Molière: Tartuffe, 1664
The entire play is written in 1,962 twelve-syllable lines (alexandrines) of rhyming couplets.
Plot: Organ and Elmire are the head of a house in France. Orgon's family is up in arms because Orgon
and his mother have fallen under the influence of Tartuffe, a pious fraud. Obsessed with Tartuffe, the
two never make any decision without first consulting him.
The rest of the family and their friends are not fooled by Tartuffe's antics and detest him. The stakes are
raised when Orgon announces that he will marry Tartuffe to his daughter Mariane (already engaged to
Valère). Mariane is, of course, very upset at this news and the rest of the family realizes how deeply
Tartuffe has embedded himself into the family.
In an effort to show Orgon how awful Tartuffe really is, the family devises a plan to trap Tartuffe, by
showing that he is truly in love with Elmire, Organ’s wife. As a pious man and a guest, he should have no
such feelings for the lady of the house, and the family hopes that after such a confession, Orgon will
throw Tartuffe out of the house. Indeed, Tartuffe does try to seduce Elmire, but their interview is
interrupted when Orgon's son, Damis, who has been eavesdropping, is no longer able to control his
boiling indignation and jumps out of his hiding place to denounce Tartuffe, but without success.
Tartuffe is shocked but recovers very well, in fact he convinces Organ that Damis was lying and so Organ
banishes him from the house. Tartuffe even gets Orgon to order that, to teach Damis a lesson, Tartuffe
should be around Elmire more than ever. As a gift to Tartuffe and further punishment to Damis and the
rest of his family, Orgon signs over all his worldly possessions to Tartuffe.
In a later scene, Elmire takes up the charge again and challenges Orgon to be witness to a meeting
between herself and Tartuffe. Orgon, ever easily convinced, decides to hide under a table in the same
room, confident that Elmire is wrong. He overhears, of course, Elmire resisting Tartuffe's very forward
advances. When Tartuffe has incriminated himself beyond all help, Orgon comes out from under the
table and orders Tartuffe out of his house.
But this wily guest means to stay. However, with a box of incriminating letters (fake letters of course),
Organ tells Tartuffe that he must leave the house or he will be exposed. Tartuffe takes his temporary
leave and Orgon's family tries to figure out what to do. Very soon, Monsieur Loyal shows up with a
message from Tartuffe and the court itself - they must move out from the house because it now belongs
to Tartuffe. Later that day, Tartuffe returns with a police officer to begin the eviction. But to his surprise,
the police officer arrests him instead. The enlightened King Louis XIV has heard of the injustices
happening in the house and decides to arrest Tartuffe instead. The drama ends well, and Orgon
announces Valère and Mariane's upcoming wedding.
As a result of Molière's play, the word "tartuffe" is used in contemporary French and English to
designate a hypocrite who ostensibly and exaggeratedly feigns virtue, especially religious virtue.
© Copyright Rocque French, 2007-2013. All rights reserved.
Beaumarchais: Le Barbier de Séville, 1773
Though the play was poorly received at first, Beaumarchais worked some fast editing of the script,
turning it into a roaring success after three days.
Plot: The story follows a traditional Commedia dell'arte structure, with many characters seemingly
based on famous stock characters. The plot involves a Spanish count, called simply The Count although
"Almaviva" appears as an additional name (whether it's a given name or a surname is not clear), who
has fallen in love at first sight with a girl called Rosine. To ensure that she really loves him and not just
his money, the Count disguises himself as a poor college student named Lindor, and attempts to woo
her. His plans are foiled by Rosine's guardian Doctor Bartholo, who keeps her locked up in his house and
intends to marry her himself. The Count's luck changes, however, after a chance reunion with an exservant of his, Figaro, who is currently working as a barber and therefore has access to the Doctor's
home. After being promised money, and afraid the Count will seek revenge on him if he refuses, Figaro
devises a variety of ways for the Count and Rosine to meet and talk, first as Lindor, then as Alonzo, a
fellow student of the same music master, Bazile. The story culminates in the marriage of the Count and
Rosine.
Thanks to the great popularity of its predecessor, The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro opened
to enormous success; it reportedly grossed 100,000 francs in the first twenty showings and the
theatre was so packed that three people were crushed to death by the opening-night crowd. The play
formed the basis for an opera by Mozart, also called The Marriage of Figaro.
Other famous theatrical productions from France include:
1. Cendrillon (Cinderella) is an opera—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet to a
French libretto by Henri Cain based on Perrault's 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale. It was
composed in 1894–95 and was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 24 May 1899, at the
height of Massenet's success.
2. Les Misérables (literally "The Miserable Ones”), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is
widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of
several French characters over a twenty-year period in the early 19th century, starting in 1815 and
culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion. Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage
and screen adaptations, most notably the stage musical, sometimes abbreviated "Les Mis”.
3. Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (translated into English as The Phantom of the Opera) is a novel by French
writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialization in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to
January 8, 1910. Initially, the story sold very poorly upon publication in book form and was even out of
print several times during the twentieth century, despite the success of its various film and stage
adaptations.[citation needed] The most notable of these were the 1925 film depiction and Andrew Lloyd
Webber's 1986 musical. The Phantom of the Opera musical is now the longest running Broadway show
in history, and one of the most lucrative entertainment enterprises of all time.
© Copyright Rocque French, 2007-2013. All rights reserved.