The storyline is a tradesman among the nobility. A satirical depiction of the characters in Moliere’s comedy “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”

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 stated that on his master’s horse precious stones more than the king of France.

The offended king wanted to see theater stage a spectacle that would ridicule Turkish ceremonies. 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 talented playwright changed the original idea and 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, 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 is of noble birth, refined manners, 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 one at our court young man, who would be as complex as you.” Dorant "admits" that he had an unusual 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 mine best friend“,” he says to 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 real reasons, which gave rise to the friendship between the nobleman and the tradesman, are not disclosed 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 feelings self-esteem, 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:

* "From unequal marriage don't expect anything good. 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 ideal of classicism was embodied in the image of Cleont: truly noble man there could only be one who in his behavior was guided by the requirements of reason, proceeding from what was generally considered good. 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.

"Since the purpose of comedy is

to entertain people by correcting them,

I reasoned that by the nature of my occupation

I can't do anything more worthy

than to scourge the vices of my age..."

J.-B. Poquelin

The comedy “Le bougeois gentilhomme” (“The Bourgeois among the Nobility”) is one of Moliere’s later works: it was written in 1670. The main theme of the comedy is the attempt of the bourgeois to leave his class and join the “higher circle”. The hero of the comedy, Mr. Jourdain, admires the nobility, tries to dress up in noble clothes, hires teachers of music, dance, fencing and philosophy and does not want to admit that his father was a merchant. Jourdain makes friends with nobles, trying to play the role of a gallant admirer of an aristocratic lady. The hero's whims threaten his family with troubles: he wants to marry his daughter Lucille to the marquis and refuses the man she loves. Only a witty invention helps lovers overcome this obstacle.

The main character's comedy lies in his ignorance and clumsy imitation of an alien culture. His tasteless outfit, the hat he puts on over his nightcap for dancing, and his naive reasoning during lessons are funny. So, with great surprise, he learns that he has been speaking in prose for forty years. Moliere compares his hero to a crow in peacock feathers. Jourdain's absurd inventions are contrasted with the sobriety and common sense of his wife, Madame Jourdain. However, she herself is far from any cultural interests and is rather rude. Her whole world is closed in the circle of household chores. Her healthy beginning is manifested in her desire to help her daughter’s happiness and in her contact with an intelligent servant.

Cheerful, giggly Nicole, just as critically as Dorina in Tartuffe, is critical of her master’s prejudices. She also seeks to protect his daughter’s love from her father’s tyranny. Two servants play an important role in the play - she and Koviel, a witty, merry fellow, lackey of Cleonte, Lucille's fiancé. They bring a cheerful tone to the comedy. Koviel has an abundance of talent and wit as an improviser, a brilliant talent for turning life into theater, composing alongside ordinary life second, carnival life. It was Koviel, who saw Jourdain’s passion for portraying a noble person, and came up with a funny masquerade with the Turkish Mamamushi, as a result of which the denouement of the comedy received a happy ending, and the action of the comedy-ballet itself turns into carnival fun. Moliere turns the theme of love and quarrels between Nicole and Coviel into a funny parallel to the relationship between their masters. As a denouement, two weddings are planned.

Since the comedy was written within the framework of classicism, it retains the obligatory classic play trinity: unity of place (Mr. Jourdain’s house), time (the action takes place within 24 hours) and action (the whole play is built around one main idea). Each of the main characters emphasizes one leading trait through satirical exaggeration.

Comedy also has features classic comedy Iatlia - commedia dell'arte. It is not without reason that one of the heroes, similar to Figaro - the servant Coviel - in one of the productions of the play was dressed up in a traditional servant's jacket from the commedia dell'arte and acted as if on two levels - everyday and theatrical. In addition, the mask is, in fact, worn by another comedy hero - Mr. Jourdain himself. Moliere loved to extract comic effect from the mismatch between the mask and human face, which she tries on. In Jourdain, the mask of a nobleman and the essence of a tradesman, despite all the efforts of the hero, do not coincide in any way.

At the same time, the play also shows deviations from the typical classic comedy. Thus, the unity of action is not fully maintained - a sideline of the love of the servants is introduced into the play, and the language approaches the folk one. But, of course, the main difference is the presence of ballet numbers, so organically woven into the plot that Moliere himself called his play a comedy-ballet, where each ballet number is an organic part of the developing comedy action.

Ballet performances not only do not weaken the realism of the plot, but, on the contrary, satirically highlight the characters and action of the play. “The Bourgeois in the Nobility” was written by the author precisely as a comedy-ballet and requires a lightweight genre solution, so it is difficult to find a balance between satire and lightness, and many attempts to stage it led either to overexpression in satirical colors or superficiality. However, the brightness and unusualness of the work makes it one of the most popular on the world stage.

All the heroes of this Moliere play, due to the genre, are endowed with artistry. Dance rhythm subordinated, for example, is the scene of the quarrel and reconciliation of Cleonte and Lucille, the shading background of which is the reprises of the servants Koviel and Nicole, repeating the words of their masters in a different speech style - everyday. In time with the text, the heroes either move away from each other in anger, then rush one after another, then circle, running away, or, on the contrary, approach. The play itself dictates a kind of dance to the characters.

Mr. Jourdain appears before us as a child whose eyes sparkle with the opportunity to learn something new, who is truly delighted by the surrounding innovations, for example, by the fact that he now knows that he has spoken in prose all his life. And his passion for the nobility appears not as a calculation of a practical bourgeois, but as a harmless love of a simpleton for everything shiny and catchy. Jourdain’s commitment to the “sciences” pleases his pride, gives him the opportunity to go beyond the confines of bourgeois life and be among noble people.

This simple-minded man really had a fantasy. That is why Mr. Jourdain, a respectable bourgeois and the head of the family, so easily enters into the last, buffoonish act of the comedy and acts so freely in the bizarre masquerade of his initiation into the rank of Mamamushi. The hero easily crossed the line separating real action from a conventional masquerade, and thus the genre unity of the performance was fully achieved.

The heroes of the play are endowed with such characteristic features, which can easily be classified as heroes endowed with negative traits and described satirically, or positive, which are themselves witty.

Thus, teachers are satirically described who, at first glance, are sincerely devoted to their work: fencing teacher Henri Rolland, endowed with military courage sufficient to crush an entire army of enemies; philosophy teacher Georges Chamar, sage and stoic, fearlessly attacking his rivals, defending philosophy, teacher fine arts- Robert Manuel and Jacques Charon. In the end, it turns out that all devotion is a thirst to get a few extra coins from a careless and incapable student, hypocritical praise for Jourdain, and a fierce defense of one’s own profession, largely at the expense of belittling someone else’s.

The features of Dorant and Dorimena are harshly satirically described. The author contrasts the simple-minded, but sincere and decent, Jourdain, with those whom he so passionately wants to be like: high society, refined in appearance, but unprincipled, greedy, deceitful, not above low flattery and outright lies in order to get money. Using the example of these gentlemen, Moliere condemns Jourdain for his blindness by the fake splendor of the nobility, the loss of common sense, for his break with the social mass that will form into the famous French “third estate.”

The remarks exchanged between the participants in the play are witty, especially in those scenes where Jourdain performs. Many of these remarks have become part of everyday speech and have become catchphrases. Moliere's depiction of the bourgeois received its further development in that deep and complete depiction of bourgeois types that can be found in realists XIX century, especially by Balzac.

Being a play unusual genre, despite the apparent familiarity, the play is difficult to stage. Translated into the plane of everyday and psychological comedy, it cannot stand comparison with plays written on similar themes by realist playwrights, be it Balzac or Ostrovsky. When trying to enhance the satire, the incomparable intonations of Moliere the comedian are lost. Moliere began as an improviser, and the ballet play itself turns out to be more of a flying improvisation than a menacing denunciation, like Tartuffe. Thus, only through the disclosure of Moliere's style of presenting the genre can Moliere's satire be fully revealed.

/ / / 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: love theme, 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 - unusual work, going 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. Reveal it grand design is possible only by fully conveying the author’s unique style.

It would seem, what else does the venerable bourgeois Mr. Jourdain need? Money, family, health - he has everything you could want. But no, Jourdain decided to become an aristocrat, to become like noble gentlemen. His mania caused a lot of inconvenience and unrest for the household, but it was beneficial to a host of tailors, hairdressers and teachers, who promised to use their art to make a brilliant noble gentleman out of Jourdain. So now two teachers - dance and music - together with their students were waiting for the owner of the house to appear. Jourdain invited them to decorate the dinner he was throwing in honor of a titled person with a cheerful and elegant performance.

Presenting himself before the musician and dancer, Jourdain first of all invited them to evaluate his exotic robe - the kind, according to his tailor, all the nobility wear in the morning - and the new liveries of his lackeys. Apparently, the size of the connoisseurs' future fees directly depended on the assessment of Jourdain's taste, which is why the reviews were enthusiastic.

The robe, however, caused some hesitation, since Jourdain could not decide for a long time how it would be more convenient for him to listen to music - with or without it. Having listened to the serenade, he found it a bit bland and, in turn, performed a lively street song, for which he again received praise and an invitation, in addition to other sciences, to also study music and dancing. Jourdain was convinced to accept this invitation by the teachers’ assurances that every noble gentleman would certainly learn both music and dancing.

A pastoral dialogue was prepared for the upcoming reception by the music teacher. Jourdain, in general, liked it: since you can’t do without these eternal shepherdesses and shepherdesses, okay, let them sing to themselves. Jourdain really liked the ballet presented by the dance teacher and his students.

Inspired by the success of the employer, the teachers decided to strike while the iron was hot: the musician advised Jourdain to organize weekly home concerts, as is done, according to him, in all aristocratic houses; the dance teacher immediately began to teach him the most exquisite of dances - the minuet.

Exercises in graceful body movements were interrupted by a fencing teacher, a teacher of science - the ability to deliver blows, but not receive them himself. The dance teacher and his fellow musician unanimously disagreed with the fencer's statement about the absolute priority of the ability to fight over their time-honored arts. The people got carried away, word for word - and a couple of minutes later a fight broke out between three teachers.

When the philosophy teacher arrived, Jourdain was delighted - who else but the philosopher should admonish the fighting. He willingly took up the work of reconciliation: he remembered Seneca, warned his opponents against anger, humiliating human dignity, advised me to study philosophy, this first of sciences... Here he went too far. They began to beat him like the others.

The battered, but still uninjured philosophy teacher was finally able to begin his lesson. Since Jourdain refused to study both logic - the words there are too tricky - and ethics - why does he need the science to moderate passions, if it doesn’t matter, once he breaks up, nothing will stop him - the learned man began to initiate him into the secrets of spelling.

While practicing the pronunciation of vowel sounds, Jourdain rejoiced like a child, but when the first delight passed, he revealed to his philosophy teacher a big secret: he, Jourdain, is in love with a certain high-society lady, and he needs to write a note to this lady. For a philosopher this was a piece of cake - in prose or poetry. However, Jourdain asked him to do without this very prose and poetry. Did the respectable bourgeois know that here one of the most stunning discoveries in his life awaited him - it turns out when he shouted to the maid: “Nicole, give me the shoes and nightcap“, from his lips, just think, the purest prose came out!

However, in the field of literature, Jourdain was still no stranger - no matter how hard the philosophy teacher tried, he was unable to improve the text composed by Jourdain: “Beautiful Marquise! Your beautiful eyes promise me death from love.”

The philosopher had to leave when Jourdain was informed about the tailor. He brought a new suit, made, naturally, according to the latest court fashion. The tailor's apprentices, while dancing, made a new one and, without interrupting the dance, dressed Jourdain in it. At the same time, his wallet suffered greatly: the apprentices did not skimp on flattering “Your Grace,” “Your Excellency,” and even “Your Lordship,” and the extremely touched Jourdain did not skimp on tips.

In a new suit, Jourdain intended to stroll through the streets of Paris, but his wife resolutely opposed his intention - half the city was already laughing at Jourdain. In general, in her opinion, it was time for him to come to his senses and leave his stupid quirks: why, one might ask, does Jourdain fencing if he does not intend to kill anyone? Why learn to dance when your legs are about to give out anyway?

Objecting to the woman’s senseless arguments, Jourdain tried to impress her and the maid with the fruits of his learning, but without much success: Nicole calmly pronounced the sound “u”, not even suspecting that at the same time she was stretching her lips and bringing the upper jaw closer to the lower one, and with a rapier she easily struck Jourdain received several injections, which he did not deflect, since the unenlightened maid did not inject according to the rules.

For all the nonsense that her husband indulged in, Madame Jourdain blamed the noble gentlemen who had recently begun to make friends with him. For the court dandies, Jourdain was an ordinary cash cow, and he, in turn, was confident that friendship with them would give him significant—what’s their name—pre-ro-ga-tives.

One of these high-society friends of Jourdain was Count Dorant. As soon as he entered the drawing room, this aristocrat paid several exquisite compliments to the new suit, and then briefly mentioned that this morning he had spoken about Jourdain in the royal bedchamber. Having prepared the ground in this manner, the count reminded him that he owed his friend fifteen thousand eight hundred livres, so there was a direct reason for him to lend him another two thousand two hundred - for good measure. In gratitude for this and subsequent loans, Dorant took on the role of intermediary in matters of the heart between Jourdain and the object of his worship - the Marchioness Dorimena, for whose sake the dinner with the performance was started.

Madame Jourdain, so as not to be disturbed, was sent to her sister for lunch that day. She knew nothing about her husband’s plan, but she herself was concerned about the fate of her daughter: Lucille seemed to reciprocate the tender feelings of a young man named Cleont, who, as a son-in-law, was very suitable for Madame Jourdain. At her request, Nicole, interested in the young lady’s marriage, since she herself was going to marry Cleont’s servant, Koviel, brought the young man. Madame Jourdain immediately sent him to her husband to ask for her daughter's hand in marriage.

However, Cleont did not meet Jourdain’s first and, in fact, only requirement for the applicant for Lucille’s hand - he was not a nobleman, while the father wanted to make his daughter, at worst, a marquise, or even a duchess. Having received a decisive refusal, Cleont became despondent, but Koviel believed that all was not lost. The faithful servant decided to play a joke with Jourdain, since he had actor friends and the appropriate costumes were at hand.

Meanwhile, the arrival of Count Dorant and Marchioness Dorimena was reported. The count brought the lady to dinner not at all out of a desire to please the owner of the house: he himself had been courting the widow marquise for a long time, but did not have the opportunity to see her either at her place or at his place - this could compromise Dorimena. In addition, he cleverly attributed all of Jourdain’s crazy spending on gifts and various entertainments for her to himself, which ultimately won a woman’s heart.

Having greatly amused the noble guests with an elaborate, awkward bow and the same welcoming speech, Jourdain invited them to a luxurious table.

The Marquise, not without pleasure, devoured exquisite dishes to the accompaniment of the exotic compliments of the eccentric bourgeois, when all the splendor was unexpectedly disrupted by the appearance of the angry Madame Jourdain. Now she understood why they wanted to send her to dinner with her sister - so that her hubby could calmly waste money with strangers. Jourdain and Dorant began to assure her that the dinner in honor of the Marquise was being given by the count, and he was paying for everything, but their assurances in no way moderated the ardor of the offended wife. After her husband, Madame Jourdain took on the guest, who should have been ashamed to bring discord into an honest family. The embarrassed and offended marquise got up from the table and left the hosts; Dorant followed her away.

Only the noble gentlemen had left when a new visitor was reported. It turned out to be Koviel in disguise, introducing himself as a friend of Mr. Jourdain’s father. The late father of the owner of the house was, according to him, not a merchant, as everyone around him said, but a real nobleman. Coviel’s calculation was justified: after such a statement, he could say anything without fear that Jourdain would doubt the veracity of his speeches.

Koviel told Jourdain that his good friend, the son of the Turkish Sultan, had arrived in Paris, madly in love with his, Jourdain’s, daughter. The Sultan's son wants to ask for Lucille's hand in marriage, and in order for his father-in-law to be worthy of his new relatives, he decided to initiate him into mamamushi, in our opinion - paladins. Jourdain was delighted.

The son of the Turkish Sultan was represented by Cleont in disguise. He spoke in terrible gibberish, which Koviel allegedly translated into French. The appointed muftis and dervishes arrived with the main Turk, who had a lot of fun during the initiation ceremony: it turned out to be very colorful, with Turkish music, songs and dances, as well as ritual beating of the initiate with sticks.

Dorant, privy to Koviel's plan, finally managed to persuade Dorimena to return, tempting her with the opportunity to enjoy a funny spectacle, and then also an excellent ballet. The count and marquise, with the most serious air, congratulated Jourdain on conferring a high title on him, and they were also impatient to hand over their daughter to the son of the Turkish Sultan as soon as possible. At first, Lucille did not want to marry the Turkish jester, but as soon as she recognized him as Cleonte in disguise, she immediately agreed, pretending that she was dutifully fulfilling her daughter’s duty. Madame Jourdain, in turn, sternly declared that the Turkish scarecrow could not see her daughter like his own ears. But as soon as Koviel whispered a few words in her ear, the mother changed her anger to mercy.

Jourdain solemnly joined the hands of the young man and the girl, giving a parental blessing for their marriage, and then they sent for a notary. Another couple, Dorant and Dorimena, decided to use the services of the same notary. While waiting for the representative of the law, everyone present had a wonderful time enjoying the ballet choreographed by the dance teacher.

Before describing summary“A tradesman among 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 it was created “ Turkish ceremony", 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 their 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 central characters plays. In addition to Jourdain and his family, representatives of common people: cunning tailors who extract money from the owner, 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.