''La Surprise de l'amour'' is a three-act
romantic comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
by
French playwright
Marivaux
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist.
He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing num ...
. Its title is usually translated into English as ''The Surprise of Love''. ''La Surprise de l'amour'' was first performed 3 May 1722 by the
Comédie Italienne at the
Hotel de Bourgogne in Paris. In this play, a man and a woman who've sworn off love are tricked by their servants into falling in love with each other.
Like many of Marivaux's
other comedies, ''La Surprise de l'amour'' makes use of
stock characters
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
from the
Commedia dell'arte. In this play,
Arlequin and
Columbine are featured.
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic.
While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
considered this to be Marivaux's finest work.
Plot summary
After having been betrayed by a woman, Lélio renounces love and retires to the countryside with his valet, Arlequin, whose adventures in love are similar. Arlequin, who loves everything about women, including their faults, struggles with the task of forgetting them. One of Lélio's servants, Jacqueline, hopes to marry Pierre, a servant at the nearby home of the countess. Lélio refuses to allow the two to marry, as he imposes his own viewpoint on his entire household.
The countess, who herself refuses to love men, comes to intervene. Despite the fact that Lélio and the countess swear not to fall in love, a friend of Lélio predicts that this will come to pass. The countess decides to avoid Lélio, but in doing so, she earns his respect and sets in motion the ideas of her servant Columbine. Through the machinations of Columbine and Arlequin (who in turn fall in love themselves), the countess and Lélio ultimately end up together. The play ends with three happy couples: Lélio and the countess, Arlequin and Columbine, and Pierre and Jacqueline.
Characters
* The countess - a wealthy widow who has sworn off men
* Lélio - a man who has sworn off women
* The baron - a friend of Lélio
*
Arlequin - Lélio's valet
*
Columbine - The countess' confidente
* Jacqueline - a female servant in Lélio's household
* Pierre - the countess' gardener
External links
''La Surprise de l'amour'' in French from the
Bibliothèque Nationale
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...
''La Surprise de l’amour''from the French sit
CÉSAR
1722 plays
Plays by Pierre de Marivaux
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