Moliere plays a huge role in the history of the theater, because he is considered the founder of stage realism, and the Comedie Francaise theater has the unofficial name "House of Moliere". Moliere left behind huge amount dramatic masterpieces - more than 32 works written in the style of farce, high comedy, comedy of manners, social comedy and many others. His works had a huge influence on the development of bourgeois comedy both in his native France and outside the country. A special feature of Moliere's work was fearlessness and freedom of speech; he boldly mocked the shortcomings of the aristocrats, bourgeois and nobility, exposing the most terrible sins of elite France.
Since 1658, Moliere's enemies included his literary opponents and rival actors from other Parisian theaters. The viewer quickly realized that the author's plays promoted moral and social revival.
Louis XIV watched everything best plays Moliere's repertoire. His favorable attitude, location and patronage were explained by the fact that in Moliere the king saw, first of all, a resourceful improviser, capable of easily and in a short time composing, practicing with a troupe and presenting theatrical plays for magnificent court holidays, stunning in their splendor. The patronage of the king was the only real support for Moliere, capable of protecting him at least partly from persecution and bullying by reactionary feudal-clerical circles. However true meaning Louis XIV did not understand the scale of Moliere’s talent. He was sincerely surprised when, in response to the question asked by Boileau: “Which of the writers do you think can most glorify my kingdom of the baths? “received the answer: “Of course, Moliere, Your Majesty.”
In January 1664, the Forced Marriage took place, a cruel parody of religious bigotry. A scandal broke out; the king banned the performance.
Moliere discovered new look on the ethics of his contemporary society. In assessing reality, the playwright was guided by a rationalistic analysis of life, exploring specific examples the most typical situations and characters.
In comedy, Moliere often used the semantic possibilities of pronouns.
The concept of “lucation” – “upbringing, education” – appeared in the secular dictionary of Europeans in the 15th century. It comes from the Latin educatio and denotes processes that influence a person in the course of education and upbringing.
For the playwright, virtue as the end result of the educational process was life itself. It is necessary to master certain norms and rules of behavior, communication skills in order to always remain a decent person. .
In Molière's work, comedy as a genre form received active development. Its task is to educate society, but, unlike moralizing drama, it is devoid of open didacticism and is based on a rationalistic analysis aimed at changing the traditional ideas of the viewer.
In the first half of the 17th century.
Moliere, the author who once said: “I take my goods where I find them,” builds comedies not only on original intrigue, but often on the use of already developed plots. In those days this was quite acceptable. Being well read, Moliere turns to Roman comedians, Italians of the Renaissance, Spanish short story writers and playwrights, and his older French contemporaries; famous authors, Moliere especially admired Montaigne and Rabelais. Moliere recognized himself as a direct follower of Rabelais: following Rabelais, Moliere ridiculed the “distorters of nature,” he drew plots, introduced the names of heroes into his comedies, however, familiar plots under the pen of the author acquired a new meaning: the great comic power of his works, the ability to highlight the characteristic features of various social groups and professions, the author was aware of the high social and moral purpose.
You can throw something out
About Moliere: 1622-1673, France. Born into the family of a court upholsterer and decorator, he received an excellent education. He knew ancient languages, ancient literature, history, philosophy, etc. From there I gained convictions about the freedom of the human person. He could have been a scientist, a lawyer, or followed in his father’s footsteps, but he became an actor (and that was a shame). He played at the Brilliant Theater, despite his talent for comic roles, almost the entire troupe staged tragedies. Two years later the theater disbanded and they became a traveling theater. Moliere looked at people, at life, at characters, realized that they were better comedians than tragedians, and began to write comedies. In Paris they were received with delight, Louis 14 left the court theater to them to be torn to pieces, and then they got their own - the Palais Royal. There he staged faxes and comedies on topical topics, ridiculed the vices of society, sometimes individuals, and, naturally, made enemies for himself. However, he was favored by the king and became his favorite. Louis even became the godson of his first-born son in order to ward off rumors and gossip from his marriage. And still, people liked the plays, and even I liked them)
The playwright died after the fourth performance of The Imaginary Invalid; he felt unwell on stage and barely finished the performance. That same night Moliere died. The burial of Moliere, who died without church repentance and did not renounce the “shameful” profession of an actor, turned into a public scandal. The Archbishop of Paris, who did not forgive Moliere for Tartuffe, did not allow the great writer to be buried according to the accepted church rite. It took the king's intervention. The funeral took place late in the evening, without observing proper ceremonies, outside the fence of the cemetery, where unknown vagabonds and suicides were usually buried. However, behind Moliere’s coffin, along with his family, friends, and colleagues, was a large crowd of ordinary people, to whose opinion Moliere listened so subtly.
In classicism, the rules for constructing comedy were not interpreted as strictly as the rules of tragedy, and allowed for wider variation. Sharing the principles of classicism as artistic system, Moliere made genuine discoveries in the field of comedy. He demanded a truthful representation of reality, preferring to move from direct observation of life phenomena to the creation of typical characters. These characters, under the playwright's pen, acquire social definition; Many of his observations therefore turned out to be prophetic: such, for example, is the depiction of the peculiarities of bourgeois psychology. Satire in Moliere's comedies always contained a social meaning. The comedian did not paint portraits or record secondary phenomena of reality. He created comedies that depicted everyday life and customs modern society, but for Moliere it was essentially a form of expression of social protest, a demand for social justice. His worldview was based on experimental knowledge, concrete observations of life, which he preferred to abstract speculation. In his views on morality, Moliere was convinced that only following natural laws is the key to rational and moral human behavior. But he wrote comedies, which means his attention was drawn to violations of the norms of human nature, deviations from natural instincts in the name of far-fetched values. In his comedies, two types of “fools” are depicted: those who do not know their nature and its laws (Moliere tries to teach and sober up such people), and those who deliberately cripple their own or someone else’s nature (he considers such people dangerous and requiring isolation) . According to the playwright, if a person's nature is perverted, he becomes a moral monster; False, false ideals underlie false, perverted morality. Moliere demanded genuine moral rigor, reasonable restrictions on the individual; Personal freedom for him is not blind adherence to the call of nature, but the ability to subordinate one’s nature to the demands of reason. Therefore it goodies reasonable and sensible.
Moliere wrote comedies two types; they differed in content, intrigue, comic nature, and structure. Domestic comedies , short, written in prose, the plot is reminiscent of headlights. And, in fact, « high comedy » .
1. Dedicated to important social issues (not just to ridicule manners as in “Funny Primroses,” but to expose the vices of society).
2. In five acts.
3. In verse.
4. Full compliance with the classic trinity (place, time, action)
5. Comic: comic character, intellectual comic.
6. No conventions.
7. The character of the heroes is revealed by external and internal factors. External factors- events, situations, actions. Internal - spiritual experiences.
8. Standard roles. Young heroes are usually lovers ; their servants (usually cunning, accomplices of their masters); eccentric hero (a clown, a character full of comic contradictions); hero-sage , or reasoner .
For example: Tartuffe, Misanthrope, Tradesman among the Nobility, Don Juan, in general, everything that needed to be read. These comedies contain elements of farce and comedy of intrigue and comedy of manners, but in fact these are comedies of classicism. Moliere himself described the meaning of their social content as follows: “You can’t penetrate people better than by depicting their shortcomings. People listen to reproaches indifferently, but cannot bear ridicule... Comedy saves people from their vices.” Don Juan Before him, everything was made into a Christian edifying play, but he went a different route. The play is full of social and everyday concreteness (see the point “no conventions”). The main character is not an abstract rake or the embodiment of universal debauchery, but a representative of a certain type of French nobles. He is a typical, concrete person, not a symbol. Creating your own Don Juan, Moliere denounced not debauchery in general, but the immorality inherent in the French aristocrat of the 17th century. There are a lot of details from real life, but I think you will find this in the corresponding ticket. Tartuffe- is not the embodiment of hypocrisy as a universal human vice, it is a socially generalized type. It is not for nothing that he is not at all alone in the comedy: his servant Laurent, the bailiff Loyal, and the old woman - Orgon's mother Madame Pernel - are hypocritical. They all cover up their unsightly actions with pious speeches and vigilantly monitor the behavior of others.
Misanthrope was even recognized by the strict Boileau as a truly “high comedy.” In it, Moliere showed the injustice of the social system, moral decline, the rebellion of a strong, noble personality against social evil. It contrasts two philosophies, two worldviews (Alceste and Flint are opposites). It is devoid of any theatrical effects, dialogue here completely replaces action, and the comedy of characters is the comedy of situations. “The Misanthrope” was created during the serious trials that befell Moliere. This, perhaps, explains its content - deep and sad. The comedy of this essentially tragic play is connected precisely with the character of the main character, who is endowed with weaknesses. Alceste is hot-tempered, lacks a sense of proportion and tact, he lectures morals to insignificant people, idealizes the unworthy woman Celimene, loves her, forgives her everything, suffers, but hopes that he can revive the things he has lost. good qualities. But he is mistaken, he does not see that she already belongs to the environment that he rejects. Alceste is an expression of Moliere’s ideal, in some ways a reasoner, conveying the author’s opinion to the public.
About Tradesman in the nobility(it’s not on the tickets, but it’s on the list):
Depicting people of the third estate, the bourgeois, Moliere divides them into three groups: those who were characterized by patriarchy, inertia, and conservatism; people of a new type, with a sense of self-esteem and, finally, those who imitate the nobility, which has a detrimental effect on their psyche. Among these latter is the main character of “The Bourgeois in the Nobility,” Mr. Jourdain.
This is a man completely captured by one dream - to become a nobleman. The opportunity to get closer to noble people is happiness for him, all his ambition lies in achieving similarities with them, his whole life is the desire to imitate them. The thought of nobility takes possession of him completely; in this mental blindness, he loses all correct understanding of the world. He acts without reasoning, to his own detriment. He reaches the point of spiritual depravity and begins to be ashamed of his parents. He is fooled by everyone who wants to; he is robbed by teachers of music, dancing, fencing, philosophy, tailors and various apprentices. The rudeness, bad manners, ignorance, vulgarity of language and manners of Mr. Jourdain comically contrast with his claims to noble grace and gloss. But Jourdain evokes laughter, not disgust, because, unlike other similar upstarts, he worships the nobility disinterestedly, out of ignorance, as a kind of dream of beauty.
Mr. Jourdain is opposed by his wife, a true representative of the philistinism. She is a sensible, practical woman with self-esteem. She tries with all her might to resist her husband’s mania, his inappropriate claims, and most importantly, to clear the house of uninvited guests who live at the expense of Jourdain and exploit his gullibility and vanity. Unlike her husband, she does not have any respect for the title of nobility and prefers to marry her daughter to a man who would be her equal and would not look down on her bourgeois relatives. The younger generation - Jourdain's daughter Lucille and her fiancé Cleont - are people of a new type. Lucille received a good upbringing; she loves Cleontes for his virtues. Cleont is noble, but not by origin, but by character and moral qualities: honest, truthful, loving, he can be useful to society and the state.
Who are those whom Jourdain wants to imitate? Count Dorant and Marquise Dorimena are people of noble birth, they have refined manners and captivating politeness. But the count is a poor adventurer, a swindler, ready for any meanness, even pimping, for the sake of money. Dorimena, together with Dorant, robs Jourdain. The conclusion to which Moliere leads the viewer is obvious: even though Jourdain is ignorant and simple-minded, even though he is ridiculous and selfish, he is an honest man, and there is nothing to despise him for. IN morally trusting and naive in his dreams, Jourdain is higher than the aristocrats. So the comedy-ballet, the original purpose of which was to entertain the king in his Chambord castle, where he went hunting, became, under the pen of Molière, a satirical, social work.
22. "Misanthrope"
1 ACTION. In the capital city of Paris live two friends, Alceste and Philinte. From the very beginning of the play, Alceste burns with indignation because Philinte warmly greeted and sang praises to the man he had just seen, even whose name he remembers with difficulty. Filint assures that all relationships are built on politeness, because it’s like an advance - he said kindness - you get kindness in return, it’s nice. Alceste claims that such “friendship” is worthless, that he despises the human race for its deceit, hypocrisy, and depravity; Alceste does not want to tell a lie if he does not like a person - he is ready to say so, but he will not lie and servile for the sake of his career or money. He is even ready to lose a trial in which he, the right one, is suing a man who achieved his fortune in the most disgusting ways, but to whom, however, everyone is welcome and no one will say a bad word. Alceste rejects Philinte’s advice to bribe the judges - and he considers his possible loss an occasion to tell the world about the corruption of people and the depravity of the world. However, Philinte notices that Alceste, despising the entire human race and wanting to escape from the city, does not attribute his hatred to Celimene, a flirtatious and hypocritical beauty - although Elianta, Celimene’s cousin, would be a much more suitable wife for his sincere and direct nature. But Alceste believes that Celimene is beautiful and pure, although covered with a touch of vice, but with his pure love he hopes to cleanse his beloved from the dirt of the world.
The friends are joined by Oroante, who expresses an ardent desire to become Alceste’s friend, to which he tries to politely refuse, saying that he is unworthy of such an honor. Oroant demands Alceste to say his opinion regarding the sonnet that came to his mind, after which he reads the verses. Oroantes's poems are trashy, pompous, cliched, and Alceste, after much asking Oroantes to be sincere, replies that he supposedly said to one of my poet acquaintances that graphomania must be restrained within oneself, that modern poetry is an order of magnitude worse than ancient French songs (and sings such a song twice) that the nonsense of professional authors can still be tolerated, but when an amateur not only writes, but also rushes to read out his rhymes to everyone - this is no longer which gate? Oroant, however, takes everything personally and leaves offended. Philint hints to Alceste that with his sincerity he has made himself another enemy.
2 ACTION. Alceste tells his beloved, Celimene, about his feelings, but he is dissatisfied with the fact that Celimene shows her favor to all her fans. He wants to be alone in her heart and not share it with anyone. Selimene reports that she is surprised by this new way of giving compliments to her beloved - grumbling and swearing. Alceste speaks of his fiery love and wants to talk seriously with Celimene. But Celimene’s servant, Basque, speaks of people who have come to visit, and to refuse them means making dangerous enemies. Alceste does not want to listen to the lying chatter of the world and slander, but remains. The guests take turns asking Celimena’s opinion about their mutual acquaintances, and in each of the absent ones, Celimena notes some features worthy of an evil laugh. Alceste is indignant at how the guests, with flattery and approval, force his beloved to slander. Everyone notices that this is not so, and it’s really somehow wrong to reproach your loved one. The guests gradually leave, and Alceste is taken to court by a gendarme.
3 ACTION. Clitander and Acast, two of the guests, contenders for Celimene’s hand, agree that the one of them who will continue the harassment will receive confirmation of her affection from the girl. With Selimene appearing, they start talking about Arsinoe, a mutual friend who does not have as many fans as Selimene, and therefore sanctimoniously preaches abstinence from vices; Moreover, Arsinoe is in love with Alceste, who does not share her feelings, having given his heart to Celimene, and for this Arsinoe hates her.
Arsinoe, who has arrived on a visit, is greeted joyfully by everyone, and the two marquises leave, leaving the ladies alone. They exchange pleasantries, after which Arsinoe talks about gossip that allegedly casts doubt on Celimene’s chastity. She responds by talking about other gossip - about Arsinoe’s hypocrisy. Alceste appears and interrupts the conversation, Selimene leaves to write an important letter, and Arsinoe remains with her lover. She takes him to her home in order to show him a letter allegedly compromising Celimene’s devotion to Alceste.
4 ACTION. Philinte tells Eliante about how Alceste refused to recognize Oroante's poems as worthy, criticizing the sonnet in accordance with his usual sincerity. He was reconciled with difficulty with the poet, and Elianta notes that she likes Alceste’s character and would be glad to become his wife. Philinte admits that Elianta can count on him as a groom if Celimene marries Alceste. Alceste appears with a letter, raging with jealousy. After trying to cool his anger, Philinte and Eliante leave him with Celimene. She swears that she loves Alceste, and the letter was simply misinterpreted by him, and, most likely, this letter is not to the gentleman at all, but to the lady - which removes its outrageousness. Alceste, refusing to listen to Celimene, finally admits that love makes him forget about the letter and he himself wants to justify his beloved. Dubois, Alceste's servant, insists that his master is in big trouble, that he is facing a conclusion that his good friend He told Alceste to hide and wrote him a letter, which Dubois forgot in the hall, but will bring. Selimene hurries Alceste to find out what’s the matter.
5 ACTION. Alceste was sentenced to pay a huge sum in a case that was lost, which Alceste talked about with Philint at the beginning of the play. But Alceste does not want to appeal the decision - he is now firmly convinced of the depravity and wrongness of people, he wants to leave what happened as a reason to declare to the world his hatred of the human race. In addition, the same scoundrel who won the case against him attributes to Alceste the “vile little book” he published - and the “poet” Orontes, offended by Alceste, takes part in this. Alceste hides in the depths of the stage, and Orontes, who appears, begins to demand recognition from Celimene of her love for him. Alceste comes out and begins, together with Orontes, to demand a final decision from the girl - so that she admits her preference for one of them. Selimene is embarrassed and does not want to talk openly about her feelings, but the men insist. The marquises who came, Elianta, Philint, Arsinoe, read aloud Celimene’s letter to one of the marquises, in which she hints at reciprocity, slandering all the other acquaintances present on the stage, except Elianta and Philint. Everyone, having heard the “witness” about themselves, is offended and leaves the stage, and only the remaining Alceste says that he is not angry with his beloved, and is ready to forgive her everything if she agrees to leave the city with him and live married in a quiet corner. Celimene speaks with hostility about escaping from the world at such a young age, and after she twice repeated her judgment about this idea, Alceste exclaims that he no longer wants to remain in this society and promises to forget about Celimene’s love.
“The Misanthrope” belongs to the “high comedies” of Moliere, who moved from a sitcom with elements of folk theater (farce, low vocabulary, etc.), although not completely (in “Tartuffe,” for example, elements of farce are preserved - for example, Orgon hides under table to see the meeting of his wife and Tartuffe, who is harassing her), to intellectual comedy. Moliere's high comedies are comedies of character, and in them the course of action and dramatic conflict arise and develop due to the characteristics of the characters of the main characters - and the characters of the main characters of “high comedies” have exaggerated features that cause conflict among themselves among the characters between them and society.
So, following “Don Juan” in 1666, Moliere wrote and staged “The Misanthrope”, and this comedy is the highest reflection of “high comedy” - it is completely devoid of theatrical effects, and action and drama are created only by dialogues and clashes of characters. In “The Misanthrope” all three unities are observed, and in general, this is one of Moliere’s “most classicist” comedies (in comparison with the same “Don Juan”, in which the rules of classicism are freely violated).
The main character is Alceste (misanthrope - “not loving people"), sincere and direct (this is his characteristic feature), despising society for lies and hypocrisy, despairing of fighting it (he does not want to win a court case with a bribe), dreaming of escaping into solitude - which is what happens at the end of the work. The second main character is Philinte, a friend of Alceste, who, like Alceste, is aware of the essence of deceit, selfishness, and greed in human society, but adapts to it in order to survive in human society. He also tries to explain to Alceste that the “irregularities” he sees are reflections of small mistakes in human nature, which should be treated with condescension. However, Alceste does not want to hide his attitude towards people, does not want to go against his nature, he serves at the court, where in order to rise, it is not feats before the fatherland that are needed, but immoral activity, which, nevertheless, does not cause any censure by society.
This is how the opposition between the eccentric hero (Alceste) and the sage hero (Philint) arises. Philinte, based on his understanding of the situation, compromises, while Alceste does not want to forgive the “weakness of human nature.” Although Philinte tries as much as possible to restrain Alcest’s impulses that escape the boundaries of social custom and make them less dangerous for himself, Alcest, the rebel hero, openly expresses his protest against the social ugliness that he encounters everywhere. However, his behavior is perceived either as “noble heroism” or as eccentricity.
Alceste, in connection with the rules of classicism, is not completely ideal - and the comic effect of the “sad comedy”, as “The Misanthrope” is called, is born due to the weaknesses of Alceste - his strong and jealous love, forgiving Celimene’s shortcomings, his ardor and intemperance with his tongue when form of vices. However, this also makes him more sympathetic and lively - in accordance with the basic poetics of classicism.
23. "Tartuffe"
Brief retelling from briefley.ru:
Madame Pernelle protects Tartuffe from the household. At the invitation of the owner, a certain Mr. Tartuffe settled in the house of the venerable Orgon. Orgon doted on him, considering him an incomparable example of righteousness and wisdom: Tartuffe’s speeches were extremely sublime, his teachings - thanks to which Orgon learned that the world is a big cesspool, and now he would not blink an eye, burying his wife, children and other loved ones - extremely useful, piety aroused admiration; and how selflessly Tartuffe cherished the morality of Orgon’s family... Of all the household members, Orgon’s admiration for the newly-minted righteous man was shared, however, only by his mother, Madame Pernelle. At the beginning, Madame Pernelle says that the only good person in this house is Tartuffe. Dorina, Mariana's maid, in her opinion, is a loud rude person, Elmira, Orgon's wife, is wasteful, her brother Cleanthes is a freethinker, Orgon's children Damis is a fool and Mariana is a modest girl, but in a quiet pool! But they all see in Tartuffe who he really was - a hypocritical saint, cleverly taking advantage of Orgon’s delusion in his simple earthly interests: eating well and sleeping softly, having a reliable roof over his head and some other benefits.
Orgon's family was completely disgusted with Tartuffe's moral teachings; with his worries about decency, he drove almost all his friends away from home. But as soon as someone spoke badly about this zealot of piety, Madame Pernelle created stormy scenes, and Orgon simply remained deaf to any speeches that were not imbued with admiration for Tartuffe. When Orgon returned from a short absence and demanded from the maid Dorina a report on the news at home, the news of his wife’s illness left him completely indifferent, while the story of how Tartuffe happened to overeat at dinner, then sleep until noon, and drink too much wine at breakfast, filled Orgon with compassion for the poor fellow; “Oh, poor thing!” - he says about Tartuffe, while Dorina is talking about how bad his wife was.
Orgon's daughter, Mariana, is in love with a noble young man named Valer, and her brother Damis is in love with Valer's sister. Orgon seems to have already given his consent to the marriage of Mariana and Valera, but for some reason he keeps postponing the wedding. Damis, concerned about his own fate - his marriage to his sister Valera was supposed to follow Mariana's wedding - asked Cleanthe to find out from Orgon the reason for the delay. Orgon answered questions so evasively and incomprehensibly that Cleanthes suspected that he had decided to somehow dispose of his daughter’s future.
Exactly how Orgon sees Mariana’s future became clear when he told his daughter that Tartuffe’s perfections needed reward, and that reward would be his marriage to her, Mariana. The girl was stunned, but did not dare contradict her father. Dorina had to stand up for her: the maid tried to explain to Orgon that marrying Mariana to Tartuffe - a beggar, a low-spirited freak - would mean becoming the subject of ridicule of the whole city, and besides, would push her daughter onto the path of sin, for no matter how virtuous the girl was, she would not It's simply impossible to cuckold a hubby like Tartuffe. Dorina spoke very passionately and convincingly, but despite this, Orgon remained adamant in his determination to become related to Tartuffe.
Mariana was ready to submit to her father's will - this is what her daughter's duty told her to do. Dorina tried to overcome her obedience, dictated by natural timidity and respect for her father, and she almost succeeded in doing so, unfolding before Mariana vivid pictures of the marital happiness prepared for him and Tartuffe.
But when Valer asked Mariana if she was going to submit to Orgon’s will, the girl replied that she didn’t know. But this is only to “flirt”; she sincerely loves Valera. In a fit of despair, Valer advised her to do as her father ordered, while he himself would find himself a bride who would not cheat this word; Mariana replied that she would only be happy about this, and as a result, the lovers almost parted forever, but then Dorina arrived in time, who had already been swayed by these lovers with their “concessions” and “omissions.” She convinced young people of the need to fight for their happiness. But they just need to act not directly, but in roundabout ways, stalling for time - the bride is either sick or bad signs sees, and there something will certainly work out, because everyone - Elmira, Cleanthes, and Damis - is against Orgon’s absurd plan,
Damis, even too determined, was going to properly rein in Tartuffe so that he would forget about marrying Mariana. Dorina tried to cool his ardor, to convince him that more could be achieved with cunning than with threats, but she was not able to completely convince him of this.
Suspecting that Tartuffe was not indifferent to Orgon's wife, Dorina asked Elmira to talk to him and find out what he himself thought about marriage with Mariana. When Dorina told Tartuffe that the lady wanted to talk with him face to face, the saintly man perked up. At first, scattering heavy compliments in front of Elmira, he did not let her open her mouth, but when she finally asked a question about Mariana, Tartuffe began to assure her that his heart was captivated by another. To Elmira’s bewilderment - how is it that a man of holy life is suddenly seized by carnal passion? - her admirer answered with fervor that yes, he is pious, but at the same time he is also a man, saying that the heart is not flint... Immediately, without mincing words, Tartuffe invited Elmira to indulge in the delights of love. In response, Elmira asked how, in Tartuffe’s opinion, her husband would behave when he heard about his vile harassment. But Tartuffe says that sin is not a sin as long as no one knows about it. Elmira offers a deal: Orgon will not find out anything, Tartuffe, for his part, will try to get Mariana to marry Valere as soon as possible.
Damis ruined everything. He overheard the conversation and, indignant, rushed to his father. But, as one might expect, Orgon believed not his son, but Tartuffe, who this time outdid himself in hypocritical self-abasement. T. accuses himself of all mortal sins and says that he won’t even make excuses. In anger, he ordered Damis to get out of sight and announced that today Tartuffe would marry Mariana. As a dowry, Orgon gave his entire fortune to his future son-in-law.
Cleante tried for the last time to talk humanly with Tartuffe and convince him to reconcile with Damis, give up his unjustly acquired property and Mariana - after all, it is not appropriate for a Christian to use a quarrel between father and son for his own enrichment, much less condemn a girl to lifelong torment. But Tartuffe, a noble rhetorician, had an excuse for everything.
Mariana begged her father not to give her to Tartuffe - let him take the dowry, and she would rather go to a monastery. But Orgon, who had learned something from his favorite, without blinking an eye, convinced the poor thing of the soul-saving life with a husband who only causes disgust - after all, mortification of the flesh is only useful. Finally, Elmira could not stand it - since her husband does not believe the words of his loved ones, he should see with his own eyes the baseness of Tartuffe. Convinced that he had to make sure of just the opposite - of the high morality of the righteous man - Orgon agreed to crawl under the table and from there eavesdrop on the conversation that Elmira and Tartuffe would have in private.
Tartuffe immediately fell for Elmira’s feigned speeches that she supposedly had a strong feeling for him, but at the same time showed a certain prudence: before refusing to marry Mariana, he wanted to receive from her stepmother, so to speak, a tangible guarantee of tender feelings. As for the violation of the commandment, which will be associated with the delivery of this pledge, then, as Tartuffe assured Elmira, he has his own ways of dealing with heaven.
What Orgon heard from under the table was enough for his blind faith in the holiness of Tartuffe to finally collapse. He ordered the scoundrel to get away immediately, he tried to make excuses, but now it was useless. Then Tartuffe changed his tone and, before proudly leaving, promised to brutally get even with Orgon.
Tartuffe’s threat was not unfounded: firstly, Orgon had already managed to issue a deed of gift to his house, which today belonged to Tartuffe; secondly, he entrusted the vile villain with a casket with papers incriminating Argas, his friend, who was forced to leave the country for political reasons.
It was necessary to urgently look for some way out. Damis volunteered to beat Tartuffe and discourage him from doing harm, but Cleanthe stopped the young man - he argued that more could be achieved with the mind than with fists. Orgon's family had not yet come up with anything when the bailiff, Mr. Loyal, showed up on the doorstep of the house. He brought an order to vacate M. Tartuffe's house by tomorrow morning. At this point, not only Damis’s hands began to itch, but also Dorina’s and even Orgon himself.
As it turned out, Tartuffe did not fail to use the second opportunity he had to ruin the life of his recent benefactor: Valère, trying to save Mariana’s family, warns them with the news that the scoundrel has handed over a chest of papers to the king, and now Orgon faces arrest for aiding the rebel. Orgon decided to escape before it was too late, but the guards got ahead of him: the officer who entered announced that he was under arrest.
Tartuffe also came to Orgon's house with the royal officer. The family, including Madame Pernel, who had finally seen the light, began to unanimously shame the hypocritical villain, listing all his sins. Tom soon got tired of this, and he turned to the officer with a request to protect his person from vile attacks, but in response, to his great - and everyone's - amazement, he heard that he was arrested.
As the officer explained, in fact he did not come for Orgon, but in order to see how Tartuffe reaches the end in his shamelessness. The wise king, an enemy of lies and a stronghold of justice, from the very beginning had suspicions about the identity of the informer and turned out to be right, as always - under the name of Tartuffe was hiding a scoundrel and a swindler, on whose account a great many dark deeds were hiding. With his authority, the sovereign canceled the deed of gift for the house and forgave Orgon for indirectly aiding his rebellious brother.
Tartuffe was carried to prison in disgrace, but Orgon had no choice but to praise the wisdom and generosity of the monarch, and then bless the union of Valera and Mariana: “there is no better example,
How true love and devotion Valera"
2 groups of Moliere comedies:
1) domestic comedies , their comedy is a comedy of situations (“Funny primps”, “Reluctant Doctor”, etc.).
2) "high comedies" They should be written mostly in verse and consist of five acts. Comicism is comedy of character, intellectual comedy (“Tartuffe, or the Deceiver”,“Don Juan”, “Misanthrope”, etc.).
History of creation :
1st edition 1664(did not reach us) Only three acts. Tartuffe is a spiritual figure. Mariana is completely absent. Tartuffe deftly gets out of it when Orgon's son catches him with Elmira (stepmother). The triumph of Tartuffe unequivocally testified to the danger of hypocrisy.
The play was to be shown during the court festival “The Amusements of the Enchanted Island,” which took place in May 1664 at Versailles. However, she upset the holiday. A real conspiracy arose against Moliere, led by Queen Mother Anne of Austria. Moliere was accused of insulting religion and the church, demanding punishment for this. Performances of the play were stopped.
2nd edition 1667. (didn't arrive either)
He added two more acts (there were 5), where he depicted the connections of the hypocrite Tartuffe with the court, the court and the police. Tartuffe was named Panjulf and turned into a socialite, intending to marry Orgon's daughter Marianne. The comedy was called "Deceiver" ended with the exposure of Panyulf and the glorification of the king.
3rd edition 1669. (has reached us) the hypocrite was again called Tartuffe, and the whole play was “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver.”
“Tartuffe” caused a furious showdown between the church, the king and Moliere:
1. The idea of a comedy king * By the way, Louis XIV generally loved Moliere*approved. After the performance of the play, M. sent the 1st “Petition” to the king, defended himself from accusations of godlessness and spoke about public role satirical writer. The king did not lift the ban, but did not listen to the advice of rabid saints “to burn not only the book, but also its author, a demon, an atheist and a libertine, who wrote a devilish play full of abomination, in which he mocks the church and religion, at sacred functions.” .
2. The king gave permission to stage the play in its 2nd edition orally, in a hurry, upon leaving for the army. Immediately after the premiere, the comedy was again banned by the President of Parliament. Archbishop of Paris Refix prohibited all parishioners and clergymen ania "imagine, read or listen dangerous play»under penalty of excommunication . Moliere sent the king a second “Petition”, in which he stated that he would stop writing completely if the king did not come to his defense. The king promised to sort it out.
3. It’s clear that, despite all the prohibitions, everyone reads the book: in private homes, distributes it in manuscript, and performs it in closed home performances. The Queen Mother died in 1666* the one who was all indignant*, and Louis XIV quickly promised Moliere quick permission to stage it.
1668 year - the year of “church peace” between orthodox Catholicism and Jansenism => tolerance in religious matters. Tartuffe is permitted. February 9, 1669 the performance was a huge success.
In which the century is reflected And modern man is depicted quite correctly, With his immoral soul...
A. Pushkin
Moliere turns in his work to the genre of comedy-ballet, designed for court performances. K this This genre includes the famous comedy “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”, where a realistic picture of morals is given, accompanied by ballet and divertissement numbers.
The hero of the comedy is the rich, ignorant and narrow-minded bourgeois Mr. Jourdain, who wanted to look like a nobleman at all costs. Jourdain is robbed by the noble adventurers Dorant and Dorimena, with whom he is friends and who live at his expense. Dorant's satirical type was an expression of Moliere's class position. The nosy, cynical and somewhat cowardly Dorant is a characteristic figure among the bankrupt nobility, who have lost the opportunity, but not the desire, to live widely. Hereditary estates have slipped from our hands, family jewels have been squandered, but habits, needs, and manners have remained aristocratic and lordly. So you have to bow to the moneybag, flirt with him, and, through deception and supposed affection, extract livres and sous from a wealthy plebeian.
In essence, Dorant trades his title, exploiting the vanity of the tradesman, and this fully corresponds to his code of honor. The Count's florid speech and ostentatious sophistication do not hide, and in many cases do not even have the purpose of hiding, the essence of the financial interest underlying his “attachment” to the commoner.
Dorant condescends to Jourdain and at the same time fawns on him, flattering, begging and extorting handouts: after all, he is forced to protect and nurture the eccentricities of his patron, so as not to lose his source of income. The rogue Dorant has already sunk to the extreme degree of unscrupulousness when, due to the generosity of Jourdain, he tries to arrange his affairs, passing off to Dorimene all the expenses and gifts of the deceived eccentric as gifts from his loving heart.
The situation is typical for many of Moliere's plays: a hanger-on, who has gained the trust of the owner, begins to take charge of his house. Thus, Dorant casually informs Jourdain that on his behalf he “gave orders to the cook and also ordered everything to be prepared for the ballet.” How could it be otherwise? After all, the count, who allegedly mentioned the name of Jourdain in the royal bedchamber, can count on unlimited credit and gratitude in the latter’s house.
Dorimena might have passed for a portrait of a traditional heroine on a pedestal, but affectation and sophistication cannot hide from the viewer the earthly plans of an interesting widow who knows how to dispose of, by her own admission, the heart and fortune of an admirer on occasion.
Aristocratic, salon culture is criticized not only from an aesthetic point of view, this criticism turns out to be highly social, exposing the role played by secularism and the process of “transformation” of Jourdain, and exposing the position of Dorant.
The entire deception of Jourdain, the entire hoax with an imaginary aristocratic groom for his daughter is played out by those around him as “indulgence for the weaknesses” of a father obsessed with the nobility.
A paradox arises. Jourdain strives for subtlety and aristocratic expression of emotions. To a large extent, his desire for noble treatment is awakened by his courtly attitude towards a society lady. And Dorant sincerely convinces him that the direct path is money.
And Jourdain habitually takes on the role of a huckster, forgetting that his very desire to rise to the top is largely due to the desire to renounce rude, business contacts with others: “I will not stop at any expense, if only they pave the way for me to her heart. A society lady has an incomparable charm for me; I am ready to buy such an honor at any cost.”
In the process of comparing the nobility and the bourgeoisie, Moliere puts forward the theme of human dignity, the problem of life ideals. In this sense, as we have seen, his hopes are least of all connected with the upper class and the noble bourgeoisie. The true hopes and prospects of the bourgeoisie are reflected in the remarks of Cleontes, who, however, plays very cameo role in the development of action. It is not assimilation with the nobility, but equality, equal opportunities with it, that Cleont defends for his class. Both personal independence and public service should be the prerogatives of the bourgeoisie, he believes. The desire to appear to be something other than what you are is defined by the proud tradesman as “a sign of spiritual baseness.”
The humanistic beginning of the play, its connection with the traditional folk ways portrayals of characters, optimism, vivid stage presence, and social acuity are typical of the playwright’s entire work.
life, because they contain magical power which gives old age
the advantages of youth, turns viciousness into virtue, stupidity into intelligence, and
ugliness into beauty. Owning money, Harpagon can safely marry
his son's bride Mariana. When he finds out that his son is his
rival, he expels him from the house, and then disinherits and curses him.
Harpagon is just as cruel with his daughter: when his box disappears
with gold, he angrily shouts to Eliza that he would be very glad if not
the box, and she herself.
For Harpagon, the loss of gold is almost fatal - the miser falls into
deep despair, then into terrible anger. He hates and suspects everyone
people, he wants to arrest and hang everyone. Gold poisoned the soul
Harpagon; this is no longer a person, but an evil, greedy and in its own way unhappy
animal. He loves no one, and no one loves him; he is lonely and pathetic.
The comic figure of Harpagon acquires a dramatic sheen, she becomes
an ominous symbol of the complete decay of the human personality, an example
moral insanity resulting from the corrupting influence
property.
But the thirst for enrichment gives rise to such terrible moral phenomena, How
Harpagon, not only among the wealthy class; she can pervert the most
nature of human relations and creates an unnatural social
morality. In the union of Harpagon and Mariana, not only the greedy old man is criminal,
a criminal and virtuous girl: she consciously agrees to become a wife
Harpagon in the hope of his quick death.
If gold in the owner’s mind turns into the meaning of his life
and, as it were, obscures life itself, it is natural that those around them see in life
the owner only has his gold and replaces personal relationships with a person
selfish calculation. Moliere reveals this theme in his latest comedy
"The Imaginary Invalid" (1673).
The big man Argan convinced himself that he was sick. It happened because
reason that the prudent people around him in every possible way indulged the whims and
Argan's pretense, hoping in this way to gain his trust. And them
the hope was fully justified. Argan made his illness a kind of criterion
people's assessments. It now became clear to him that those around him who did not
they recognize his illnesses and do not value his life; therefore they are not worthy of trust.
Those who hurt their souls with every breath they take show true
friendly disposition.
Imaginary illnesses became a passion for Argan, with which he could truly
enjoy: hearing constant sighs around you, seeing universal
concern and secretly wiping away tears, Argan was blissful in his soul - so
better than in any other way, he felt the significance of his
personality. All he had to do was groan, and everyone around him stopped living, everyone
froze and turned anxious glances at him. Argan with satisfaction
noticed that the lives of the people around him were completely dissolved in his own
life. Argan's passion for diseases was the result of hypertrophied
narcissism. The man wanted to see that he was alone, his fate, his
being constitute the meaning of the existence of all others. But in his egocentric
In his blindness, Argan did not notice that his health and life were not judged by themselves.
himself, but only due to the fact that under the bed of an imaginary patient stands
an impressive size chest of gold. Argan could not distinguish the true
motives from false ones and took pretense for virtue, and truthful ones
feelings - for manifestations of hostility. A false ideal gave rise to false morality and
characters - nature was perverted, and man turned into a freak.
VII
There is no shame for the higher ones,
We have been given the ability to do everything worthy.
After all, from the one who accomplishes them,
Things change names.
Servant Lafleche was the only person in the comedy "The Miser" who
expressed her contempt for Harpagon, the maid Nicole laughed loudly at
the nonsense of Mr. Jourdain, trying to reason with him and cure him of passion
to become noble, just as the maid Guanette tried to knock Mr.
Argan is his nonsense.
The closeness to the people, the feeling of the free folk element affected
Moliere not only in the gallery of images of maids and servants he created. This
the popular origin also determined the very nature of his satire. Moliere looked at
his vicious heroes with the same eyes as his popular types saw them.
Dorina's look at Tartuffe was Moliere's; Nicole's ridicule of Jourdain
and Toinettes over Argan were the ridicule of Moliere himself. From here, from the folk
views on all these carriers of social evil, and integrity was generated,
strength and certainty satirical characteristics Moliere.
The great comedian’s pronounced bias in his portrayal
carriers of social vices was a manifestation of direct and decisive
judgments of the people, enriched by Moliere with ideas of humanistic
ideology. Solidity of Moliere's satirical images, covered by a single
an all-consuming passion, was akin to the principles of folk satire. Principle
hyperbolization, characteristic of farcical images, Italian folk masks
comedy and so clearly manifested in the monumental types of Rabelais, this
the principle was firmly adopted by Moliere, but underwent significant changes.
By excluding elements of farcical excesses, overcoming the schematism of Italian masks
and abandoning the fantastic exaggerations of Rabelais, Moliere created
popularly hyperbolic, but quite realistic in life,
satirically purposeful characters. At the same time, he followed the principles
rationalistic aesthetics, the laws of typification developed by classicism.
In this combination of folk-Renaissance and classicist aesthetics there was no
nothing violent or contradictory, because classicism, being a style
certain historical era, was not a socially homogeneous direction.
He, just like later realism or romanticism, had large capacity, contained
contains both a reactionary-noble direction and tendencies
progressive, democratic character.
Moliere was the most vivid and consistent exponent of this latter
directions. Fighting the class limitations of classicism, cruelly
criticizing the deathly stylization of the “high” genres, Moliere with his
creatively developed the most progressive aspirations of the classicist
style. The result of this was that in Moliere's work classicism came out
beyond their stylistic limits and, having found their own artistic features, became
the link between the art of realism of the Renaissance and realism
new time.
Moliere's style had undeniable advantages over the style of tragic
writers of classicism, even such as Corneille and Racine. These advantages
were reflected in a more organic connection with reality, with folk
traditions and thereby with the principles of Renaissance art. Art
Renaissance, largely killed by the pedantry of the classicists
rules, in Molière’s work preserved organic nationality. to his
trust in human nature Moliere. expressed his loyalty to ideas
Renaissance, he defended human rights to happiness, but it was already clear to him
that not only living, but also dead water flows from the source of nature, -
the most natural impulses of man, devoid of restraining social
beginnings, become unnatural, selfish and selfish.
The harmony between the natural and the reasonable, which artists sought in life
Renaissance, has already lost its progressive historical meaning. Poeticized
the image of reality in new social conditions became false
idealization; the struggle for humanistic ideals required direct and sober
outlook on life, and Moliere fulfilled this historical mission of art. At
For all the liveliness and emotionality of Moliere's work, intellectuality was
the most important feature of his genius: the rationalistic method determined the deep and
conscious analysis of typical characters and life conflicts,
contributed to the ideological clarity of comedies, their social purposefulness,
compositional clarity and completeness. Exploring the vast layers of life,
Moliere, as an artist of the classicist movement, selected only those features
which he needed to depict certain types, and not
strived for completeness of life depiction and versatile depiction
characters. Pushkin pointed out this feature of Moliere’s typification when
said: “In Moliere, the Miser is stingy - and that’s all; in Shakespeare, Shylock is stingy, shrewd,
vengeful, child-loving, witty." In Moliere's comedies, life types received
their deep revelation not in the complex diversity of character, but in their
prevailing, dominant passion; they were not given in their immediate
everyday appearance, and after a preliminary logical selection of typical features,
and therefore the satirical colors here were extremely condensed, the ideological tendency,
contained in the image, received the clearest expression. It is in
as a result of such a conscious sharpening of characters, Tartuffe,
Don Juan, Harpagon and other types of the broadest social generalization and
enormous satirical power.
It is known that classicism, having adopted from the art of the Renaissance, the principle
images of passions as the main dynamic essence of character, deprived them
specificity. In the work of Moliere this is a property of classicist poetics
had the least impact. And if Moliere obeys the norms
rationalistic aesthetics, then this is not manifested in the leveling of everyday
concreteness of his characters, and in the traditional cutting off of everything that
may disrupt the strict certainty of the plot or cloud the main one,
the only theme of the image-type.
Passions in Moliere's depiction never appeared on stage only
as psychological traits, individual properties of a given character; They
concentrated in themselves the very essence of nature and expressed it in a negative form
the artist’s view of the way of life around him.
Criticism, noting the solidity and one-sidedness of Moliere's
characters, rightly speaks of the playwright’s belonging to
classicist direction. But this overlooks the most important
the fact that the rationalistic method in constructing an image and in
the composition of the comedy itself was only a form in which they found their expression
popular ideas about social evil, representations with bright
expressed ideological bias, certainty and ruthlessness
folk criticism, the brightness and expressiveness of the colors of the square theater. This
the national principle received its most direct expression in the cheerful,
optimistic tone, covering the entire course of Moliere's comedies, permeating
all her images, including satirical ones, through which she shone
the author's deadly irony and his angry sarcasm.
But Moliere's satire never acquired external character, Not
violated the realistic vitality of the behavior of the characters who were carriers
certain social vices. These heroes are sincerely confident in justice
your ideas and actions; they are obsessed with their passions and fight selflessly
for their implementation. And the more obsessed they are in this struggle, the funnier it is, since
laughter is born from the discrepancy between their behavior and the baseness of their goals.
Ordinary motives are elevated to an ideal, and this makes self-confidence
Moliere's characters are imaginary, as if from within the image itself, satirically
exposing vulgar passions. When, towards the end of the action, satirical
characters fail, then, while maintaining the drama of their experiences,
they do not evoke any sympathy from the audience, because the punishment they suffered
is perceived as retribution, which they fully deserve.
Moliere's nationality was also evident in the general style of his comedies - all of them
(with the exception of those written for court festivities on
mythological and pastoral scenes("Princess of Elis. (1664),
"Melicert" (1666), "Psyche" (1671).)) are imbued with the spirit of popular optimism,
openly expressed democratic bias, rapid
dynamics in the development of action, energetic, vivid depiction of characters and,
which is especially indicative of the folk theater, the atmosphere of cheerfulness and
life-giving gaiety.
Free spirit the people's theater did not leave Moliere for all his years
creativity. He triumphed in his first comedy "Naughty", and he
permeated one of Moliere's most recent creations - a masterpiece of his comic
genius "The Tricks of Scapin" (1671).
The plebeian Scapin, in addition to the usual advantages of a folk hero - a sharp mind,
energy, knowledge of life, optimism - was also endowed by Moliere with new features:
self-esteem and, most importantly, the ability to see
vices of the social structure. Scapin, insulted by his young master
Leander, agrees to help him only after he becomes
kneel before him, and wanting to repay his elder master for slander,
Geronto, Scapin puts him in a sack and, repeating the traditional theatrical
trick, personally beating the venerable bourgeois. According to new times, offend
the plebeian turns out not to do so with impunity. Upholding your dignity
Scapin evoked complete sympathy from the audience, for he really was
h_e_l_o_v_e_k_o_m next to the fools and simpletons of the older generation of gentlemen
and their helpless and frivolous offspring.
Scapin's advantage was determined not only by his natural intelligence and
energy, but also his knowledge of people and life. And if the traditional skill was
Scapin uses knowledge of characters to carry out his cunning
plans, then the wide range of observations of life,
which was first demonstrated in a comedy and indicated a peculiar growth
worldview of a plebeian hero. Warning old man Argant against conversion
to court, Scapin paints a very accurate and completely truthful picture of modern
him legal proceedings. He says: “How many appeals there are, different authorities and
all sorts of red tape, which kind of predatory animals you will not have to visit
claws: bailiffs, attorneys, lawyers, secretaries, their assistants, rapporteurs,
judges with their scribes! And no one will think about turning the law in their own way,
even for a small bribe. The bailiff will slip a fake protocol, and here you are
sued, but you don’t even know anything. The attorney will face off against the opposite
party and will sell you for nothing. The lawyer will also be bribed, he won’t even go to court
will appear when they are examining your case, or will begin to weave all sorts of nonsense, and
it never gets to the point. The secretary will read you the indictment in absentia
sentence. The speaker's scribe will hide the documents, otherwise the speaker himself will say
as if he had not seen them. And if with great difficulty you succeed in all this
avoid, then it will turn out, to your surprise, that the judges have already been tuned
their mistresses or some hypocrites are against you. No, sir, if you can,
stay away from this hell. Going to court is like going to hell
burn. Yes, I think I would have run away from the trial to the ends of the earth."
And following these words of angry denunciation of judicial arbitrariness and
red tape followed Scapin's second monologue, branding vile corruption
royal judges.
If one truly senses the daring spirit of the speeches of the last plebeian hero
Moliere, one can clearly imagine that the next stage in the development
the worldview of the plebeian hero will be the transformation of his knowledge of social
vices of noble-bourgeois society into a direct need to enter into
a decisive fight against these vices. Proof of the correctness of such
assumptions may be the image of Figaro from the comedy of Beaumarchais, the forerunner
which are not the selfish and cynical servants from the plays of Regnard and Lesage, but
active, brave, in his own way noble and freedom-loving Scapin, over a hundred
for more than a year, who said about the French court those words of harsh truth that
Figaro will speak about the social structure of noble France as a whole.
If in the image of Skaien Moliere foresaw the future hero, the exponent
plebeian forces of the “third estate”, then in the sketched figure of the tax farmer
He saw Harpen from the comedy "Countess d'Escarbanhas" (1671) in modern
in his society is that type of predatory bourgeois financier who, after a few
decades in Lesage's comedy "Turkare" will receive its precise and merciless
satirical depiction. Moliere's work, addressed to modern times,
reflected everything that was ripening in modern times for the future. Features of this
future topics were felt in latest works Moliere, intently
who followed all the new phenomena of life. It’s not for nothing that Moliere
worked carefully on his penultimate comedy "Learned Women" (1672),
the topic of which was in itself, perhaps not so significant, but the type
comedy based on direct observations and accurate satirical
descriptions of modern morals, pointed to Moliere’s persistent desire to
bring theater and reality closer together.
Carried away by new creative quests, Moliere
raised the prestige of his theater. Therefore, when the relationship between the playwright and the king
cooled (the reason was that Louis provided the composer Lully with preferential
rights to show performances with music), Moliere, without any embarrassment, gave
premiere of his new comedy not at court, as was originally planned, but
in his city theater. At the same time, the playwright pointedly replaced
a specially written prologue praising the king, a new prologue in which
there was not even a mention of His Majesty's person. This comedy was "Imaginary
patient", which was a huge success. Moliere was loudly applauded and how
playwright and as a leading actor. But on the fourth day
performance of "The Imaginary Invalid" by Moliere, who had long suffered from illness
lungs, felt especially ill.
At some point he even hesitated to go up on stage. But in the theater
There were the Prince of Condé and many noble foreigners. It is also possible that the head
troupe considered it his duty to make an effort to ensure that his fellow actors
and the theater employees did not lose their earnings. During the show
comedy, when Argan shouted his famous “Juro!”, Moliere for a short
I felt weak for a moment - the audience noticed it. The performance was completed. Moliere
wrapped himself in a robe and went to rest in the restroom of his favorite student
Barona. He felt cold. My hands were frozen. The porters were called, and Moliere
They took him to his home, on Richelieu Street. The Baron accompanied him. Houses Molière
flatly refused warm broth and asked for a piece of Parmesan and a little
bread Then he lay down. He was overcome by mortal weakness. The Baron ran
to look for Moliere's wife Armande, and the patient was left alone with two
nun nurses who accidentally wandered into their house. Suddenly
blood gushed out of my throat. Moliere's servants ran to two priests who lived in
the parish of St. Eustachia. These merciful confessors refused to appear to the author
"Tartuffe". Genevieve Bejart's husband, Jean Aubry, went after the third abbot, who
decided to come to the bedside of the dying man. But he walked for more than an hour. During this time
Moliere died.
The Parisian clergy, continuing to burn with hatred for the deceased,
remembered an old church decree against actors and decided to apply it with
with all severity. The priests of the parish of St. They refused to bury Eustachius
Moliere. Armande sent a request to the Archbishop of Paris. Then she
hurried to Saint-Germain and requested an audience with the king. Louis XIV
ordered to tell the archbishop that he should not allow noise and scandals.
The archbishop complied, but clearly against his wishes. He gave the order
bury Moliere at night.
Thus, on the night of February 21-22, 1673 at 9 p.m.
Moliere's body was taken from Richelieu Street to the cemetery of St. Joseph. Ahead
the cortege was illuminated by torches. Four clergymen carried the coffin. Six
children from the choir accompanied him with candles. The overnight funeral drew a crowd
seven hundred - eight hundred people. There was not a single noble person among them.
Armande distributed 1000 livres to the poor.
The hatred of the saints haunted Moliere further. Monstrous epitaph in
verses walked from hand to hand. It expressed joy over the death of the atheist
and wishing him hellfire.
But the man who aroused such fierce hatred of the saints acquired for himself
the enormous and unquenchable love of the French people.
Death found Moliere on the verge of new great achievements, and if the pen
fell out of the hands of the brilliant creator of "Tartuffe", then the work he started to be interrupted
it was no longer possible. Realism of French drama and theater, scored
a powerful key in the work of Moliere, continued his movement in the next
century. The names of Regnard, Lesage and Beaumarchais were the largest in that legion
French playwrights who followed in the footsteps of Moliere.
Through the work of Molière, French theater brought to many
national theaters of Europe progressive realistic trends that
helped shape the national dramaturgy of these countries. Fielding,
Goldsmith, Sheridan in England, Goldoni and all his predecessors in Italy,
young Lessing and Goethe in Germany, Moratin and Ramon de la Cruz in Spain,
Holberg in Denmark - each of these playwrights created their own comedies, learning from
Moliere in his modeling of characters and plotting and, most importantly, remembering the testament
great playwright that "the purpose of comedy is to depict human
shortcomings and especially the shortcomings of modern people."
Moliere's authority was very high among the great creators of Russian
national comedy - Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol and Ostrovsky.
Moliere's satirical genius grew out of ideological clarity and
the artist's determination. Moliere not only truthfully portrayed his
time, but also sharply pointed out the glaring discrepancy between life and those ideal
the norms that humanism has developed and will develop through enlightenment.
Such an ideological range could only exist in a person who lived
with the people and created for the people. The breadth and fearlessness of Moliere's views, his
constant desire to expose in his comedies the main vices of the time, his
optimism and poetic animation and, finally, his passionate faith in his
writer's duty, turning creativity into a civic feat - all this
made the creator of Tartuffe great national poet, true head
French theater, a genius who laid the foundations of a new realistic
dramaturgy.
About Moliere: 1622-1673, France. Born into the family of a court upholsterer and decorator, he received an excellent education. He knew ancient languages, ancient literature, history, philosophy, etc. From there I gained convictions about the freedom of the human person. He could have been a scientist, a lawyer, or followed in his father’s footsteps, but he became an actor (and that was a shame). He played at the Brilliant Theater, despite his talent for comic roles, almost the entire troupe staged tragedies. Two years later the theater disbanded and they became a traveling theater. Moliere looked at people, at life, at characters, realized that they were better comedians than tragedians, and began to write comedies. In Paris they were received with delight, Louis 14 left the court theater to them to be torn to pieces, and then they got their own - the Palais Royal. There he staged faxes and comedies on topical topics, ridiculed the vices of society, sometimes individuals, and, naturally, made enemies for himself. However, he was favored by the king and became his favorite. Louis even became the godson of his first-born son in order to ward off rumors and gossip from his marriage. And still, people liked the plays, and even I liked them)
The playwright died after the fourth performance of The Imaginary Invalid; he felt unwell on stage and barely finished the performance. That same night Moliere died. The burial of Moliere, who died without church repentance and did not renounce the “shameful” profession of an actor, turned into a public scandal. The Archbishop of Paris, who did not forgive Moliere for Tartuffe, did not allow the great writer to be buried according to the accepted church rite. It took the king's intervention. The funeral took place late in the evening, without observing proper ceremonies, outside the fence of the cemetery, where unknown vagabonds and suicides were usually buried. However, behind Moliere’s coffin, along with his family, friends, and colleagues, was a large crowd of ordinary people, to whose opinion Moliere listened so subtly.
In classicism, the rules for constructing comedy were not interpreted as strictly as the rules of tragedy, and allowed for wider variation. Sharing the principles of classicism as an artistic system, Moliere made genuine discoveries in the field of comedy. He demanded a truthful representation of reality, preferring to move from direct observation of life phenomena to the creation of typical characters. These characters, under the playwright's pen, acquire social definition; Many of his observations therefore turned out to be prophetic: such, for example, is the depiction of the peculiarities of bourgeois psychology. Satire in Moliere's comedies always contained a social meaning. The comedian did not paint portraits or record secondary phenomena of reality. He created comedies that depicted the life and customs of modern society, but for Moliere it was essentially a form of expression of social protest, a demand for social justice. His worldview was based on experimental knowledge, concrete observations of life, which he preferred to abstract speculation. In his views on morality, Moliere was convinced that only following natural laws is the key to rational and moral human behavior. But he wrote comedies, which means his attention was drawn to violations of the norms of human nature, deviations from natural instincts in the name of far-fetched values. In his comedies, two types of “fools” are depicted: those who do not know their nature and its laws (Moliere tries to teach and sober up such people), and those who deliberately cripple their own or someone else’s nature (he considers such people dangerous and requiring isolation) . According to the playwright, if a person's nature is perverted, he becomes a moral monster; False, false ideals underlie false, perverted morality. Moliere demanded genuine moral rigor, reasonable restrictions on the individual; Personal freedom for him is not blind adherence to the call of nature, but the ability to subordinate one’s nature to the demands of reason. Therefore, his positive heroes are reasonable and sensible.
Moliere wrote comedies two types; they differed in content, intrigue, comic nature, and structure. Domestic comedies , short, written in prose, the plot is reminiscent of headlights. And, in fact, « high comedy» .
1. Dedicated to important social issues (not just to ridicule manners as in “Funny Primroses,” but to expose the vices of society).
2. In five acts.
3. In verse.
4. Full compliance with the classic trinity (place, time, action)
5. Comic: comic character, intellectual comic.
6. No conventions.
7. The character of the heroes is revealed by external and internal factors. External factors - events, situations, actions. Internal - spiritual experiences.
8. Standard roles. Young heroes are usually lovers ; their servants (usually cunning, accomplices of their masters); eccentric hero (a clown, a character full of comic contradictions); hero-sage , or reasoner .
For example: Tartuffe, Misanthrope, Tradesman among the Nobility, Don Juan, in general, everything that needed to be read. These comedies contain elements of farce and comedy of intrigue and comedy of manners, but in fact these are comedies of classicism. Moliere himself described the meaning of their social content as follows: “You can’t penetrate people better than by depicting their shortcomings. People listen to reproaches indifferently, but cannot bear ridicule... Comedy saves people from their vices.” Don Juan Before him, everything was made into a Christian edifying play, but he went a different route. The play is full of social and everyday concreteness (see the point “no conventions”). The main character is not an abstract rake or the embodiment of universal debauchery, but a representative of a certain type of French nobles. He is a typical, concrete person, not a symbol. Creating your own Don Juan, Moliere denounced not debauchery in general, but the immorality inherent in the French aristocrat of the 17th century. There are a lot of details from real life, but I think you will find this in the corresponding ticket. Tartuffe- is not the embodiment of hypocrisy as a universal human vice, it is a socially generalized type. It is not for nothing that he is not at all alone in the comedy: his servant Laurent, the bailiff Loyal, and the old woman - Orgon's mother Madame Pernel - are hypocritical. They all cover up their unsightly actions with pious speeches and vigilantly monitor the behavior of others.
Misanthrope was even recognized by the strict Boileau as a truly “high comedy.” In it, Moliere showed the injustice of the social system, moral decline, the rebellion of a strong, noble personality against social evil. It contrasts two philosophies, two worldviews (Alceste and Flint are opposites). It is devoid of any theatrical effects, dialogue here completely replaces action, and the comedy of characters is the comedy of situations. “The Misanthrope” was created during the serious trials that befell Moliere. This, perhaps, explains its content - deep and sad. The comedy of this essentially tragic play is connected precisely with the character of the main character, who is endowed with weaknesses. Alceste is hot-tempered, lacks a sense of proportion and tact, he lectures insignificant people, idealizes the unworthy woman Celimene, loves her, forgives her everything, suffers, but hopes that he can revive the good qualities she has lost. But he is mistaken, he does not see that she already belongs to the environment that he rejects. Alceste is an expression of Moliere’s ideal, in some ways a reasoner, conveying the author’s opinion to the public.
About Tradesman in the nobility(it’s not on the tickets, but it’s on the list):
Depicting people of the third estate, the bourgeois, Moliere divides them into three groups: those who were characterized by patriarchy, inertia, and conservatism; people of a new type, with a sense of self-esteem and, finally, those who imitate the nobility, which has a detrimental effect on their psyche. Among these latter is the main character of “The Bourgeois in the Nobility,” Mr. Jourdain.
This is a man completely captured by one dream - to become a nobleman. The opportunity to get closer to noble people is happiness for him, all his ambition lies in achieving similarities with them, his whole life is the desire to imitate them. The thought of nobility takes possession of him completely; in this mental blindness, he loses all correct understanding of the world. He acts without reasoning, to his own detriment. He reaches the point of spiritual depravity and begins to be ashamed of his parents. He is fooled by everyone who wants to; he is robbed by teachers of music, dancing, fencing, philosophy, tailors and various apprentices. The rudeness, bad manners, ignorance, vulgarity of language and manners of Mr. Jourdain comically contrast with his claims to noble grace and gloss. But Jourdain evokes laughter, not disgust, because, unlike other similar upstarts, he worships the nobility disinterestedly, out of ignorance, as a kind of dream of beauty.
Mr. Jourdain is opposed by his wife, a true representative of the philistinism. She is a sensible, practical woman with self-esteem. She tries with all her might to resist her husband’s mania, his inappropriate claims, and most importantly, to clear the house of uninvited guests who live at the expense of Jourdain and exploit his gullibility and vanity. Unlike her husband, she does not have any respect for the title of nobility and prefers to marry her daughter to a man who would be her equal and would not look down on her bourgeois relatives. The younger generation - Jourdain's daughter Lucille and her fiancé Cleont - are people of a new type. Lucille received a good upbringing; she loves Cleontes for his virtues. Cleont is noble, but not by origin, but by character and moral qualities: honest, truthful, loving, he can be useful to society and the state.
Who are those whom Jourdain wants to imitate? Count Dorant and Marquise Dorimena are people of noble birth, they have refined manners and captivating politeness. But the count is a poor adventurer, a swindler, ready for any meanness, even pimping, for the sake of money. Dorimena, together with Dorant, robs Jourdain. The conclusion to which Moliere leads the viewer is obvious: even though Jourdain is ignorant and simple-minded, even though he is ridiculous and selfish, he is an honest man, and there is nothing to despise him for. Morally, trusting and naive in his dreams, Jourdain is higher than the aristocrats. So the comedy-ballet, the original purpose of which was to entertain the king in his Chambord castle, where he went hunting, became, under the pen of Molière, a satirical, social work.
22. "Misanthrope"
Brief recap:
1 ACTION. In the capital city of Paris live two friends, Alceste and Philinte. From the very beginning of the play, Alceste burns with indignation because Philinte warmly greeted and sang praises to the man he had just seen, even whose name he remembers with difficulty. Filint assures that all relationships are built on politeness, because it’s like an advance - he said kindness - you get kindness in return, it’s nice. Alceste claims that such “friendship” is worthless, that he despises the human race for its deceit, hypocrisy, and depravity; Alceste does not want to tell a lie if he does not like a person - he is ready to say so, but he will not lie and servile for the sake of his career or money. He is even ready to lose a trial in which he, the right one, is suing a man who achieved his fortune in the most disgusting ways, but to whom, however, everyone is welcome and no one will say a bad word. Alceste rejects Philinte’s advice to bribe the judges - and he considers his possible loss an occasion to tell the world about the corruption of people and the depravity of the world. However, Philinte notices that Alceste, despising the entire human race and wanting to escape from the city, does not attribute his hatred to Celimene, a flirtatious and hypocritical beauty - although Elianta, Celimene’s cousin, would be a much more suitable wife for his sincere and direct nature. But Alceste believes that Celimene is beautiful and pure, although covered with a touch of vice, but with his pure love he hopes to cleanse his beloved from the dirt of the world.
The friends are joined by Oroante, who expresses an ardent desire to become Alceste’s friend, to which he tries to politely refuse, saying that he is unworthy of such an honor. Oroant demands Alceste to say his opinion regarding the sonnet that came to his mind, after which he reads the verses. Oroantes's poems are trashy, pompous, cliched, and Alceste, after much asking Oroantes to be sincere, replies that he supposedly said to one of my poet acquaintances that graphomania must be restrained within oneself, that modern poetry is an order of magnitude worse than ancient French songs (and sings such a song twice) that the nonsense of professional authors can still be tolerated, but when an amateur not only writes, but also rushes to read out his rhymes to everyone - this is no longer which gate? Oroant, however, takes everything personally and leaves offended. Philint hints to Alceste that with his sincerity he has made himself another enemy.
2 ACTION. Alceste tells his beloved, Celimene, about his feelings, but he is dissatisfied with the fact that Celimene shows her favor to all her fans. He wants to be alone in her heart and not share it with anyone. Selimene reports that she is surprised by this new way of giving compliments to her beloved - grumbling and swearing. Alceste speaks of his fiery love and wants to talk seriously with Celimene. But Celimene’s servant, Basque, speaks of people who have come to visit, and to refuse them means making dangerous enemies. Alceste does not want to listen to the lying chatter of the world and slander, but remains. The guests take turns asking Celimena’s opinion about their mutual acquaintances, and in each of the absent ones, Celimena notes some features worthy of an evil laugh. Alceste is indignant at how the guests, with flattery and approval, force his beloved to slander. Everyone notices that this is not so, and it’s really somehow wrong to reproach your loved one. The guests gradually leave, and Alceste is taken to court by a gendarme.
3 ACTION. Clitander and Acast, two of the guests, contenders for Celimene’s hand, agree that the one of them who will continue the harassment will receive confirmation of her affection from the girl. With Selimene appearing, they start talking about Arsinoe, a mutual friend who does not have as many fans as Selimene, and therefore sanctimoniously preaches abstinence from vices; Moreover, Arsinoe is in love with Alceste, who does not share her feelings, having given his heart to Celimene, and for this Arsinoe hates her.
Arsinoe, who has arrived on a visit, is greeted joyfully by everyone, and the two marquises leave, leaving the ladies alone. They exchange pleasantries, after which Arsinoe talks about gossip that allegedly casts doubt on Celimene’s chastity. She responds by talking about other gossip - about Arsinoe’s hypocrisy. Alceste appears and interrupts the conversation, Selimene leaves to write an important letter, and Arsinoe remains with her lover. She takes him to her home in order to show him a letter allegedly compromising Celimene’s devotion to Alceste.
4 ACTION. Philinte tells Eliante about how Alceste refused to recognize Oroante's poems as worthy, criticizing the sonnet in accordance with his usual sincerity. He was reconciled with difficulty with the poet, and Elianta notes that she likes Alceste’s character and would be glad to become his wife. Philinte admits that Elianta can count on him as a groom if Celimene marries Alceste. Alceste appears with a letter, raging with jealousy. After trying to cool his anger, Philinte and Eliante leave him with Celimene. She swears that she loves Alceste, and the letter was simply misinterpreted by him, and, most likely, this letter is not to the gentleman at all, but to the lady - which removes its outrageousness. Alceste, refusing to listen to Celimene, finally admits that love makes him forget about the letter and he himself wants to justify his beloved. Dubois, Alceste's servant, insists that his master is in big trouble, that he is facing the conclusion that his good friend told Alceste to hide and wrote him a letter, which Dubois forgot in the hall, but will bring. Selimene hurries Alceste to find out what’s the matter.
5 ACTION. Alceste was sentenced to pay a huge sum in a case that was lost, which Alceste talked about with Philint at the beginning of the play. But Alceste does not want to appeal the decision - he is now firmly convinced of the depravity and wrongness of people, he wants to leave what happened as a reason to declare to the world his hatred of the human race. In addition, the same scoundrel who won the case against him attributes to Alceste the “vile little book” he published - and the “poet” Orontes, offended by Alceste, takes part in this. Alceste hides in the depths of the stage, and Orontes, who appears, begins to demand recognition from Celimene of her love for him. Alceste comes out and begins, together with Orontes, to demand a final decision from the girl - so that she admits her preference for one of them. Selimene is embarrassed and does not want to talk openly about her feelings, but the men insist. The marquises who came, Elianta, Philint, Arsinoe, read aloud Celimene’s letter to one of the marquises, in which she hints at reciprocity, slandering all the other acquaintances present on the stage, except Elianta and Philint. Everyone, having heard the “witness” about themselves, is offended and leaves the stage, and only the remaining Alceste says that he is not angry with his beloved, and is ready to forgive her everything if she agrees to leave the city with him and live married in a quiet corner. Celimene speaks with hostility about escaping from the world at such a young age, and after she twice repeated her judgment about this idea, Alceste exclaims that he no longer wants to remain in this society and promises to forget about Celimene’s love.
“The Misanthrope” belongs to the “high comedies” of Moliere, who moved from a sitcom with elements of folk theater (farce, low vocabulary, etc.), although not completely (in “Tartuffe,” for example, elements of farce are preserved - for example, Orgon hides under table to see the meeting of his wife and Tartuffe, who is harassing her), to intellectual comedy. Moliere's high comedies are comedies of character, and in them the course of action and dramatic conflict arise and develop due to the characteristics of the characters of the main characters - and the characters of the main characters of “high comedies” have exaggerated features that cause conflict among themselves among the characters between them and society.
So, following “Don Juan” in 1666, Moliere wrote and staged “The Misanthrope”, and this comedy is the highest reflection of “high comedy” - it is completely devoid of theatrical effects, and action and drama are created only by dialogues and clashes of characters. In “The Misanthrope” all three unities are observed, and in general, this is one of Moliere’s “most classicist” comedies (in comparison with the same “Don Juan”, in which the rules of classicism are freely violated).
The main character is Alceste (misanthrope - “not loving people”), sincere and direct (this is his characteristic feature), despising society for lies and hypocrisy, despairing of fighting it (he does not want to win a court case with a bribe), dreaming of flight into solitude - which is what happens at the end of the work. The second main character is Philinte, a friend of Alceste, who, like Alceste, is aware of the essence of deceit, selfishness, and greed in human society, but adapts to it in order to survive in human society. He also tries to explain to Alceste that the “irregularities” he sees are reflections of small mistakes in human nature, which should be treated with condescension. However, Alceste does not want to hide his attitude towards people, does not want to go against his nature, he serves at the court, where in order to rise, it is not feats before the fatherland that are needed, but immoral activity, which, nevertheless, does not cause any censure by society.
This is how the opposition between the eccentric hero (Alceste) and the sage hero (Philint) arises. Philinte, based on his understanding of the situation, compromises, while Alceste does not want to forgive the “weakness of human nature.” Although Philinte tries as much as possible to restrain Alcest’s impulses that escape the boundaries of social custom and make them less dangerous for himself, Alcest, the rebel hero, openly expresses his protest against the social ugliness that he encounters everywhere. However, his behavior is perceived either as “noble heroism” or as eccentricity.
Alceste, in connection with the rules of classicism, is not completely ideal - and the comic effect of the “sad comedy”, as “The Misanthrope” is called, is born due to the weaknesses of Alceste - his strong and jealous love, forgiving Celimene’s shortcomings, his ardor and intemperance with his tongue when form of vices. However, this also makes him more sympathetic and lively - in accordance with the basic poetics of classicism.
23. "Tartuffe"
Brief retelling from briefley.ru:
Madame Pernelle protects Tartuffe from the household. At the invitation of the owner, a certain Mr. Tartuffe settled in the house of the venerable Orgon. Orgon doted on him, considering him an incomparable example of righteousness and wisdom: Tartuffe’s speeches were extremely sublime, his teachings - thanks to which Orgon learned that the world is a big cesspool, and now he would not blink an eye, burying his wife, children and other loved ones - extremely useful, piety aroused admiration; and how selflessly Tartuffe cherished the morality of Orgon’s family... Of all the household members, Orgon’s admiration for the newly-minted righteous man was shared, however, only by his mother, Madame Pernelle. At the beginning, Madame Pernelle says that the only good person in this house is Tartuffe. Dorina, Mariana's maid, in her opinion, is a loud rude person, Elmira, Orgon's wife, is wasteful, her brother Cleanthes is a freethinker, Orgon's children Damis is a fool and Mariana is a modest girl, but in a quiet pool! But they all see in Tartuffe who he really was - a hypocritical saint, cleverly taking advantage of Orgon’s delusion in his simple earthly interests: eating well and sleeping softly, having a reliable roof over his head and some other benefits.
Orgon's family was completely disgusted with Tartuffe's moral teachings; with his worries about decency, he drove almost all his friends away from home. But as soon as someone spoke badly about this zealot of piety, Madame Pernelle created stormy scenes, and Orgon simply remained deaf to any speeches that were not imbued with admiration for Tartuffe. When Orgon returned from a short absence and demanded from the maid Dorina a report on the news at home, the news of his wife’s illness left him completely indifferent, while the story of how Tartuffe happened to overeat at dinner, then sleep until noon, and drink too much wine at breakfast, filled Orgon with compassion for the poor fellow; “Oh, poor thing!” - he says about Tartuffe, while Dorina is talking about how bad his wife was.
Orgon's daughter, Mariana, is in love with a noble young man named Valer, and her brother Damis is in love with Valer's sister. Orgon seems to have already given his consent to the marriage of Mariana and Valera, but for some reason he keeps postponing the wedding. Damis, concerned about his own fate - his marriage to his sister Valera was supposed to follow Mariana's wedding - asked Cleanthe to find out from Orgon the reason for the delay. Orgon answered questions so evasively and incomprehensibly that Cleanthes suspected that he had decided to somehow dispose of his daughter’s future.
Exactly how Orgon sees Mariana’s future became clear when he told his daughter that Tartuffe’s perfections needed reward, and that reward would be his marriage to her, Mariana. The girl was stunned, but did not dare contradict her father. Dorina had to stand up for her: the maid tried to explain to Orgon that marrying Mariana to Tartuffe - a beggar, a low-spirited freak - would mean becoming the subject of ridicule of the whole city, and besides, would push her daughter onto the path of sin, for no matter how virtuous the girl was, she would not It's simply impossible to cuckold a hubby like Tartuffe. Dorina spoke very passionately and convincingly, but despite this, Orgon remained adamant in his determination to become related to Tartuffe.
Mariana was ready to submit to her father's will - this is what her daughter's duty told her to do. Dorina tried to overcome her obedience, dictated by natural timidity and respect for her father, and she almost succeeded in doing so, unfolding before Mariana vivid pictures of the marital happiness prepared for him and Tartuffe.
But when Valer asked Mariana if she was going to submit to Orgon’s will, the girl replied that she didn’t know. But this is only to “flirt”; she sincerely loves Valera. In a fit of despair, Valer advised her to do as her father ordered, while he himself would find himself a bride who would not betray his word; Mariana replied that she would only be happy about this, and as a result, the lovers almost parted forever, but then Dorina arrived in time, who had already been swayed by these lovers with their “concessions” and “omissions.” She convinced young people of the need to fight for their happiness. But they just need to act not directly, but in a roundabout way, to stall for time - the bride is either sick, or sees bad signs, and then something will certainly work out, because everyone - Elmira, and Cleanthes, and Damis - is against Orgon’s absurd plan,
Damis, even too determined, was going to properly rein in Tartuffe so that he would forget about marrying Mariana. Dorina tried to cool his ardor, to convince him that more could be achieved with cunning than with threats, but she was not able to completely convince him of this.
Suspecting that Tartuffe was not indifferent to Orgon's wife, Dorina asked Elmira to talk to him and find out what he himself thought about marriage with Mariana. When Dorina told Tartuffe that the lady wanted to talk with him face to face, the saintly man perked up. At first, scattering heavy compliments in front of Elmira, he did not let her open her mouth, but when she finally asked a question about Mariana, Tartuffe began to assure her that his heart was captivated by another. To Elmira’s bewilderment - how is it that a man of holy life is suddenly seized by carnal passion? - her admirer answered with fervor that yes, he is pious, but at the same time he is also a man, saying that the heart is not flint... Immediately, without mincing words, Tartuffe invited Elmira to indulge in the delights of love. In response, Elmira asked how, in Tartuffe’s opinion, her husband would behave when he heard about his vile harassment. But Tartuffe says that sin is not a sin as long as no one knows about it. Elmira offers a deal: Orgon will not find out anything, Tartuffe, for his part, will try to get Mariana to marry Valere as soon as possible.
Damis ruined everything. He overheard the conversation and, indignant, rushed to his father. But, as one might expect, Orgon believed not his son, but Tartuffe, who this time outdid himself in hypocritical self-abasement. T. accuses himself of all mortal sins and says that he won’t even make excuses. In anger, he ordered Damis to get out of sight and announced that today Tartuffe would marry Mariana. As a dowry, Orgon gave his entire fortune to his future son-in-law.
Cleante tried for the last time to talk humanly with Tartuffe and convince him to reconcile with Damis, give up his unjustly acquired property and Mariana - after all, it is not appropriate for a Christian to use a quarrel between father and son for his own enrichment, much less condemn a girl to lifelong torment. But Tartuffe, a noble rhetorician, had an excuse for everything.
Mariana begged her father not to give her to Tartuffe - let him take the dowry, and she would rather go to a monastery. But Orgon, who had learned something from his favorite, without blinking an eye, convinced the poor thing of the soul-saving life with a husband who only causes disgust - after all, mortification of the flesh is only useful. Finally, Elmira could not stand it - since her husband does not believe the words of his loved ones, he should see with his own eyes the baseness of Tartuffe. Convinced that he had to make sure of just the opposite - of the high morality of the righteous man - Orgon agreed to crawl under the table and from there eavesdrop on the conversation that Elmira and Tartuffe would have in private.
Tartuffe immediately fell for Elmira’s feigned speeches that she supposedly had a strong feeling for him, but at the same time showed a certain prudence: before refusing to marry Mariana, he wanted to receive from her stepmother, so to speak, a tangible guarantee of tender feelings. As for the violation of the commandment, which will be associated with the delivery of this pledge, then, as Tartuffe assured Elmira, he has his own ways of dealing with heaven.
What Orgon heard from under the table was enough for his blind faith in the holiness of Tartuffe to finally collapse. He ordered the scoundrel to get away immediately, he tried to make excuses, but now it was useless. Then Tartuffe changed his tone and, before proudly leaving, promised to brutally get even with Orgon.
Tartuffe’s threat was not unfounded: firstly, Orgon had already managed to issue a deed of gift for his house, which from today belonged to Tartuffe; secondly, he entrusted the vile villain with a casket with papers incriminating Argas, his friend, who was forced to leave the country for political reasons.
It was necessary to urgently look for some way out. Damis volunteered to beat Tartuffe and discourage him from doing harm, but Cleanthe stopped the young man - he argued that more could be achieved with the mind than with fists. Orgon's family had not yet come up with anything when the bailiff, Mr. Loyal, showed up on the doorstep of the house. He brought an order to vacate M. Tartuffe's house by tomorrow morning. At this point, not only Damis’s hands began to itch, but also Dorina’s and even Orgon himself.
As it turned out, Tartuffe did not fail to use the second opportunity he had to ruin the life of his recent benefactor: Valère, trying to save Mariana’s family, warns them with the news that the scoundrel has handed over a chest of papers to the king, and now Orgon faces arrest for aiding the rebel. Orgon decided to escape before it was too late, but the guards got ahead of him: the officer who entered announced that he was under arrest.
Tartuffe also came to Orgon's house with the royal officer. The family, including Madame Pernel, who had finally seen the light, began to unanimously shame the hypocritical villain, listing all his sins. Tom soon got tired of this, and he turned to the officer with a request to protect his person from vile attacks, but in response, to his great - and everyone's - amazement, he heard that he was arrested.
As the officer explained, in fact he did not come for Orgon, but in order to see how Tartuffe reaches the end in his shamelessness. The wise king, an enemy of lies and a stronghold of justice, from the very beginning had suspicions about the identity of the informer and turned out to be right, as always - under the name of Tartuffe was hiding a scoundrel and a swindler, on whose account a great many dark deeds were hiding. With his authority, the sovereign canceled the deed of gift for the house and forgave Orgon for indirectly aiding his rebellious brother.
Tartuffe was carried to prison in disgrace, but Orgon had no choice but to praise the wisdom and generosity of the monarch, and then bless the union of Valera and Mariana: “there is no better example,
What is Valera's true love and devotion?
2 groups of Moliere comedies:
1) domestic comedies, their comedy is a comedy of situations (“Funny primps”, “Reluctant Doctor”, etc.).
2) "high comedies" They should be written mostly in verse and consist of five acts. Comicism is comedy of character, intellectual comedy (“Tartuffe, or the Deceiver”,“Don Juan”, “Misanthrope”, etc.).
History of creation :
1st edition 1664(did not reach us) Only three acts. Tartuffe is a spiritual figure. Mariana is completely absent. Tartuffe deftly gets out of it when Orgon's son catches him with Elmira (stepmother). The triumph of Tartuffe unequivocally testified to the danger of hypocrisy.
The play was to be shown during the court festival “The Amusements of the Enchanted Island,” which took place in May 1664 at Versailles. However, she upset the holiday. A real conspiracy arose against Moliere, led by Queen Mother Anne of Austria. Moliere was accused of insulting religion and the church, demanding punishment for this. Performances of the play were stopped.
2nd edition 1667. (didn't arrive either)
He added two more acts (there were 5), where he depicted the connections of the hypocrite Tartuffe with the court, the court and the police. Tartuffe was named Panjulf and turned into a socialite, intending to marry Orgon's daughter Marianne. The comedy was called "Deceiver" ended with the exposure of Panyulf and the glorification of the king.
3rd edition 1669. (has reached us) the hypocrite was again called Tartuffe, and the whole play was “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver.”
“Tartuffe” caused a furious showdown between the church, the king and Moliere:
1. The idea of a comedy king * By the way, Louis XIV generally loved Moliere*approved. After the presentation of the play, M. sent the first “Petition” to the king, defended himself from accusations of atheism and spoke about the social role of the satirical writer. The king did not lift the ban, but did not listen to the advice of rabid saints “to burn not only the book, but also its author, a demon, an atheist and a libertine, who wrote a devilish play full of abomination, in which he mocks the church and religion, at sacred functions.” .
2. The king gave permission to stage the play in its 2nd edition orally, in a hurry, upon leaving for the army. Immediately after the premiere, the comedy was again banned by the President of Parliament. Archbishop of Paris Refix prohibited all parishioners and clergymen ania "present, read or listen to a dangerous play" under penalty of excommunication . Moliere sent the king a second “Petition”, in which he stated that he would stop writing completely if the king did not come to his defense. The king promised to sort it out.
3. It’s clear that, despite all the prohibitions, everyone reads the book: in private homes, distributes it in manuscript, and performs it in closed home performances. The Queen Mother died in 1666* the one who was all indignant*, and Louis XIV quickly promised Moliere quick permission to stage it.
1668 year - the year of “church peace” between orthodox Catholicism and Jansenism => tolerance in religious matters. Tartuffe is permitted. February 9, 1669 the performance was a huge success.