The Blunderer

The Blunderer [with accents]

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blunderer, by Moliere #11 in our series by Moliere
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Title: The Blunderer
Author: Moliere
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6563] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 28, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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L'��TOURDI, OU LES CONTRE-TEMPS.
COMEDIE.
THE BLUNDERER: OR, THE COUNTERPLOTS.
A COMEDY IN FIVE ACTS.
(THE ORIGINAL IN VERSE.)
1653. (?)

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
The Blunderer is generally believed to have been first acted at Lyons in 1653, whilst Moli��re and his troupe were in the provinces. In the month of November 1658 it was played for the first time in Paris, where it obtained a great and well-deserved success. It is chiefly based on an Italian comedy, written by Nicolo Barbieri, known as Beltrame, and called _L'Inavvertito_, from which the character of Mascarille, the servant, is taken, but differs in the ending, which is superior in the Italian play. An imitation of the classical boasting soldier, Captain Bellorofonte, Martelione, and a great number of _concetti_, have also not been copied by Moli��re. The fourth scene of the fourth act of _l'��tourdi_ contains some passages taken from the _Angelica_, a comedy by Fabritio de Fornaris, a Neapolitan, who calls himself on the title-page of his play "il Capitano Coccodrillo, comico confidente." A few remarks are borrowed from _la Emilia_, a comedy by Luigi Grotto, whilst here and there we find a reminiscence from Plautus, and one scene, possibly suggested by the sixteenth of the _Contes et Discours d'Eutrapel_, written by N?el du Fail, Lord of la H��rissaye. Some of the scenes remind us of passages in several Italian _Commedia del' arte_ between Arlecchino and Pantaleone the personifications of impudence and ingenuity, as opposed to meekness and stupidity; they rouse the hilarity of the spectators, who laugh at the ready invention of the knave as well as at the gullibility of the old man, Before this comedy appeared the French stage was chiefly filled with plays full of intrigue, but with scarcely any attempt to delineate character or manners. In this piece the plot is carried on, partly in imitation of the Spanish taste, by a servant, Mascarille, who is the first original personage Moli��re has created; he is not a mere imitation of the valets of the Italian or classical comedy; he has not the coarseness and base feelings of the servants of his contemporaries, but he is a lineal descendant of Villon, a free and easy fellow, not over nice in the choice or execution of his plans, but inventing new ones after each failure, simply to keep in his hand; not too valiant, except perhaps when in his cups, rather jovial and chaffy, making fun of himself and everybody else besides, no respecter of persons or things, and doomed probably not to die in his bed. Moli��re must have encountered many such a man whilst the wars of the Fronde were raging, during his perigrinations in the provinces. Even at the present time, a Mascarille is no impossibility; for, "like master like man." There are also in The Blunderer too many incidents, which take place successively, without necessarily arising one from another. Some of the characters are not distinctly brought out, the style has often been found fault with, by Voltaire and other competent judges, [Footnote: Victor Hugo appears to be of another opinion. M. Paul Stapfer, in his les Artistes juges et parties (2o Causerie, the Grammarian of Hauteville House, p. 55), states:--"the opinion of Victor Hugo about Moli��re is very peculiar. According to him, the best written of all the plays of our great comic author is his first work, _l'��tourdi_. It possesses a brilliancy and freshness of style which still shine in _le D��pit amoureux_, but which gradually fade, because Moli��re, yielding unfortunately to other inspirations than his own, enters more and more upon a