Résumé
Résumé de L’Amour pour l’amour
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who enjoy quick wit, social satire and well-built comic plots, and for anyone curious about Restoration theatre.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Love for Love is a comedy by William Congreve, first staged in London in 1695. It was the opening play of a new theatre company at Lincoln's Inn Fields, led by the actor Thomas Betterton, and audiences laughed their way through it. Congreve wrote it in prose, with some of the sharpest dialogue of its age. It gives you a plot about money, a gallery of fools, and a love story that has to get past a great deal of nonsense.
The hero is Valentine, a charming young gentleman who has spent far more than he has. His creditors are at the door, his father is angry, and the woman he loves seems to enjoy keeping him guessing. Around him move an astrologer who trusts the stars over his own wife, a vain man who cannot keep a secret, a sailor who hates fine manners, and a country girl who has just discovered desire. Let us begin with Valentine, his debts, and the woman who holds his future in her hands.
Dans ce résumé
- 1Valentine is broke and in loveFree
- 2A hard father offers a cruel bargain
- 3Valentine decides to play the madman
- 4A household of fools and schemers
- 5What the play says about money and truth
- 6How Congreve builds the laughter
Point clé 1 sur 6
Valentine is broke and in love
The play opens in Valentine's lodgings. He is reading, not for pleasure but to find a way out of his troubles. He has wasted his fortune on pleasure and fashion, and his servant Jeremy brings the bad news that tailors, tradesmen and bailiffs are all waiting. Jeremy is blunt and witty, and he speaks to his master with a freedom that comes from knowing exactly how foolish he has been.
Valentine's real trouble is not only money. He loves Angelica, a young woman of independent fortune, who is the niece of the old astrologer Foresight. She is clever, proud and fully aware of her power. She has not given Valentine a plain answer, and he cannot tell whether she scorns him or tests him.
His friend Scandal is a cynic who loves gossip and mocks every pretension he meets. He keeps Valentine company and offers advice, most of it sharp and not always kind. Scandal sees the world as a game of reputation, and the play uses him to say aloud what polite society prefers to leave unsaid.
This opening sets the rules of the comedy. In this world, money, rank and a good name decide who may marry whom. Valentine has lost the first, risks the third, and hopes that love will make up the difference. Whether Angelica will take that risk is the question that drives everything after.
We also meet the first hint of the central bargain. Valentine's father, Sir Sampson Legend, has decided that his son must pay for his wild life. The terms of that payment are about to put Valentine in a corner, and he must find a way out quickly.
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 L’Amour pour l’amour
What is Love for Love about?
It follows Valentine, a young gentleman in debt, whose father demands he give up his inheritance. Valentine loves the heiress Angelica and tries to outwit his father while a crowd of comic characters pursue their own schemes.
When was Love for Love written?
Congreve's play was first staged in London in 1695. It is a work of fiction, but it paints a satirical picture of the fashionable society of its day, including its love of money, gossip and reputation.
Who is Ben in Love for Love?
Ben is Valentine's younger brother, a sailor who has spent his life at sea. He speaks bluntly in seafaring slang, dislikes courtly manners, and is pushed by the older generation toward a match he does not want.
Is Love for Love hard to read?
The plot is easy to follow, and the quick, witty dialogue is lively.
What is the main message of Love for Love?
The play suggests that love and money are often tangled together, and that honesty is rare in polite society. It shows that true feeling must be tested, and it laughs at vanity, greed and pretence.