Résumé
Résumé de Chacun en son humeur
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love sharp comedy, stage history, and portraits of types you still meet in life. It also suits anyone curious about Shakespeare's London.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Every Man in His Humor is a comedy by Ben Jonson, first staged in 1598 by the company known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Shakespeare is recorded among its actors. It was Jonson's first great success, and it set out an idea he would use for the rest of his career. The play shows a set of people, each ruled by one fixed quirk of temper, bumping into one another in a busy city.
The word humor comes from old medical ideas. Doctors then held that four fluids in the body shaped a person's mood. Jonson uses the word more loosely, for any obsession that bends a person's behavior. One man is jealous, one boasts, one imitates the fashions of the town, and one father worries too much. In the later version, which most readers know, the scene is London. You get fast talk, disguises, a quarrel, a mistaken letter, and a gallery of people you may recognize today. Let us begin with the letter that sets the plot moving.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A father reads the wrong letterFree
- 2Three fools and their borrowed airs
- 3Kitely and the sickness of jealousy
- 4Brainworm, the servant who runs the plot
- 5What the play says about folly
- 6How Jonson builds a comedy of types
Point clé 1 sur 6
A father reads the wrong letter
The play opens at the house of old Knowell, a careful gentleman who has strong views on how a young man should be raised. His son, Edward Knowell, has a taste for poetry, and the father fears that verse will lead him to idleness and bad company. He has tried to guide the young man, and he believes he has done it kindly. But worry has made him quick to suspect the worst.
Then a letter arrives that is not meant for him. It is written by Wellbred, a lively young man about town, and addressed to Edward. It is carried by a servant, and old Knowell opens it. Inside he finds a jokey invitation to come and enjoy the pleasures of the city. Wellbred writes in the teasing tone of a close friend, and the father takes the jokes at face value.
He reads wild living into it. In his mind his son is being drawn toward drinking, gaming and worse. The father's humor, in Jonson's sense, is anxious suspicion, and it makes him a poor judge of what is in front of him. He decides to follow the young man into the city and see for himself. That decision is the first move in a chain of mistakes.
The opening matters because it shows how the play works. A small misreading, driven by a person's fixed temper, grows into trouble for many others. Nobody in this world sees clearly, because each one looks at things through a private lens. The father's snooping is comic, but it is also affectionate, and that mix of fun and warmth runs through the whole play.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Chacun en son humeur
What is Every Man in His Humor about?
It is a comedy about a day of mistakes in a city. A father misreads a letter, a merchant fears his wife's unfaithfulness, and boasters and imitators make fools of themselves while a clever servant stirs the plot.
What does humor mean in Every Man in His Humor?
It refers to an old medical idea that bodily fluids, called humors, shaped temper. Jonson uses it for a ruling obsession, such as jealousy or boasting, that makes a person act in one fixed, comic way.
When was Every Man in His Humor written and first performed?
It was first staged in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and Shakespeare is recorded among the cast. The first version was set in Italy, and Jonson later revised it for a London setting.
Is Every Man in His Humor hard to read?
The plot is simple and the characters are distinct, so the play is easier.
Who is Brainworm in Every Man in His Humor?
Brainworm is old Knowell's servant, a quick trickster who loves disguises. He takes on different roles and moves between the households, which sets many of the play's mistakes and meetings in motion.