''Les Précieuses ridicules'' (, ''The Absurd

Précieuses The French literary style called ''préciosité'' (, ''preciousness'') arose in the 17th century from the lively conversations and playful word games of ''les précieuses'' (), the intellectual, witty and educated women who frequented the salo ...

'' or ''The Affected Ladies'') is a one-act

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

. It takes aim at the ''

précieuses The French literary style called ''préciosité'' (, ''preciousness'') arose in the 17th century from the lively conversations and playful word games of ''les précieuses'' (), the intellectual, witty and educated women who frequented the salo ...

'', the ultra-witty ladies who indulged in lively conversations,

word game Word games (also called word game puzzles or word search games) are spoken, board, or video games often designed to test ability with language or to explore its properties. Word games are generally used as a source of entertainment, but can ad ...

s and, in a word, ''préciosité'' (preciousness). ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' is a biting

comedy of manners In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a gr ...

that brought Molière and his company to the attention of Parisians, after they had toured the provinces for years. The play received its

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

premiere on 18 November 1659 at the Théâtre du Petit-Bourbon. It seems not to have been staged before that in the provinces. It was highly successful and attracted the patronage of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

to Molière and company. ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' still plays well today.

Plot

Magdelon and Cathos are the aspiring ''précieuses'', two young women from the provinces who have come to Paris in search of love and ''jeux d'esprit''. Gorgibus, the father of Magdelon and uncle of Cathos, decides they should marry a pair of eminently eligible young men but the two women find the men unrefined and ridicule them. The men vow to take revenge on ''les précieuses''. On stage comes Mascarille, a young man who pretends to be a sophisticated man of the world. Magdelon falls in love with him. Next on stage comes another young man, Jodelet, with whom Cathos falls in love. It is revealed that these two men, Mascarille and Jodelet, are

impostor An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise. Their objective is usually to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but also often for purposes ...

s whose real identities are as the

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "valet ...

s of the first two men who were scorned and rejected. As the curtain falls, Gorgibus and ''les précieuses'' are ashamed at having fallen for the trick. In the provinces, the young ladies' Parisian pretensions attracted

mockery Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mocker ...

, while in Paris, their puffed-up provincial

naiveté Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...

and self-esteem proved laughable.

Characters

*La Grange (orig. played by La Grange) — one of the rejected

suitor Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marriage. A courtship may be an informal and private ...

s *Du Croisy (orig. played by Du Croisy) — the other rejected suitor *Gorgibus (orig. François Bedeau, aka L'Espy) — a good bourgeois man *Magdelon (orig.

Madeleine Béjart Madeleine Béjart (8 January 1618 – 17 February 1672), was a French actress and theatre director, one of the most famous French stage actors of the 17th-century. She was the co-founder of the Illustre Théâtre. Life She belonged to the Béjart ...

) — daughter of Gorgibus and one of the ''précieuses ridicules'' *Cathos (orig. Mlle de Brie) — niece of Gorgibus and the other of the ''précieuses ridicules'' *Marotte (orig. Marotte) — female servant of the ''précieuses ridicules'' *Almanzor (orig. De Brie) — male lackey of the ''précieuses ridicules'' *"Marquis" de Mascarille (orig.

) — the valet of La Grange *"Vicomte" de Jodelet (orig. Jodelet) — the valet of Du Croisy *Two chair porters (orig. La Grange and Du Croisy) *Neighbors The role of the Marquis de Mascarille was originally played by Molière himself while the role of Magdelon was first played by

Operatic adaptation

Composer

Felice Lattuada Felice Lattuada (; 5 February 1882 – 2 November 1962) was an Italian composer. Lattuada was born at Caselle di Morimondo, near Milan. In his early adulthood he worked as a school teacher and was a self-taught amateur composer. That changed whe ...

and librettist Arturo Rossato wrote a ''commedia lirica'' based on the text, entitled '' Le preziose ridicole''. It was premiered at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 9, 1929.

Notes

External links

Les Précieuses ridicules
the original French text of the play by Molière.

English translation of ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' by Henri Van Laun published in 1880 by R. Worthington, New York. {{DEFAULTSORT:Precieuses ridicules, Les Plays by Molière 1659 plays Satirical plays Plays adapted into operas