Les Précieuses ridicules is a one-act
satireSatire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods,...
by
MolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, mostly known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
in
proseProse is the ordinary form of written language. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward". Prose is adopted for the discussion of facts and topical reading, as it is often articulated in free form writing style...
. It takes aim at the
précieusesThe French literary style called préciosité arose in the 17th century from the lively conversations and playful word games of les précieuses, the witty and educated intellectual ladies who frequented the salon of Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet; her Chambre bleue offered a Parisian...
, the ultra-witty ladies who indulged in lively conversations, word games and, in a word,
préciosité (preciousness).
Les Précieuses ridicules is a biting
comedy of mannersThe comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young...
that brought Molière and his company to the attention of Parisians, after they had toured the provinces for years.
Les Précieuses ridicules is a one-act
satireSatire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods,...
by
MolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, mostly known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
in
proseProse is the ordinary form of written language. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward". Prose is adopted for the discussion of facts and topical reading, as it is often articulated in free form writing style...
. It takes aim at the
précieusesThe French literary style called préciosité arose in the 17th century from the lively conversations and playful word games of les précieuses, the witty and educated intellectual ladies who frequented the salon of Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet; her Chambre bleue offered a Parisian...
, the ultra-witty ladies who indulged in lively conversations, word games and, in a word,
préciosité (preciousness).
Les Précieuses ridicules is a biting
comedy of mannersThe comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young...
that brought Molière and his company to the attention of Parisians, after they had toured the provinces for years. The play received its
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
premiere on November 18, 1659 at the Théâtre du Petit-Bourbon. It seems not to have been staged before that in the provinces. It was highly successful and attracted the patronage of
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
to Molière and company.
Les Précieuses ridicules still plays well today.
Plot
Les précieuses are Magdelon and Cathos, two young women from the provinces who have come to Paris in search of love and
jeux d'esprit.
Gorgibus, the father of Magdelon and uncle of Cathos, decides they should marry a pair of eminently eligible young men but the two women find the men unrefined and ridicule them. The men vow to take revenge on
les précieuses.
On stage comes Mascarille, a young man who pretends to be a sophisticated man of the world. Magdelon falls in love with him. Next on stage comes another young man, Jodelet, with whom Cathos falls in love.
It is revealed that these two men, Mascarille and Jodelet, are impostors whose real identities are as the valets of the first two men who were scorned and rejected.
As the curtain falls, Gorgibus and
les précieuses are ashamed at having fallen for the trick. In the provinces, the young ladies' Parisian pretensions merited mockery, while in Paris, their puffed-up provincial naiveté and self-esteem proved laughable.
Cast
- La Grange -- one of the rejected suitors
- Du Croisy -- the other rejected suitor
- Gorgibus -- a good bourgeois man
- Magdelon -- daughter of Gorgibus and one of the précieuse ridicules
- Cathos -- niece of Gorgibus and the other of the précieuse ridicules
- Marotte -- servant of the précieuses ridicules
- Almanzor -- lackey of the précieuses ridicules
- Marquis de Mascarille -- the valet of La Grange
- Vicomte de Jodelet -- the valet of Du Croisy
- Two chair porters
- Neighbors
The role of the Marquis de Mascarille was originally played by Molière himself while the role of Magdelon was first played by Madeleine Béjart.
External links