Résumé
Résumé de Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For anyone who enjoys sharp social comedy, French theatre and farce with a point, with plain-speaking servants, social pretension and love tangled up in questions of rank.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Middle-Class Gentleman is a comedy in five acts by Molière, the French playwright who also acted in his own plays. It was first shown in 1670 before King Louis XIV at the château of Chambord, and it was written as a comedy-ballet, with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and dances between the scenes. In French it is called Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. The king had reason to enjoy the joke, since it laughs at a rich townsman who tries to buy his way into the court's world.
You meet Monsieur Jourdain, a wealthy cloth merchant's son who is tired of being a commoner. He wants the manners, the taste and the friends of a nobleman, and he believes lessons and fine clothes can give them to him. In this summary you will follow how he sets about it, who profits from his vanity, and who tries to stop him. You will also see what the play says about snobbery, honest work and the price of pretending. Let us begin with the man himself and the teachers he hires.
Dans ce résumé
- 1Jourdain wants to be a noblemanFree
- 2Lessons in fencing, philosophy and prose
- 3Madame Jourdain and Nicole speak plainly
- 4Dorante uses Jourdain for money and favours
- 5Love and rank block the young couple
- 6A comedy-ballet about vanity and honest worth
Point clé 1 sur 6
Jourdain wants to be a nobleman
The play opens in the house of Monsieur Jourdain, a man who has grown rich from his father's cloth trade. He is not poor, not stupid and not cruel. His great weakness is that he is ashamed of where his money came from. He wants to be taken for a gentleman of rank, and he is willing to spend a great deal to get there.
To learn the ways of the nobility, Jourdain fills his house with teachers. A music master and a dancing master arrive first, and each praises the other's art while quietly hoping to be paid well. They speak of their work in grand words, because they know that Jourdain loves to be told that his taste is fine. Their real concern is his purse, and they say what keeps it open.
Jourdain has strong ideas about what a gentleman does. He orders a concert to be played for his guests, he practises a dance step, and he asks for help with the manners of the court. He is eager and good-natured, which makes him funny and a little touching. He does not see that no lesson can make him someone else.
From the start the play sets up its main joke. Jourdain imitates the surface of noble life, the clothes, the music and the talk, and he takes the surface for the thing itself. Those around him can see this clearly. The comedy comes from the gap between what he thinks he is becoming and what the audience sees.
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 Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
What is The Middle-Class Gentleman about?
It is a comedy about Monsieur Jourdain, a wealthy merchant who wants to be a nobleman. He hires teachers, buys fine clothes and befriends a count, while his family and servants try to bring him back to common sense.
Who wrote The Middle-Class Gentleman and when?
Molière wrote it, and it was first performed in 1670 for King Louis XIV at Chambord. It is a comedy-ballet, with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, so it combines spoken scenes, song and dance.
What does the French title Le Bourgeois gentilhomme mean?
It means roughly a commoner who wants to be a gentleman. Bourgeois refers to a prosperous townsman, and gentilhomme to a man of noble birth. The title itself holds the joke.
What is the famous prose scene in The Middle-Class Gentleman?
It is the lesson with the philosophy master, in which Jourdain learns that ordinary speech that is not verse is prose. He is amazed that he has spoken prose all his life without knowing it.
Is The Middle-Class Gentleman hard to read?
No. It is a lively stage comedy with clear characters, quick jokes and simple situations. The plot and humour are easy to follow.