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

Précieuses The ''Précieuses'' ( , i.e. "preciousness") was a 17th-century French literary style and movement. The main features of this style are the refined language of aristocratic salons, periphrases, hyperbole, and puns on the theme of gallant l ...

'' 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 exposin ...

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 great writers in the French language and world liter ...

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

. It takes aim at the ''

précieuses The ''Précieuses'' ( , i.e. "preciousness") was a 17th-century French literary style and movement. The main features of this style are the refined language of aristocratic salons, periphrases, hyperbole, and puns on the theme of gallant l ...

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

word game Word games are spoken, board, card 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 additionally serve an educational purpose. Young ...

s and, in a word, ''préciosité'' (preciousness). It was adapted into a lyric comedy and a film. ''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 that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society. ...

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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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 LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

to Molière and company. ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' still plays well today. In the play, a man finds two eligible suitors for his daughter and his niece. The young women reject and ridicule them, because they view them as unrefined. In revenge, the men have their

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 "va ...

s posing as sophisticated suitors for the women. The trick relies on their naiveté.

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, deceiving others by knowingly falsifying one or more aspects of their identity. This is in contrast to someone that honestly belie ...

s whose real identities are as the

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, while in Paris, their puffed-up provincial naiveté and

self-esteem Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth, abilities, or morals. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Macki ...

proved laughable.

Characters

*La Grange (orig. played by La Grange) — one of the rejected suitors *Du Croisy (orig. played by Du Croisy) — the other rejected suitor *Gorgibus (orig. François Bedeau, aka L'Espy) — a good

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

man *Magdelon (orig. Madeleine 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 Madeleine Béjart.

Operatic adaptation

Composer Felice Lattuada and librettist Arturo Rossato wrote a ''commedia lirica'' based on the text, entitled '' Le preziose ridicole''. It was premiered at

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...

, Milan, on February 9, 1929.

Film

Léonce Perret Léonce Joseph Perret (14 March 1880 – 12 August 1935) was a prolific and innovative French film actor, director and producer.The Museum of Modern Art(retrieved 7 June 2007) He also worked as a stage actor and director. Often described as avan ...

directed a 1934 film adaptation.

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 1659 plays Satirical plays Plays adapted into operas Plays set in Paris Plays by Molière Fiction about father–daughter relationships Works about servants