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Masters Theses Graduate School

8-1933

Moliere's Influence on Congreve

Mildred Atkins Stern University of Tennessee - Knoxville

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This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council:

I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Mildred Atkins Stern entitled "Moliere's Influence on Congreve." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English.

John C. Hodges, Major Professor

We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance:

ARRAY(0x7f6ffe6ad080)

Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges

Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School

(Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) July 12, 1933

To the Committee on Graduate Study : -��

I submit herewith a thesis by M ildred Atkins Stern , "Mo liere 1 s Influence on Congreve", and recommend that it be accepted for nine quarter hours credit in fulfi llment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Ar ts , with a major in English.

At the request of the Committee on Graduate Study , I have read thi s the s is , and recommend i ts acceptance.

Accepted by·the Commi ttee �.I� Chairman 11

' MOLIERE'S INFLUENCE

o·N

CON GREVE

--0 --

A THESIS

Submitted to the Graduate Committee or The University of Tennesee in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

by

Mildred Atkins Stern

August 1933 111

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

r • • • • • • I. C itical Opinion of French Influence 1

A. On Restoration Comedy in General

B. On Congreve

II. The Old Batchelor. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 20

III. The Double Dealer. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 36

IV. Love for Love • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 50

the • • • • • • • • • • • • • • v. The WaY of World 68

VI. Conclusion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 75

BIBLIOGRAPHY •••••••••••••• • • • • • • • 83

APPENDIX

Congreve•s Probable Borrowings fro� Moli�re� ••• 86 CRITICAL OPINION OF FRENCH INFLUENCE

A. ON RESTORATION COMEDY IN GENERAL

The Restoration wa s the beginning of a new era both

so cially and po liti cally . In·an effo rt to fo rget the pa st, the new era tried to cast aside all the old and to build a new life in the direction that its own inclinat ions po inted .

The se inclinat ions were a re sult of pa st suppre ssion and the re cent sojourn at the French court. The reactionary tendency of the Re s toration turned people's mind s from the stern

Puritani cal ideas and beliefs of the pre ceding period and gave ri se to the enjoyment of the more fr ivo lous things of life . Among the upper cl as ses, at least , all standards of morality were abo lished, ideal s were lowered or co mpletely abando ned , and Lo ndo n so ciety drank deeply of life and its pleasures . "Amid the galasy of wit and fa shion all wa s at sixe s . 1 and sevens, in po litics , religion, and so cial convention . "

But even an age as revo lut ionary as the Re storation per iod could no t depend entirely upo n i tsel.f. Hence, thi s

. age lo oked elsewhere fo r its inspiration, and France becko ned with an enticing hand . Be cause of the po litical uphe avals and dis turbances in Eng land before 1660, many members of the English court and of London·soci ety had spent the years of exile at the French cour.t . Here they

Dobree , Restoration Comedy , Oxford , A t the Clarendon 1. Bonamy Press, 1924, p. 17. -2 had lived a life of idleness and had acquired invol-

untarily many customs and habits of the life about

them. It was lnly nauural then, at the time of the

Restoration, hat much of French life should be brought

back and flourish at the Court of Charles II. Indeed ,

it has been said that "The life of the Court of King·

Charles II was, at best, a coarse replica of tha t of 2 Versailles". Conseque ntly the court and London

gallants we re interested in all thing s French, and

the age as a whole refle cted French ideas.

The French at thi s time we re espec ially interested

in comedy, for this was the age of Moli�re . The

exiled Engli sh had undoubtedly enjoyed Moliere's comedies;

and upon their re turn to England, interest in.drama was

centered on French comedy, for comedy wa s the form of

drama best suited to this life of gaiety and irrespon-

sibility.

The Comic Muse, to whom Congreve owe s his reputation

as one of the greatest comic writers o� the Restoration

pe�iod , has been spoken of as a "disreputable , daring , laughing, painted French baggage , that Comic Muse. She

came over from the Continent with Charle s • • • at the

Restoration •••a wild , dishevelled Lals, with eyes

Cambridge Histo of English Lite rature , VIII, 150. 2. ry -3 3 bright with wit and wine". Whether the Comic Muse

accompanied Charles II on his return, whether she was

brought over by other members of the Court, or whether

she had merely been aroused from her.enforced slumbers

during the period of exile, she was now, at all events,

living in England. Here she had to live as best she

could by constantly adjusting and readjusting herself

to the totally different English atmosphe�e. In spite

of a French veneer, the English temperament and dis­

position were essentially different from the French;

consequently, in English hands the Comic Muse suffered

many changes, for the spirit of French and English

comedy is never the same. Perhaps it was the chilly

waters of the channel, or the foggy atmosphere of London,

that dampened her spirits, or probably the enforced

gaiety of King Charles' court did not suit her more

airy spirit; but, for whatever reason, much of her

blithesomeness and lightness were lost by her removal

from the Continent.

The most popular writer ·or French Comedy� ·Moliere,

seems to have accompanied his mistress, the Comic Muse,

to London. As Moli�re's earlier works appeared during

the last years of the exil�. (1658, 1659), many of

the English probably saw his plays acted in Paris.

Later, as Moliere's reputation increased, more and more

w. 3. M. Thackera� Works, XXIII. "The English H�ourists� Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott and Co� 1891, p. 163. attention was centered on his works. English writers,

.noting the popularity of Moliere, began to make use

of his works in translations, adaptations, and suggestions.

In fact, "No one foreign author has been.so plundered 4 by Eng��sh playwrights as Moliere". Such writers as·

"D'Ave�ant, Dryden, Sedley, Wycherley, Vanbrugh, Crowne

and Shadwell all owe debts of plot, character, design

and dialogue to French comedy; and, even where the debt

may not be specifically ascertainable, the tone of the

play, the method of its ·conduct, and the conception

of its personages declare the dominant·influence of 5 France".

A great many English critics agree that Moli�re

was a dominant fact�r in Restoration eomedy. Ward

holds the opi.D.ion that Restoration Comedy owes a

' debt to Moliere, that his works were imitated and

even copied more unreservedly th an those. of any other

foreign writer. The real Moliere, however, was . missing; that is, his spirit and manner were lost or very imperfectly understood by his would�be imitat ors. The debt of English comedy to Moliere was strength and vivacity; but in. other respects

�nglish comedy was more truly English, for the English

4. Cambridge History of English Literature, VIII, 151. 5. !614., p. 152. -5 gave a more real istic and less refined air to what they 6 used.

Miles,in his treatise on Moliere 's Influence�

Restorat ion Come dy, says that "The lead.ing dramatists caught something of the spi rit of Moliere's comedy of manne rs, but the minor playwrights saw in him only the . . 7 clever manipulator of a comedy of intrigue" . It is interest ing , as Miles observes, that no one seemed di sposed to acknowledge his indebtedness to Moliere.

Not even the leading dramatists, who we re doubtless influenced by th e Frenchman, admitted their borrow�ngs. For example, "Congreve noWhere avowed his study of 8 Moliere", but he was "a close student of all sides 9 of Moli�re's art". The minor playwrights pilfered

Moli�re most ruthles sly and seemed to regard him as a "public storehouse" of plots, i.ncidents, and cha racters . Caryll sums up the attitude in his epilogue to Sir saiomon, a play adopted from L' Ecole ------des Fennnes: "Fa1tn , >e good natur'd to this hungry c�ew, 0 Who , �.Lat they fi lch abroad, bring home to you" . 1

few years later one writer, realizing how frequently A Moliere had been borrowed said: from,

6. A •. ward, A Histor of En lish Dramatic Literature , w. London, Macmi llian and a o. , II ,, 318 ft. PP• D. H. Miles, Moli�re•s Influence on Restoration Comed , 7. l New York, Columbia University Press, 191o, p. 99. Ib id ., 8. P• 98. IOIO., p. 9. 119. lO . ., p. Ibid 81. -6 11 "Moli�re is quite rifled, then how shall I wr1te?n

These minor writers, as one would expect, failed to recognize

Moliere as one of the great comic geniuses of the .world, 12 although they used him as a storehouse from which to draw.

Nettleton and Nicoll agree that Moliere gave to

English playwrights of the new era a model they could

admire and even imitate, but these borrowers r�raduced only

the outward semblance, not the real spirit, of the French

genius. "In their hands Gallic gaiety was coarsened into

gross brutality, satire became cynically harsh, and human comedy lost its humanity. In comedy, as in tragedy, the spirit of French drama evaded the grasp of·English 13 copyists." But because th e Restoration writers did find in Moliere the classical requirements they felt must be observed, they used him as a panacea for all the ills a playwright can fall heir to. They borrowed from Moliere for plot and characters, but never failed 14 to change what they borrowed to suit the English taste.

According to Perry, "Ben Jonson and the Elizabethans had not had the benefit of Moliere's influence and example, but their successors in th e Restoration period came after 15 the great Frenchman and profited by that fact." •••

11. Miles, op. cit., p. 81. 12. Ibid., pp. 79 ff. 13. �. Nettleton, English Drama of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century, New York, The Macmillan Co., 1914, p.Sl. 14. A. Nicoll, Restoration Drama, London, G. G. Harper and Co., 1923, PP· 11s rt. 15. H. T. E. Perry, The Comic Spirit in Restoration Drama, New Haven, Yale University Press,1925, p. 8. -7

"Although the roots of Restoration Comedy are to be found in native drama, foreign influences, both social and artistic, are in some degree responsible for it; from Etherege to Farquhar, the authors. • • tried to refine upon the common sense of Moli�re and ended by creating a brightly colored bubble of thin substance 16 and temporary duration."

According to a fanciful remark of Charles II the dramatists may have assumed the attitude, "We can

pillage that fellow, Moliere --- he won't mind --­ but we will have nothing to do with anything w�itten in this country before the wicked Oliver murdered 17 the late king. And so to workl" .As a result the comedy of the period was "evolved from the existing drama,affected by many contemporary and foreign in­ fluences • • • (among which was) the French comedy 18 of reason as practiced by Moli�re •••" Moli�re exercised a great influence on Restoration Comedy, but the English gave much more variety to their plays.

They took as the nucleus of a comedy some plot of

Moliere's and from this branched out as their fancy led until there were several plots in one play. The

16. H. T. E.Perry, op. cit., p. 142. 17. M. Elwin, Pl a�oer-Handbook to Restoration Drama, New York, The Macm iian Co., 1928, p. 29. 18. Ibid. - -8

minute but perfect plots of Moliere's comedies were not

inclusive enough for the English, and consequently 19 numerous subplots were added�

The imported drama was not, according to Meredith,

the real French drama, for "the corrupted importation·

from France wa s noxious; a noble entertainment spoilt 20 to suit the wretched taste of a villanous age.� In

short, English audiences wanted id·le laughter, not

the thought P' .. ovoking laughter of Moliere. Meredith

also fee ls that Moliere was copied so much that

oftentimes the later imitations. became tiresome 21 because the same situat ions recurred so much.

Although a number of critics hold that Restora- tion Drama was, to some extent, a product of F�eneh influence, there are others who minimize the French element. Among those who wish to deny French influence, Bonamy Dobree is, perhaps, the mo�t ardent believer in the English descent of Restoration

Drama. He says that "to take a plot, to borrow a 22 subject, does not constitute influence", and that, when·borrowed, Moli�re was always �proved for the

23 · English stage. Xoreover, "English plays, therefore, never

Elwin, o . cit., ff. 19. t PP• 27. 20. G. Mered!:h, IE Essa on Comedy and the Uses of the ·comic Spirit, New York, �h�ries Seribnerfs Sons, 1913, p. 26. 21. Ibid., pp. 26 f. One of the Scenes mentioned is Le Misanthro e II, v. which is repeated by Wycherley, �ngreve and Sheria an. 22. Dobrfe, op cit., p. 50. 23. ��, ·P· 5m. -9

aimed at producing the same co ol atmo sphere as the French . • •

What they took from the French they spo iled; wh at they had

in naturalness was , one may readily suppose, but the natural

reflection of a life t�at was free, a result of a realism 24 they could no t avo id ." He contend s that French influence

was French life rather than French literary form , fo r the

influen ce of French life was reflected in Eng lish comedies 25 through the medium of the court.

Taylor , one of the mo st recent biographer s of Congreve ,

declares that the "influence of France upon English comedy

during this era is less dominant than has often been stated .

It is evident mo re in the refinement of manners and lightness 26 of touch than in direct borrowings of plots and character s."

The critics seem to agree that Restoration Comedy,

although it owe s something to Fr ench influences, wa s a

product of the times and fo r the times. As one writer

says , 11Its genesis was the social life of the day, influenced

by the literary tradition of n J hnson in En land and . Be o g 27 lv�o liere in France ." Even the critics· who woulC! dis count French influence do admit that the sojourn in France co lored

London life and thus indirectly affected Re storat ion Comedy.

" 24. Dobree , 2£· £!!., p . 51. 25. Ibid., P• 54. 26. n:-c. Taylor, Wm. Congreve , London , Oxford Univer sity Press , 1931 , p. 5. 27. Perry, ££· cit., p. 140 . -10

B. ON CONGREVE

By his own wr iting s, Congreve has given ample proof that he was a student of Moli�re . The pla y, Squire

Trelooby , of whi ch Congreve was co-author , is not an important play; but it does reveal Congreve 's acquaintance with Molibre , for it is practically a translation of

Moliere's Monsieur de Pourceaugna c. On the title page of the play we find that it was .. done into English from 28 a comedy of Mo liere 'sn; and in the pr efa ce , thi s statement , uEvery man having an equal Right (at this 29 time particular ly ) to take all he can from the Frenoh11 , leaves lit tle doub t of the intent ion to use Mo liere in writing the play. In hi s letter of May 20, 1704, to

Jo s eph Keally, Congreve gives his opinion of the play .

11The translation you speak of is no t altogether mine ; fo r

Vanbrugh and Walsh had a part in it . Ea ch did an act of a French farce. Mine , and I believe theirs , was done in two mornings; so there can be no great matter 30 in it . " In this stud� then, Squire Treloobz is

28. Complete Works of Wm. Congreve , edited by Montague Summers, LOndon, Nonesuch Press, 1923, III, 111. 29. Ib id., p. 115. 30. summers , �· cit ., I, 76. -11

important to us , not as a wo rk of literature , but as an

evidence that Congreve knew Mo liere' s wo rks .

If Congr eve knew Moliere and used one of Mo liere 's

plays as the basis fo r his play , it is po ssible that he had used sugge stions from Mo liere in his earlier plays:

The Old Batchelor , The Double De aler , Love for Love, and

The Way of the World . Let us now pro ceed to an examination of wha t others have said on this subject.

Gosse says of Congreve 1 s place among the comi c wr iters: uEtherege led the van wi th his French inspiration , directly drawn from Mo liere , his. deli cate observation, his lightness of touch , his thin elegance . Wycherley fo llowed with his superior strength , his massive·dialogue, his·

pungent wi t , his vigour , his invention •••Con gr eve came fo rward with his erudite and brilliant comedies, combining the qua lity of Etherege with that of Wycherley, adding much from Mo liere , owing mu ch to his own trained and active fancy, and placing En' glish comedy of manners 31 fo r the first time on a really classi c basis.n Although

Congreve surpasses his countrJ'lllen , 11in comparison with

Mo liere, the English comedian takes a second rank in all bu t 32 wit ." Congr eve fa iled to reach Moli�re because of his adherence to the rul es of compo sition, but, rrin his own narrow

Edmund Gosse, Consreve , Walter Sco tt P blishing Co., 31 . Wm. u London, 1888, pp . !81 f. Ib id ., p. 182 . 32. -12

kind, (Congreve isJ unsurpassed even by such broader and 33' more genial masters as T erence and Moli�re�� Go�se,. , . 34 howeve r, cites very few instances of direct influence .

The Cambridge History of En lish.Literature in & �

speaking of Congreve1says: "He took for his material the life about him, a life which still reflected the gaiety 35 of King Charles' Court . " The Court of King Charle s, 36 as we have said before , was greatly influenced by the

French Court of Louis XIV, and life around the Court of

Charles II was in great me asure a reflection of French

Life. The Cambridge History continue s: "As a stern . castigator of prose, he CCongreveJ goes far beyond ·' 37 . the example of h'-s master, Moliere. 1� In like vein,

Swinburne says, "No English writer, on the whole, has 38 so nearly approached ·the skirts of Moliere . !'.

Mil�s says of Congreve , that he was "de stined to carry the English imitation of Moli�re 1s comedy of 39 11 manners to its highest point, but he did not bodily take over any of Moli�re's plots: "he had in mind models for his different plays. , but he followed them at a great 40 dis tance. !' Mile s feels cer tain that even Congreve's

33. Gosse, op. cit., p. 183. 34. See references to specific likene sses under separate plays . 35. C�bridge Risto of English Literature, VIII, 177. 36. vide supra, p. �• 37. Cambridge History of En lish Li·terature , VIII, 178 f. 38. 1. d. Swinburne, Misceif anies, London, Chatto and Windus , 1886, p. 54. 39. Miles, op. cit ., p. 195. 40. �., p. 121. -13

earliest play, The Old Batchelor, showed traces of

Moliere's influence in its construc.tions, and perhaps,

"Inspired by the success of this first play and by tl:e desire to excell in the art which had brought him the warm friendship of the literary dictator of his age,

QDryden), the young author devoted himself to a more serious study of the Great Frenchman who had started 41 Wycherley and Etherege on their successful careers.u

In fact Miles asserts that all of Congreve's plays reveal "a considerable influence from the great French 42 genius upon the general dramatic method of Congreve. !'

Congreve, for the most part, managed the course of action in the same way as Moli�re, showed almost an equal care in motivation, gave an earnestness to the main thread of each plot, and, in his last three comedies, constructed plots of the same kind as those of Moliere's masterpieces---plots in which action is invented to serve the purpose of the play, to satirize 43 the follies and vices of society. Miles gives more 44 specific borrowings than any other critic. Miles concludes that "though Congreve could provide· all the

1aterial for his plays by his own keen observation of

�1. Miles, �.P cit. , p. 195. 4�. Ibid., :pp.I99 f. · 43. Ibid., p. 200 . 44 .• m;e-references to specific likeness under separate plays. -14

the life in which he moved, he studied Moliere for

suggestions, absorbed the Frenchman's manner, and . 45 adopted his dramatic method. " The surprising thing

to Miles is not that Congre "adopted so much from

Moli�re, but that he showed �uch striking originality in the creation of his young manhood. For in following a model he was but repeating .the practice of Moliere 46 ' himself."

Summers, who for the most part denies French

influence, does admit certain borrowings, but.contends· that most of Congreve's borrowings can be traced to

Wycherley and WJcherley' s borrow�ngs to Moliere.

Although congreve may have borrowed, his"geniu.s is so great that he has been able to invest all his borrowings from Jonson, from Moliere, from other 47 sources with complete originality."

Summers is not alone in linking Wycherley' s name with that of Congreve as he talks of Moliere's influence. Perry says, "Congreve and Wycherley, to a less degree, have best captured the elusiveness and '48 grace; the gaiety ahd detachment of the comic Spirit .."

Matthews also says., "In its form, if not in its spirit,

45. Miles, op. cit. , p. 203. 46. Ibid. , P• 2o5. · 47. Summers, op. cit., I, 157. 48. Perry, op. cit., p. 142. -15

� e comedy of wycherley and Congreve is taken from the . 49 comedy of Moliere ." Perromat admits much influence 50 of Moliere on Wycherley, and later says that Wycherley's 51 influence on Congreve was very great. He goes so far, in fact, as to say that Wycherley was the principal and almost the only writer to wh om Congreve was under obligation, and that all of Congrev 's originality belongs to his excellent aptitude for ·assimilating the thought of

Wycherley. ThUs it may be that Moli�re's influence on

Congreve was indirect, coming through Wycherley. 52 Charles Morse sees in. Congreve•s comedies 11the 53 very age and body of the ti me" but adds that the

"genius of the new drama is not native to England.

It is a cion from the French comedy wh ose founder , u54 was Moliere. Morse too finds that Moliere's influence may be tr ced through Wycherley, and continues, "So if it be true that the light in Co�greve's drama is a trans­ mitted one it is equally true that by a sort of dichroism, the foreign color disclosing itself here and ..there is less

49. B. Matthews, Molie r e his Life and his Works, New York, Charles Scribne�� Sons, i916, p. 359. 50. c. Perroma�, v�. wyche rley, sa vie son oeuvre, Paris, F. Dean, 1931, p. 344. 51. Ibid., pp.414 fr. 52. rr:-Morse wrote his Article, Plays of Wm. Congreve, during the tri-centennial celebration of MoiiSre*s birth. To Mr. Morse this tri-centennial seemed an appropriate time to write of Congreve, � �ollower of Moli�re. As Who's Who , or 1929 tell'S ua harle s Morse is a Canadian le.wver and has been Regis trar of the Exchequer Court of .Canada since 1912. 53. C. MOT�se, "The flays of Wm. Gongrevalf, Canadian Magazine, LVIII, 473. 54.�., p. 474. -16 55 intense than the local color suffusing it throughout.

Protopopesco believes that Congreve owes much to

his Englis� predecessors and that it was, perhaps, from

them he secured his idea for using suggestions from

Moli�re. It was probably from Shadwell's Bury !!!£, .,. with scenes drawn from � Precieuses Ridicules, more

than from the scene of Olivia from Wycherley that

Congreve received the idea of using the famous motif 56 of Le Misanthrope.

In spite of the great amount of English· influence,

Protopopesco says: "Mais le vrai mouvement comique des

pieces de Congreve provient sans doute de ce ma1tre

8. tous, Moli�re. La plupart de ces episodes ont �te

inspire par lui, la scene Lady Plyant- -- Vainlove,

la scene des portraits, du madrigal, la scene de

Trapland et nombre de deg�isements; tandis que Lady

Touchwood, Heartwell, Maskwell, n' ont pu avoir pour

mod�les --- s'ils en ont eu - -·- que des personnages 57 molieresques." En resume Congreve a eu beaucoup de

Ma1tres, mais pas un modele pr�cis, pas une source

directe. Il n'a pas pille; different en cela de ses

·• devanciers: (Shadwell, Etherege ,� Wycherley) il est

55. Morse, loc. cit., p. 477. 56. D. Protopopesco, Wm. Congreve, Sa Vie son Oeuvre, Paris, Les Editions de La Vie Universitarie, 1924, p. 352. 57,. Ibid. , p. 353. -17

11auteur de ses propres piece s, L'inventeur de ses propre s act ions dramatiques. Ce qu' il a tout au plus adopte, furent quelques episodes, quelques traits. Encore les a - t - il tellement transfigur�s et 58 11 perfectionnes qu' il a depasse quelquefois 1 'origina'i�

The critics that have just been quoted seem to be of the opinion that Moliere did exert an influence over

Congreve, but they do not agree as to the amount or kind of influence . Some think that the influence was direct, others that it was indirect, coming through

Wycherley. Again there is another group of critics Whlch ho�an opposing opinion: that is, that Congreve was not influenced by Moliere . There are fewer but not le ss noted exponents of thi s theory.

Ward says that Congreve is of a later period than most of the Re storation writers, and his brillant s�yle cannot be aaid to be founded on Moliere' s. In hi s construction of plot "although he possessed a very thorough familiarity with Moliere and other French c omic Dramatists,(�ongrev�display ed an independence of workman ship which contrasts wi th the rude appropria.tion practiced by many of hi s c-ontemporaries, and even with 59 the assimilating processes of Wyeherley .11 The

. . 58. Protopopesc9, op. c�t ., p. 354. 59 • w e.rd, o p • c 1 t . , p • +.'7o• -18 prototypes and analogies of such characters as Congreve's

Heartwell, Captain Blu;f'fe, and Mrs. Fondlewife could be 60 found in Moli�re or el-sewhere.

Among the more recent critics, there is an anti-

Moliere group. This group is represented by Henley,

Dobree, and Taylor. Henley declares that Congreve's

"style is that of a pupil not of Moliere but of the full, the rich, the excessive, the pedantic Jonson;

• • • to compare him to Moliere is to misapprehend the differences etween pure literat�re and literature that 61 is also drama .!1 Dobree says that· although Congreve

"had a poetic fastidiousness and a depth of feeling that ade him more than any Englishman akin to 62 Moliere, •_r yet he lacked the deep insight of Moliere 6:5 for he never saw beyond the present. Taylor feels that Congreve, a nbr1'111arit exception (others destroyed in transplanting), demonstrated his superior dramatic judgement by. taking only such detai'ls as he could 64 assimilate and make his own."

thus the consensus of opinion concerning Moliere's · influence on Congreve is that Moliere did influence

60. Ward, op.cit., p. 472. · 61. w. E. Henley, Works, London, MacMillan Co., 1921, IV, 186. 62. Dobree, op. cit., p. 136. 63. Ibid., p. !49. 64. Taylor, op. cit. , p. 6. Taylor gives only one re­ ference to direct borrowing. He states that no direct borrowing in The Double Dealer can be traced but that Congreve was undoubtedly influenced by Le T artuffe as he wrote The Double Dealer. Hazlitt, Macaulay, and Lamb, other critics. of this period, do not discuss Moliere's influence on Oongreve. -19

Congreve , bu t that the influen ce do es no t appe ar as ·dire ct or as obvious as many wo uld believe . Eve n the mo st zealous believer s in Mo li�re 's inf luence acknowledge that Congr eve cha�ged what he took from Mo lier e and made it his own . Like­ wi se, tho se who minimize Moli �re1s influence agree that

Congreve ow ed someth�ng to Mo li�re.

T he influence of one author upon an other i s often an elusive and ind eterminate qua li ty. Nevertheless , I sh all devo te the fo llowing chapter s of this di scus sion to po inting out the spe cific similarities between Congreve 's and

Molier e1s comedies . The se· resemb lances whi ch I shall note are based upon a study of Congreve1s comedies,

Mo liere's comedies, and the references· lis ted by several criti cs . I shall endeavor , ho wever , to discuss mo re fully the likenesses already po inted out and to add some new parallels �o t hither to observed . THE OLD BATCHELOR ------

Throughout Congreve's comedies there is evidence of

French influence. This influence, however, seems to develop in almost reverse order to the growth of Congreve•s own powers as a dramatist. In Congreve's earlier comedies, there is much more evidence of follo wing a model -- and that model Moliere - than in the great maste'l1pieces.

Critics do not agree concerning the extent of

Congreve's acquaintance with the grea t French master as revealed by The Old Batchelor. Gosse states that

"in The Old Batchelor there is n positive evidence of the study of Moli�re, whom Congreve, who read so much, must nevertheless have known familiarily, but the direct 1 influence_of Wycherley is strongly marked." Perhaps, in turn, Wycherley's dramas may be traced back to

Moli�re•s. Miles says of Congreve that "on his arrival from the country he had with him a play, The Old Batchelor, wh ich revealed his acquaintance with Moliere but which was constructed as a comedy of intrigue with five threads of 2 action." He cites five specific borrowings from

1. Gosse, op. cit., p. 42. 2. Miles, op. cit., p. 195. -21

3 Moliere. Summers, who for the most part denies French

influence, says: "When •••we examine the fable and conduct

of Congreve1s first play, we are bound to acknowledge that

neither is fresh or original. Befor� writing his scenes

he had read Moliere, and he had read Wycherley even more 4 5 lately." Summers notes one direct borrowing. Morse

assumes Moliere's influence as a well established and

generally accepted fact and states that Congreve's ·first

play g!ves evidence of adaptation from the French comedy 6 of manners. Other critics, in so far as I have been

aple to e�amine them, do not make mention of The Old

Batchelor in connectipn with French influence on the

plot.

The plot of The Old Batchelor, suggestive as it is

of Moli.ere, cannot be traced to any one of the Frenchman's,

3. Miles, op. cit. , pp. 234f. The specific borrowings are as follows: "Act ii. is freely adapted from Les Fourberies de Scapin, ii, " with a suggestion from MonSiiur de · rourceaugnac, 1,4. Act il. we suggested by Les Femmes Savantes, 1, 1. let iii, 2 is a remiriscence of Geor Dandin, ii, 1. iv, 6 is freely �dapted from Geor e Danf n, 1!; 8, with Act i a suggestion from L1Ecole d. �aris, �i, 9." As Miles gives references from 'fhe Complete J31ays of . illiam Congreve, edited by Alexander Charles Ewald, has speCific references do not alwa. s agree with the ones given in this paper. 4. Summers, op. cit., I, 18. 5. Ibid. , p. 157. "The incident of Laetitia1s hanging upon . Fon0IeWife1s neck and emb acing him, whilst b�hind his back Bellmour is kissing her han� is taken from L'Ecole des Maris, II, xiv, where Isabelle '·ait sen 1Apt d1embrasser Sganareiie et donne sa main a baiser A Valbr .1' In the edition of Moliere's works used in this paper the above reference is II, ix. 6. Morse, loc. cit., p. 475. -22

for it has five distinct plot intere ts. Within these

plots, however, there are incidents which recall Moliere.

The scene of Sharper and Sir Joseph in'The Batchelor Old resembles that of Moli�re's Scapin G�ronte in Les and

Fourberies de Scapin. In both scenes the rogues, Sharper and Scapin, are hunting for ·someone, finally discover him, and succeed in getting their hands upon the coveted money in spite of the fact that both Sir Joseph and Geronte hold fast to their precious gold . Both money seekers succeed by cleverly pretending that the mon�y is mere a trifle and that there is no doubt that the rich lords will give it. Sharper hunts for the money which he did not lose:

Shar . 'Tis but trying, and being where I am at worst, now luckl --- curs'd Fortunel this must be the Place, this damn'd unlucky Place--­ Sir Jo. Agad and so 'tis---why here has been more Mischief done I perceive. Sh No, 'tis gone, 1tis lost�--ten thousand DP•vils on that Chance which drew me hither; ay here, just here, this Spot to me is Hell; nothing to be foun�, but the Despair of What ? I've lost.

pretends who Likewise Scapin to hunt for his master, is not lost:

Scapin . N'y a-t-11 personne qui puisse me dire est le Seigneur Geronte? o� . Geronte. '�u'y a-t-11, Scapin? sca i� Ou pourrai-je le rencontrer, pour lui aire cette infortune? aeronte. Qu 'est-ce· que c 'est do·1e? Scapin. En vain je cours de tous cetes pour le pouvoir trouver.

The Old Batchelor, II, i. 7. - 23

Geronte• Me voici. Scapin. Il taut qu1il soit cache en quelque endroit qufon ne puisse point deviner. Geronte• Hol�J es-tu aveugle, que t' ne me vois pas? Scapin . Ahl Monsieur, il n'y a pas moyen de vous renc ontrer. 8

After careful preparation Sharper·and Scapin broach the subjec of the money :

Sharp. Sir your humble �ervant---I don't question but you are; that you have so cheap an Opportunity of expressing your Gratitude and Generosity. Since the paying so trivial a Sum, will wholly acquit you and aoubly engage me. Sir Jo. 'iVha"- a dickens does he mean by a trive.l Sum? (asir e) But han't you found it, Sir1 Sharp. No �rwise I vow to Gad but in my Hopes in yo,, Sir. Sir Jo. Humph. Sharp. But that's sufficient----'Twere Inju s tice

to doubt the Honour of Sir Jose Wittoll.- Sir Jo. 0 Lord, Sir. Sharp. You arA above (I'm sure} a Thought so low, to suffer me to lose what was ventur'd in your· Service; Nay •twas in a manner --- paid down for your deliverance ; 'twas so much lent you---And you scorn, I'll say that for you--- Sir Jo. Nay I'll say that for my self (with your !eave, Sir,) I do scorn a dirty thing. But agad I'm a little out of Pocket at present. Sha , . Pshaw you can1t want a hundred Pound. Your ord is sufficient any where: 'Tis but borrowing so much Dirt, you have large cres and can ·soon repay it --Money is but Dirt Sir Joseph---Meer Dirt. Sir Jo. But I profess, 'tis a Dirt I have washed my Hands of at present;

• • • But·sir I have a Letter of Credit to Alderman Fondlewife, as far as two hundred Pouna , and this Afternoon you shall see I am a rson, such a one as you would wish to ha met with--- Sharp· That you are I'11 be· sworn ( As ide) Why the.t' s rea t ·and like your self. 9

8. Fourberies de Scapin, II, vii.

9 • . The Old Batcne!or, II, i. -24

J1 t a har ... er has rked upon u, r Joseph's feelings,

SO did ..:>C n ork upon Geronte's feelings, ·al�hough

ucapln appealed to Geronte's fatherly love for his son,

whereas Sharper played upon Sir Joseph's vanity.

Scapin Attendez, Monsieur, nous y voici. Pendant que nous mangions, 11 a fait mettre la gal�re en mer, et, se voyant eloigne du port, 11 m'a fait mettre dans un esquif, et m'envoie vous dire que si vous ne lu� envoyez par mol tout a 1'heure cinq cents ecus, .11 va vous e'mmener votre fils en Alger. Geronte Comment, diantreJ cinq cents ecus? Scapin Oui, Monsieur; e� de plus, 11 ne m'a donne pour cela que deux heures.

• • • Geronte Tiens, Scapin, je ne me souvenois pas que je viens justement de recevoir cette somme en or, et je ne croyois pas qu'elle dfit m'@tre 1 si t6t ravie. Tiens. Va-t'en racheter mon fils. 0

In this same scene Congreve is somewhat. reminiscent

of onsieur de· Pourceaugnac, I, iv. Sharper pretends to

know Sir Joseph and is astonished that Sir Joseph does not

- recognize him, as Eraste pretended to know Monsieur de

� Pourceaugnac. Both Sharper and Eraste desired the

acquaintances for their own good, not because of any

interest in the 5entleman. Sharper assures Sir Joseph

that he is an acqua�ntancet.

Sharp. Know you; why can you be so ungrateful, to forget mel Jo. Lord forget him1 No, no Sir, don't Sir 0 I forget you---because I never saw y�ur F ace before, agad. Ha, ha, ha. S ar . Howl � �o. stay, stay Sir, le t me recollect---He's ----a-a•arr�'d angry Fellow---! believe I had better remember him, · 1 till I can get o9 of his sight; :1 but out o'sight out o'mind agad.

10. Fourberies de Scapin, II, vii. The BatChelor, II, 11.· Old 1. -25

, Eraste had preten�ed acquaintance with Monsieur de

Pourceaugnac in much the same way :

, Eraste Ah1 qu'e st-ce ci? que voi s-je? Quelle heureuse rencontre1 Monsieur de Pourceaugnacl Que �e suis ravi de vous voir1 Comment? 11 semble que vous ayez peine a me reconnottre1 M .· de P. Monsieur, je suis votre servi teur . Eraste. Est-il pos sible que cinq ou six annee s m'aient Ote de votre memo ire? et que vous ne reconnoissiez pas le me illeur ami de toute la famflle de s Pourceaugnecs? M. de P. Pardonnez-moi. Ma foil je ne sais qui il est. traste Il n'y a pas un Pourceaugnac a Limoge s que je ne connoisse, d�uis le plus grand jusques au plus petit; je ne frequentois qu'eux dans le temps que j'y etois, et j1avo1s l'honneur de vous vqir presque tous les jours .

• • • M. de P. �ilA une connoissance ou je ne m'attendois point. y

Anothe r scene that, perhaps, owe s something to Moli��e

is the scene between Araminta and Belinda, as they discuss

the ir views of me n and marriage . Here, Congreve seems to have made use of the opening scene of Les Femme s Savantes

in which Ar.mande and Henriette give their opinions on a

similar subj ect . Ar.mande, with her radical and contempt- uous view of men, seems to be the source for Belinda, w ile Henriette , wi th her opposing ideas, could have

suggested Araminta.

Belinda, who is weary of Araminta's raving, bursts into words of scorn:

Oh you have raved, talked idl�, and all in Connnendation of that filthy , awkward, two- leg'd Creature , Man---you donrt know w:at you've said, your Fever has transported you .13 .

12 . M. de Pourcea nac, I, .tv . 13. The Old Batc��or II, iii. . -26

So doe s Armande rail at poor Henriette: Quo1? le beau nom de f1lle e s t an titre, rna soeur, Don+: vous voulez quitter la charmante douceur .t e vous marier vous osez f ire f�te? ' 1 Ce YUlgaire dessein vous peut monter en t@te? 4

Belinda pretends to ha te men and to scorn their attentions, but she really loves Bellmour. Aramande likewi se affects

to scorn men and to be interested in· philosophy and other

learned subjects.

The plot of The Old Batchelor recalls still another of Moli�re 's plays, George Dandin. George Dandin seems to have given hints for some of the scepes in which

Heartwell appears. Heartwell 's· disgust wi th h±mself for loving Silvia and being constantly drawn to her, although it is against his will, reminds one of George

Dandin�s be littling of himself:

Why whither in the Devil 's Name am I a 001ng now? Hum-·--let me think-- Is not this Silvia ' s· House, the Cave of that Enchantress, and which consequently I ought to shun as I would Infection? To enter-here, is to put on the envenom 'd Shirt; to run into the Embraces of a Fever, and in some raving Fit, be led to plunge my self int o that more consuming Fire , a .·oman ' s Arms . Hal we ll recollected, I will recove r my Reason, and be gone . • • • Well, why do you .not move? Feet do your Office-­ not one Inch; no, foregad I' m caught---There stands my North, and thither my Needle points--Now could I curse my self, yet ca not repent . 0 thou del_icious, damn'd, dear, des tructive Woman! S'death how the young Fell.ows will hoot met I shall be the Jest of the Town : Nay in two Days, I expect to be .

Chronicled in Ditty, and sung in woeful· Ballad, to ... the Tune of the superannuated Maidens Com£ort, or the Batchelors F all; and upon the third, I shall be hang 'd in Effigie, pasted up for the exemplary

14. Le s Femme s Savantes, I, i. -27

Ornament of ne ce s sary Houses, and Coblers Stall s -Death, I ' can 't think on 1t - �' 11 run �nto the Danger to lo se the Apprehension.

In almo st this fashion, George Dand in had scorned himself

, fo r hi s we akness fo r Angelique :

George Dandin, Ge orge Dand in , vous avez fait une so ttise la plus grande du monde . Ma maison m'est effroyable maintenant , et je n'y rentre point sans y trouver quelque chagrin . • • • Je ne dis mo t, car je ne gagerois rien A parler , et jamais il ne s1est rien vu d1�gal a ma di sgrace. Qui , j"admire mon malheur , et la subtile adres se de rna carogne de femme pour se donner toujou�s raison , et me faire avoir tort . Es t-il po ssible que toujours j1aurai du dessous ave c elle , que lea apparences toujours tourneront contre mo i , et que je ne parvi endrai point a convaincre mon effrontee ? 0 Ciel , seconde me s desseins , et m' a ccorde la grgce de faire vo ir aux gens que l'on me deshonore . l6

Similar to thi s same passage of Ge orge Dandin is

Fondlewife 's soliloquy:

And in the mean time , I wi ll reason wi th myself - Tell me Isaac, why art thee jealous ? Why art thee distrus tful of the Wife .of thy Bo som? -- Because she is young and vigorous, and I am old and impo tent-­ Then why didst thee marry, Isaac? - Be cause she was beautiful and tempt ing , and because I wa s obstinate and doa ting; so that my Inclina tion wa s (and is still ) - wi ll great er than my Power And no t that whi ch tempted thee , also tempt others , who wi ll tempt her , Isaac?-- ! fear it much -- But do es no t thy Wife lo ve thee , nay do at upo n thee? - Yes - Why then ! - Ay, but to say truth, she's fo nder of me , than she ha s reason to be; and in the way of Trade , we still suspect the smoothest Dealers of the deepest Designs -- And that she has some Designs deeper than thou cans7 t reaeh , th 1hast experi­ mented , Isaac -- But Mum . 1

15. The Old Batchelor , III, ii. 16 . G;Orge-Dandin , I, i and II, vi ii. 17 . The Q!9_ B atchelo r, IV, iii. -28

Not only does Fondlewife ' s argument re semb le that

of George Dandin wi th himself, but the entire Fondlewife­

Laetitia plot is probably based upon the George Dandin­

Angeli que plo t . _Both husbands are cleve rly outwitted

by their young and popular wi ve s, who succ.e ed in making

the ir husbands appear in the wrong.

Not content with fashioning the affairs of the

ma ster and mi stress upon Moliere 's plots , Congreve has

al so based the actions of hi s servant s upon tho se of

Claudine and Lubin. Lucy and Setter , in their small

way , mimic the doing s of their master and mi stress,

just as Claud ine· and Lubin do . Setter and Lucy, whi le looking after the af fairs of the ir ma ster and mi stress, take time to argue about their own affairs :

Lucy. Remember to Days Behaviour--Ie me see you with a penitent Face . Setter. What no Token of Ami ty you and I don 't use to part wi th dry ps . L1- ucl? �· No, no avaunt--I'll not b · slabber 'd and �i ss' d now--I 'm not i'th' humour . Setter. I'll not quit you so--I 'll follow and put you into the Humour. lB

In George Dandin a similar argument took place betwe en

Claud ine and Lubin :

Claud ine . Que veux-tu? Lub in. Viens, te dis-je. Claudine . Ab l doucement : je n'aime pas le s patineurs. Lubid. Ehl un pe tit brin d'amitie . Claudine . Lai sse-moi 1�, te dis-je: je n1entends pas ra111erie .

The � Batchelor, III, vi . 18 . -29

Lubin. Claudine . Claudine . Ahy t Lubin . Ahl que tu es rude a pauvres gens . Fil que cela est malhonn8 te de refuser le s personnesl N'as-tu point de honte d'�tre belle , et de ne voul oir pas qu 'on te caresse? Eh lh l Claud ine . Je te donnerai sur le nez . Lubin . Ohl la farouche , la sauvage . Fi, pou� l la v1laine , qui est crue lle . Claudine . Tu t'emanc ipes trop. . Lubin . �u 1es t-ce que cela te conteroit de me laisser un peu faire? Claud ine . Il faut que tu te donne s patience . Lubin . Un petit ��iser seuleme nt, en rabattant sur notre mariage . .

Se tter, a he arranges the meeting of Bellmour and

Laetit ia, a1 o remfnd s one of Lubin.

Bell . Trus ty � et"'- r wha t Tiding,s? How goes the ---p'ro ject? Setter. As all lewd Projects do, Sir, where the Devil prevents our Ende vours with Success. Bell . A good he aring , Setter. Vim. Well, I'll leave you with your Engine er. �. And ha st thou provided Necessaries? setter . All, all, Sir; •••• 20

Cli tandre . La nui t est avancee , et j 1 ai peur qu' il ne so1t trop tard. Je ne vois point l me conduire . Lubinl Lubin . �onsieur? Clitandre . Est-ce par ici? tubin . Je pense. que ou� M0rgue l voila une sotte nuit, d1atre si noire ·que · cela . 'Clintandre . Elle a tort assurement; mais si d'un cot& eile nous emp� che de voir, elle emp8 che de l 'autre que nous ne soyons vus . 21

The scene of Fondlewife and his errant wife has a

touch of the scene of Sganarelle and Isabelle in L1Ecole

des Mari s. Circumstantial evidenc e seems strong enough

• to pr ove that Laetitia is guilty of having accepted

19 . Geor e Dandin, II, i. 20 . The �ld Batche lor, III, iv . 21 . aeorge-nandfn, III, i. -30

Bellmour as her lover during Fond lewife1s ab sence , but

the fond and do ting husband is so sus ceptible to Lae titia 's

charms that a little di ssembling on per part readily con-

vinces him or his wi fe ' s inno cence . Fo nd lewife is so well

deceived that . Laetitia, following Bellmour ' s advi ce :

Go to him , M adam, fling your Sno wy Arms about hi s stubbo rn Ne ck ; bath hi s relentless Fa ce in your salt trickling Tear s,22 hangs up on Fond lew1fe 1s ne ck and ki sses him , while permitting

Bellmour to kiss her hand . Sganarelle ha s been almo st as

easily impo sed upon by hi s ward , Isabelle . Isabelle love s

Va lera but is threatened by an undesirable marriage with

Sg anarelle , who as her guardian has authority to select

her hu sband . Her cleverness, however , so well conceals her real fee lings that by her equivo cal statements she

satisfies Sganare lle and reveals to Valere her true

emo tio ns . She goes so far as to embr·a ce Sganarelle 23 whi le extend ing her hand to Va lere to ki ss.

To add to the effe ct ivene ss of his plots, C?ngreve ,

even in thi s early play, made use of a dramati c practice _ wh ich shows a po s sible familiarity with Mo liere . The delay

of the women 's appearance upon the stage until the second

' MisanthDope . act may be a reflect io n of Mo li ere s reetho d in Le

Molier e himself used thi s d eVice ver y rarely , and , indeed ,

22 . � O d Batchelo r, IV , xxii . t des M ris , II, ix . 23 . LTEco e a -31

it is a doubtf · e �, od to foll o , for it can so easily

tire the audience in place of incre a�ing its int erest and

expectation. In The Old Batchelor, Congreve seems to have

successfully deferred the women 's appearance . Morse

thinks that "the author sh owed much techtlical skill in

delaying the appearance of the women in the piece until

the second act, and so ke eping his audience on the tip- 24 toe of expectancy ."

Apparently Moliere' s plays we re no less useful to

Congre ve for suggestions for characters than for plot. 25 According to Miles, Heartwe ll owe s some thing to

. , Sganarelle of Le Mariage Force, and Araminta and Belinda

show reminiscences of Moli� re ' s precieuses. Pr otopopesco

finds more but perhaps fainter traces of Moliere in the

characters of ---�he Old ------Batchelo-r . He holds that

�ondlewife is reminiscent of Ge orge Dandin, Heartwell

of Alceste in Le Misanthrope and of Sganarelle in Le � Mariage Force, Vainlove of Don Juan , Bellmour of

Sbrignac in Monsieur de Pourceaugna�, Belinda of a 27 pr�cieuse, and Lucy and Setter of Moli�re 's servant s.

Morse seems certain tha t Congreve used Wycherley 's

charac ters as paradigms in The Old Batchelor, for

"He artwell , the central figure of The Old Batchelor , is

largely 'Manly ' of The Plain Dealer with a cleaner and

24. Morse, loc . cit ., p. 476. 25 . Mil es , op . cit., p. 235 . 26. Protopopesco, . o cit., p. 58. He refers the se suggestions to Schml d and Bennewitz. 27 . Ibid . -32

tti r tongue ;,

in The Country .rife . But Wycherley in his turn had framed 'Manly ' upon the cha racter of 'Alceste 1 in Mol iere 's

Mis anthrope , so that Congreve even in his first play levies 28 tribut e from Moliere, although at senond hand ."

None of the characters seems to 1 e modeled directly on any one of Moliere 's characters, but Congreve appears to have incorporat ed in hi s own plan for his characters hints from one or more of Moli�re 's characters . Heart- well may have been evolved in this way , for he seems to be a composite of two of Moliere 's characters : Ge orge Dandin and Sganarelle of Le Mariage Force. Like George

Dandin, he despises himself for liking women and desiring

Silvia, but he cannot resist them. Like Sganarelle, he is an old lover, albeit an old lover who de sires to be thought young and spry . Heartwell vigorously denies that he possesses the infirmities of old age :

Good Mr . Young-Fellow, you' re mis taken; as able e.s your self, e.nd e.s nimb le too, tho ' I mayn 't have so much Mercury in my Limbs ;29

Sganarelle, likewise, des ired t.o be thought a youilrg man :

Ne parlons point de 11Age que je puis avoir ; mais regardon s seulement les choses. Y a-t-il honnne de trente an s qui paroisse plus frais et plus vigoureux que vous me voye z? N1ai-je pas

28 , Morse, loc . cit., p. 475 . 29. The Q!£ Batchelor, I, iv. -33

tous le s mouvement s de mon corps aussi bons que j amais, et voit-on que j1aie be s oin de carrosse ou de chaise pour chemine r ? N'ai-je pas encore toutes mes dents, le s meilleures du monde? Ne fais-je pas vigoureusement me s quatre repas par jour , et peut - on voir un estomac qui ait plus 3 de force que le mien? Hem, hem, hem : ehl 0

Like Sganarelle, he contemplates a mar� iage, but escapes .

the marriage re has planned; wh e reas Sganarelle is forced

into the marriage he has de termined to a,r id. Heartwell. ,

. howeve r, does n:ot possess the strength or depth of charac-

ter of Sganarelle .

Fondlewife .seems to have been cut from the pattern ......

of G orge Dandin, for there are points of similar.,J tt e . . . .. • . • • • • y . , betwe en the two jealous husbands . Both have ma��i�d; . ,.I ... . out of their spheres: Fondlewife, a young wife ; and

George Dand in , a young wife of a highe r social class.

Both husbands are jealous and suspicious of the ir wives and fear to be made cuckolds. In fact, both are c uckolded, but Fondlewife will not believe that he ha been, and George Dandin cannot prove the fact as regards b±mself . Both are deceived and hoodwinked by

their wives, Laetitia and Angelique , wh o resemble each other in their desires to be thought virtuous while rendering the ir husbands ridiculous by the ir intrigues.

Fondlewife is a weak and jealous husband who is deceived

, 30 . � Mariage Force, I, i. -34

whi le he thinks that he is master . He is more forcible

and impul sive than Ge or ge Dandin, but not less narrow­

minded or ridiculous .

Fondlewife, it seems to me , also owe s some thing to

Chrysale of Les Femme s Savantes. Chrysale is a weak and

easily deceived husband who thinks he is leading when in

reality he is only led . In like manne r, Fondlewife thinks

that he is ma ster When, if he only knew the truth, he is me rely his wife 's tool .

Araminta and Belinda .resemb le les precieuses because of their affecte� way s, their pretenses, the ir ideas of marriage , and their assumed scorn of men. Bellmour says 31 that Belinda is excessively foppish and affected, and in thi s re spect she , perhaps, has a semb lance of Moliere 's prec ieuses . Araminta has a slight trace of Cel imene 's womanly .delicacy, for she is the more sincere character; and , although she is a coquette, no one can f1nd a

lemish on he r character, for ih all he r acti�ns she has 32 retained the favorable thought of mankind.

Bellmour give s a slight reminiscence of Sbrigani of

·,onsieur ,2! Pourceaugnac, for both are constantly plotting.

Ind eed plott�ng seems to be as �har, cteristi c of Re s- toration plays as of Moliere 's. The re are other plotters

31 . The Old Batchelor , I, 111. 32 . !O!d:;-rv , xi! . -35

� o , I think, may have sugge sted to �ongreve some of hi s plotting . Sganarelle of Le Medecin Volant is full of deceit and plots for his master, and Mascarille of L'Etourdi is a master plotter, who, as soon as one plot i frustrated , imme diately thinks up ano ther and better one . Bellmour seems to me to have a touch of these scheme rs in his makeup .

The c apricious Vainlove, because of his many love s and his ea sy tiring of them, vaguely recalls Don Juan, the bold, bad lover . Vainlove , in my opinion, is a follower of Scapin of Les Fourberies de Scapin ; Scapin does not scorn ease and quietness in a love affair any less than doe s Vainlove , wh o ·desires difficultie s and cannot esteem a victory that is too easily won .

33 . Les Fourberies de Sca in, III, 1. The Old Batchelor, IIt , iii . THE DOUBLE DEALER

It is in The Double Dealer that Moliere ' s influence on Congreve seems to have reached its height· and to have culminated in the adaptat ion of one of Mo liere 's plots.

The plot of Le Tartuffe , which seems to me to be the in­ spiration for The Doub le D ealer , is not used in its entir ety, nor do es Congreve confine himself to the one plot. The Double Dealer - like Congreve 1 s other plays and , inde ed , like Restoration plays in gener al -- is composed of several thread s of action loose1y bound together . Our search for the pr incipal source leads to Le T artuffe , despite the fact that Congreve himself says , ur design1d the Moral first, and to that Moral I invented the Fable , and do no t know that I have borrow'd . 1 · one hint of it any where . � A number of critics think that The Double Dealer was influenced by Mo li�re 1 s plays . � 3 4 Go sse, Mile s , and Taylor agree that Le Tartuffe was used by Congreve as a source of suggest ions for The 5- Double Dealer . Other critics, notably Summers, see no evidence of any Fr en ch influence .

Go sse thinks that the gen er al design of the play , with its triumph of a social impo stor , is an analogy to

1. Tae Epistle Dedicator y of The Double Dealer . 2 . Gosse, 2£• cit., pp . 52 ff . 3. Miles, 2£· cit. , pp. 195 ff. 4. Taylor , £2 • cit., p. 52 . 5. Summers, ££• cit . , II, 3 . - 37

Le Tar turre . The po ssible similarities, according to

Go sse, are no t confined to the general theme of the

. play, for there are more speeifi c likenesses : incidents

of plot and dramatic structure. The scene between

Lady Froth and Br isk, with its critici sm of her lady­

ship's remarkable lyric, is based upon Mo liere 's scene

between Oronte and Philinte with Alceste growling in

the backgrouno • Ano ther in stance of Congr eve 1s indebt-

. ne ss to Mo liere is the scene of Lady Plyan t 1s attent ions

to Me llefont , a scene whi ch compares favorably with the

advances of Be lise to Clitandre. Congr eve , moreover, ·

did no t confine his us e of hints to the incidents of

hi s plot , but also made use of soliloquies , a devi ce

which Go sse think s takes him back dire ctly to a study 6 of Mo liere .

Mi les, who is also a believer in French influence ,

thinks that when Co�gr eve wro te The Double D e aler , he

had learned Mo liere 1.s method ; for the likenesses betwe en

' it and Le T artuf fe reveal Congreve •s knowledge of Mo li ere s

plays . Ea ch of the two plays , according to Miles , presents

a hypro cr ite and the evil effe cts of his hypo cr isy on the

fami ly tha t ha s befriend ed him , bu t the chief interest

of the two plays is different . Be side s the general re-

se�b lance ·of theme , Miles point s out simi larities of

structure. Ea ch play ho ld s attention to the end by

6. Go sse , ££• £!! •, pp . 52 ff . -38

allow ing the hypo crite to succeed in every �cheme until he br ings ruin up on himself by his own excess of confid ence .

Ea ch play ha s the first two acts devoted to expo sit ion and thus do es no t have br iskness of mo vement . Ea ch play has its serious scene s �nter spersed wi th comi c ones . Although there are similarities of theme and method , the two plays have almo st enti re ly different ine1dent s; for Congreve was an independent artift� who merely pr o fited by a stud y of 7 Moliere 's pr actices.

Taylo r too feels that The Doubte Dealer wa s influen ced by f! Tartuffe , fo r its principal charact er is a hypo crite who work s out hi s evil des ign upon the family tha t has befriend ed him : but he does no t find the mo re specific 8 borrowings ment io ned by Go sse and Miles. And Morse

7. Miles, .Q.E.• cit. , pp . 195 ff . On pp . 228 ff • . Mi les li sts the Nllowing speci fic likenesses: 11 (1) The plot was suggested by Le Tartuffe ••••Act v. 1 is fr eely ad apted fr om Le Tartuffe , iii . 7. (2) Act ii . l is adapt ed from tes Femmes Savantes , i. 4; act iii . 3 (the heroic poem ) was suggested by Le s Femme s Savantes, iii . 2 (the epigram) , with fr ee adaptation from Le Misanthrope , ii . 4. Ma skwell - Tartuf�e ; Careless- Cleante ; LOrd Touchwood- Orgon; La dy F.roth- Philaminte (Les Femmes Savantes ) as a learned la dy; Sir Paul and Lady Plyant- Chrysale and Philam int e as man and wife . The conception of Lady Plyant also owes a good deal to B6lise .!' Miles give s references to an edition of Congreve 1s plays different from the one used in this paper. Vide supra, p. 21. a. Taylor , £E• £!1. , p. 52 . · -39

believes tha t santhrope and Le s Femmes S vantes Le M i - a ·g furnished material for some of Congreve ' s scenes . ·

On the contrary, Summers see s no analogy, however

vague , to � Tar tuffe . Neither do es he think that Lady

Fr oth and Lady Plyant ar e in any way remini � cent of �

Pre cieuses Ridicule s or Les Femmes Savantes, or that

the advances of Lady Plyant to Mellefont ar e seriously 10 borrowed from Le s Femmes Savantes.

Perhaps by a co�parison, same of the .possible likenesses will be clearer .

� Do uble De aler consists of the various plots of Maskwell to harm Lord To uchwood, who has befriended him , by supplanting hi s nephew and seduc ing hi s wife .

9. Morse , lo c. cit. , pp . 477t. 11There is much of the spirit of f! Misanthrope in .the second act of � Double Dealer : both dramatists ho ld up the affections of the amateur po et to ridi cule. And yet , whi le Congr eve undoubtedly seems to ha ve taken his cue from the fir st act of � M isanthro e -- whe re Oronte reads hi s banal poem L'Es oir to Phi lante and Alceste -- for the ridiculous passage s l n The Doubl e Dealer between Lady .Froth and Br isk concerning tlie""metrfcal effus ions of the former , yet there is no servi le imi tation. " • • • "It is also fairly obvious that Lea Femme s Savantes is laid und er contribut ion in the repella nt scene be tween La dy Plyant and Mellefont in the 1 • second act. 1 10. Sumr:_ers, .2.E.• £ll•, II , 3 t. uNot is it easy to see, as has elsewhere been suppo sed, tha t Congreve 1 s plot has any analogy , however vague , with Le Tar tuffe. 11 ••• "It would be merely exaggeration to pretend tha t Lady Froth and Lady P lyant are in any way remini scent of Le s Precieus es Ridicules or Le s Femmes Savantes. " ••• "Nor is it to be conceded thar-when Lady Plyant make s her advances to the astoni shed Mellefont th er e is any serious borrowing fr om the fir st act of -Les Fe�e s Savantes." -40

Mellefont, the fianoe of Cynthia, is visited in his room

by Lady Touchwood, who tries to entice him into becoming

her lover . Mellefont , ho wever , is invulnerable to all her attacks and , in revenge, the scorned lady plots with

Maskwell to undo Mellefont by breaking off the match with

Cynthia . The plot concerning the wedding of Mellefont

and Cj�thia begins to be put into effect when Lady Plyant

accus es Mellefont of trying to make her prove unfaithful

to her husband . Naturally, Sir Paul Plyant refuses to

allow his daught er to marry Mellefont . Mellefont thinks

that the evil is all Lady Touchwood1s doing and appeals

for aid to Maskwell , who promi ses it• Lady Touchwo od, meanwhi le, incenses Lord Touchwood by telling him of his· nephew 's advance s to her . The plot thickens as · Lady Touchwood and Maskwell continue their plotting at the same time that Maskwell is plotting with Me llefont .

Maskwell succeeds in having Mellefont come to Lady

Touchwood 's apartmen t and himself le aves j ust as

Mellefont is about to secure Lady Touchwood's consent

to his marri age wi th Cynthia. Lord Touchwo od. enters,

susp ects Mellefont, and , consequently, promises Cynthia to Maskwell and make s him his heir . Meanwhile , Careless

and Lady P lyant are fooling Sir Paul in order to carry on th�ir own affair without interference . As the -41

Careless-Lady Plyant plot progre sses, Maskwell suggests to Mellefont how his love affair with Cynthia may reach the desired end; but this last plot is di s covered by Lord

Touchwo od and Cynthia; almo st at the same time his duplicity is dis cover ed by Lady To uchwo od� Immediately the tables are turned, and Maskwell receives his just puni shment .

Le Tartuffe opens by revealing Tartuffe 1 .s real self a s seen by mo st of his associ at es and his pret ended self as seen by Organ and Madame Pernella. The two latter re­ gard Tartuffe as a pious and perfe ct person, who thinks ever of others and never of self. While Organ is planning to marry his daughter Mariane to Tartuffe , Tartuffe is attempting to seduce Organ 's wi fe , Elmire. She ·scorns his advances, but to secure the marriage of Val�re and

Mariana, agrees to be silent . Damis, the son and heir of Organ, will not be silent : he reveals the affair to hi s father and fo r his trouble is disinherited and driven from home , while Tartuffe for his roguery is made heir and given control of Orgon 1 s affairs . Tartuffe does not wish to marry

Mariana but persists in his advances to Elmira . In despera- tion, Elmira convinces Orgon , by having him see and hear for himself, that Tartuffe is an impo stor who is trying to seduce her . Organ, thoroughly convinced, orders him to leave , but

Tar tuffe answers by replying that Organ is no longer master there . -42

Tartuffe , in accordance with his nature, has Orgon ord ered ' from the houae and even goes so far as to have him arrested

for a confidence he has once given . Just as Tartuffe F'rA3 DCh seems certain to succeed , the [k1ng intervenes and Tartuffe

is arrested .

From these brief summaries of the two plays , certain

similarities of plot are evident . The mo st no ticeable

is the thread or· thought that runs throughout both plays -­

the evil effects of a befriended hJpo crite on the families

that have befriended him . Maskwe. ll tried to seduce the 11 wife of his benefactor just as Tartuffe has done , but

Lady Tou chwo od does no t rebuff Maskwell as Elmira had

rebuffed Tartuffe . Lord �ouchwood plans to marry Cynthia

to Maskwell instead of his nephew , Mellefont , as Orgon 12 had planned to marry his daughter to Tartuffe . In both

plays the marriage is as distasteful to the girls as to

the hypo crites, who se ambitions are for bigger things .

Not satisfied with the proposed marriage of Maskwell and

Cynthia , Lo rd Touchwo od changes his will in favor of

Maskwell :

• • • tny Nephew is the along remaining ·Branch of all our ancient Family; him I thus blow away, and constitute thee in his room to be my Heir ••• Let me command this time ; for 'tis the last , in

which I will assume Authority--hereafter, you · shall rule where I have Power . l3

11 . The Double Dealer, I, vi ; IV. �viii; V, xviii . Le Tartuffe , III, iii . 12 . Tlie Doub le Dealer , V, iii. Le Tartuffe , III, vi . 13. TEe Do ub le Dealer, V, iii . -43

Orgon had likewise disinher ited his lawful heir and be­

stowed his property upon Tartuffe :

Ce n 1 est pas tout encor : pour les mieux braver

tous , � � Je ne veux po int avo ir d 1 autre heritier que vous , Et je vais de ce pas , en fort bonne maniere, Vous faire de mon bien donation enti�re.l4 ·

In the end , discovery of Maskwell 1s treachery is made by

Lord Touchwo od 's overhearing a conversation between

Maskwell and Lady Touchwood . This conversation clearly

reveals to Lord Touchwood that his wife is Maskwell 1s

mistress and that ali Maskwell1s plans have been to

advan ce hi s own interests . It was also by means of

a conversat ion overheard by Orgon that Tartuffe 1 s real 15 self was dis covered . Orgon 's discovery of Tartuffe 1s

roguery was due to Elmira's desire to prove to her

hu sband tha t Tartuffe was a rascal; but in The Double

Dealer , Lady Touchwood has no part in the discovery

of Maskwell' s treachery, fo� she delights in his 16 attent ions . A�ter hi s duplicity is revealed, Mask-

well is dethrone d and punished. On the contrary,

Tartuffe , although discovered , still works ill upon

the family of his benefac tor and just misses complete . 17 triumph ov er Orgon.

14 . Le Tartuffe , III, vii . lp. Tne Double De aler , V, xviii . �T artuffe , IV, v, IV, vii . 16 . The Double Dealer , V, xviii . �Tartuffe , IV, iv; IV, viii . 17 . The Double De aler , V, Scene the Last. Le Tartuffe , V, iv ; V, Scene Derriere. -44

Congre ve was more versatile than Mo liere in the con­ struction of hi s plots and employed more thr eads of action .

Moreover , Congr eve was wr iting fo r Restoration audien ces, who demanded variety and constant change on the stage .

To supply thi� need , Congreve seems to have used other plays than Le Tartuffe as suggestions fo r plot. Les

Fe�mes Savant es is one of the minor sources, for from it Congr eve seems to have derived the sugge stions .o·� the 18 scene between Lady Plyant an� Mellefont . In this scene

La dy P.lyant assumes that Me llefont 1 s attention s are _to·· her and that he wishes to marry Cynthia only to be near her , just as Belise assames that Clitandre is spe aking of her when he wishes to declare his lo ve for Henriette .

Both ladies are secretly delighted and flattered although they pr etend to be angry, and refus e to believe that the young men ' s thought s are fo r the younger ladies. To Lady

Plyant and Belise, the pr etenses or Mellefont and Cli tandre for other s are a ver y clever means of paying court to them .

The two men try to explain the ir actions but are rebuffed and feel themselves unable to explain succe ssfully the true state of their affe ct ions.

!h! Double Dealer, III, x, is prob ab ly based upon two plays of M oliere : Le s Femmes Savant e s, III , ii , and Le

18. The Double Dealer, II , v. Le s Femmes Savan tes, I, iv . - 4·5

Misanthr ope , II , iv . The first half of the scene is the criticism of Lady Froth's heroic poem abo ut her coachman and perhaps had as its model. the discussion of

11epigramme of Tr iss�tin. Go sse cited thi s s ame passage in conne ction with Le Misanthrope , I , ii; but the analogy here seems very slight .. The only likeness is Phi linte 1 s unstinted praise of Oronte 1s po em . The latter part of the scene , ·Wit h its go ssipy · tone and its aati:t'ical comments about Mr . Sneer and Lady To o thless, recall s th e scene in

, ' whi ch Celimene mo ckingly ch aracterizes and rej ects each of the lo ver s suggested by Alceste .

In The Double Dealer , Congreve again turned to Moliere as a boundless sour ce of sugges tions for hi s characters . 1 9 Miles find s that Congreve go t suggestions fo r his characters'-. from Le Tartuffe and Les Femme s Savantes : Mas�v ell from

Tartuffe , Carele ss from Cleant e, Lord Touohwo od fro� Orgon ,

Lady Fr oth from Philaminte, Sir Paul and Lady Plyant from 20 Belise. Pro topopesco also sees analogies between the characters of lhe Doub le De a l er and tho se of Mo liere :

Maskwell and Tartuffe, S�r Paul and Chrysale and Argan,

Lady Plyant and Belise, Carele ss and Cleante, and Melle­ font and Moliere 's lovers .

Maskwell .is the mo st mas terly character of The Double

Dealer , and he is in great me asure a replica of Tartuffe ,

19 . Miles , ££• �. , p. 229 . 20. Protopopesco, ££• £!!. , pP. 89 ff. -46

but a �artuffe with a distinct flavor of the Restoration

about him . Like T artuffe , Ma skwe ll is a schemer , a

hypo cr ite and a seducer , but in each of the se roles he

is more thoroughgo ing than hi s pro totype; and his

intrigue has a more subtle quality. Maskwell is no t

only a vi11·a1n, but he is also · a relentless and a many­

sided strategist ; and und er his truth telling he is a

well ma ske d hypo crite . Although Tartuffe could have been the model for Maskwe ll , Maskwe ll 1s character is in no way limited by the French -predecessor, fo r he po ssesses qualitie s that T artuffe did not have. One of Maskwe ll 's mo st conspi cmus qua lities and one that

is lacking in Tartuffe is truth-telling . Thi s trait of Maskwell would seem to be original, but it appear s to me that his truthfulness may be detected in Scapin 2 1 of Les Fo urberies de Scapin, for Scapin, despite hi s rogueries and impude n ce, ha s a reg ard for truth and

several times urges the fa ct that he is telling the truth. In addition Scapin may have been one of the many plotters in Mo li�re 1 s comedies who aided Congr eve 22 in his construction of plots and plott ers. 23 Carele s s , who does no t seem to have any direct model, does, ho we ver , recall Cleant e and possesses hi s

cour age if no t his great devotion. Careless sees the

vii . 21. Las Fourberi e s de Scapin, I, ii; I, vi; II , 22 . Vide su • P• 35'. 23 . The Do utr e D ealer , I, iii . -47 evil of M a skwe ll and tri es to warn his friend , Me llefont , but in vain , fo r Mellefont will believe only good of

M askwe ll. Careless 's failur e to ·convince Mellefront is probably .due to the fact that he himself can give no 24 adequate reason for his mistrust. Cleante , likewise, did no t trust Tartuffe and unsucce ssfully tried to warn

Orgon and save him from the treachery of Tartuffe .-

Lord Touchwo od is an uns uspe cting husband who trusts

Lady Touohwood and is so compl�tely deceived by Maskwell 25 that he will believe no evil of him. He is even will ing to intrus t his honor and his wealth to him . In these respects I.Drd Touchwood seems to be patterned aft_er Orgon, who is just as completely deceived by Tartuffe .

Lady Fro th and �ady Plyant are r emini s cent of Moliere ' s pr ecieuse s. Bo th are affected ladies o f ·fashion. La dy

Froth appears to be one of the learned ladies int ere s t ed · in the arts of poetry and astronomy , but she is merely pr et ending in order to conceal her real self and her . 26 amours .. Even Swmners admits that Lady Froth, vti th her pretense to poetry, wit, and learning , may be from Moliere .

As for Lady Plyant , she has mo re of the manner of Be lise , who desires to think that her charms are irresistible and who pr ides her self upon her many lovers. This attitud e of Belis e is especia lly no ticeable in the scene with

24 . Le Tartuffe, I, v. 25 . The Double Dealer, V, iii. 26 . 'Si'lminers, 2Jl• cit. , li, 3. -48

27 Me llefont � As a wife, La dy Plyant somewhat resemb les

Philaminte , fo r she rules Sir Paul in almo st the same way

. 28 that Philaminte rules Chrysale. The hu sband s are mu ch

alike in yie lding to their wlves1 o�ders , bu t Sir P aul

lacks the energy and strength of character to break aWflY

from hi s wife 's domination . Sir Paul and Lady Plyant may

M also take something from Argan and Ba li-Ale of Le . alade

Imaginaire . The young wives live their own lives in their

own way, whi le the do ting old hu sbands dr eam of an heir 29 to inher it their wealth.

' Mellefont does no t dire ctly recall any one of Mo liere s

charact ers. He do es , ho wever, remind one of M� liere 1s

lovers in general, fo r he po ssesses some of their gentle

chivalry and ten�er nature . Su ch lovers as Cleante of

Le Malad e Imaginaire , the chivalrous lover of Angelique ,

Ly caste of Le MarJ.:ag�. Force, the lo ver of Dorim�ne , and

Valere of Le .Tartu�fe , the lover of Mariana , probably

ins pired the Character of Mellefont .

As The Do ub le Dealer shows so many resemb lances to

Mo liere • s plays , we may surmi se th at some features of hi s style have crept in; and , indeed, we find several.

The Double Dealer opens with a conversation between the

The Double Dealer , I I, v. 27 . teS Femmes Savante s, I, 1v. 28 . The Double Dealer , II , iv; III , ivff , IV, ixff . Le s F emmes Savante·s , I, iv. 29 . The Doub le Dealer , III, viii. �alade Imaginaire , I, vii . -49

hero and hi s confidant as does f! Mi s anthrope . Maskwell

is mad e kno wn to us before he appears upon the stage as was Tartuffe. In thi s play Congreve uses soliloquy , a devi ce which Restoration wr iter s had be en careful to

avo id . Perhaps it wa s Mo li�re 1s successful use of

soliloquy whi ch caused Congr.eve to revive thi s devi ce 30 whi ch had once been popular in English Plays .

Thus before Congreve attained the he ight of hi s own genius as a playwr ight , hi s use of a model, and especi ally a Fr ench model, has reached it s highe st po int in The Double

Dealer . In each of the two later and greater comedies , we sha ll find that his debt to Mo li ere is only the in- spiration fo r a few parti.cu lar passages , no t the central idea fo r the plot.

1 30. See Mi les , �· ill•, p. 202 : 1 The soliloqui es of hi s second or of hi s last piece, when compared with those of L'Ecole des Maris or L1Ecole des Femmes , reve al ano ther influence . 11 pha se of the GoSS'e (�. cit . , pp . 52 ff .) had previously made a similar observation:--rit is curious to find 0o ngreve making use of this artifi ce (solilo quy) , because it seems to take him back dire.ctly to the s tudy or Moliere " ••• 110n the other hand in several of Mo liere ' s comedies , the central personage explains hi s p�po se to n the audience in an aside , exactly in Co greve 1s way � George Dand i� is an example , and in L1Amour .MI·decin, Sganarelle . In L'Etourdi and still more in Le Depit Imo ureux soliloquies of Mas carille may almo st be sai�to tie the loo se members of ' these plays together� ! Morse (loc. cit., p. 47 6) says of m The Double Dealer : "It is the fir st O?'""'English co edi es in which the artifice of so li loquy is used. � The use of soliloquy aroused much antagoni sm among the crftics and many condemne d it . Congr eve answered them!but 11 he might have strengthened hi s argument fo r the 'sol lo quy 1 if he had cited the generous us e of it by Mo liere in several of hi s dramas .11 ----LOVE FOR LOVE

� for Love is often called Congreve 1s masterpiece , and , as an act ing drama , it is perhaps the be st play. It sho ws an advance in the technique of play writing. It is less complicated than The Doub le Dealer and mo re closely knit than � O ld Bat chelor. The plo t and intrigue are mo re original than tho se of the two previous comedies , and the play as a who le seems to be mo re truly Congreve 1s own. The yo ung dramatist wa s becoming mo re and more an independent artist who wo ve the hint s tha t he received . from other so urces into a play that wa s essentially his own. He seems to have known and pro fi ted from a study of Moliere ' s plays and to have used sugge stions from them as a fr amewo rk on whi ch to build hi s earlier plays.

In Love for Love , however , Congr eve wa s mor e truly himself; and with the exception of a few passage s Love fo r Love owes little to Moli ere .

Some criti cs see no evidence of any trace s of Mo liere 's influence , whereas others think that several scenes and 1 characters are reminiscent of the Frenchman. Miles finds mo re sugge stions from Moliere than any other criti c. He

1. M iles, �· ci t. , pp. 197 r. On page 232 we find the fo llowing

think th at L1Avare is the pr inc ipal source, furni shing

the outline fo r the plot , wh ile other sugge stions are

given by Don J an , Le Misanthrope , and L1Etourdi . - -u - 2 - 3 Protopopes co and Summers, on the _contrary , fi nd few

tra ces of Mo li�re 1s influence on Love for Love . To them ,

the o�ly part directly inspired by Moliere' s plays is the

scene of Va lent ine and hi s creditor , a scene which owes

mu ch to Don Juan. Several other cr itics who discuss the

genera l influence of Moliere upon Congreve ' s plays do no t mention any direct influence upon Love for �·

When Love -for 12!! opens , Valentine Legend , the

philo so phi cal son of Sir Sampson Legend , is in lo ve with

Angeli ca , an heiress , who treats him with indifference.

Valentine , in his life as a man of fashion, ha s accumulate� many debts , and his creditors ha ve become annoying and even

emb arrassing . His father has grown tired of paying large

sums of money because of Valent ine ' s pro digal ways a�d no w

lays down a very severe cond it ion for the payment of the se

debts : if Valentine will sign a deed of conveyance of all his rights to hi s father 's estate in favo r of his bro ther

Ben, who is to return home after several year s spent at

sea, Sir Sampson will gi ve him four thousand pound s to

Pro topopes �o , � · cit. , p. 2. 114 . 3. Summer s , ££• �., p . 81. -52

pay his debts and start life anew. Valent ine agrees to this condi tion in ord er to save himself.

Sir Sampson and Fo resight have planned to marry Ben and

M iss Prue , Foresight 's daughter , but have forgo tten to cons ider

Foresight 's second wife , who scheme s with her sister , Mrs.

Fr ail, to prevent thi s marri age so tha t Mr s. Fr ail may secure

Ben and hi s fortune . When Ben, wi th hi s brackish manners, arrives, he and Miss Prue cannot agree . Mr s. Frail , by means of her clever management , secur es Ben , and Miss Prue attempts to win Tattle , a beau wh o pr etends to be a man of wit , fashion, and many amours .

Meanwhile , V�lentine has pr etended madne ss in order to prove Angelica 's love fo r him and to avoid signing the papers that give up hi s inher itance . Ange lica suspe cts a trick and refuses to see Valentine . Sir Sampson comes with his lawyer , but Valent ine canno t sign the papers as he is non compo s mentis . Ben has a quarrel with his father over hi s right to marry whom he pleases , and Mrs . Frail assumes that Ben will no t rece ive the fortune and refuses to . marry him .

Valent in e and hi s friend Scandal plan a masked marriage for Tattle and,Mrs . Frail.

Ang eli ca , to prove Va lent ine 's love and co nstancy, lead s Sir Sampson to propo se to her and pretend s that she is go ing to acc.pt him . Valentine , thinking that Angelica is lo st to him , prepares to sign away his inheritance , but -53

Angelica forbids this sacrifi ce and reward s hi s constancy with her love . Sir Samp son 's plan is stopped ; Ben returns to the sea; and Miss Prue is left wi t hout a husband .

L1Avare deals principally with Harpagon, a mi ser , who is so concerned wi th hi s lo ve fo r money that he can· think of no thing else . Gr eed ha s so po ssessed his mind that he no long er thinks of his chi ldren as individuals but as a means of increasing hi s we alth. In accordance with these vi ews ,he plans to marry hi s daughter to a wealthy but . elderly man who will ask no dowry , and hi s son to a widow of fo rtune . He himself is planning to ma rry a yo un g and beautiful gir l. Unkno wn to eith er Harpagon or his son,

I Cleante lo ve s and desires to marry the girl whom his fa ther has ch osen fo r hi s own wif e .

Harpagon1 s niggardly ways have dr iven Cleante into a rebellious attitude and many debts, whi ch he plans to pay by borrowing from a money lender . The money lender, in turn , is borrowing from Harpagon . When Harpagon is ready to lend the mo ney, he di scovers that it is his own son wh o is bo rrowi ng it .

Harpagon has Mariana , whom he plans to marry , come to · visit in hi s home . It is then he discovers that his own son is hi s rival in love; but Cleante refuses to give up hi s lo ve to satisfy hi s father .

Meanwhi le E li se has refused to marry Anselma, her father 's choi ce for her , and has beco me engaged to Valera . -54

In the midst of this confusion , Valere discovers that he is the long lo st son of An selma an d the bro ther of Mariana .

The play end s wi th the double wedding of Va ler a and Elise and Cleante and Mariana . Harpagon lo ses in everything except hi s gr eed fo r gold , fo r Anselme is to pay all th e we dding expenses and even agre es to buy Harpagon a new suit.

L'Avare could have sugge sted the outline for the plo t of � for �; but L'Avare ho lds up to ridi cule only one vice , wh ile Love fo r Love is a general satire on the so ciety of the day . The part of the plot sugge sted by

L'Avare is the he artless father who ha s driven hi s son into a rebellious attitude . This rebellion has caused the son to incur large debts an d wi th them the displea sure of hi s father , who will no lo nger pay his debts . The fa ther , likewise, becomes the rival of hi s son for the hand of a young and beaut iful girl , only to lo se . Congreve has bui lt upon thi s bare frareework a play with several threads

of action and wi th many and varied incident s. -----Love for Love is writ ten in as .. sharp and incisive a style as L'Avare . The scene between Sir Samp son and Va lentine , in which Valentine at·tempts to secure his inheritance from his father , has mu ch the same tone as the scene s be tween Harpagon and

Clea nte .

Sir Samp . Body o 'me, so do I. - Hark ye , Va�entine , if there be too mu ch , refund the Superfluity; Do 1st hear Boy? -55

Va l. Super flui ty, Sir , . it wi ll scar ce pay my Debt s, mo re · --Iho pe yo u will have Indulgen ce , than to oblige me to tho se hard Conditions , whi ch my Necessity sign1d to . Sir Samp . Sir , how , I beseech yo u, what were you pleas •d to intimate , concerning Indulgen ce ? !!!· Why , Sir, th at you wo u 1d no t go to the extremity of the Condit ions , but re lease me at least from some Part .- Sir Samp . Oh Sir , I und erstand you -- that 1s all , ha ? Va l. Ye s, Sir , all that I pr e sume to ask.-- But wha t --- you, out of Fatherly Fo ndness , wi ll be pleas 'd to add , sha ll be doub ly we lcome . Sir Samp . No doubt of it , swe et Sir , but yo ur filial Pi ety , and my fatherly Fondne ss wou 1d fit like two T a llies •••• !!! • Sir , is this Us age fo r your Son? - for that old Wea ther-head ed Fo o l, I know how to laugh at him; but you , Sir -- Sir Samp. You , Sir ; and you, Sir: --Why , who are yo u , SiJ;'? Va l. Your So n, Sir. "SSr Sam . That 1 s more than I know , Sir , and I bel ie ve no t . Va l. Fa ith , I ho pe not . 4 Sir Samp. What , •• ••

Har . Comment , penqard ? c1est �oi qui t'abandonne s a .c e s coupables extremite s? Cle . Comment , mon p�re? c'est vous qui vou s portez a ces hont eus es actions ? -Har . C'est toi qui te veux ruiner par des emprunt s si condamnable s? , • • Cle C1est vo us qui cher chez a vou s enrichir par des usures si criminelles ? Har . Oses-tu bien , apres cela , parottre devant mo i? ere. Osez-vous bien , apr�s cela , vo us pres enter aux yeux du mond e? N'as-tu po int de honte , di s-moi , d1en venir a !!!!:• ces debauche s-la ? de te precipiter dans des depens es effro yable s? et de faire une honteuse dissipation du bien que tes parents t'ont ama sse ave c tant de sueurs? Ne rougi ssez-vous po int de deshonorer vo·tre condition. par les commerces que vou s faites?

4. Love ·for Love, II , vii . -56

de sacrifier gloire et reputation au desir insatiable d1entasser ecu sur ecu , et de rencherir, en fait d1inter8t s, sur les plus infame s subtilites qu 1 aient jamais inventees

,..le s plus celebres usuriers ? Har .Ote-toi de mes yeux, coquin l 8te-toi de mes . yeu.a. Ole . Qui est plus criminal, � votre avis , ou celui --- ach8te un argent dont il a ·besoin , ou bien celui qui vole un argent dont il n ' a que faire? Har .Retir e-to i, te dis-je, et ne m 1 echauffe pas les --- oreilles. Je ne suis pas rache de cette aventura; et ce m1est un avis de tenir l'oeil, plus que jamais, sur toutes ses actions. 5

The opening scene of Love for Love recalls a practice

of Mo li�re -- the opening or a play wi th a conversation between the hero and his servant in Le Depit Amoureux .

Valent ine talks to his servant , Jeremy, and begins to give some advi ce , but, instead of listening to his master ' s advice , Jeremy lectures Valentine on how he should conduct himself in all hi s affairs .

Jere . Sir, you 're a Gent leman, and probably under­ stand this fine feeding: But if you please, I had rather be at Board�Wages. Does your Epictetus , or your Seneca here , or any or these poor riCh Rogue s, teach you how to pay your Debts wi thout Mony? • • •

.!!.!• Why , Sirrah , I have no Mony , you lmow it ; and - · therefore resolve to rail at all that have : And in that I but fo llow the Examples of the wisest and wittiest Men in all Age s; these Poets and Philosophers whom you naturally hate, for just such ano ther Reason; because they abound in Sens e, and you are a Fo ol. Jere .Ay, Sir , I am a Fbol, I know it : And yet , Heav 1n ---- help me , I'm poor enough to be a Wit-- But I was

5. L1Avare, II , ii . - 57

always a Fbol, wh en I told you what your Expenses would bring you to ; your Co aches and your Liveries; your Treat s and your Balls; your being in Love with a Lady, that did no t care a Farthing for you in your Pro sperity; and keeping Comp any with Wi ts·, that car 1 d for not hing but your Prosperity; and now wh en · you are poor, hate you as much as they do one ano ther . 6

Jus t so had Gro s-Rene attemped to advise Er.. aste how to

conduct hi s affairs:

Eras . Veux-tu que je te die? une atteinte secr�t e �e laisse point mon arne en une bonne ass iette: Ou, quo i qu 1 a mon amo ur tu puisses repartir, Il craint d1@tre la dupe , a ne te point . mentir; Qu •en faveur d 1 un rival ta fo i ne se corrompe , Ou du moins qu 1avec moi toi-meme on ne te trompe . G-R . Pour mo i, me soupqonner de quelque mauvais tour , Je dirai, n•en d�plaise a Monsieur vo tre amour, ---Que c1est injustement ble sser rna prud 1homie Et se conno1tre mal en physionomie .

Je ne vo is point encare, . ou je sui s une beta, Sur quo i vous avez pu prendre martel en tete . Lucile, a mon avis , vous montre assez d1amour : Elle vous voit vous p arle a toute heure du jour ; Et Val�re, apr's tout, qui cause votre crainte, 7 Semble n'Gtre l pr �s ent souffert qu e par contrainte .

Jeremy in. hi s remarks to Va lent ine seems to rr.e to have been affe cted by Silvestre of Les Fourberies de Scapin . Silve� tre opens the play by a conversation with his master, Octave .

Hi s comment s qui ckly reveal hi s air of superiori-ty and his

condescending attitude toward Oct ave :

0 Ciel! par ou sortir de 11em barras ou j e ne trouve ? 811. c•est a quo i vous deviez songe�, avant que de - vous y jeter . Oct. Oh l tu me fais mourir pas tes 1eqons hors de - sa! son .

6. � for �� I, i. 7 • .!:!, D6p:tt Amoureux , I, i. - 58

ill·· 'fous me fa ile s bien plus mourir par vo s actions

�tourdies . � Oct . �ue do is-j e faire? Quelle resolut ion prendre? --- A quel rem�e recourir? S

Jeremy from his lo fty pedestal likewi se designs to ad dress 9 Va lentine and utter hi s words of wisdom .

There is al so a. slight s�imi lari·t y., between Love for Love

IV , xix , and the beginning of i�Etourdi III, iv . Jeremy refuses to take the hint from Va l�re and declares. him mad , in spite of Va lent ine 's repeated efforts to declare that he is sane now .

Ang . Oh here 1s a reasonab le Creature -- sure he will no t have the Impudence to per seYere -- Come Jeremy, acknowledge yo ur r T ick, and confe ss yo ur Master's Madne ss counterfeit . Jere . Counterfeit , Madam! 1111 maint ain him to be as � abso lutely and substantially mad , as any Free­ ho lder in 'Bethlehew • Nay, he 1s as mad as any Pro ject or , Fa nati ck� Chpmi st , Love� or Poet in Europe. !!!· Sirrah , you li fe ; I am no t mad . !e&· Ha , ha , ha , yo u see he denies it . ;Jere•. 0 Lord , Madam, did you ever know any Madman mad - enough to own it?· Val. So t, can 1 t you apprehend ? !ng . Why he talk1d very sensibly just no w . �.Yes , Madam; he ha s Intervals : But you see he begins to look wi ld again now. Val. Why you thick-skull 1d Ra s c a l , I tell �u the Farce is done , and I wi ll be mad no longer .

In L ' Etourdi it is not the master but the servant who is mi sunderstood . Lelia wi ll no t believe that Maa c�rille is working for him and has invented the story to aid .him .

8. Les Fourb eries de Scapin , I, i. 9. Lo ve fo r LOve , r, 1. 10 . LOve fo r Lo ve , IV, xix . -59

Le . Ahl bon, bon, le vo ilA : venez Qa , chien maudit . Mas . Quo i? Le . Langue de serpe�t fertile en impo stures, Vo us osez sur Celie atta cher vo s morsures , Et lui calomnier la plus rare vertu Qui puisse faire eclat sous un sort abattu? Mas . Doucement , ce di scours est de mon industria. La: Non , non , point de clin d1oeil et po int de raillerie : -- Je sui s aveugle a tout , sourd a quoi que ce so it ; FUt -ce mon propre fr ere , il me la payeroit ; Et sur ce que j1ado re oser porter le blAme , C1est me faire une plaie au plus tendre de 11ame . 11 To us ces signe s sont vains : que ls di s cours as-tu faits ?

The interview of Va len tine and Trapland , the Scrivener , recalls Don � IV , iii. Va lentine uses the same ruses to avoid pa}ing hi s debt as Don Juan had used , and indeed , the atmosphere of the scene is almo st th at of Don Juan. Valentine receives Trap land wi th much show of welcome , ha s him sit down and dr ink sack, and then inquires about hi s daughter .

Val. 0 Mr . Trapland l my old Friend ! We l come . Jeremy , a Chair qu ickly : A Bo ttle of Sa ck and a To ast -­ fly -- a Chair first . Trap.A good Morning to you Mr . Va lent ine , and to yo u Mr . Scandal. Scan.The Morning ' s a ver y goo d Morning , if you don't -- sp6 11 it. Val. Come sit you down , you know hi s way. Trap . SITS.) There is a Debt , Mr . Valent ine , of 1500 1. of pr etty long standing -- Val. I cannot talk abo ut Busine ss with a thirsty Palate . --- -- Sirrah , the Sa ck. Trap .And I desire to kno w wha t Course you have taken for the Payment ? Val. Faith $nd Troth, I am heartily glad to see you,-­ --- my Service to yo u, -- fill , fi ll , to honest Mr . Trapland , fUller . Trap. Ho �a , Sweet-heart . -- This is no t to our Bu siness: - my Servi ce to you Mr . Scandal - (Dr inks .) - I have forborn as long

, 11. L1Etourdi, III , iv. -60

Val . T1other Glass, and then we 'll talk . Fi ll , Jer emy. Trap .No ·more, in truth . I have fo rborn, I say -- Val. Sirrah , fill wh en I bid you . -- And ho w do es --- yo ur hand some Daught er? -- Come , a good Husband to her. ( Drink s . M �. Thank yo u -- I have been out of thi s ony ::12 � Dr ink fi rst . Scandal, why do you no t drink ?

·Likewi se Don Juan we lcome s Mr . Dimanche , offer s him a chair,

and inquires about his family.

· i Don J. Ah l Monsieur D'im ariche, .appro chez . Que j e su s m ravi de vo us voir, et que je veux de a l � mes gens - d e ne vous pas faire entrer d'abord ! J'avois donne ordre qu 1on ne me f1t parler personne ; mais cet ordre n1est pa s pour vous , et vous etes en dro it de ne trouver jamais de porte ferm e e chez mo 1. M. Di . Monsieur , je vous suis fort oblige� Don J. Parbleu: co quina , je vous appr endrai a laisser e je a M . Diman ch dans une antichambre, et ferai conno !tre les gens . M. Di . Monsieur , cela n1est r i en. Do n J. Comment ? vous dire que je n 1 y suis pas , aM. Dimanche , au meilleur de mes ami s? M. Di . Monsieur , je suis votre serviteur , J'etois venu ••• Don J . Allons vite, un siege po ur M. Dimanche .- M. Di . Monsieur , je sui s bien comT.e cela . Do n J. Point , point , je veux que vo us soyez assis co ntra mo i . M. Di �· Cela n'est point n�ce ssaire. Do-n J. Otez ce pliant , et apportez un fauteui l. M. Di . Mo nsieur , vous vo us moquez, e t ••• Don J. Non, no n, je sais ce que je vous dois, et je ne veux po irit qu 1on matte de d ifferen ce entre nous deux . M. Di . Monsi eur ••• Do n J. Allons , asseye z-vous . M. Di. Il n'est pas besoin , Mo nsieur , et je n'ai qu 1un dire . ••• mo t a vous J'etois Don J. Mettez-vous la , vous di s - j e . M.· Di . Non , Monsieur , je suis bi en. Je viens pour ••• Do n J. No� je ne vo us ecoute po int si vous n ' � t e s as. s i s .

Le Misanthrope also seems to ha ve furnished a scene

12 • Love fo r Love , I, v. 13 . Do n Juan ,-rv; iii . -61 for thi s play. The int erview of Mrs . For esight and Mrs.

Frail, with Mr s. Fbresight 1s attempted lecture to Mrs . Frail about her scandalous co nduct , clo sely resembles tha t of

Ar sino e and Celime ne in which Arsino e attempt s to le cture

Celimtne .

Mrs . Frail . What have you to do to watch me ? 'S'life Iill do what I please. Mrs . Fo re . You will? �r s. Frail . Yes marry will 1 -- A great Piec e of Bu sipess to go to Cov ent Garden Squar e in a Hackne y­ Coach, and take a turn with one ' s Fr iend. Mrs� Fo re . May, two or three Turns , I'll take my Oath. Mr s. Fr ail . Well , what if I took twenty -- I warrant if you had been there, it ha d been only inno cent Recreation, - Lord , wher e 1 s the Comfort of · thi's Life , if we can 't have the Happine ss of co nversing whe re we like! Mrs . Fore. But can't you converse at home ? --Iown it, I think there's no Happine ss like conversing wit h an agreeable Man; I don1t quarrel at that , nor I do n't �ink but your Conver sation was very ·inno cent ; but the Pla ce is pub lick, and to be seen with a Man in a Hackne y-Coach is scandalous : What if any Body else shou ld have seen yo u alite, as I did ? - How can. any Body be happy, whi le they' re in perpetual Fear of being seen and censur1d? -­ Be sides it wou 'd no t only refle ct up on yo u, ·sister , but me . Mr s . Frail. Pooh, here 1 S· a Clutt er _:_ Why shou 1 d it refl ect upon you ? -- I don't doubt but you have thought your · self happy in a Ha ckney-Coach before no w. -- If I had gone to Knight 's-Bri e, or to Che lse , or to Spr ing�Garden , or Barn-E� s wit h a Man af one - something might have been said . 14

Cel . Ah 1 qual heureux sort en ce lieu vous amene? ---_ adame , sans mentir , j1e tois de vous en paine . Ar s. Je viens pour que lque avi s que j1ai cru vous -devoir.

14 . Love for Love, II , ix . -62

Cel. Ah , mon Dieu l que je suis cont ente de vous -voir ! Ar s. Leur depart ne pouvo it plus a propo s se faire . CiT. Vo ulons-nous nous asseoir1 Ar s . Il n1est pas necessaire � --- Madame . L1amitie do it surtout eclater Aux choses qui le plus nous peuvent importer ; Et comma 11 n1en est point de plus grande importance Que celles de 11honneur et de la bienseance , Je viens , par un avis qui touche vo tre honneur , Temo igner 1 1 ami tie que pour vous a mon co eur . Hier j1eto1s che z des gens de vertu singul iere , Ou sur vous du discours on tourna la mati�re; Et la , votre conduite , ave c ses grand s eclats, Madame ; eut le malheur qu 1on ne la loua pas . Cette fo ule de gens dont vo us souffrez vis ite , Vo tre galanterie , et. les brui ts qu 1elle excite Trouverent des censeurs plus qu 'il n 1 auro it fallu, Et bien plus rigoureux que j e n1eusse. voulu . Vo us pouvez bien penser que l parti je sus pr endre : Je fi s ce que je pus pour vous pouvo ir d�fendre , Je vous excusai fort sur vo tre int ention, Et voulus de vo tre ime 8tre la caution. Mais vous save z qu 111 est des choses dans la vi e Qu ' on ne peu t excuser , quo iqu' on en ai t envie .; Et je me vis co ntrainte a demeurer d1accord Que 11air dont vous viviez vous faiso it un peu tort , Qu 'il prenoit dans le mo nde una mechante face , Qu 1il n1est conte facheux que partout on n1en fas se, Et qu e, si vous vouli ez, taus vo s deportements Pourro i ent mo ins donner prise aux mauvais jugements . Non qu e j1y croie , au fond , l'honn�te�e blessee: Me preserve le Ciel d 'en avoir la penseel 15

Both Mr s. Frail and C e li�e�e adroitly give back to Mrs .

Foresight and Arsino e respectively the same precept s that t�ey had given them ; for Mrs . Fbresight and Ars ino e are not blameless themselves .

Mrs. Fo re . Very well, tha t will appe ar who ha s mo st , yo u never were at the Wo rld 1s-End ?

15 . Le Misanthrope � III, iv. •63

Mr s. Frail. No . Mr s. Fo r e. You deny it pos tively to my Fa ce . Mrs . F.rail.Your Face , wha t's yo ur Fa ce? Mr s. Fore . No matter fo r that , it ' s as good a Fa ce as yours. Mr s. Frail . No t by a Dozen Years wearing . --But I do deny it po stively to you r Fa ce then. Mr s. Fore . I ' ll allow you now to find fault wi th_my Fa ce; --for I'll swear your Impud ence has put me out .of Count enance: --But lo ok you here now , -­ -- 0 where did you lo se this Gold Bo dkin? Sister , Sister ! Mrs . Frail . My Bo dkin ! Mrs. Fore. Nay, 'tis yo ur s, lo ok at it . Mr s. Frail . We ll, if you - go to that, where did yo u find this Bo dk in? -- Oh Sister , Si s ter ! -- Sister every way . �

Cel. Madame, j1ai beaucoup de gr aces a vous rendre :

--- un tel avis m1oblige , et lo in de le mal prendre , J1en pretend s re conno!tre , a 11instant , la fa'veur , Par un avis au s si qui touche vo tre honneur ; Et comme je vous vois vous montr er mon ami e En m1appr enant le s bruit s que de moi 11on publie, Je veux suivre , a mon tour , un example si do ux, En vous avertissant de ce �u 1 on dit de vous. 1 En un lieu, 1 autre jour , ou je faisois vi site , Je trouvai que lques gens d1un tres-rare merite, Qui , par lant des vr ais soins d1une �e qui vit bien , Firent tomb er sur vous , Mad ame , 11entretien . · LQ1 vo tre pruderie et VO S eclats de zele Ne fur ent pas cites comme un fo rt bon modele : Cette affectation d1un grave exterieur , Vo s discour s eternels oe sagesse et d1honneur, Vo s mines et vo s cris aux ombres d1indecence Que d 1 un mo t amb igu p_eut avoir 11inno cence ., · Cette bau teur d1estime ou vous �tes de vous , Et ces yeux de pitie que vous jetez sur tous , Vo s fr�quentes leQons , et vo s aigres censures Sur des choses qui sont inno centes et pures , Tout cela , si je pui s vo us par ler franchement , Mad ame , fut bllme d 1 un commun sentiment . 17

16 . Love fo r Love , II , ix. Le lisant e., III., iv . 17 . nrO;P - 64

The likene ss betwe en the two scene s ends here; the con c·lu­

sions ar e different . Mrs. Fo res ight and Mrs . Frail be come

partners in crime, but Arsinoe and C elimene separate wi th

strained feelings .

The characters of Love for � are o.f many and varied

types-- such a group of characters as wa s need ed to meet the

·demand of Re stor ation audiences. The list of characters

includ es all the recogni zed type s used in Res toration comedy

and also some more original types. Such chara cters as

Valentine , Scandal , Tattle , and Foresight are found in

some gui se in almo st every comedy of manners , but Miss

Prue , the country girl, and Ben , the sailor, are no t the

sto ck type of character . Mo st of the characters of Love

� � ar e English and owe the ir being either to English

predecessors or to Congreve ' s own invent ion , although some

.few of the char acters are reminiscent of Mo liere. . 18 19 Sir Samp son Le gend , according to Ar cher and Mi les ,

11 " is from Moli e re . He is the heavy father type des cended

from classic comedy and fami liar in Mo liere . Sir Samp s on

has as hi s Fr ench proto typ e Harpagon . Like Harpago n, Sir

Samp son is a heartless fa ther , who drive s his son into a

rebellious ·attitude and who become s the rival of his son;

and like Harpagon he lo ses in bo th ins tances , fo r he is

18 . Ar cher , William Co ngreve , New Y rk , A erican BOok w. o m Co ., 1912 , p. 29 . 19 . Miles , ££ · cit., p. 232. -65

fprced to reinstate his so n and to give up the gir l he

intend s to marry . Sir Samp son , as is true of other characters

sugge sted by Mo liere ' s plays , do es not con fine himself to the

qualities of his Frenc h p�ototype but is a character ·of more

variety . A lthough Sir Samp son seems to have few prede cessors 20 ·in English plays , he is the an ce�tor of a long line .

Mi ss Prue. is another ch aract er who recalls Mo liere . 22 Miss Prue , as bo th Ar cher and Pr�topope sco say, is one of

, the horrib ly debased desce�ant s of Mo liere' s Agne s of L 1 Eco le

� Femme s. Thi s kinship rests upon Mi ss Prue •s rearing .

Both· girls have been reared in the co untry in simplicity

. and in ignorance of the town , but when gi ven an opportunity

they ra�idly learn the wa ys o � the world . Mi ss Prue , how-

ever , seems to out str ip Agnes he r qui ckness of learning , in

and with v�ry little teaching pla¥s her part as we ll as if

she had -been born and bred in London . · Miss Prue is of a

co arser nature, and altho ugh de scended fr om Agn e s, shows

by compar�son ho w tar removed she is from her refined and

gent).e ancestor .

Jeremy is the other character who implies out side

sugge stions. Th e source of the se sugge s t ions is first

of -all Moli�re. Two of Mo li�re 1s servant s seem to have

Archer , 2 . 20 . ·.2.£· .£!!., p. 9 21. Ibid. , p. 30 . 22 . Protopopesco , ££• cit . , p. 129 . -66

contr ibuted hint s that Congreve made use of in forming

Jeremy. Sganarelle of Don Juan suggested Jeremy's spirit

of liberty and contradiction, without regard fo r his

master's feelings. Although Jeremy berates his master ,

he cannot pr event hi s deeds and end s by aiding him .

Jeremy 's individualism even becomes irony . He repro aches

Valentine , the wits , literature , an d in fact , everything

tha t Va lent ine do es, but regardless of hi s protests, Jeremy

aid s Va lent ine in hi s plans an d invent s scheme s to promo te

his master 's int er e sts. In the se respects, Jeremy re calls

Mascar ille of L'Etourdi , who lectures hi s mas·t er whi le he

is invent ing scheme s to aid him . Jeremy is Congreve 1 s

highest t;pe of mod ern valet , started by Corneille in 1643

and immo rtali zed by Mo liere in hi s ' i!Umitable Mascarille 23 and Sganar elle .

u There is no direct evidence that Ben , Sir Samp son's 24 younger Son , - half hom e bred, and ha lf Sea bred,'! ha s

any french pr edece ssors; but I consider Ben a refle ct ion

of the many lost sons and daught ers whom Moliere .conjured

into being to aid the deno _U. ement s of hi s plays . Le s

, Fo urberies de S ca in , as well as L 1Avare and L 1 Etourdi , p

is an exce llent . example of long lo st chi ldren be ing re-

stored to the ir parents. The parents ha ve arranged

23 . Protopope sco, ££• �., p. 132. 24. f2!! fo r Love . Dr am at is Personae . -·67

marriages for their sons and daughters, but even S capin's plots are no t enough to ma ke all end well without ·the real identity of the daughters being reveale d . In just such an · extremity , Congreve introduces Ben. Sir Samp s on 1 s oldest son has died; hi s second son, Va lent ine , because of hi s extravagan ce and liking for world ly things , ha s incurred

Sir Sampson 1 s anger; and the only ho pe is to bring back the almo st forgo tten Ben . Although Ben is himself an old

Engli sh Salt with nothing French in his make-up , his ·_intro ­ duction in the play appears to be the result of Moliere 1 s pra ctice .

Love ��more nearly approaches Moli�re ' s light- ness and delicateness of style .- The scenes betwe en Sir

Sampson and Va lent ine approach the spirit of the scenes in

L'Avare between Harpagon and Cleante, and the Va lentine­

Trapland scene has the tone of the Don Ju an-Diman che episode . Congreve , however , has so well assimilated the suggestions taken from Moliere that we need hardly think of them ·a s borrowings . The su ggesti ons -and r em inis cen ces of Moli e re pr ove the pro lificness of Congreve 's ar tistic creation�, for they are transmitted in such an excellent manner , somet ime s even superior to the o r ig inal, that they place · the author on an equa l:tt y with the g:r e·a. t Master 25 of Comedy.

2 5. Protopopesco , �· cit., p. 136 . THE WAY THE WORLD ------OF ------

" Th e one play in our language whi ch may fair ly claim a

place beside or but just beneath the mightiest work of 1 11 'Moliere is The Way of the World . As we look for ·Mo liere 1 s

influence on The Way of the Wor ld , ho we ver , we find but few

and exceed ingly fai nt traces . In thi s play as in Lo ve · �

� C?ngreve relied upon his own eminent genius and co nse­

quent ly used very little from the great Frenchman who had

offered inspiration for his earlier comedies .

The Way of � World contains a few passage s which

seem to point to Mo lie re as the source. Paramount among

the po ssible F.rench borrowing s is the disguise of Waitwe ll ·

as Sir Rowland , the uncle of Mirabel. Co ncerning the dis­ gui se a��lm�� t all other po int s, there is a disagr eement " among the critics . Miles says , Wa i twell 1 s disgui se wa s

sugge sted by the plot of' Le a Pr Ei'cieuses Ridi cules ·" ; but

Summers denies this) for 11 I t c�n hard ly be urged tha t

Wa itwell 's disgui se as Sir Rowland owes anything to

11 3 Masce.rille and Jodtelet of Le s Pre cieus es Rid1cules .

Disguise is by no means original wi th either Mo li�re

or Congreve . It is e. literary device tha t has been us ed

from ear ly time s. Some form o f di sgui se is used

1. Swinburne, ££• cit. , 52 . p. 2. Miles, ££· cit. , p. 240 . 3. Sumrrers , ££• ci t . , III, 3. -69

extensively in Mo li�re1s plays ;and Congreve , as we ll as

Re storation playwrights in gen eral, frequent ly resorted to

thi s device . But even admi tting that disguis� has an

ancient hi stor y, tha t critics differ concerning it s use,

and tha t Congr eve could have se cured th is device from

Moliere or elsewhere , we find from a comparison of the

pa ssag es que stion that the disgui se of Waitwe ll has unu�ai in

similari ties with the disguises of llasca rille and Jodelet

of � Pr ecieuses Rid icules .

The plan , purpo se , and results of the disguises are

similar . In each case the servant s become lord s to 4 further the causes o f the ir masters . purpose ot The5 each disguise is to humili at e the ladies. The er s twhi le

servant s become su ch daring raki sh lord s and play their and

parts so we ll that the. too credulou s ladies ar e easily mi sled and only the time ly disco ver ing of the deception

saves them from ·the direful co nsequences of their credulity 6 but not from embanas sme nt and complete humi liat ion .

Th er e is ano ther scene whi ch I believe wa s sugges ted by Moliere . This is the scene of the marriage contract

of Millam ant and Mirabel, in wh i ch ea ch gi ves hi s co nditions for accepting the othe r. Millamant , after enumerating her

4 . The a4 of the Wo rld , I, ii; II , iii; IV, xi i; teS recieuses Ridi cules I. 5 The !&lJ of the Wo rld II , iii; Le a Precieuses Ridicules . - - IX andVf . - . The Wa of the Wo rld , IV, xv ; V, i. 6. � s Precieuses Ridicules XI II and Le XVI . -70

demands1 says :

The se Articles subscr fb1d, if I continue to endure you a �t le longer, I may by degrees dwind le into a Wifel7 . .

Whereupon Mirabel propo sed to make his cond iti ons to

Millamant so

That when you are dwind led int o a Wife , I may not . ,. be beyo nd measure enlarg 1 d into a H sband . u 8 After the requisites fo r becoming husband and wife have

been given and accepted, Millama nt decides that she_ has

a mind to him :

I think I have -- an d the horrid Man lo oks as if he thought so too -- We ll , yo u ridiculous thing you, I'll have you -- I won ' t be kiss1d, nor I wo n t be thank 1 d -- Here kiss Hand tho ' -­ ' my So , ho ld your Tongue don't .say a Word . 9 now, Thi s scene seems to be deve loped from th·e marriage contract

of Gro s-Rene Marinette in Depit Amour eux . Gro s-Rene, and f! amid the mo cking comments of M ascarille, declares that when

he has degenerated into a pe aceful husband , he will be deaf

to all the ladies and will desire a severe wife .

Mar . Un mar1 , passe encor : tel qu 111 est, on le prend : �n n'y pas chercher tant de cer�monie . va Mai� il faut qu 1un galant soit fait faire envie. a G-R . Ecoute : quand 11hymen aura joint no s deux peaus , �e pretend s qu ' on so it sourde � tous les damo iseaux . Mas . Tu crois te marier pour toi tout seul , comp�re? �. Bien entendu : je veux une femme severe, --ou je ferai beau bruit . Mas . Eh ! mon Dieu l tu teras --comma le s autres font , et tu t1adoucira s. Ces gens avant 11hymen, si fAcheux et critiques, Degenerent souvent en marls pacifique s. 10

The of the World , IV, 7. Way v. 8. !Did . - -- . 9. Ibid., IV, vi . 10 . Le Depit Amoureux , v, viii . -71

Marinett e reassures him by saying that he need fear nothing for sh e will be faithful and tell him everything :

Va , va , petit mari, ne crains rien de ma fo i: Le s douceurs ne feront que b�anchir coritre mo i, Et je te dirai tout . 11

A few of the ch aracters of �he Way of the World recall

Moliere !. s . Protopopesco ho ld s ·the opinion that Sir Wilful ha s 11 quelque cho se de la gaucherie • • • . de M. de 12

Pour ceaugna c •. '! M. de Po urceaugna c, with his un cultured , awkwa�q ,and countrified ways , his great amount of egotism , and hi s sus ceptibili ty to flattery, comes to town to marry a young lady but is rend ered ridiculous by Sbr igani , Ergaste, and Nervine , who pretend to be his friends. Perhaps in some respe cts Sir Wi.lful is a copy of M. de Pour ceagnac.

. . Sir Wilful is a ru de country fellow unlearned in the ways of the town and has come up .to town wi th the intention of 13 seeing the wor ld by sailing 11upon the salt s eas "·•- He is en cour aged to marry Millamant, but drinking , combined with his chur li Sh ways , soon ruins hi s ch an ces. 14 15 Lady W�shf'ort, according to Swinburne and Protopo esco ha s a touc h of the tragic th at places her in the category of

Arno lphe of L1Eco le des Bemrnes . Although a gr eat .many of her

11. � Depit Amoureux , V, viii . 12. Pro topopesco, � · cit ., p. 264. 13. � Way of �-wo rld; III, xv . 14. �!rlb\lrne ,, 2-E.• cit ., p. 55 . 110nly perhaps in a single part has Congreve harr- cons ciously tou ched a note of almost tragic depth and sugges tion; the re is something wellni gh akin to the gro tesque and piteous figur e of Arno l�he him­ self in the unvenerable old age of Lady W�shfort. 15 . Protopopesco, �· cit., p. 261. "Il y a en effet une puissante note tragique che z la Pauvre toquie . 11 -72 rid iculous actions and pretenses are disgusting , we see the tragedy of her 11unvenerab le old age" and wish for her the peace and content of a normal old age .

That "Mrs . Fa inall ·i s a variation of the mo tif of 16 L' Eco le .9!!, Maris11 · is the op�nion ot Miles. The mo tif mentioned seems to be the result upon the chi ld of too

" strict upbr inging . Sganarelle of Le a Ecole des Maris has reared his ward , Isabe lle , in a very stri ct and narrow -fa shion . She been vi�tual ly kept a prisoner ·has and refUsed all ple asures . As a result she becomes desperate , take s matters into her own hands , and defies all the rule s and pr ecepts of her guardi an. Mr s. Fainall 17 likewi se had been reared under very strict supervi sion ,

but now has fo rsaken her early training and become a · typi cal me mber of Re storation society.

Fo ib le , Lady Wishfo rt 1 s maid, seems to have acquired some of her libertie s with her mistress and her giving of

, advice from Liset.te of Les Eco le de Maris, who as the

ti libertie s and expr es_ses wai ng wo man of' Leonor , assume s her own opinions mo st �eely.

Mo liere may have been the source of the incidents . and characters I have just mentioned , but Moliere '� greatest influenc e on The Way of � Wo rld wa s no t in sugge stions

16 . M iles , ££• cit. , p. 241. 17 . � Way of the World , V, v. -73

fo r plot or · chara cters . By the time Congreve wro te hi s

last comedy he had so thoroughly assim·lla ted what he had

taken from Mo li ere that it ha d be come an integral part of . himself and as such co nditipned the wo rking of hi s own

thought s. Thus it is no t so much in specific likene ss

but in general methods that we fi nd traces of Mo liere ' s

influence .

A brief comparison will perhaps show how Mo liere ' s methods had become Congreve 1s. The Way .Q!. the Wo rld and

Le Misanthrope have several comparable po ints . The pur -

po se of the two plays is mu ch the same to depi ct the high

life of the capital. The plot s �re managed in almo st the

same way: a great deal of expo sition ( especially in the fi rst act two acts ) results in few incidents . The first/of each play

opens wi th a conversation betwe en the he ro and hi s confidant ,

and the entrance of the wo men is delaye d until the second

act . Congr eve had used bo th of the se devices before; the

fo rmer in The Do uble Dealer and the · l�er in ��

Bat chelor. In The Way of the Wor ld and Le Misanthrope

suspense is ma int aine d unt il the end and unexpe cted de­

_nouem en ts:� close the play. So liloquy, whi ch Mo li�re

emp lo ye d in seve ral plays and which had caus ed so much 18 crit icism of Congreve when he. used it in The Do uble Dealer,

49 . 18 . Vide supra , p. ;..74 proves ver y effective in The Way of the World . French technique seems evident from a comparison of The Way of the World and the plays of Moliere, but it is a French technique buried under the powerful literary genius of

Congreve . CONCLUSION

It wa s almo st inevitable that Congreve , living at . the

time tha t he did, should have been influenced by Moli�re .

The effe cts of the so j ourn of the upper classes at the

Fr ench court had no t yet .faded , and the inter est aroused

by M0 li�re 1s plays still ga ve to Engli sh playgo ers the

criter ion used in judging the comedy of manners whi hh do­

minated the Engli sh stage . Naturally, the playwrights,

who knew the pub li c1s taste fo r French fare , were no t

slow in making use of this knowledge . Bo th Etherege

and Wycherley made use of Mo liere in wr iting their plays ,

and Congreve , who came after them , benefited by" their

pr acti ces and went to Mo li �re fo r sugge stions .

The use of Fr ench material varies wi th the different

phases of Congreve 1s own deve lopment as a dramatist . Hi s

first play, pro duced when he wa s a young man of twenty­

three , would of necessity show the imprint of many models.

One or the mo st dis cernible of these ·models was Mo liere .

After � O ld Batche lor (1693 ) pro ve d a succes s, it �a s

only natural fo r the youthful playwright to pro fi� by

this fir st success and make still mo re use of Mo li�re

in hi s second play . !h! Doub le Dealer (1694) is, to a

gr eater ext ent than any other of Congreve ' s comedie� �· reflection of Mo liere 's plays . By the time Co ngr eve wa s

ready to wr ite hi s third play, � for � (1695) , his -7 6

own dramatic powers had developed to such a degree .that , fo r the mo st part , he relied upon hi s own powers and used sugge stions from Mo liere only as the successful construc.tion of hi s play demanded . When Congr eve wrote his last and greatest comedy, The !Az of the World (1700 ) , he had arrived at the height of hi s own genius and had so completely mas­ tered Mo liere th at French influence had become a part of hi s own technique .

There are three principal ways in which Congreve 1s plays show the imprint of Moliere : influences on plot; on characters; and on style .

Although Congreve probably could have found an abun­ dance of material for his plots from an analysis of the existing society and contemporary wr iters, he was not satisfied to do ·this and turned to the · every ready· and inexhaustible source of ma terial common to Restoration writer s. Thus reminiscenses of Moliere can be found in all his plays . The - complex plot of The Old Batchelor seems to contain bits of Moliere as part of its many threads of action . Apparently a great many plays are put under obligation : ·name ly, Le s Fourberies de Scapin,

Monsieur de P0ur ceaugna c, Le s Femmes S avantes, George

, D nd in, and L'Eco le des Marts . There is no one play to a ---- - ··---

po int as the source of The Old Bat chelor, whi( ch we can for it is a compo site of Mo liAre' s ideas cleverly wo ven - 77

int·o one plot. The Double Dealer, on the contrary, is more of a unity; fo r its primary source is Le Tartuffe , which furni shes the theme and many of the incid�t s.· As is usual

in a Re storation play, one plo t is not enough; so various

subplots· are added and scenes for these are taken from Le s

Femmes Savantes and � Mi santhrope . Love for Love likewise has a plot suggested by one play, L1Avare , but only a small part of the plot is developed from this play. Le Depit

.Amoureux , L1Etourdi, Le s Fourberies de Scapin, Don Juan , and � M1 s anthrope fur�ish material for incid ental scenes.

The !al of the World owes almost none of its plot to French influence and has only two scenes reminiscent of Mo liere -­ one of Le s Prec ieuses Ridi cules and one of Le Depit Amoureux .

Thus Moliere ' s influence on Congreve1s construction of plot

started with Congreve 1s first play, The Old Batchelor , whi ch

shows numerous borrowings of ideas for incidents; increased with the adoption of one play as the principal source for

The D oub le Dealer ; flourished throughout Love fo r Love as denoted by the use of sugge stions for a gr eat many occur ences;

and declined sharply in The � of the World , wh ich has only

two mino r incid ents that show French influence •.

Few of Congreve's characters are directly borrowed from

Moliere ; and none of them is entirely french , for even the

ones who mo st nearly appro ach their French· mo'dels show the

effects of the Re sto ration in their compo sition. Congreve 's -78

characters tha t show Fr en ch influence may be divided into thr ee gr oups : tho se that have a di.stinct Fren ch pro totype , tho se th at have some trait s of character inspired by Fren ch original s, and those whose origin is linked wi th a specifi c group of Molier e's chara cters .

The one charact er who is perhaps the nearest to having

D e is a direct mo del is Maskwe ll of The oub le D ealer . H an tm- itation of Tartuffe , the hypo cr ite . Sir S8mpson, Miss Prue , and Jeremy of Love for Love , all seem to have French proto - types. Sir Sampson .is the heavy father type des cended from

Harpagon , the heartless and mi serly father in L1Avare; Mi ss

Prue is the inno cent country gir l who upon her arrival in town qui ckly learns uthe way of the wor ld" as did Agnes of

, L'Ecole d� Femmes; Jeremy is the type of servant who as sume s libertie s and contradicts and repro aches hi s master while inventing scheme s to aid him as did Sganarelle of Do n Juan

# and Ma scrille of L ' Etourdi .

The list of persons who have traits imitative of Mo liere ' s characters is much more inclusive and ha s rep�e sentatives fr om three of Congreve 1s comedie s. In .The Old 5at chelor such person s as Heartwell, Fondlewife ,. Laetitia, Ar am inta,

Be linda , and Va mlo ve have Fr ench characteris tics . Heart ­ well shares wit h Sganarelle of Le Mariage ]1o rce' the fact that he is an old an d foo lish lover and wi th Geo rge Dandin hi s self- s co rn be caus e of his we akne ss fo r women . Fondle- - 79 wife likewi se resemb les two of Mol1�re 1 s personages: George

Dandin in his jealousy, suspicion, and fears concerning his young wife ; and Chrysale of Le a Femmes Savantes in his weak­ ness and ease of being led py h� s wi fe . Angelique , Geo rge

D8ndin1 s wife , has passed on to �aetitia Fondlewife her ability to carry on intrigues and deceive her husband but at the same time be thought virtuous . Ar aminta and Belinda are precieuses in their affected ways , pretenses, and. ideas of marriage, but Araminta has added a trace· of Cel1mene 's

(Le Mis anthrope ) womanly delicaay. Vainlove , in his philo sophy of lo ve , resemb les Scapin of Les Fourberies de

Scapin , but his dissatisfaction with love affairs recalls

Don Juan . In the compo sition of characters, as in the construction .of plot, The Do uble Dealer owes a great deal to Mo liere. Numerous characters po ssess traits of one and oftentimes of several of Mo liere's characters. Care­ less is as true a fr iend as Cleante of Le Tartuffe , for he ha s hi s courage and faithfulness . . Lord Touchwo od is _ similar to the unsuspecting 'husband -, Orgon. Lady Froth and Lady Plyant are pr ecieuses, but Lady Plyant po ssesses many other qualiti es: in fact , she ig one of Congreve 's mo st versatile creations . She has the egotism of Be lise of Le s Femme s S9vantes , the shrewishness of Pilamint e ·or

Les Femmes Savantes, and the deceit of BeliDe of Le

Malade Imaginaire . Lord Plyant , as we expect , resemb les -so

,--· the husband s of Pilaminte and Be line· : Chrysale gives him a

feeling of mastery although he is completely und er hi s wife 's

domination, and Argon inspires in him the do t ing old husband 's

desire fo r an heir . In The !.fll. of � World , only Sir Wi lful

and Mrs. Fainall p� sses s French characteristics . Sir Wilful ha s the countrified way of Monsieur de Pour ceaugnac, and .Mrs .

Fainall portrays the result s of a too strict upbr inging just ,

as effective ly as . Isabelle of ----L'Eco le -des - ---Ma�is.

There are fo ur characters that are built against the background of an entire group of persons . Be llmour of

Th e Old Batchelor may well be depend ent upon Mo liere ' s plotters fo r one side of hi s nature . He is constantly plo tting , as are several of Mo liere 's memorable characters: namely, Sbr igani of Monsi eur de Pourceaugnac, Sganarelle

., of Le Medecin Vo lant , and Mascarille of L1Etourdi . Melle-

font of The Double Dealer refle cts Molie re 's lovers, for he shows their gentlene ss, tenderness, and chivalry . Ben

of � fo r � is the far -off and greatly Anglici zed des cendant of Mo lier e's lo st childr en . Fo ible of The Way of the Wor ld is typical of Mo liere' s female servants who

feel privil eged to take liberties and expr ess their own opinions . Congreve 's characters whow an unexpe ct�d

originality, but they do no t entirely es cape the French

influen ce . -81

Moliere ' s influence upon Co�r eve1 s style is ver y

intangible . There are a number of devices which po int

to Mo liere as the in spiration. The opening of three of

Congreve 1 comedies .:.Co. lows Moliere ' pract ice. The s l s -

Double Dealer and The Way of � World open with a con-.

ver sation between the laero and his confidant as do es Le

Misanthrope , and Love fo r f2!! opens with the hero and

hi s servant talking as in Le Depi t Amoureux . Througho ut

the fir st acts of The Old Bat chelor and The Way of the

World no· woman appears upon the stage , as in ·Le Misanthrope .

So liloquies form a part of The Double Dealer and The Way of

the World, thus reviving under Mo liere 's guidance an old

English pra ctice . These two pla7s also have a dearth of

incidents and consequently the same great amount of ex­ the po sition anq/ lack of action of Le Misanthrope . Be sides

these devi ces, there is a charm and bri l»an ce about Congr eve 's plays that seems to be the result of the assim·dlation 9f

Moliere ' s technique . This elusive and indeterminate quality

canno t be traced to any �ne of Mo liere' s comedies , but Con-

' grave ' s fami�rit y with Moliere seems to have directed the

English wr iter un conscious ly in the footsteps of the French master , as evidenced by his brillant dialogue , his und er­

standing of human na ture , his attitud e toward hi s age , and

earne stness of purpose. ·. ,. ,,

.. .

-82

Congreve owes a debt to Molier e -- a debt whi ch varies with the different plays but which can be traced in all fo ur comedies. P lots, characters, and dramatic style recall

Mo liere. Many of the simila�iti es between ·congreve an d

Mo liere may be accidental an d allowances must be mad e for these . But after all allowances are made, the gr eat indebtedne ss of Congreve to Mo liere is evident . We may 1 conclude with Swinburne that "a limb of W.oliere wo uld have suffi ced to make a Congreve" and ye i�lino Engli sh writer , .on the whole , has so near ly touched the skirts of Mo liere. 11

1 . Swinburne , ££• cit., p. 54 . . . ' ! •

-83

BIBLIOGHAPHY

Ar cher , William , William Congreve , American Book Co ., New Yo�k , 1912.

Cambr idge History of En lish Li terature, Edited 'by A. w. Ward and x.=a:-wa1! er , G. P. Putnam 's Sons, New York · and London, 1907. (14 V. )

Congreve , Will-iam , Comedies, (The World 's Classics ), Edited by Bonamy Dobree , Oxford University Press, London, 1926 . Quo t a tions are from this edi tion.

Congreve , Wi llian: , Best Play , (The Mermaid Series .) ·Edited by A. C. Ewald , Vizeteli y and Co ., London , 1888 .

Congreve , Wi lliam, Complet e Works , Edited by Montague Summers , The Nonesuch Press, London, 1923 . ( 4 V. ) · . Dobre, e, Bonarny, Re storation Comedy, At the Clarendon Press, Oxford , 1924.

Dumoustier·, Leon, Moli�re, Auteur et Comedien, La Place , Sanche z et Co ., Editeur s, PariS , 1883. '\,.. Elwin, Malcolm, � Plazgo e�s Handbook � Restoration Comedy, The MacMillan Co ., New Yo rk , 1928 .

Gosse , Edmund, The L r and Writings of William Congreve , Walter Sco�Pusf 1sh!Og Co ., Lonaon , 1888 .

Hazlitt, William , Collected Works , Edited by A. R. Waller and Arno ld Glover , J. �. Dent and Co ., London, 1903. ( 12 V. )

Henley, W. E. , Views and Revi ews , MacMillan and Co . , Ltd . , London, 1921.

Lamb , Charles, Essays -of Elia, A . L . Burt Co ., New Yor.k, 1885. -

· Macaulay, Thomas Babington, Cr itical, Historital and Misce llaneous Essays and Poems , A. t. Burt, New York ,

f! . d ••

Matthews, Brander, Moliere , H1s Li fe !E£ Hi s Works , Charles S cribner ' s Sons , New York, 1916 .

Meredith, George , � Es ay � Comedy, Charles Scribner 's § · Sons , N ew Y0rk, 18 7. -84

Miles , D. of Moliere on R s orat on Comedy, H. , Influence e t i Columbia University-rress 1 New�ork, 1910 .

Moliere, Oeuvres , Ed ited by Eugene Despois, L br i ie i a r Hachette et Cie, Paris , 1907 . Quo tat o ns are om i fr this edit ion . (13 V. )

Moliere, Oeuvres Completes , Librairie Hachette et Cie, Paris, 1966 . (3 V.)

Morse, Charles, "William Congreve", Canadian Magazine, LVIII, 47:3-80 .

Nettleton , G . H. , lish Drama of the Restor ation and Eng Ei hteenth Century, The Ma cMrllan C0 ., New ior� 19! 4.

N co ll , All ardyc e, An Introduction to Dram tic Theor , i a y G. G. Harrop ana Co . , London, 1923.

Palmer, John, The Come dy of Manners, G . Be ll and Sons Ltd • ., London, 1923 . - Perromat , Charles, Willi am W oherlei, Sa Vie-� Oeuvre, Librairie Felix Alc an , Jaria , 921 . Perry, Henry Ten Eyck , The Comi c Spirit in Res toration Drama, Yale U iversity Pr es , N w Haven, 1925. n s e

Protopope sco, Drago sh, William Congreve , Sa Vi e, Son Oeuvre, La s Ed itions de La Vie Universitiri' e;-- Paris, 1924 . .

Swinburne , A gernon C arles, Miscel anie s, C atto and l h l h Windus , London , 1886 .

ylor, D . Crane, William Congre e, Oxford Univer sity Ta v Press, London , 1931.

Tha ckeray, M . , The Works, "English H our ists u , Sm th , w. uril · i Elder, and o ndon, 1891 . (26 v. ) c ::-LO rd , . History of English Dramat ic L terature, Wa A w. , A i MacMil lan and Co . , �td ., LOndon , 1899. (3 v. ) .-8 5

APPENDIX -86

' CONGREVE 1S PROBABLE BORROWINGS FROM MOLIERE

---THE OLD ------�BATCHELOR

Congreve Mo li�re Ob server P age

II, i. Les Fourberi es � Sc ap in Miles --- 22-24 -II, vii .

II , i. Monsieur de Pouroe augna o Mile s - - - 24-25 I, lv .-

II , iii . Les FeMme s Savantes Mile s - -- 25-26 -I, 1.

III, 11 . George Dandin Mi les ----- 26-27 . I, i and II , viii .

III, iv . Geor e Dandin 29 t' f, 11.

II.I , vi . Geor e Dandin 28-29 If , 1.

IV, iii . George Dandin Miles - - - - - 27 I, i and II , viii .

IV,xxii. L ' Ecole des Maris Summers - --- 30 I!, ix.- .

Araminta celimene Protopopesco- 34

Une Pr ecieuse M i les, Pro topopesco- - 34-43

Be linda Une Precieuse M i les , Protopopesco- - 34

Bellmour Sbrignac of Pro topo pesco- - 34 Monsieur 2! Pourceaugna c

Mo li�re 1s Plotters 84-35

No te : The na�es listed und er observer deno te authors who have po int ed out spe ci fic similaritie s between Congreve and Moliere . The blanks are used for add itional parallels no ted by the present writer . Fo r the convenien ce of the reader references are given to page s of the thesis where the similarities are discussed. -8'7

Co ngreve Mo lie re Ob s erver Page

ondl e ife G orge D ndin Pro topopesco- 33 F w e a Chrysale or Les FemiTes Savantes 33

Heartwell Sganarelle of Mi les, � M1riase For ce Pro topopesco- - - 32

George Dandin 32

La etiti a Angelique of 33 Ge orge Dand in

Lu cy Mo lie re 's Serv�t s Pro topo pe sco-:- 31

Setter Mo lie r e ' s Ser vants Pro topope s co - - - 31

V8 inlo ve Don Juan Protopopesco- 35 Scap in of � Fourberies � Scapin .

Delay of Le Misanthrope Go s s e � Wom en ' s M i les , Appear an ce A! o rse - - 30-31

DEALER 1!!§ DOUBLE·

Source or Le Tar tuffe Go sse, Miles , Plo t Taylor ----- 39-43 I, vi . Le Tartuffe I II , iii . 42

It , v. Le Femme s Savante s Go s s e 1 M i les , i M rse- , iv . o - -- 44

III,x. Le Misanthrope I, ii . Go sse, Morse ---- 45 �Misanthrope II,iv . Miles ---- 45 Les F mme s Savantes ! M l ---- 44 -II I 11. i e s xvi ii � Tartuffe , III, iii . 42 IV , .

v, iii . Le Tartuffe III , vi . 42 te Tartuffe III ,vii . Mile s ---- 42-43 -88

C�ngreve Mo liare Ob serve� Page

V, xviii. Le Tartuffe III, iii . 42 Le·Tartuffe IV, vi and - vil:t 43 Le Tartuffe IV , iv . 43 � V, S.cene Tartuffe S cene Deri ie � e...___ 43 th� Last

Careless Cleante of. � Tartufte Miles, Protop?p�s�o:- - 46-47

Lady Froth Une Pr ecieuse Summer s - - - - 47

Maskwell · Tartuffe Miles, Protopopesco- 45-46· Scapin of Les Fourberies £!_ Scapin.· 46

Mo liere 1 s Plotters 46

Mellefo nt Mo liere 1 s Lovers Protopopesco - - 48

Lady Plyant Une Precieuse Summers - - - - 47 Belise of Les Eemmes - Savantes Miles, Protopop�sco- 47-48 Philaminte of Les · Femme s Savantes-­ Miles - - - - 48 Bdline of Le Malade Imaginaire- 48

�ir Paul Chrysale of Les Femmes Miles , �lyant Savan·tes Protopopesco - . � 48 Argan of Le Yalade Imaginaire Proto po pes co 48

-- ·- ·- Lord - To.ucliwo od Orgon of � Tartuffe Miles- - - - 47

Opening . Scene Le Misanthrope Miles ------48

.soli loquy Geo rge Dandin, Goss e, . L'Armour Medecin , Mi les, LtEcole des Maris� - - - Morse - - 49 t*l;!coie aes Femmes, L'Etourd1 -89

Congreve MQ liere Ob s erver P age

Source of P lot L1Avare Miles ----- 51-56

I, i. � Depit Amo ureux 56-57

I, i. Les Fo urb eries -de Scapin --y, 1. 57-58

I , v. � � IV , iii . Miles , Protopopesco � Summers - - - - 59-60 ·

II, vii . L1Avare 54-56

II , ix. � M1 s anthrope III,iv. Mi les ----- 60-64

, IV, xix. L1Etourd1 III, iv. :Miles- - --- 58 -59

Ben Mo liere ' s Io st Chi ldren 66-67

Jeremy Sganarelle of Don LTf Juad 65-66 Mascarille or tour i Protopop� sco- -

Miss Prue Agnes or L1Eco le 2!! Archer , Femme s Pro topopesco- - 65

Sir .Samp son Harpagon of L1Avare Archer , - Mi les- ---- 64-65

·Opening Scene Le Depi t Amoureux Miles --- 65

THE WAY THE ----OF WORLD

Disguise of Les Pre cieuses Waitwell �id1cu1es --- 69

IV , v. � De pi t Amoureux 69-71 v, viii . -90

Congreve Observer Page

Mrs. Fa inall Mo tif of L1Ecole � Mile s - - - - - 72 Maris

Foible Lis��te of L1Ecole des Protopopesco- - 72 Maris

Sir Wilful Monsieur de Protopopesco- - 7 1 Pourcea\ignac

Lady , Wishfort Arno lphe of L1Ecole des Pro topopesco, Femmes Swinburne- - - 71-72

Denouvement � Misanthrope Mile s - - - - - 73

Entrance of Women Le Mi santhrope Miles - - - - - 73

Management ot Plot · Le Misanthrope Miles - - - - - 73

Opening Scene k Mi santhrope Miles - - - - - 73

Purpo se Le Misanthrope Miles - - - - - 73

So liloquy · L ' Ecole � Maris,etc. 73-74