The main character of the comedy is Mr. Jourdain. He is rich, but his family confuses him, his origin disgusts him. Jourdain has a great desire to enter the circle of high society. His opinion that money solves everything can be called erroneous. Jourdain is confident that the means will solve the issue of love, titles, knowledge and other issues. The main character is illiterate and uneducated. Therefore, people only pretend that he is smart and educated, in reality they only need his money. Jourdain is very naive and is deceived by almost all people. He is flattered and complimented, and against this background, both teachers and tailors deceive him.
The character looks very funny, especially in those situations when his desire to turn into an aristocrat is manifested. The author of the comedy makes it clear that the main character, with his desire, is emptying his soul of good inclinations. Generally speaking, the main character is not a fool, he managed to take advantage of his father’s money and, moreover, multiply it. Jourdain also has enough intelligence to understand that his teachers are deceiving him, they are giving him the wrong truths. The truths given to him by his teachers only fetter him and prevent him from developing in the right direction. Jourdain often becomes a reason for ridicule. Even his servants, when they see him, are unable to restrain themselves from laughing. The hero notices this, but it doesn’t matter to him, because he has a goal that not only makes him a laughing stock, but also puts others in danger.
For his environment, which in no way influences his future, in his opinion, success in high society, Jourdain becomes dangerous. His wife may fall under the hot hand, and Jourdain begins to insult and deceive her. Servants are also victims of mistreatment and humiliation. Even a daughter is just a stage that can help Jourdain achieve his goal. The happiness of his daughter is in great danger, but this is not important, it is important to receive the title of aristocrat.
The author of the play, for all Jourdain’s kindness and responsiveness, still presents him as a rude, cynical and illiterate person. Of course, the hero causes laughter, but how can you despise him for this? The author mainly tried to make fun of aristocrats. No matter what the hero is, he adheres to his life line to the last, he does not change his judgment. As a result, we can say about Jourdain that he is too spoiled by a luxurious life and is bored. He is doing something completely unnecessary.
Essay about Jourdain
The main character of the creation “Bourgeois to Nobility” is Mr. Jourdain. Jourdain is a rich man who carefully hides his origins. His bad background prevented him from entering secular society.
The hero believed that money rules everything and you can buy everything with it, including love and a noble upbringing. For his money, the hero hired a large number of teachers who began to teach him the behavior of aristocrats and certain sciences. During his training, the hero managed to expose the shortcomings and ignorance of people from high society. The hero did not have special knowledge and therefore he became a victim of deceivers. Jourdain was deceived by everyone from ordinary teachers to a tailor.
The desire to become a nobleman made Jourdain a real laughing stock. The author showed that thanks to vices people can forget about their good inclinations. Hobbies became the meaning of life for the hero. Jourdain had a special mind that helped him increase his father's fortune. He knew that the tailor was deceiving him, but he did not contradict him. Because the hero really wanted to become an aristocrat. Jourdain also knew that the teachers did not teach him anything. However, the desire to become a noble was stronger than his mind.
Everyone laughed at Jourdain. His wife tried to dissuade her husband from the plan. Tailor Dorant pretended to be a friend, although in his heart he hated him. The hero became a laughing stock even in front of his servants. The reason for the laughter was Jourdain’s ridiculous outfit. His desire to break into the ranks of the nobles becomes dangerous for the people around him. He began to deceive and constantly humiliate his wife. He also began to treat his servants poorly. He even decided to sacrifice his daughter's happiness in order to become an aristocrat.
In the work, the author described Jourdain as a rude and uneducated person. At the same time, the hero was a naive, sincere and good-natured person. After studying certain sciences, the hero began to express himself in prose. His every discovery and action caused only laughter. In the play, the author laughed at the aristocrats and directed the edge of satire against them. Despite the strong desire to get into high society, Jourdain always remained a sincere person, unlike Doriman and Dorant, who have no conscience and honor. Jourdain is a kind and wealthy man who found himself an unnecessary hobby.
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The comedy "The Bourgeois in the Nobility" was written by Moliere at the request of Louis XIV. The background to its creation is as follows. When the Turkish embassy arrived in Paris in 1699, the king received it with fabulous luxury. However, the Turks, with their Muslim reserve, did not express any admiration for what they saw | splendor. Moreover, the Turkish ambassador said that his master’s horse had more precious stones than the king of France.
The offended king wanted to see a spectacle on the theater stage in which Turkish ceremonies would be ridiculed. This was the external point to the creation of the play. Initially, Moliere came up with the scene of initiation into the rank of “mamamushi”, approved by the king, from which the entire plot of the comedy later grew. However, subsequently, the talented playwright changed the original plan and the comedy, ceasing to be a satire on Turkish customs, became a satire on the modern morals of the nobility and the ignorance of the petty bourgeois. At the center of the comedy is the narrow-minded and vain tradesman Jourdain, who at all costs wants to become a nobleman. He, like thousands of bourgeois like him, is trying to assimilate noble manners, language and morals, to get closer to those from whom his noble origin separated him.
The nobility, which was experiencing economic and moral decline at that time, still retained the authority that had developed over many centuries. The nobles remained masters of the situation in the state, having neither the moral right nor the material capabilities to do so. They could boast of their glorious ancestors, secular manners, closeness to the reigning person, but nothing more: in reality, over time, their place should have been taken by representatives of the bourgeoisie.
In the comedy, the nobility is represented by two characters: Count Dorant and the Marchioness of Dorimena. Count Dorant has a noble origin, refined manners, and captivating appearance. But at the same time, he is a poor adventurer, a swindler, ready for any meanness, even pimping, for the sake of money. He calls Mr. Jourdain a dear friend. He is ready to praise his manners, his appearance: “You look impeccable in this suit. We don’t have a single young man at our court who is as complex as you.” Dorant “admits” that he had an unusually strong desire to see Jourdain, moreover, he put in a word about him in the royal bedchamber. Then, having bribed him with rude flattery, the count kindly inquires about the size of his debt, and then shamelessly asks for another loan. Acting like a subtle psychologist, Dorant says that many people would gladly lend him money, “... but you are my best friend,” he tells Jourdain, “and I was afraid that I would offend you if I asked someone else.” . This conversation takes place in front of Jourdain’s wife, so the true reasons that gave rise to the friendship between the nobleman and the tradesman are not revealed here. Alone with Jourdain, Dorant reports that the marquise reacted favorably to his gift, and then it turns out that Jourdain not only strives to be like a nobleman in his manners and demeanor, in addition to everything, he was also inflamed with an “unearthly passion” for the most lovely marquise and, following the advice of the count pimp , tried to attract her attention with gifts. However, the count himself is in love with Dorimena, and, being strapped for money, uses Jourdain’s means and capabilities, as well as his stupidity and gullibility, with only one goal - to achieve the favor of the marquise himself.
Depicting the bourgeoisie, Moliere divides them into three groups: those who were characterized by patriarchy, inertia, and conservatism; people of a new type, with a sense of self-respect, and, finally, those who imitate the nobility.
The first group in the comedy includes Jourdain's wife, a true representative of the nobility. She is a sensible, practical woman with self-esteem. She is trying with all her might to resist her husband’s mania, his inappropriate claims: “You are obsessed with all these fads, hubby. And this began for you from the moment you decided to associate with important gentlemen.” All efforts of Madame Jourdain are aimed at clearing the house of uninvited guests who live at the expense of her husband and use his gullibility and vanity for their own purposes: “That’s it, drive your teachers in the neck with all their gibberish.” Although Madame Jourdain did not take fencing lessons, she boldly fends off Count Dorant's sophisticated remarks and questions. “Where is your dear daughter? “Somehow you can’t see her,” the count panders. Madame Jourdain, not inclined to succumb to captivating flattery, replies: “My respected daughter is exactly where she is now.”
Unlike her husband, she does not have any respect for the title of nobility and prefers to marry her daughter to a man who would be her equal and would not look down on her bourgeois relatives:
* “Don’t expect anything good from an unequal marriage. I don’t want my son-in-law to reproach my daughter with his parents and for their children to be ashamed to call me grandmother.” In this human desire for a wife, Mr. Jourdain sees the pettiness of the soul. “You should vegetate in insignificance forever,” he reproaches her.
The opportunity to get closer to noble people is happiness for him, all his ambition pushes him to achieve similarities with them, his whole life is a desire to imitate them. The thought of the nobility takes possession of him completely, and in his mental blindness he loses even the correct idea of the world, reaches spiritual baseness and begins to be ashamed of his parents. At the same time, Mr. Jourdain acts and argues to his own detriment. He is fooled by everyone he pleases: teachers, tailors and apprentices, Count Dorant, Cleont and his servant Koviel. The rudeness, bad manners, ignorance, vulgarity of language and manners of Mr. Jourdain contrast with his claims to noble grace and gloss. So, for example, after a philosophy lesson, without waiting for a suit from the tailor, Jourdain desperately screams:
* “May the fever torment him, this robber tailor! Damn that tailor! Damn him, this tailor!
Although just a few minutes before, Mr. Jourdain wrote a letter full of love to the marquise: “Beautiful marquise! Your beautiful eyes promise me death from love.” Despite all this, Jourdain evokes genuine laughter rather than disgust. Unlike other bourgeois upstarts, he worships the nobility disinterestedly, out of ignorance, as a kind of dream of beauty.
Jourdain's daughter Lucille and her fiancé Cleonte are people of a new type. Lucille received a good upbringing; she loves Cleontes for his virtues. Therefore, not knowing about the idea of her lover and his servant, she is sincerely indignant and resists her father’s attempt to marry her to the son of the Turkish Sultan: “No, father, I have already told you that there is no force that would force me to marry anyone.” anyone other than Cleont." Cleont is noble not by origin, but by character, he is honest, truthful, loving. He claims that being ashamed of your parents, pretending to be someone other than who you really are, is a sign of spiritual baseness. Cleont is sure that only a person’s spiritual nobility and his reasonable behavior in society are true. In his opinion, any deception casts a shadow on a person.
The image of Cleont embodied the ideal of classicism: only one who in his behavior was guided by the requirements of reason and proceeded from what was considered good could be a truly noble person. The fact that in the finale of the comedy Jourdain fell for the trick of the reasonable Cleont and his resourceful servant Koviel was supposed to indicate the superiority of reason: Jourdain agreed to his daughter’s marriage. Justice has prevailed.
1. Moliere and the traditions of classicism.
2. The background to the creation of the comedy “A Bourgeois in the Nobility.”
3. The image of the main character of the comedy.
4. Other comedy characters.
I know this kind of pompous asses:
Empty as a drum, and so many loud words!
They are slaves of names. Just make up a name for yourself
And any of them is ready to crawl in front of you.
O. Khayyam
Moliere is a writer of the 17th century. In art and literature at that time, the principles of classicism dominated, among which the most important were: adherence to the “three unities” - time, place and action - as well as the strict division of literary genres into “high” and “low”. In accordance with this, the speech of heroes of works of “high” genres, for example, tragedy, is very different from each other from the speech of heroes of comedy, which was considered a “low” genre. The characters of literary works of the era of classicism are not yet multifaceted characters, but the embodiment of some pronounced quality, positive or negative. According to the ideas of the classicists, the depiction of human vices was intended to expose and correct them.
Moliere, of course, was a son of his century and organically adopted some ideas of classicism; however, many of his works can be regarded as a step towards realism. Why? The fact is that in Moliere's comedies there is often a mixture of genres. Another innovation that the playwright introduced was comedy-ballet - it is to this genre that “The Bourgeois in the Nobility” belongs.
It is interesting to note that this comedy was created by Molière on the order of the French king Louis XIV, angry at the careless remark of the Turkish ambassador. He dared to declare that the horse of his master, the Turkish Sultan, was decorated richer and more elegantly than that of the King of France. The Sun King, as Louis XIV was nicknamed, first placed the daring Turk under arrest, and then completely expelled him beyond the borders of his possessions. Wanting to expose the Turks to ridicule, the king commissioned Moliere to play a play with this plot.
The playwright carried out the orders of his king; however, Moliere went much further. The amusing dance of mummers portraying Turks and Jourdain’s ridiculous dedication to mamamushi is a funny scene that, of course, should have caused laughter among the king and his entourage. But Moliere chose human vanity as the main object for irony. In addition, the playwright shows in his comedy the ever-increasing power of capital, which over time will push the nobility into the background. But this is still somewhere in the distance, but for now the rich bourgeois Jourdain desperately dreams of being considered a nobleman. And whatever he would do, just to be noble! “I would allow two fingers on my hand to be cut off, if only I could be born a count or a marquis,” sighs Jourdain. However, such a transformation, naturally, is unlikely to take place. But Jourdain, with the tenacity of a successful businessman, rushes towards his goal - to enter the society of nobles. For this he does not feel sorry for any money. He constantly supplies Count Dorant with money, who, out of self-interest, indulges Jourdain’s eccentricities. The cunning count praises him, and he, already in seventh heaven, does not notice that he actually looks funny. But his family vying with each other keeps telling him about it! In fact: Jourdain is no longer a young man, since he has an adult daughter, and yet this venerable father of the family hires people who would teach him all the intricacies of court manners. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a thirst for knowledge, however, wanting to be elegant and irresistible, Jourdain looks funnier and funnier. Bowing to the Marquise Dorimena, Jourdain tries at all costs to do it the way the dance teacher taught him, so he asks the amazed lady to step back - otherwise he will not be able to make the third bow.
Vanity drowns out the voice of common sense in Jourdain; Moreover, he does not want to listen to those who are trying to bring him back to reality. He feels uncomfortable in tight stockings and tight shoes, and his family laughs at his new suit. But since the tailor and the count say that it is so fashionable at court, Jourdain willingly endures the inconvenience and brushes aside the ridicule of his wife and maid.
But Jourdain’s grotesque vanity reaches its highest point after the clownish initiation into mamamushi. He seriously imagines that he has been given the title of nobility and is now a Turkish nobleman. But it is obvious that Jourdain was not always so divorced from reality and trusting of everyone who flattered him. If this person did not have such qualities as prudence, ingenuity, and practicality, it is unlikely that he would have been able to get rich by engaging in trade. But vanity has so blinded the clever merchant that he becomes a laughing stock for those around him and an easy prey for flatterers who use him for their own selfish purposes.
However, the satire of Molière's comedy is directed not only against arrogant bourgeois who are ready to acquire a noble title for money. Nobleman Dorant also does not look very attractive. Taking advantage of the eccentricity of his tradesman friend, the count not only constantly borrows money from him, all the time promising to repay the debt very soon. Noticing Jourdain's far-fetched passion for the Marquise Dorimena (for the respectable tradesman, her main charm is that she is a noble lady), the count offers his friend his help. Not a very honest move, given the fact that Dorant himself wants to earn Dorimena’s favor and marry her; Moreover, the count, on his own behalf, presents the marquise with a diamond, which Jourdain asked him to give her as a gift. The same goes for the dinner and ballet given in honor of the Marquise Jourdain. Through the efforts of the Count, the Marquis believes that he arranged all this himself. Of course, she likes Dorant and is worried that he spends so much on her, so she agrees to marry him. Meanwhile, the count not only did not spend anything from his own pocket, but also constantly borrows money from Jourdain. It must be admitted that the count knows how to gain the trust of people and deftly use it for his own purposes, but there is no smell of nobility, which was once customary to ascribe to nobles.
Jourdain's teachers are also depicted satirically. Everyone strives to assure others that what they are doing is the most necessary thing, and everything else is nonsense. In glorifying their craft, teachers reach the point of absurdity: “Without dancing, a person would not be able to do anything”; “All strife, all wars on earth arise solely from ignorance of music.” And it ends with the learned men - the dance teacher, the music teacher and the fencing teacher - starting a rough squabble. When a philosophy teacher intervenes in their dispute and declares that only philosophy brings the light of wisdom, and their studies “are not worthy of the honor of being called ... arts,” the indignant disputants unite and attack him with their fists. It is interesting to note that teachers, like Jourdain, are also driven by vanity. Just as Jourdain wants to rise above the people of his class and look down on them, so each of the teachers wants to be considered the best by his colleagues at work.
Before describing the summary of “The Bourgeois in the Nobility,” let's remember the history of the creation of the work. In November 1669, a Turkish delegation solemnly arrived in Paris. Louis XIV, not sparing to lose face, gave them a magnificent reception. However, neither the sparkle of diamonds, nor the iridescent shine of expensive fabrics, nor the abundance of gold and silver made the slightest impression on the ambassadors. The king, naturally, was annoyed by this, but his anger increased a hundredfold when it turned out that the head of the delegation was not an ambassador at all, but an ordinary swindler. The indignant monarch ordered Moliere, who was in his good standing, a ballet in which the fictitious delegation would be ridiculed. “It will be done, Your Highness,” Moliere respectfully answers. “The tradesman in the nobility,” however, did not arise immediately - in ten days the “Turkish Ceremony” was created, demonstrated to the royal court. Convinced of the success of the play, a month later the writer transferred it to the stage of the Palais Royal Theatre. In total, 42 performances were performed during Moliere's lifetime.
“A tradesman among the nobility”: a summary
The plot of the comedy is quite simple: a naive and narrow-minded tradesman - Mr. Jourdain - is passionately in love with the sophisticated aristocrat Marquise Dorimena. In an effort to achieve the love of a noble lady, Mr. Jourdain tries to resemble a representative of the noble class, but due to his natural stupidity, he fails. Wanting to become a nobleman, the hero refuses Cleonte, a contender for the hand of his daughter Lucille, and tries to marry the girl off to the son of the Turkish Sultan. The intrigue lies in the fact that the role of the noble husband is played by the same Clemont in disguise. Describing the summary of “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”, it should be noted that the plot of the play is simplified, which is generally not typical of Moliere’s works. This is explained by the fact that the comedy was written to order, with a strictly defined purpose - to shower the Turks with ridicule.
Analysis
Most researchers emphasize that “The Bourgeois” is not the first play by Moliere in which he allows himself to be ironic about the noble class. Already in his early works, the writer relies on folklore and introduces elements of folk humor into the action. In addition, do not forget about the excellent education received at Clermont College. All this allows Moliere to create truly sharp and talented satire. Outlining the summary of “The Bourgeois in the Nobility,” I would like to emphasize that in this work the author’s merciless ridicule is directed in two directions at once: Jourdain himself is not at all so bad - he is naive, trusting, and generally benevolent. However, his obsessive desire to penetrate a class alien to him, according to Moliere, is worthy of severe condemnation. No better than a newly minted nobleman are his teachers: hired to teach the owner music, dancing and manners, they are the embodiment of rudeness, baseness and vulgarity.
Character system
The summary of “The Bourgeois in the Nobility” includes a description of the central characters of the play. In addition to Jourdain and his family, representatives of the common people take part in the action: cunning tailors who extract money from the owner, a cheerful and witty maid Nicole. In addition, the adventurer Dorant plays an important role, pretending to help Jourdain and establishing relations with the Marchioness behind his back.
/ / / Analysis of Moliere’s comedy “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”
The comedy "The Bourgeois in the Nobility", written in 1670, is a later work of Moliere. The main theme of the plot of this work is the desire of the bourgeois to break out of the class circle to which he belongs from birth and enter high society.
The main character of the comedy is Mr. His admiration for the nobility is so strong that he tries to imitate them in everything: he dresses up in the same clothes, hires teachers to become more educated in the field of dancing, music, fencing, philosophy, and becomes a gallant admirer of one aristocratic lady. Mr. Jourdain, even at gunpoint, will not admit that his father is an ordinary merchant.
And in all of this he is insanely funny. How clumsy all these attempts to follow someone else's culture and customs look! His outfit is ridiculous: to dance classes he wears a hat right over his nightcap. And how absurd all his reasoning sounds! What makes me smile is Jourdain’s discovery that he, it turns out, speaks in prose. How accurately Moliere compares his hero, calling him a crow in peacock feathers.
Against the background of the eccentric Jourdain with his ridiculous inventions, the wife looks like a lady with a sober mind. She's even a little rude. She has no time for culture and is completely absorbed in household chores.
His family does not like this behavior of the hero: he finds a marquis groom for his daughter Lucille, completely disregarding the fact that she loves another person. But the mother stands for the happiness of the lovers, and an ingenious solution to the problem allows them to bypass the obstacle in the form of a father obsessed with the nobility.
Two servants, Koviel and Nicole, are of great importance in the play “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”. These cheerful characters bring gaiety and wit to the text. The maid critically looks at all the prejudices of her master. Koviel, Lucille’s groom’s lackey, is talented, loves to improvise and turn life into a theatrical scene. It is thanks to him that the entire action of the play resembles carnival fun. The relationship between young masters and their servants, love and quarrels, develops in parallel. The denouement involves two weddings.
Moliere's comedy corresponds to the trinity in it: place (the action takes place in the house of Mr. Jourdain), time (all events take one day) and action (in the center there is one event around which everything moves). And each of the characters is the bearer of one trait in its satirical reinterpretation.
But still, deviations from the classics can also be found. The unity of action is not maintained so clearly: a love theme is introduced into the plot, which becomes peripheral, but no less interesting. The language of comedy is also noteworthy; it is close to folk. And the main difference is the ballet numbers. Moliere himself designated the genre of his work as comedy-ballet. Moreover, these numbers do not in any way affect the realism of the entire plot. They even emphasize it. All the characters in the play are artistic; in time with the text, they either approach each other, then move away and disperse to different corners of the room, as if performing some kind of unusual dance.
So, the play “The Bourgeois in the Nobility” by Moliere is an unusual work that goes beyond the usual canons. And its production is difficult. Although it is based on an everyday plan, the comedy is difficult to compare with the plays of realist authors Ostrovsky and Balzac, even if written on similar themes. “A Philistine among the Nobility” is more reminiscent of improvisation than an exposure of vices. And when pressed on satire, all the incomparable notes of Moliere are lost. It is possible to reveal its great idea only by fully conveying the author’s unique style.
