Molière does it again! This comedic play tells of Monsieur
Jourdain, a middle-class man, a bourgeois if you will, who wants to be like the
rich. Jourdain has hired all sorts of masters to teach him the ways of the
fancy, such as dancing, fencing and music. Why does he spend so much money
doing this? Why, to impress his love, the marquise Dorimène! After all,
Jourdain's so-called friend, Dorante, has assured the bourgeois gentilhomme
that he will woo the marquise with all this. Oh, and Jourdain would also do
well to lend Dorante more money. (I wonder what Madame Jourdain and daughter
Lucile will think of all this?) There is also the little inconvenience of Lucile
being in love with Cléonte, a nobody, when her papa would do anything to have
her marry rich. In the end, Jourdain's play for Dorimène reveals that Dorante
had plans to get with her all along; Cléonte, disguised as an Turkish prince,
is able to marry Lucile; and Jourdain is
duped again. Mix in the Jourdains' maid, Nicole, and Cléonte's valet, Covielle,
and you have a great comedy only Jean-Baptiste Poquelin could write.
The Bourgeois Gentleman was written to
be a satire, as many of Molière's works are. This work is satirizing the
nouveau-riche like Jourdain, and all the hilarious scenes of Jourdain learning
to be "rich" back this up. My favorite was when the Master of
Philosophy offers to enhance Jourdain's knowledge about his science, but
Jourdain is not learned in the least bit. "Afterward, you will teach me
the almanac so I will know when the moon will be out and when it
won't," Jourdain instructs. The
Master of Philosophy cannot do much for Jourdain except teach him how to
pronounce his vowels! I guess Molière is hinting that the middle-class has no
business with all the pompous acts of the rich. It makes sense, then, that
Madame Jourdain and Nicole bash Jourdain's (gut-busting yet failed) attempts
and try to make him see that he should be happy with his life the way it is.
Molière
doesn't stop with the middle class; the rich get poked at as well in the figure
of Dorante. For a nobleman, he asks Jourdain for a lot of money. "The
total, 15,800 pounds," Jourdain says meekly after Dorante asks how much he
owes. It helps little that he asks for more money to round everything out to
18,000 francs. Even worse, the franc was by then on its way to being obsolete.
If this doesn't show Dorante, who I remind you is the symbol of the
upper-class, to be a crook, then I don't know what will. This play was written
for a gentilhomme audience who would identify with Dorante and Dorimène, who
would see how ridiculous Jourdain's attemps to become one of them are, who
would laugh at the middle-class man's being tricked by the rich. In fact,
through Dorante, Molière is satirizing the pompous nobility who were actually
losing their property to the newly emerging working class, the very audience The Bourgeois Gentleman was written to
entertain. To recap, Molière's play of Jourdain's follies and Dorante's crooked ways serve as a satire of the bourgeois trying to be "rich" and the nobility's hypocrisy. It is an entertaining play that you would all enjoy, and if you've got the time, you should check it out!
Moliere makes quite a scoff at class warfare here, as well as Tartuffe. There is so much emphasis on the idea that we must match classes to fall in love or things of that sort. Jourdain's downfall is that he believes the appearance of wealth will win over his love's heart, then she ends up marrying a "nobody" as you put it. A classic plot line, but very interesting; it helps us as the reader clarify what we really seem to care about if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteMoliere has no boundaries at which class to criticize; this is what makes his work so honest and brilliant. Jourdain seems to be more interested in gaining Dorimene's attention rather than using his personality to appeal to her. He is so caught up with being categorized as wealthy that he is deceived by Dorante, who was interested in Dorimene as well. I love how Moliere can address such critical issues and turn them into a satire. Even though the play was written for an upper-class audience, Moliere addresses the corruption and problems within the class.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis of Moliere!
This play truly exemplifies the desire of people to overcome their middle-class upbringing and be accepted in a high society world. Unfortunately, Jourdain isn't quite savvy enough to avoid being misguided by those who were born into a great fortune. I love how Moliere shows his disapproval of class warfare without making the play serious and boring. Very entertaining analysis.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy Moliere. I loved Tartuffe and this one sounds just as good. It's really fun when you expect works from a long time ago to be dry and boring and they turn out to be hilarious and greatly enjoyable. I also like when works like this one are still easy to relate to today. People are always trying to overcome their status; and almost anyone would do it for love! Great post!
ReplyDeleteMoliere's writing style is definitely consistent in this poem with his work of Tartuffe. I love his satiric writing! I have not read this play, but it seems like it would be pretty entertaining. Picking on different classes makes the heavy topic of social classes more lighthearted. This makes the audience broader as well. Moliere was commenting on both middle-class and upper-class, even with the poem directed at an upper-class group. Great analysis!
ReplyDeleteYour analysis made me want to read this work. I think that satire can reveal a lot about the social issues of a time period. However, I do wonder when satire becomes to critical and starts to falsely display the truth of the situation. On another note, your description of this work made me think of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I recently started reading that again, and the premise of the stories kind of sound the same. A guy tries to seem more upper class to get a girl. It is interesting how those two very different works have connection, even if just a little bit.
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ReplyDeleteThis sounds like another great work from Moliere. I was very surprised and happy to find that I enjoyed Tartuffe, so I bet I would like this play as well. I like how Moliere doesn't just poke fun at one class but instead chooses to make a mockery of each class in this play. He shows the absurdity of the middle-class Jourdain wanting to be like the high-class Dorante when Dorante is nothing but a thief. I also like how his daughter falls in love with the nobody who turns out to be a price. Hopefully Jourdain was able to see that appearances aren't everything through that. Very nice and nice analysis.
ReplyDeleteHannah Aycock
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ReplyDeleteGoing to have to break out Molière again! Tartuffe was great and this story looks very promising as well. So often we see people of lower classes trying to obtain a status of which they do not belong to. Molière definitely has a niche for stories like this. Enjoyed the analysis!
ReplyDeleteYou engage the audience very well by using a conversational tone; such as posing questions and offering lively commentary on Molière. It really helps the reader remain interested in your essay and to secure their attention. Your conversation tone also captures the tone of Molière’s playfulness in his comedy. I’m glad that you provided a brief summary because this play would not necessarily be a quick read and the summary provides a great foundation upon which the reader can sit and comfortably read your analysis. Your essay was also structured well in that you provided an effective summary, a clear analysis, and a brief conclusion. I really anjoyed reading you analysis and now I want to read this play!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Tartuffe so I think I will have to read this play as well! I think we all enjoy his stories so much because he writes about themes that are still relevant today. -Hollie Roberts
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a very interesting read! I might read this over the summer, when I have time. However, I digress. When I read this, I thought of two things: "My Fair Lady" and Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest". I was reminded of "My Fair Lady" because of the make-over. I know there are some major differences, but it was an idea. I also thought of "The Importance of Being Earnest" because of the duplicity of actions and the "importance" of appearances in both plays. I know everything works out in the end of Wilde's play, so there is a bit of difference because in Moliere's Jourdain ends up duped. Overall, though, I think this would be an interesting read and prove to be very accurate in its satire, especially for the time period.
ReplyDeleteI always love it when writers talk about a social issue back then, but they still hold true today. We see that here. When the guy tries to look way more higher class than what he actually acts like, he does this just for the girl, and we also see this in today's time as well. All of us try to get out of our own social class. I would say at least once if not more in our lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really fun read. Nowadays, when you read or watch something funny, it seems like you know that it is supposed to be funny and, and you are expected to laugh.I love old school satire though, because you have to actually think about it for a minute or two. You have to figure out what the reader is trying to tell you and, in doing so, it's like you and the author secretly share this inside joke and you can laugh about it because it doesn't have the preordained "comedy" label slapped on the cover.
ReplyDeleteI love the French sway that takes place in Moliere's works; it really gives it place and character. One of my favorite parts of this analysis is that it acknowledges his use of irony in the parody which seems to mock the middle-class, but really takes a shot at the upper-class, who thought they were so much better than the newly rich, but really had no further advantage than the social upper hand among the wealthy. Money is money, whether you earned it recently or your family did a hundred years ago.
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