Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is a three-act comedy-ballet in prose. Two young Parisian lovers, Éraste and Julie, met in secret for fear that Julie's father, Oronte, discovers their relationship. Oronte has promised his daughter to Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, a bourgeois of Limoges. The lovers seek a solution that will allow Julie to escape the marriage. For this they use a matchmaker Nérine and a Napolitan cheat Sbrigani. When Monsieur de Pourceaugnac arrives, they do everything to ridicule him, to make it look like he’s crazy, to make it look like he’s somebody with many debts ... And when that doesn’t work, Sbrigani goes find the poor man to tell that Julie is just a nasty coquette and she does not deserve him to marry her. Julie enters the scene and claims to be madly in love with the unfortunate young man. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, convinced of the vanity of his bride refuses to marry her. When Pourceaugnac wants to leave the scene, two women pick on him and say he is the father of their many children. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac has now only one possibility to escape a charge of polygamy: to run. Disguised as a woman he manages to escape. Sbrigani then convinces Orontes that Pourceaugnac has kidnapped his daughter, and when Éraste "saves" her, Orontes gives their marriage his blessing.
Author
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known by his stage name, Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Among Molière's best-known dramas are Le Misanthrope, (The Misanthrope), L'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives), Tartuffe ou l'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite), L'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman). From a prosperous family and having studied at the Jesuit Clermont College (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Molière was well suited to begin a life in the theatre. Thirteen years as an itinerant actor helped to polish his comic abilities while he also began writing, combining Commedia dell'Arte elements with the more refined French comedy. Through the patronage of a few aristocrats including the brother of Louis XIV, Molière procured a command performance before the King at the Louvre. Performing a classic play by Pierre Corneille and a farce of his own, Le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), Molière was granted the use of Salle du Petit-Bourbon at the Louvre, a spacious room appointed for theatrical performances. Later, Molière was granted the use of the Palais-Royal. In both locations he found success among the Parisians with plays such as Les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), L'École des maris (The School for Husbands) and L'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favour brought a royal pension to his troupe and the title "Troupe du Roi" (The King's Troupe). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments. Though he received the adulation of the court and Parisians, Molière's satires attracted criticisms from moralists and the Church. Tartuffe ou l'Imposteur (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite) and its attack on religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations from the Church while Don Juan was banned from performance. Molière's hard work in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and, by 1667, he was forced to take a break from the stage. In 1673, during a production of his final play, Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), Molière, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, was seized by a coughing fit and a haemorrhage while playing the hypochondriac Argan. He finished the performance but collapsed again soon after, and died a few hours later. In his time in Paris, Molière had completely reformed French comedy.
