versailles, the King and aristocrats played roles in the comédie-ballet.

Poor Sganarelle!

Sources and Resources

____________________

[1] Giordano Bruno was tortured and burned at the stake by the Inquisition. Among other notions, Bruno perceived the plurality of worlds, as would French philosophe Fontenelle, a century later.
[2] Maurice Rat, ed., Œuvres complètes de Molière (Paris: Gallimard, collection La Pléiade, 1956), pp. 878-884.
[3] In the French language race means race, breed, and, occasionally, line.
[4] Cf. Rabelais.

Love to everyone 💕

This post did not reach all of my readers.  Hence, the second edition and revisions.

Baroque Music – Bourrée du Mariage Forcé (Jean-Baptiste Lully)

© Micheline Walker
5 July 2019
WordPress

Molière’s “Forced Marriage,” “Le Mariage forcé”

05 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Comédie-Ballet, Comedy, Molière

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Dorimène (Le mariage forcé)

Dorimène, Le Mariage forcé (théâtre.documentation)

Le Mariage forcé

Molière and Lully’s Le Mariage forcé (The Forced Marriage), is a farce and a comédie-ballet, in prose. It was first performed on 29 January 1664 in the Queen Mother’s apartments, at the Louvre. On 15 February 1664, it was performed at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, where it proved less popular. It closed after 12 performances. It was performed again on 12 May 1664 during festivities known as Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée, The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island. Louis XIV wanted to show Versailles at an early date. He had hired architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun. These gentlemen had built Nicolas Fouquet‘s castle at Vaux-le-Vicomte. Molière’s La Princesse d’Élide and Tartuffe also premièred during Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée, on 8 May 1664. In its original form, The Forced Marriage was a three-act comédie-ballet, by Molière and Lully It did not use figures from a mythology, in which it differed from earlier comédies-ballets. At Versailles, King Louis XIV and other aristocrats performed in the comedy. In 1664, Louis was very much in love with Louise de La Vallière who lived at Versailles, in the small castle used as a hunting-lodge by the very private Louis XIII.

Molière transformed Le Mariage forcé into a one-act play in 1668, which is Le Mariage forcé as we know it. However, it was reborn as a comédie-ballet in 1672. Lully having broken with Molière, the music was composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

In his Preface to the Forced Marriage, Henri van Laun provides information concerning the posterity of the play. Sganarelle is Sir Toby Doubtful in Love’s Contrivance, a play by Mrs. Carroll, born Susanna Centlivre (c. 1667–1670 – 1 December 1723).

Parnurge_par_Alfred_Albert

Panurge by Albrecht Dürer (BnF)

Origins

  • other
  • Gallic
  • Rabelais
  • pedants & philosophy: Aristotle and Pyrrho (doubt)

Although Molière drew some of his material from Spanish author Lope de Vega’s Intermède du sacristain [sacristan] Soguizo, and Giordano Bruno’s[1] Candelaio, or The Candle Bearer, entitled Boniface et le Pédant in French, Le Mariage forcé belongs mainly to a French tradition.

The Forced Marriage is rooted primarily in Rabelais‘ Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Third of Five Books [EBook #1200]. Molière’s Sganarelle reminds us of Panurge, as featured in Chapter Three of the Third Book (of Five) of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

 How Panurge asketh counsel of Pantagruel whether he should marry, yea, or no. 

Affinities between Molière and Rabelais leap off the page, and so does Pantagruel’s advice to Panurge. Pantagruel urges Panurge not to marry, which is Géronimo’s initial response, until he learns that Sganarelle has obtained permission to marry Dorimène from Alcantor, her father. In the Third Book, Panurge has decided to marry, but revisits his decision. In Rabelais’ Third Book, Panurge also seeks the advice of Trouillogan, the model for Molière’s Marphurius, a Pyrrhonian philosopher and a pedant. He prefigures The Learned Ladies, or Femmes savantes‘ Trissotin and Vadius. The mouton de Panurge is featured in the fourth of five books constituting Pantagruel and Gargantua. A mouton de Panurge, “describes an individual that will blindly follow others regardless of the consequences.” (See Panurge, Wiki2.org.) We cannot exclude Sganarelle.

Molière’s Mariage Forcé also has affinities with Guez de Balzac’s Socrate chrétien. Théophile de Viau’s Fragments d’une histoire comique, Dorimond’s L’École des cocus (the School for Cuckolds), and Charles Sorel’s Polyandre (see polyandry, Wiki2.org). These are 17th-century French authors.[2]

 

Gravure Lalauze (théâtre.documention)
Le Mariage forcé (théâtre.documentation)
Gravure Edmond Hédouin
Moreau le Jeune

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

SGANARELLE. (Molière)
GÉRONIMO.
ALCANTOR, father to Dorimène.
ALCIDAS, brother to Dorimène.
LYCASTE, in love with Dorimène.
PANCRACE, an Aristotelian Philosopher.
MARPHURIUS, a Pyrrhonian Philosopher.
DORIMÈNE, a young coquette betrothed to Sganarelle.
Two GIPSIES.
The Scene is in a Public Place.

The Plot

  • Dorimène surprises us
  • la race des Sganarelles

Scene One of Le Mariage Forcé, Sganarelle, Molière’s mask, wants to know from his friend Géronimo whether he should marry. Sganarelle has already sought and obtained from Dorimène’s father, Alcantor, permission to marry Dorimène. Alcantor has agreed. In his mind, the mind of a pater familias, le Seigneur Sganarelle, a well-to-do 53-year-old gentleman, is a perfect match for his daughter.

However, Dorimène surprises us. One would expect her to oppose her tyrannical father, but she differs from other ingénues, who are forced to marry or be thrown in a convent. Young Dorimène is une mondaine who thinks a marriage to Sganarelle will allow her to escape her father. When she and Sganarelle meet in Scene II, she makes it clear that she wishes to be free. In fact, as we will see later, she has a lover, Lycaste, who cannot understand why she is marrying Sganarelle. She reassures Lycaste. Sganarelle is an older gentleman who has no more than six months “in his belly.” She wants to be a widow who were  privileged women in 17th-century France. Widows were free to marry whom they pleased, or not to marry. Le Misanthrope‘s Célimène is a widow.

Yet, although arrangements are being made for Dorimène to marry Sganarelle that very day, Sganarelle would like to discuss marriage with his friend Géronimo, which should have happened earlier. When Géronimo learns that the bride-to-be is the lovely Dorimène and that she is not opposing Alcantor, her father, Géronimo has little left to do than exclaim:

Mariez-vous promptement; je ne dis plus rien.
Géronimo to Sganarelle (Scene I, p. 9)
[Make haste and get married.]
Géronimo to Sganarelle (Scene Four, p. 227)

The most amusing lines of Scene One are Sganarelle’s:

Outre la joie que j’aurai de posséder une belle femme, qui me fera mille caresses; qui me dorlotera, et me viendra frotter, lorsque je serai las; outre cette joie, dis-je, je considère, qu’en demeurant comme je suis, je laisse périr dans le monde la race [3] des Sganarelles; et qu’en me mariant, je pourrai me voir revivre en d’autres moi-mêmes… [4]
Sganarelle à Géronimo (Scene I, p. 8)
[Besides the pleasures I shall have in possessing a wife to fondle me when I am tired; besides this pleasure, I consider that, by remaining as I am, I suffer the race of the Sganarelles to become extinct ; whilst, by marrying, I may see myself reproduced, and shall have the joy of seeing children sprung from me…
Sganarelle to Géronimo (Scene Two, p.  226)

Marriage and Marriage

Matters change. Sganarelle believed he would own Dorimène:

Hé bien, ma belle, c’est maintenant que nous allons être heureux l’un et l’autre. Vous ne serez plus en droit de me rien refuser; …
Sganarelle à Dorimène (Scène II, pp. 9-10)
[Well, my dear, both of us are going to be happy now. You will no longer have a right to refuse me anything; and I can do with you just as I please, without any one being shocked. You will be mine from head to foot, and I shall be master of everything, of your little sparkling eyes, your little roguish nose, your tempting lips, your lovely ears, your pretty little chin, your little round breasts, your … ]
Sganarelle to Dorimène (Scene Four, pp. 227-228)

Dorimène, however, wants to escape her father’s tyranny and would not accept to marry a tyrannical Sganarelle. Two contrary discourses are juxtaposed. The second all be erases the first. Sganarelle realizes that he has made a mistake.

Tout à fait aise, je vous jure: car enfin la sévérité de mon père m’a tenue jusques ici dans une sujétion la plus fâcheuse du monde. Il y a je ne sais combien que j’enrage du peu de liberté, qu’il me donne; et j’ai cent fois souhaité qu’il me mariât, pour sortir promptement de la contrainte, où j’étais avec lui, et me voir en état de faire ce que je voudrai.
Dorimène à Sganarelle (Scene II, p. 10)
[Immensely glad, I assure you. For, indeed, my father’s severity has kept me hitherto in the most grievous subjection. I have been raging, I do not know how long, at the scanty liberty he allows me ; I have wished a hundred times that he would get me a husband, so that I might quickly escape from the durance in which I have been kept by him, and be able to do as I pleased.
Dorimène to Sganarelle (Scene Four, pp. 228-229)

The Dream

In Scene Three (FR), Géronimo returns. He has found a jeweler who has a beautiful diamond for sale. Sganarelle is no longer so eager to marry. He would like to confide that he has had a dream:

Avant que de passer plus avant, je voudrais bien agiter à fond cette matière; et que l’on m’expliquât un songe que j’ai fait cette nuit, et qui vient tout à l’heure de me revenir dans l’esprit.
Sganarelle à Géronimo (Scene III, p. 11)
[Before going farther I wish to sift this matter to the bottom, and to have interpreted to me a dream which I had last night, and which just recurred to me.]
Sganarelle to Géronimo (Scene Five, p. 229)

The dream also occurs in Rabelais.

Trouillogan : [estampe] ([Fumé]) / G. Doré

Trouillogan by Gustave Doré (BnF)

Pancrace and Marphurius (Trouillogan)

Géronimo is too busy to converse. So, he urges Sganarelle to speak to Pancrace, an Aristotelian philosopher, and to Marphurius, a skeptic. Sganarelle fears cuckolding. Unfortunately, Pancrace is also busy. He is wondering whether one should use the word “form” or “figure” concerning the shape of a hat. Moreover, Sganarelle pressures Pancrace a little. Pancrace delays matters by asking Sganarelle, which tongue he will use. The tongue (la langue) in his mouth, exclaims Sganarelle, but Pancrace means “language” (la langue):

Parbleu, de la langue que j’ai dans la bouche; je crois que je n’irai pas
emprunter celle de mon voisin.
Sganarelle à Pancrace (Scene IV, p. 15)
[Zounds! The tongue I have in my mouth.]
Sganarelle to Pancrace (Scene Six, p. 232)

Therefore, as of “Zounds,” matters truly deteriorate. Sganarelle leaves. (I am not discussing the quotations in Latin.)

Sganarelle then visits another neighbour, a Pyrrhonian skeptic. This character reflects Sganarelle’s uncertainty and adds to his distress. Doubt further enters Sganarelle’s mind. When Sganarelle says “it seems to me,” (il me semble que), Marphurius corrects him. “Me” expresses certainty, but, says Marphurius, “[n]ous devons douter de tout” (we must doubt everything). Sganarelle is so frustrated that he ends up hitting Marphurius with a stick. Marphurius is defenceless. Sganarelle turns himself into a skeptic, mocking Marphurius:

Corrigez, s’il vous plaît, cette manière de parler. Il faut douter de toutes choses; et vous ne devez pas dire que je vous ai battu; mais qu’il vous semble que je vous ai battu.
Sganarelle à Marphurius (Scène V, p. 22)
[Pray, correct this manner of speaking. We are to doubt everything; and you ought not to say that I have beaten you, but that it seems I have beaten you.]
Sganarelle to Marphurius (Scene Ten, p. 238)

Marphurius is Rabelais’ Trouillogan. He doubts everything (Chapter 3.XXXV)

 How the philosopher Trouillogan handleth the difficulty of marriage.

Sganarelle has entered a cul-de-sac.

Cuckoldry and Widowhood

Let us remember that Le Mariage Forcé was a comédie-ballet, with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully. However, unlike other comédies-ballets, Le Mariage forcé did not use characters inhabiting mythologies. In Scene Twelve, the ballet, Sganarelle asks three Égyptiennes (Gypsies) whether he will be cuckolded.

In Scene Twelve, comedy, Lycaste, who loves Dorimène, wonders why she is marrying Sganarelle. She reassures him. Not only will she be free, but she expects Sganarelle to die within a few months. She is looking forward to widowhood. In 17th-century France, widowhood freed women who had married against their will.

Je vous le garantis défunt dans le temps que je dis; et je n’aurai pas longuement à demander pour moi au Ciel, l’heureux état de veuve.
Dorimène à Lycaste (Scene XII, p. 25)
[I guarantee that he is dead in the time I say. I shall not long have to pray Heaven for the happy state of widowhood.]
Dorimène to Lycaste (Scene Twelve, p. 240)

Sganarelle, who was nearby, but unseen, has heard the conversation. He appears as Lycaste is leaving. Lycaste does as Dom Juan will do. Dom Juan’s father, Dom Louis, tells his son that:

La naissance n’est rien où la vertu n’est pas.
Dom Louis (IV. iv)
[Birth is nothing without virtue.]
Don Louis (IV. 4)

Dom Juan does not answer. He simply invites his father to sit down to be more comfortable. This is formulaic, as is Lycaste’s obsequious:

Agréez, Monsieur, que je vous félicite de votre mariage, et vous présente en même temps mes très humbles services. Je vous assure que vous épousez là une très honnête personne.
Lycaste à Sganarelle (Scene VII, p. 25)
[Allow me, sir, to congratulate you on your marriage, and at the same time to offer you my most humble services. Let me tell you that the lady, whom you are marrying, possesses great merits…]
Lycaste to Sganarelle (Scene Twelve, p. 240)

Lycaste then goes away, having silenced Sganarelle.

A Forced Marriage

The remaining scenes feature Dorimène’s family. Alcantor will not allow Sganarelle to roll back his promise to marry Dorimène:

Seigneur Alcantor, j’ai demandé votre fille en mariage, il est vrai; et vous me l’avez accordée: mais je me trouve un peu avancé en âge pour elle; et je considère que je ne suis point du tout son fait.
Sganarelle à Alcantor (Scene VIII, p. 27)
[Mr. Alcantor, it is true I asked your daughter in marriage, and you granted my request; but I find that I am rather old ; I think that I am by no means a proper match for her.]
Sganarelle to Alcantor (Scene Fourteen, p. 241)

Vous vous êtes engagé avec moi, pour épouser ma fille; et tout est préparé pour cela. Mais puisque vous voulez retirer votre parole, je vais voir ce qu’il y a à faire; et vous aurez bientôt de mes nouvelles.
Alcantor à Sganarelle (Scene VIII, p. 28)
[You gave me your word that you would marry my daughter, and everything is prepared for the wedding; but since you wish to withdraw, I shall go and see what can be done in the matter; you shall hear from me presently.]
Alcantor to Sganarelle (Scene Fourteen, p. 242)

During Scene IX, Sganarelle refuses to fight Alcidas, Dorimène’s brother, who has brought swords. In the end, Sganarelle is compelled to marry and he has much to fear:

Hé bien! j’épouserai, j’épouserai…
Sganarelle à Alcidas  (Scene IX, p. 30)
Well then, I will marry, I will marry!
Sganarelle to Alcidas (Scene Fourteen, p. 244)

Sganarelle (www.cosmovisions.coms.com)
Sganarelle (Wikipedia)

Conclusion

The Forced Marriage turns matters upside down:

  • Sganarelle makes wedding arrangements before seeking advice from Géronimo, or taking matters into consideration.
  • An older gentleman is forced to marry.
  • Dorimène is pleased to marry a senex iratus. She will be a widow.
  • Sganarelle is a cocu (cuckolded) before he marries.
  • Our philosophers have long left reality. Molière has created Les Femmes savantes‘ Trissotin and Vadius.

We are therefore reminded of Mikhail Bakhtin’s Rabelais and His World: carnival and grotesque. We are also reminded of the comic genre’s plasticity. It isn’t always an “all’s well  that ends well,” a tout est bien qui finit bien. And we are not dealing with Rabelais’ giants.

Floating just below the surface of this play is the farcical trompeur trompé, the deceiver deceived. How can Lycaste ever trust Dorimène? The extremely polite manner he uses to greet Sganarelle could be read as a criticism of Dorimène’s ploy. It is “affected.” As for Dorimène, she is her own senex iratus and will not change. Besides, destiny rules. She should be prepared to love the husband she has married and to give birth to a petit Sganarelle.

The play also features pedants. Pancrace’s pursuit of a correct term, forme or figure, for the shape of hats is trivial. As for Marphurius, he is Rabelais Trouillogan (See Chapter 3, XXXVI) in Gutenberg’s [EBook #1200])

I am leaving behind the comédie-ballet, as written and composed in 1664. This post is already too long. But it is interesting to know that, at Versailles, the King and aristocrats played roles in the comédie-ballet.

Poor Sganarelle!

Sources and Resources

____________________

[1] Giordano Bruno was tortured and burned at the stake by the Inquisition. Among other notions, Bruno perceived the plurality of worlds, as would French philosophe Fontenelle, a century later.
[2] Maurice Rat, ed., Œuvres complètes de Molière (Paris: Gallimard, collection La Pléiade, 1956), pp. 878-884.
[3] In the French language race means race, breed, and, occasionally, line.
[4] Cf. Rabelais.

Love to everyone 💕

Baroque Music – Bourrée du Mariage Forcé (Jean-Baptiste Lully)

© Micheline Walker
5 July 2019
revised 8 July 2019
WordPress

Sganarelle’s Wife, etc.

22 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by in Comedy, Molière

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

—ooo—

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

Célie’s Suivante: a Praise of Marriage

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

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

Sganarelle’s Wife: Jealousy or Love

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sganarelle viewed by Lélie

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

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

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

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

Célie’s suivante (maid) “interferes”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comments

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

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

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

320px-Blaise_Pascal_Versailles

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

Imagination

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

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

—ooo—

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

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

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

Sources and Resources

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

Love to everyone 💕

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

© Micheline Walker
21 Juin 2019
WordPress

Molière’s “Sganarelle,” or “The Imaginary Cuckold”

16 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by in Comedy, Molière

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Sganarelle ou le Cocu imaginaire (The Imaginary Cuckold) is a one-act play consisting of twenty-four (24) scenes. It premièred on 28 May 1660, at the Théâtre du Petit-Bourbon, the first theater the troupe of Molière used after their return to Paris, in 1658. Molière’s comedians had found patronage, that of Monsieur frère unique du Roi, Louis XIV’s only brother. Monsieur‘s theater was the Petit-Bourbon, a theater Molière shared with la Comédie-Italienne, which is still a theater. Plays are performed in Italian. Molière’s comedians had become la troupe de Monsieur.

Molière’s Sganarelle ou le Cocu imaginaire was staged in the wake of his very successful  Précieuses ridicules, which had premièred on 18 November 1659. Molière’s Précieuses ridicules earned his troupe considerable notoriety. Although Sganarelle, ou le Cocu imaginaire was not as successful as Les Précieuses ridicules, Sganarelle as a type is one of Molière’s perplexing characters: Arnolphe (The School for Wifes), Tartuffe‘s Orgon, The Misanthrope‘s Alceste, L’Avare‘s miser, The Imaginary Invalid‘s Argan and, above all, the jaloux among them. According to scholar Paul Bénichou,[1] these characters, the jaloux above all, blend in almost equal proportions vanity and insecurity: vanité et inquiétude.

[1] Paul Bénichou, Morales du Grand Siècle (Paris: Gallimard, 1948), pp. 295-296.

1002869-Molière_en_habit_de_Sganarelle (1)

Molière as Sganarelle (Wiki2.org)

Sources

Sganarelle ou le Cocu imaginaire has been associated with Boisrobert’s Les Apparences trompeuses (1656) and Scarron’s La Fausse Apparence (1657). Deceptive appearances are a familiar theme in 17th-century French literature. In his Pensées, Blaise Pascal writes that human beings are at the mercy of puissances trompeuses, deceptive powers, one of which is imagination. Sganarelle is an imaginaire, thirteen years before Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid). 

Therefore, although appearances may be deceptive, in Le Cocu imaginaire, Sganarelle is an imaginaire whose jealousy so thwarts reality that seeing his wife admiring the finely encased portrait of a good-looking young man triggers a series of misunderstandings, quiproquos, to which there does not seem to be an end.

It remains that Sganarelle ou le Cocu imaginaire‘s comedic plot formula is the usual all’s well that ends well, le tout est bien qui finit bien. However, the main obstacle to the young lover’s marriage does not appear to be Célie’s tyrannical father, a pater familias, but the imbroglio in which the self-deceived Sganarelle ensnares most members of the society of the play. 

Given its depiction of jealousy, the play is a comedy of manners, but its numerous  péripéties, twists and turns, also make it a comedy of intrigue. In fact, the mess is such that Célie’s suivante calls it a galimatias, a shemozzle. Célie’s suivante is the zanni of the comedy.

42e49878d25a93d19d51075a675f2d6b-4 (3)

Sganarelle par François Boucher (dessin) et Laurent Cars (gravure) (Pinterest)

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

GORGIBUS, a citizen of Paris.
LELIO, in love with Celia. (Lélie)
SGANARELLE, a citizen of Paris and the self-deceived husband.
VILLEBREQUIN, father to Valère.
GROS-RENÉ, servant to Lelio.
A RELATIVE OF SGANARELLE’S WIFE.
CELIA, daughter of Gorgibus.(Clélie)
SGANARELLE’S WIFE.
CELIA’S MAID.

A PUBLICK PLACE IN PARIS.

A Pater Familias

As the curtain lifts, Clélie is crying because her father wishes to force a marriage with a man she does not love. Clélie loves Lélie:

Ah ! n’espérez jamais que mon cœur y consente
Clélie à Gorgibus (I. i.)
[Ah! never expect my heart to consent to that.]
Clélie to Gorgibus (I. 1) or Sganarelle, p. 47
Que marmottez-vous là, petite impertinente ?

Vous prétendez choquer ce que j’ai résolu ?
Je n’aurai pas sur vous un pouvoir absolu ?
Et par sottes raisons, votre jeune cervelle
Voudrait régler ici la raison paternelle ?
Gorgibus à Clélie (I. i) (Sganarelle)
[What do you mutter, you little impertinent girl? Do you suppose you can thwart my resolution? Have I not absolute power over you? And shall your youthful brain control my fatherly discretion by foolish arguments?]
Gorgibus to Clélie (I. 1)

It turns out, however, that Gorgibus has already agreed to a marriage between his daughter Célie and Lélie, a promise he cannot break on a whim.

J’aurais tort si, sans vous, je disposais de moi ;
Mais vous-même à ses vœux engageâtes ma foi.
Clélie à Gorgibus (I. i)
[Do you suppose, dear father, I can ever forget that unchangeable affection I owe to Lelio? I should be wrong to dispose of my hand against your will, but you yourself engaged me to him.]
Clélie to Gorgibus (I. 1).

The Portrait

After Célie’s conversation with Gorgibus and her suivante‘s comment to the effect that Lélie has been away too long, Célie faints and drops her portrait of Lélie. Sganarelle helps Célie.

Votre Lélie aussi, n’est ma foi qu’une bête,
Puisque si hors de temps son voyage l’arrête,
Et la grande longueur de son éloignement
Me le fait soupçonner de quelque changement
Suivante à Célie (I. ii)
[Upon my word, your Lelio is a mere fool to stay away the very time he is wanted; his long absence makes me very much suspect some change in his affection.]
Suivante à Lélie (I. 2)
Et cependant il faut… ah ! soutiens-moi.
Laissant tomber le portrait de Lélie.
Célie à sa suivante (I. ii)
[And yet I must—Ah! support me.]
(She lets fall the portrait of Lelio.)
Célie (I. 2)

Sganarelle’s Wife and the Portrait

Sganarelle’s wife suspects he is unfaithful. She has seen him help Célie when she fainted next to her suivante.
However, it so happens that she picks up the exquisitely encased, a jewel, portrait of a fine-looking young man and comments, aloud, that she has never seen anything more beautiful, praising both the workmanship and the young man’s likeness:

(En ramassant le portrait que Célie avait laissé tomber.)
Mais quel est ce bijou que le sort me présente,
L’émail en est fort beau, la gravure charmante,
Ouvrons.
Femme de Sg. (I. v) (p. 5)
(Taking up the picture which Celia had let fall.) But what a pretty thing has fortune sent me here; the enamel of it is most beautiful, the workmanship delightful; let me open it?)
Sg’s wife (I. 5)

…, sans l’apercevoir, continue.
Jamais rien de plus beau ne s’offrit à ma vue.
Le travail plus que l’or s’en doit encor priser.
Hon que cela sent bon.
Femme de Sg. (I. vi) (p. 6)
[(Not seeing her husband). I never saw anything more beautiful in my life! The workmanship is even of greater value than the gold! Oh, how sweet it smells!]
Sg’s wife (I. 6)

Now, Sganarelle is furious. This must be the portrait of the man cuckolding him:

Tu ne m’entends que trop, Madame la carogne ;
Sganarelle, est un nom qu’on ne me dira plus,
Et l’on va m’appeler seigneur Cornelius :
J’en suis pour mon honneur ; mais à toi qui me l’ôtes,
Je t’en ferai du moins pour un bras ou deux côtes.
Sg à sa femme (I. vi)
[(Snatching the portrait from her.) What, hussey! have I caught you in the very act, slandering your honourable and darling husband? According to you, most worthy spouse, and everything well considered, the husband is not as good as the wife?)
Sg to his wife (I. 6)

Lélie’s Return

Meanwhile, having been detained, Lélie and Gros-René are rushing back to Paris because rumours have arisen concerning Lélie’s marriage to Célie. It could be endangered, which it is. The first person he sees is Sganarelle who soon recognizes him. Sganarelle has Lélie’s portrait, a pledge given to Célie. Sganarelle  is holding a portrait which, is a portrait of him given as a gage, a pledge to Célie.

Je ne m’abuse point, c’est mon portrait lui-même.
Lélie, seul (I. ix)
[Heavens! what do I see? If that be my picture, what then must I believe?]
What do you say? She from whom you received this pledge…
Lélie to Sganarelle (I. 9)

Puis-je obtenir de vous, de savoir l’aventure,
Qui fait dedans vos mains trouver cette peinture.
Lélie à Sg. (I. ix) (p. 10)
[Will you inform me by what accident that picture came into your hands?]
Lélie to Sg. (I. 9)

(À part) D’où lui vient ce désir ; mais je m’avise ici…
Ah ! ma foi, me voilà de son trouble éclairci,
Sa surprise à présent n’étonne plus mon âme,
C’est mon homme, ou plutôt c’est celui de ma femme.
Lélie à Sg. (I. ix) ou (p.10 toutmolière.net))
[(Aside). Why does he wish to know? But I am thinking… (Looking at Lelio and at the portrait in his hand). Oh! upon my word, I know the cause of his anxiety; I no longer wonder at his surprise. This is my man, or rather, my wife’s man.]
Sganarelle, alone (I. 9)

Retirez-moi de peine et dites d’où vous vient…
[Pray, relieve my distracted mind, and tell me how you come by…]
Lélie à Sganarelle (I. ix)

Sganarelle hesitates:

…Mais faites-moi celui [l’honneur] de cesser désormais
Un amour qu’un mari peut trouver fort mauvais,
Et songez que les nœuds du sacré mariage…
Sg à Lélie (I. ix)
[… but henceforth, be kind enough to break off an intrigue, which a husband may not approve of; and consider that the holy bonds of wedlock…]
Sg to Lelio (I. 9)

Quoi, celle dites-vous dont vous tenez ce gage.
Lélie à Sg. (I. ix)
[What do you say? She from whom you received this pledge…]
Sg to Lélie (I. 9)
Est ma femme, et je suis son mari.
[Is my wife, and I am her husband.]
Sg to Lélie (I. 9)

Sganarelle needs a witness. In a scene reminiscent of George Dandin, he runs to fetch a relative, leaving behind a puzzled Lélie.

Ah ! que viens-je d’entendre ?
On me l’avait bien dit, et que c’était de tous
L’homme le plus mal fait qu’elle avait pour époux.
Lélie, seul (I. x) (pp. 12-23)
Alas! what have I heard! The report then was true that her husband was the ugliest of all his sex.
Lélie, alone (I. 10)

So astonished is Lelio that he nearly faints. As Sganarelle leaves, his wife looks after a distressed Lélie. 

Sganarelle’s Return

Sganarelle’s relative has good advice, but our jaloux thinks he has caught his wife, “in the act.” She is with Lélie.

… poursuit.
Tâchons donc par nos soins… Ah ! que vois-je, je meure,
Il n’est plus question de portrait à cette heure,
Voici ma foi la chose en propre original.
Sg seul (I. xiv) (p. 14)
[Aside seeing them. Ha! what do I see? Zounds! there can be no more question about the portrait, for upon my word here stands the very man, in propria persona.]
Sg alone (I. 14)

Lélie is at his wit’s end. Destiny has betrayed him:

Ah ! mon âme s’émeut et cet objet m’inspire…
Mais je dois condamner cet injuste transport,
Et n’imputer mes maux qu’aux rigueurs de mon sort.
Envions seulement le bonheur de sa flamme.
(Passant auprès de lui, et le regardant.)
Oh ! trop heureux d’avoir une si belle femme.
Lélie seeing Sg. (I. xv) (pp. 14-15)
[Oh! my soul is moved! this sight inspires me with … but I ought to blame this unjust resentment, and only ascribe my sufferings to my merciless fate; yet I cannot help envying the success that has crowned his passion. (Approaching Sganarelle). O too happy mortal in having so beautiful a wife.]
Lélie, to himself, seeing and looking at Sg. (I. 15)

Célie has seen and heard Lélie, but he has not visited her. She decides to speak to Sganarelle and asks whether Sganarelle knows him.

Quoi, Lélie a paru tout à l’heure à mes yeux,
Qui pourrait me cacher son retour en ces lieux.
Clélie (I. xvi) (p. 15)
[Who can that be? Just now I saw Lelio.
Why does he conceal his return from me?]
Célie (I. 16)

Celui qui maintenant devers vous est venu
Et qui vous a parlé, d’où vous est-il connu ?
Célie à Sganarelle (I. xvi) (p. 15)
[Pray, sir, how came you to know this gentleman who went away just now and spoke to you?]
Célie to Sganarelle (I. 16)

Sgnarelle says he doesn’t him, but that his wife does. The young man is cuckolding him. Célie probes further. Why does Sganarelle look so sad?

Si je suis affligé, ce n’est pas pour des prunes
Et je le donnerais à bien d’autres qu’à moi
De se voir sans chagrin au point où je me voi.
Des maris malheureux, vous voyez le modèle,
On dérobe l’honneur au pauvre Sganarelle ;
Mais c’est peu que l’honneur dans mon affliction
L’on me dérobe encor la réputation.
Sganarelle à Célie (I. xvi)
[If I am sad it is not for a trifle: I challenge other people not to grieve, if they found themselves in my condition. You see in me the model of unhappy husbands. Poor Sganarelle’s honour is taken from him; but the loss of my honour would be small—they deprive me of my reputation also.]
Sg to Célie (I. 16)

Célie is very disturbed. Being in love with Sganarelle’s wife could explain Lélie’s secret return. She says that she was right!

Ah ! j’avais bien jugé que ce secret retour
Ne pouvait me couvrir que quelque lâche tour,
Et j’ai tremblé d’abord en le voyant paraître,
Par un pressentiment de ce qui devait être.
Célie (I. xvi)
[Ah! I find I was right when I thought his returning secretly only concealed some base design; I trembled the minute I saw him, from a sad foreboding of what would happen.]
Célie (I. 16)

Sganarelle bares his grief, in a soliloquy. However, he realizes that he is not the only husband to have been betrayed and that his affliction it is not worth dying for.

La bière [the grave] est un séjour par trop mélancolique
Et trop malsain pour ceux qui craignent la colique,
Et quant à moi je trouve, ayant tout compassé,
Qu’il vaut mieux être encor cocu que trépassé[.]
Sganarelle, seul (I. xvii)
[The grave is too melancholy an abode, and too unwholesome for people who are afraid of the colic; as for me, I find, all things considered, that it is, after all, better to be a cuckold than to be dead.]
Sganarelle, alone (I. 17)

But he is resentful and to avenge himself, he will tell everyone that his wife lies with Lélie.  Morever, his bile is making him consider “some manly action.”  He will return bearing arms, he will be incapable of using (scene 21).

Je me sens là, pourtant remuer une bile
Qui veut me conseiller quelque action virile[.]
Sganarelle, seul (I. xvii) (p. 18)
[I feel, however, my bile is stirred up here; it almost persuades me to do some manly action.]
Sganarelle, alone (I. 17)

Meanwhile, a spiteful Célie, dépit amoureux, tells her father that she will do her duty and marry Valère.

Faites quand vous voudrez signer cet hyménée,
À suivre mon devoir je suis déterminée,
Je prétends gourmander mes propres sentiments
Et me soumettre en tout à vos commandements.
Célie à Gorgibus (I. xviii) (p. 19-20)
[…I will sign the marriage contract whenever you please, for I am now determined to perform my duty. I can Célie to Gorgibus command my own inclinations, and shall do whatever you order me.]
Célie to Gorgibus (I. 18)

Célie’s suivante

Lélie thinks mistakenly that Célie loves Sganarelle. Sganarelle thinks mistakenly that Lélio loves his wife. Sganarelle has returned bearing arms. Why is Lélie being attacked? Célie’s suivante is perplexed.

Ce changement m’étonne.
Suivante (I. xix) (p. 21)
[This change surprises me.]
Suivante (I. 19)
Et lorsque tu sauras
Par quel motif j’agis tu m’en estimeras.
Suivante à Célie (I. xix)
[When you come to know why I act thus, you will esteem me for it.]
Suivante à Célie (I. 19)
Apprends donc que Lélie,
A pu blesser mon cœur par une perfidie,
Qu’il était en ces lieux sans…
Célie à sa suivante (I. xix)
[Know then that Lelio has wounded my heart by his treacherous behaviour, and has been in this neighbourhood without…]
Célie to her suivante  (I. 19)

Lélie asks Célie to remain where she is. (I. xx) (I. 20)

In Scene 21 Sganarelle returns bearing arms.

entre armé. Guerre, guerre mortelle, à ce larron d’honneur
Qui sans miséricorde a souillé notre honneur.
Sganarelle (I. xxi) (p. 20)
[I wage war, a war of extermination against this robber of my honour, who without mercy has sullied my fair name.]
À qui donc en veut-on?
(Turning round). Against whom do you bear such a grudge?
Lélie (I. xxi) (p. 20)

In scene 22, Sganarelle’s wife is angry at Célie, whom she suspects is her husband’s lover. But finally, Célie’s suivante decides to clear up the misunderstanding. Lélie and Célie are undeceived, but Célie has accepted to marry Valère. Lélie comforts her. Her father will keep his word, which Gorgibus is not ready to do. (I. 23)

But in scene 24, the last scene, Villebrequin, Valère’s father, comes to announce that Valère has married secretly, which frees Célie and Lélie.

So, all’s well that ends well. A “bonheur éternel” (eternal bliss) awaits our young lovers.

1002920-Molière

Molière par Pierre Mignard (Larousse)

Conclusion

Molière seldom signed documents, but this dénouement is Molière’s signature. No one suffers and nearly everyone has been blinded. Molière is not punitive. All are preparing for the forthcoming wedding.

As for Sganarelle, he is not the only character to have been deceived. He gives the entire adventure a moral, as though the play were a moralité.

A-t-on mieux cru jamais être cocu que moi.
Vous voyez qu’en ce fait la plus forte apparence
Peut jeter dans l’esprit une fausse créance :
De cet exemple-ci, ressouvenez-vous bien,
Et quand vous verriez tout, ne croyez jamais rien.
Sganarelle, à part
[Was there ever a man who had more cause to think himself victimized? You perceive that in such matters the strongest probability may create in the mind a wrong belief. Therefore remember, never to believe anything even if you should see everything.]
Sganarelle, aside

Sources and Resources

Love to everyone 💕

My computer is working, but I am feeling rather fragile. You will find errors in this post and it is very long, due mainly to the bilingual translations. I apologize. Further articles on Molière will be shorter.

_________________________
[1] Paul Bénichou, Morales du Grand Siècle (Paris: Gallimard, 1948), pp. 295-296.

Sganarelle

Micheline Walker
15 June 2019
WordPress

 

Molière’s “L’Amour Médecin”

23 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Molière

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th (2)

Molière par Pierre Mignard (Wiki2.org)

Dr. Love
 F.  J. Morlock, translator
(I numbered scenes.)

Our dramatis personæ are

Sganarelle (father of Lucinda) (Moliere)
Lucinda
Clitandre (lover to Lucinda)
Lucrece (cousin of Sganarelle)
Lisette (Lucinda’s servant)
Aminte (neighbor of Sganarelle)
Mr. Guillame (a seller of tapestry)
Mr. Josse
Dr. Tomes
Dr. Des Fernandes
Dr. Macroton
Dr. Bahays
Mr. Filerin
A Notary
Champagne (Sganarelle’s valet)

LE BALLET

Frontispice [cover] de l’édition de 1682 drawn and engraved by François Chauveau (BnF)

L’Amour médecin (Dr. Love or Dr. Cupid), is

As a farce, L’Amour médecin was written in prose and contains three acts. Farces allow some physical comedy. As a comedy of manners, it is Molière’s second satire on medicine, the first is Le Médecin volant (The Flying Doctor), written in 1645 and played in 1659. The third and fourth are Le Médecin malgré lui (1666) and Le Malade imaginaire imaginaire (1673). L’Amour médecin is rooted in Le Médecin volant, in Charles Sorel’s Olynthie, a short story, and in earlier farces.

Venue

L’Amour médecin was first performed at Versailles on 15 September 1665. Molière’s troupe was la troupe du Roi and Louis was demanding. L’Amour médecin was written, and roles learned and rehearsed, in five days. After it premièred at Versailles, L’Amour médecin was performed at the théâtre du Palais-Royal, la troupe du Roi‘s main venue.

Sganarelle

In L’Amour médecin, the role of Sganarelle, created in Le Médecin volant, is that of heavy father. Sganarelle was played by Molière during Molière’s life time. In Dom Juan, he is a valet.

Four Doctors

It should be noted that L’Amour médecin‘s doctors were given the names of real doctors. They were not simple miroirs publics. They have identifiable names and are known doctors, but all reflect Molière’s and many of his contemporaries’ view of doctors. Doctors killed, but did so officially, according to established covenants, and wearing the clothes that match the job. In the case of doctors, Molière had Guy Patin in mind, and Les Femmes savantes Trissotin, a pedant, is modeled after l’abbé Charles Cotin, a learned gentleman, but …

At any rate, L’Amour médecin was a very successful comedy and, despite a cast of several doctors, the plot was simple, a characteristic of Molière’s plays. 

A physician holding the hand of a female patient in a scene from Molière’s play L’Amour médecin. Line block by Yves & Barret after L. Leloir (Commons.Wikimedia.org)

ACT ONE

In L’Amour médecin, Lucinde is feigning illness, but her father believes she is very sick. Neighbours and relatives have their opinion to give. Monsieur Guillaume, who sells tapestries, thinks a tapestry showing a forest should adorn her room. Monsieur Josse thinks the gift of “finery and fancy dress,” as well as jewels may save Lucinde’s life. Aminte believes that Lucinde should marry, but Lucrèce objects. Pregnancies would kill Lucinde, given her humeur, the four temperaments.

Et moi, je tiens que votre fille n’est point du tout propre pour le mariage. Elle est d’une complexion [humeur] trop délicate et trop peu saine, et c’est la vouloir envoyer bientôt en l’autre monde, que de l’exposer comme elle est à faire des enfants. Le monde n’est point du tout son fait, et je vous conseille de la mettre dans un couvent, où elle trouvera des divertissements qui seront mieux de son humeur.
Lucrèce à tous (I. i, p. 3)
[And as for me, I hold that your daughter is not at all fit for marriage. She has a very delicate complexion [humor] and not very healthy and it would be a determination to send her soon to the other world by exposing her, the way she is — to having children. The world is not at all her thing — and I advise you to put her in a convent — where she will find diversions more in accord with her humor.]
Lucrèce to all (I, 1, p.7)

Sganarelle feels that, the remedies they propose show that his niece, neighbours and friends have something to gain by following Sganarelle’s advice. He uses the word intéressé.[1]

Tous ces conseils sont admirables assurément: mais je les tiens un peu
intéressés … (.)
Sganarelle à tous
[… you advise me quite well for yourselves …(.)] (I. 1, p.7)
Sganarelle to all

Sganarelle dismisses them all saying that his plan is to keep his daughter.  He and Lucinde have a conversation.

However, after asking Lucinde what could cure her, Lucinda nods when Sganarelle asks:

Aimerais-tu quelqu’un et souhaiterais-tu d’être mariée?
Sganarelle à Lucinde (I. ii, p. 3)
[Might you be in love and wish to be married?]
(my translation)
In 17th-century France and in Molière’s comedies, jealousy transforms a lover’s discourse into imprecations that alienate a young woman, the ingénue. Incestual love is out of the question. Sganarelle loves his daughter as fathers do. So, let us suggest a twist on the reversal all comedies feature. Comedies promotes the marriage of the young lovers. Le blondin berne le barbon. (The young man fools the old man.) In L’Amour médecin, the young man is Clitandre. Lucinde has not told Lisette about Clitandre, which may reveal hopelessness. In comedy, maids, servants, valets, and, at times, siblings are the brilliant minds who ensure that a young woman is not handed over to a man she does not love. 

I re-read a few chapters (préciosité) of one of Georges Mongrédien’s books on the 17th century in France. According to Mongrédien,[2] Molière did not oppose préciosité, despite his Précieuses ridicules. These were affected ladies whom he simply humiliated. Although comedy is rooted in ancient fertility riduals, Molière, does not allow young women to be forced into marrying men they find repulsive. At that time in history, women often died in childbirth or were pregnant year after year, which could lead to a premature death. However, we are alive. So, many women have survived pregnancies and many, if not most have never been subjected to yearly pregnancies.

In short, L’Amour médecin is comedy as usual, which the title of the play suggests. In fact, L’Amour médecin is Molière’s only comedy the contents of which are revealed in the title. Lucinde wishes to live a normal life and, for many women, life has long been considered improbable without the company of a man. L’honnête homme was born in the salons and salons also shaped galanterie. Mademoiselle de Scudéry‘s Carte de Tendre is a product of the salons. However, although our pater familias is the alazṓn of Greek old comedy, he wishes to keep his daughter for himself, which is absurd.

A-t-on jamais rien vu de plus tyrannique que cette coutume où l’on veut assujettir les pères? Rien de plus impertinent, et de plus ridicule, que d’amasser du bien avec de grands travaux, et élever une fille avec beaucoup de soin et de tendresse, pour se dépouiller de l’un et de l’autre entre les mains d’un homme qui ne nous touche de rien? Non, non, je me moque de cet usage, et je veux garder mon bien et ma fille pour moi.
Sganarelle à Lisette et Lucinde (I. v, p. 6)
[Has there ever been seen a greater tyranny than this custom they want to impose on fathers, nothing more impertinent and more ridiculous than to amass wealth with great work and to raise a daughter with great care and tenderness to be despoiled of both by the hands of a man who pays us nothing? No, no — I mock that custom and I intend to keep my wealth and my daughter for myself.]
Sganarelle to Lisette and Lucinde (I. p. 10)

ACT TWO

The Doctors

  • blood-letting
  • an emitic
  • enemas & broths

In Act 2, Lisette fumes when she hears that Sganarelle is calling in a team of doctors.

Ma foi, Monsieur, notre chat est réchappé depuis peu, d’un saut qu’il fit du haut de la maison dans la rue, et il fut trois jours sans manger, et sans pouvoir remuer ni pied ni patte; mais il est bien heureux de ce qu’il n’y a point de chats médecins: car ses affaires étaient faites, et ils n’auraient pas manqué de le purger, et de le saigner.
Lisette à Sganarelle (II. i, p. 8)
[My word, sir, our cat survived a jump from the roof of a house to a street, and it went 3 days without eating and it couldn’t move foot or paw — but it was really lucky there were no cat doctors, for her affair would have been done — and they wouldn’t have failed to purge and bleed her.]
Lisette to Sganarelle (II.1, p.3)

The cure is blood-letting according to Monsieur Tomés. An emetic is required, claims Monsieur De Fonandrés. As for Monsieur Macroton, the remedy at hand are enemas and broths

Il vaut mieux mourir selon les règles, que de réchapper [to recover] contre les règles.
Monsieur Bahys aux médecins et à Sganarelle (II. v, p. 13)
[It’s better to die according to the rules than to escape despite the rules.]
Monsieur Bahys to colleagues (II. 5, p. 16)

As the scene ends, Sganarelle goes to see a charlatan. He doubts the doctors attending to his daughter and goes to purchase Orviétan[3] from a charlatan.

ACT THREE

  • the doctors
  • Clitandre as doctor
  • Sganarelle is fooled

During Act 2, the doctors disagree. So, at the beginning of Act 3, they reflect upon their quarrel and conclude that they are endangering their profession. They could not cure, not in the 17th century, but human beings who fell ill consulted and this is how doctors made a comfortable living. So, to a large extent, doctors preyed on vulnerable human beings and thus constituted a group of impostors, a dramatist’s target. They worked for the money.

Je n’en parle pas pour mon intérêt. Car, Dieu merci, j’ai déjà établi mes petites affaires. Qu’il vente, qu’il pleuve, qu’il grêle, ceux qui sont morts sont morts, et j’ai de quoi me passer des vivants. Mais enfin, toutes ces disputes ne valent rien pour la médecine.
Monsieur Filerin aux autres médecins (III. i, p. 15)
[I’m not speaking only for my interest, for thank God, I’m very well off — let it snow, let it pour, let it hail. Those who are dead are dead and I have somewhat to spend with the livery — but in the end all these disputes are not good for medicine.]
Doctor Filerin other to colleagues (III. 1, p. 19)

Yet, a new doctor is introduced. Lisette and Clitandre have organized a stratagem. Clitandre will make believe he is a doctor and he will be a doctor who has already cured Lucinde. Lisette introduces him and Sganarelle notices that there is not much beard to this doctor. Clitandre tells Sganarelle that he treats both the mind and the body. He has succeeded in curing Lucinde by learning that she wanted to marry. What a silly thought! Sganarelle agrees. A very astute Clitandre takes Sganarelle’s pulse and tells him that his daughter is very sick. Sganarelle is surprised, but Clitandre explains that there is sympathy between a father and a daughter.

Sg. Vous connaissez cela ici?
Cl. Oui, par la sympathie qu’il y a entre le père et la fille.
Sganarelle et la réponse de Clitandre (III. v, p. 18)
[Cl. (taking Sganarelle’s pulse) Your daughter is really sick]
Clitandre to Sganarelle (III. 5, p. 21)

The plan is to make Lucinde believe she is getting married. As you know, in Molière, one plays along with a patient’s fancy, which is what Toinette and Béralde will do in Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), to help the young lovers and Argan. She will enable Clitandre to speak with Lucinde, Lisette tells Sganarelle that Clitandre must speak to his patient alone. 

The cure is a marriage. It will not be a real marriage, in Sganarelle’s eyes, but he will be made to sign the documents, as will Lucinde. Clitandre has arrived, ring in hand and a notary waiting outside. Sganarelle is going: “folle, folle, folle” as he himself marries off his daughter, endowing her generously.

Sg. Oh! la folle! Oh! la folle! Oh! la folle! (III. vi, p. 20)
[Sg. Oh — madwoman — madwoman!] (III. 5, p. 23)
The spectator can hear Lisette’s “un mari, un mari, un mari.” L’Amour médecin is a comédie-ballet so Clitandre invites Sganarelle to be entertained.

Li. Un mari, un mari, un mari. (I. iii, p. 5)
[Li. A husband, a husband, a husband.] (I. 3, p. 9)

Sganarelle has been fooled into allowing his daughter to marry. Illusion was reality. A play rescued Lucinde.

Sg. Voilà une plaisante façon de guérir. Où est donc ma fille et le médecin?
Li. Ils sont allés achever le reste du mariage.
Sganarette et Lisette (III. Scène dernière, pp. 21-22)

[Sg. Here’s a pleasant way of curing! Where are the doctor and my daughter?
Li. They want to consummate the marriage.]
Sganarelle and Lisette (III. Last scene, p. 24)

Conclusion

Molière’s L’Amour médecin is one of the finest illustrations of the comic scenario. The blocking-character is “hoisted by his own petard.” A maid helps the young lovers.  Clitandre is a psychologist. The father is fooled, but he will no doubt recover. So, basically, “all’s well that ends well.”

Among friends and colleagues, La Mothe Le Vayer, in particular, Molière accepted that nature was both good and bad, but that it couldn’t be changed. La Mothe le Vayer wrote a letter defending Molière’s Tartuffe.

____________________
[1] In 17th-century France, La Rochefoucauld is associated with the discourse on self-interest (intérêt).
[2] Georges Mongrédien, La Vie littéraire au XVIIe Siècle (Paris : Taillandier, 1956), pp. 187-253.
[3] L’orviétan était un remède miracle, une sorte de panacée qu’un charlatan italien, Jeronimo Ferranti, prétendait avoir apporté d’Orvieto et qui fut vendu avec beaucoup de succès par lui-même et ses descendants jusqu’au XVIIIe siècle. [Orvietan was a miracle cure, a sort of panacea that an Italian charlatan, Jeronimo Ferranti, claimed he brought from Orvieto, and which he and his descendants sold successfully until the 18th century.]
toutmolière.net

—ooo—

Love to every one 💕

Jean Rondeau records “Vertigo” (Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer [et Rameau])

François de La Mothe Le Vayer (Wiki2.org)

© Micheline Walker
23 April 2019
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Molière’s “Le Médecin volant” or “The Flying Doctor”

15 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by in Comedy, Molière

≈ 10 Comments

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four-temperaments (2)

The Four Temperaments (Psychologia.co)

Medicine in the 17th Century

There had been progress. Ambroise Paré, a barber-surgeon who lived in the 16th century had advanced medicine, especially surgery. He is considered the father of surgery. One should also mentioned Guy Patin, who was doyen (dean) of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris (1650–1652) and professor in the Collège de France starting in 1655. He died one year before Molière’s Le Malade imaginaire (1673) was first performed. Although he was a rather poor doctor, he wrote a body of letters that are “an important document for historians of medicine.” (See Guy Patin, Wiki2.org.) It is believed Molière mocked Patin.

The Greeks investigated medicine. Hippocrates is considered the father of medicine. He coined the term Hippocratic Oath. In particular, Græco-Arabic medicine was based on humourism, or the idea that humans belonged to one of four temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic. (See Psychologia.co)

Molière ridiculed blood-letting, the use of emitics, as well as the use of enemas. The use of enemas is now considered sexual assault, if the “patient” does not consent. Enemas are also used as a means of torture and humiliation.

1002869-Molière_en_habit_de_Sganarelle (1)

Molière as Sganarelle, Gravure de Simonin (Larousse)

Molière

Molière wrote four comedies in which he mocked doctors.

  1. Le Médecin volant (1645) (The Flying Doctor)
  2. L’Amour médecin (1665) (Dr Cupid)
  3. Le Médecin malgré lui (1666) (The Doctor in spite of himself)
  4. Le Malade imaginaire (1673) (The Imaginary Invalid)

I have removed L’Impromptu de Versailles from an earlier list. In the Imaginary Invalid, Béralde explains Molière. But characters in our first three plays do not refer to Molière. L’Impromptu de Versailles is an example of théâtre dans le théâtre.

It should be noted however that Sganarelle was played by Molière and would always be played by Molière until the dramatist’s death. The Flying Doctor originates in Italian comedy. 

Le Médecin volant (The Flying Doctor) is

  • a one-act farce (15 scenes) by Molière
  • written in 1645
  • its Paris premiere took place on 18 April 1659
  • it is of Italian origin featuring characters from the commedia dell’arte
    These are:
  • Gorgibus, an old nobleman, the father of Lucile (Pantalone),
  • Lucile, daughter of Gorgibus, engaged to Villebrequin (Innamorata),
  • Gros-René : Gorgibus’ servant, role created by René Berthelot,
  • Sabine, Lucile’s cousin, the source of all the intrigue in the play (Columbina),
  • Valère, Lucile’s lover (Innamorato),
  • Sganarelle, hero of the play, valet to Valère (Arlecchino), role created by Molière,
  • A Lawyer (Il Dottore).

In the first three plays mentioned above, love is the cure to a young woman’s feigned or real illness triggered by a heavy father who wishes to marry his daughter to a person the daughter does not love. Villebrequin is an older gentleman who may have fine qualities. However, Lucile wants to marry Valère. The dreaded marriage is approaching

Since Gorgibus, the father, believes his daughter is truly sick, he must find a doctor. Lucile’s cousin, Sabine, tells her story to Valère, the young lover (jeune premier) who asks Sganarelle (a role performed by Molière) to make believe he is a doctor. Gros-René, Gorgibus’ valet, is looking for a doctor. Sganarelle will be the suitable candidate. He need only wear the disguise. He hesitates, but money, dix pistoles, convinces him that he can play the role. The doctor is to advise Lucile to go outdoors to a little pavilion. She needs fresh air. Valère would go to the pavilion and take her away. In Le Médecin volant, the plan is as follows:

SABINE.— Vraiment, il y a bien des nouvelles. Mon oncle veut résolument que ma cousine épouse Villebrequin, et les affaires sont tellement avancées, que je crois qu’ils eussent été mariés dès aujourd’hui, si vous n’étiez aimé; mais comme ma cousine m’a confié le secret de l’amour qu’elle vous porte, et que nous nous sommes vues à l’extrémité par l’avarice de mon vilain oncle, nous nous sommes avisées d’une bonne invention pour différer le mariage. C’est que ma cousine, dès l’heure que je vous parle, contrefait la malade; et le bon vieillard, qui est assez crédule, m’envoie quérir un médecin. Si vous en pouviez envoyer quelqu’un qui fût de vos bons amis et qui fût de notre intelligence, il conseillerait à la malade de prendre l’air à la campagne. Le bonhomme ne manquera pas de faire loger ma cousine à ce pavillon qui est au bout de notre jardin, et par ce moyen vous pourriez l’entretenir à l’insu de notre vieillard, l’épouser, et le laisser pester tout son soûl avec Villebrequin.
Sabine à Valère (Sc I, p. 1)

[I have really much to tell you. My uncle is bent upon marrying my cousin to Villebrequin, and things have gone so far, that I believe the wedding would have taken place to-day if you were not loved by her. However, as my cousin told me the secret of all the love she feels for you, and as we were almost driven to desperation through the avarice of our niggardly uncle, we thought of a capital device to prevent the marriage: at the present moment my cousin affects to be ill, and the foolish old man, who is easily deceived, has just sent me to fetch a doctor. Could you not find one, some friend of yours, who would be on our side, and order the invalid to go into the country for a change of air? The old man will be sure to send my cousin to live in the pavilion, which is at the bottom of our garden. In that way you will be able to see her, unknown to our uncle, and marry her; then let him and Villebrequin curse as much as they please.]
Sabine to Valère (Sc. 1)

The above ploy is successful. Sganarelle accepts to play doctor after being given ten pistoles. Gros-René is sent to look for a doctor, but meanwhile Sabine, Lucile’s cousin, has managed to lead Sganarelle to Gorgibus’ home. Sganarelle meets a lawyer whose opinion of doctors is consistent with the views expressed by Molière’s characters. If one gets better, it has nothing to do with the remedies or knowledge of a doctor.

Ce n’est pas qu’on doive mépriser un médecin qui n’aurait pas rendu la santé à son malade, parce qu’elle ne dépend pas absolument de ses remèdes, ni de son savoir[.]
L’avocat à Sganarelle (Sc. 8, p. 7)[1]

[Not that any one should despise a doctor who has not given back health to his patient, since health does not altogether depend on his remedies or his knowledge: interdum docta plus valet arte malum.]
The lawyer to Sganarelle (Sc. 8)

However, a problem arises when Gorgibus meets Sganarelle wearing his valet clothes. Suddenly Sganarelle must play two roles: a doctor and a valet. Sganarelle tells Gorgibus that he has an identical twin and that they are not on good terms. Could Gorgibus help? Sganarelle goes in and out of a window, dressed as valet and then as a doctor. However, Gros-René picks up the doctor’s costume. There is but one Sganarelle: the valet.

Sganarelle fears being hanged[2] and tells Gorgibus that Valère is definitely “sortable,” a suitable husband.

In the final scene of the play, Gorgibus forgives Lucile and Valère and allows them to marry.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

____________________
[1] Interdum docta plus valet arte malum: parfois le mal est plus fort que l’art
et que la science. (Ovide, Ovid, Pontiques, livre Ier, chant III, v. 18).
[2] Cf. Le Médecin malgré lui.

Love to everyone 💕

Pierre_Mignard_-_Portrait_de_Jean-Baptiste_Poquelin_dit_Molière_(1622-1673)_-_Google_Art_Project_(cropped) (1)

Molière by Pierre Mignard (Wiki2.org)

© Micheline Walker
15 Avril 2019
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Molière’s Dom Juan

02 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Literature, Music

≈ 4 Comments

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don-juan-illustration-1938-1_jpg!Blog
Don Juán, illustration by Carlos Saenz de Tejada, 1938
(Photo credit: WikiArt.org)

I’ve been writing a chapter on Molière‘s enigmatic Dom Juan (1665), the same Don Juán as Tirso de Molina‘s (24 March 1579 – 12 March 1648) Burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra and Mozart‘s Don Giovanni (1587) composed on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

A Dramma giocoso

Molière’s Dom Juan does not seem a comedy. It lacks a young couple trying to marry despite a heavy father’s objections. However, it borrows elements from the Italian commedia dell’arte. Molière’s Dom Juan has in fact been labelled a dramma giocoso, a playful or comic drama, blending tragic and comical elements, which violates the rules of 17th-century French drama.

For instance, Sganarelle is a descendant of Brighella, a zanni in the Italian commedia dell’arte. He and Dom Juan are nearly always together, which makes for an incongruous relationship: Dom Juan is the master and Sganarelle, the valet. Molière’s play is a Saturnalia.

The Characters and other Elements

Our main characters are Dom Juan and his valet, Sganarelle (Mozart’s Leporello), played by Molière when the play premièred on 15 February 1665.

Dom Juan is Done Elvire’s husband. She has left a convent to marry him, but he no longer wishes to be her husband. He wants to be “free.” Done Elvire’s brothers, Dom Carlos and Dom Alonse, must avenge Done Elvire: (point d’honneur, point of honour), but fail to do so. When Dom Carlos speaks to Done Juan (V. iii), the latter has become a faux dévot, a man who feigns devotion to serve earthly needs. It appears Molière is meditating his Tartuffe (1664).

The play also features two peasant girls, Charlotte and Mathurine, whom Dom Juan tries to “seduce.” He’s told Charlotte that he will marry her, but her fiancé, Pierrot, puts up a fight. Dom Juan has also told Mathurine that he will marry her. However, there is no successful seduction in Molière’s play, not even a kiss, except on Charlotte’s hand, that she describes as black. This scene is the “La ci darem la mano,” of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (see video below).

Molière’s play on Don Juán is singularly devoid of eroticism. His Dom Juan is compiling conquests, as does Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. However, the catalogo Dom Juan keeps is a metaphorical rather than literal catalogo. Yet, at the beginning of the play (I. i) Sganarelle tells Gusman, Done Elvire’s escort and servant, that Dom Juan is the very devil. He is a grand seigneur [lord] méchant homme, an aristocrat, but an evil man.

Don%20Giovanni2

Don%20Giovanni%201

Don Giovanni by Angela Buscemi
www.teatrodimessina.it
 (Photo credit: Google Images)

The Plot

In fact, other than the above-mentioned events the plot of Molière’s Dom Juan consists in a series of fruitless attempts to save Dom Juan from eternal damnation. The individuals begging Dom Juan to convert are Sganarelle (1), Dom Juan’s valet, Done Elvire (2), Dom Juan’s abandoned wife, and Dom Louis (3), Dom Juan’s father.

When Sganarelle warns his master, whom he calls a pèlerin, a pilgrim, that he may be punished, he is silenced immediately, not by an angry, but verbose or quiet Dom Juan. Sganarelle falls short of words and when his master will not speak, he collapses (III. i).

Noblesse oblige

Similarly, when Dom Louis, Dom Juan’s father, bemoans the fact that aristocracy is no longer as it was, Dom Juan listens, but does not hear. When Dom Louis is finished, Dom Juan simply invites him to sit down so he can speak more comfortably (IV. iv). In 1665, the noblesse oblige of earlier years has been replaced by self-interest.

Later (IV. vi), Done Elvire implores Dom Juan to mend his ways as God is about to strike. He lets her speak, but as she is leaving, he invites her to stay overnight. It is late. Done Elvire leaves. It is as though she had not spoken a word.

Dom Juan as faux dévot

At the beginning of act V, Dom Louis returns and praises his son who now feigns devotion. Dom Louis does not notice that Dom Juan is putting on an act. Moreover, it is as a faux dévot that Dom Juan dismisses Dom Carlos. He will not live with Done Elvire as man and wife, because it is God’s will (V. iii).

Retribution

However, Dom Juan has killed a Commandeur. There is a statue of the Commandeur with whom Dom Juan is to have dinner. At the appointed hour, the statue of the Commandeur takes him by the hand which causes the earth to move and engulf Dom Juan.

Conclusion

The above is an incomplete introduction to Molière’s Dom Juan, not to say le donjuanisme. I have left out the encounter with Francisque, a poor man, and uneven fight, &c. But this is a beginning.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

Baryton Dmitri Hvorostovsky has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. He’s being treated in the best facilities, in London, England, but these are shattering news. He has a very rich voice. I hope he soon recovers.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky died on 22 November 2017. May he rest in peace.

With kind regards to all of you. ♥ 

—ooo—

Don Giovanni, “La ci darem la mano”
Hvorostovsky & Fleming

© Micheline Walker
24 February 2016
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Molière’s Dom Juan

25 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Literature, Music

≈ Comments Off on Molière’s Dom Juan

Tags

, , , , , , ,

don-juan-illustration-1938-1_jpg!Blog
Don Juán, illustration by Carlos Saenz de Tejada, 1938
(Photo credit: WikiArt.org)

I’ve been writing a chapter on Molière‘s enigmatic Dom Juan (1665), the same Don Juán as Tirso de Molina‘s (24 March 1579 – 12 March 1648) Burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra and Mozart‘s Don Giovanni (1587) composed on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

A Dramma giocoso

Molière’s Dom Juan does not seem a comedy. It lacks a young couple trying to marry despite a heavy father’s objections. However, it borrows elements from the Italian commedia dell’arte. Molière’s Dom Juan has in fact been labelled a dramma giocoso, a playful or comic drama, blending tragic and comical elements, which violates the rules of 17th-century French drama.

For instance, Sganarelle is a descendant of Brighella, a zanni in the Italian commedia dell’arte. He and Dom Juan are nearly always together, which makes for an incongruous relationship: Dom Juan is the master and Sganarelle, the valet. Molière’s play is a Saturnalia.

The Characters and other Elements

Our main characters are Dom Juan and his valet, Sganarelle (Mozart’s Leporello), played by Molière when the play premièred on 15 February 1665.

Dom Juan is Done Elvire’s husband. She has left a convent to marry him, but he no longer wishes to be her husband. He wants to be “free.” Done Elvire’s brothers, Dom Carlos and Dom Alonse, must avenge Done Elvire: (point d’honneur, point of honour), but fail to do so. When Dom Carlos speaks to Done Juan (V. iii), the latter has become a faux dévot, a man who feigns devotion to serve earthly needs. It appears Molière is meditating his Tartuffe (1664).

The play also features two peasant girls, Charlotte and Mathurine, whom Dom Juan tries to “seduce.” He’s told Charlotte that he will marry her, but her fiancé, Pierrot, puts up a fight. Dom Juan has also told Mathurine that he will marry her. However, there is no successful seduction in Molière’s play, not even a kiss, except on Charlotte’s hand, that she describes as black. This scene is the “La ci darem la mano,” of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (see video below).

Molière’s play on Don Juán is singularly devoid of eroticism. His Dom Juan is compiling conquests, as does Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. However, the catalogo Dom Juan keeps is a metaphorical rather than literal catalogo. Yet, at the beginning of the play (I. i) Sganarelle tells Gusman, Done Elvire’s escort and servant, that Dom Juan is the very devil. He is a grand seigneur [lord] méchant homme, an aristocrat, but an evil man.

Don%20Giovanni2

Don%20Giovanni%201

Don Giovanni by Angela Buscemi
www.teatrodimessina.it
 (Photo credit: Google Images)

The Plot

In fact, other than the above-mentioned events the plot of Molière’s Dom Juan consists in a series of fruitless attempts to save Dom Juan from eternal damnation. The individuals begging Dom Juan to convert are Sganarelle (1), Dom Juan’s valet, Done Elvire (2), Dom Juan’s abandoned wife, and Dom Louis (3), Dom Juan’s father.

When Sganarelle warns his master, whom he calls a pèlerin, a pilgrim, that he may be punished, he is silenced immediately, not by an angry, but verbose or quiet Dom Juan. Sganarelle falls short of words and when his master will not speak, he collapses (III. i).

Noblesse oblige

Similarly, when Dom Louis, Dom Juan’s father, bemoans the fact that aristocracy is no longer as it was, Dom Juan listens, but does not hear. When Dom Louis is finished, Dom Juan simply invites him to sit down so he can speak more comfortably (IV. iv). In 1665, the noblesse oblige of earlier years has been replaced by self-interest.

Later (IV. vi), Done Elvire implores Dom Juan to mend his ways as God is about to strike. He lets her speak, but as she is leaving, he invites her to stay overnight. It is late. Done Elvire leaves. It is as though she had not spoken a word.

Dom Juan as faux dévot

At the beginning of act V, Dom Louis returns and praises his son who now feigns devotion. Dom Louis does not notice that Dom Juan is putting on an act. Moreover, it is as a faux dévot that Dom Juan dismisses Dom Carlos. He will not live with Done Elvire as man and wife, because it is God’s will (V. iii).

Retribution

However, Dom Juan has killed a Commandeur. There is a statue of the Commandeur with whom Dom Juan is to have dinner. At the appointed hour, the statue of the Commandeur takes him by the hand which causes the earth to move and engulf Dom Juan.

Conclusion

The above is an incomplete introduction to Molière’s Dom Juan, not to say le donjuanisme. I have left out the encounter with Francisque, a poor man, and uneven fight, &c. But this is a beginning.

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Baryton Dmitri Hvorostovsky has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. He’s being treated in the best facilities, in London, England, but these are shattering news. He has a very rich voice. I hope he soon recovers.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky died on 22 November 2017. May he rest in peace.

With kind regards to all of you. ♥ 

I am not quite finished posts on Don JuaN, but this post is the starting-point.  I am gathering more information for my book. My next post is more detailed.

Love to everyone 💕

 

Don Giovanni, “La ci darem la mano”
Hvorostovsky & Fleming

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Dmitri Hvorostovsky

© Micheline Walker
24 February 2016
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