| Description |
216 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
1. Love and rivalry : the ties that bind -- 2. Power and identity : the method in Arnolphe's madness -- 3. Enemy brothers : the interdependence of Orgon and Tartuffe -- 4. "Grand seigneur mechant homme" : Dom Juan and the credo of conquest -- 5. The world turned upside down : rivalry and ressentiment in amphitryon -- 6. Dark comedy : disorder and sacrifice in George Dandin -- 7. "J'ai decouvert que mon pere est mon rival" : love, greed, and rivalry in L'Avare -- 8. Impossible desire : becoming a Mamamouchi in Le bourgeois gentilhomme -- 9. Philosophers and fools : the world of Les femmes savantes -- 10. Doctors and actors : the victory of comedy in Le malade imaginaire |
| Summary |
"In critical readings of ten of Moliere's most important plays, this book argues that a rivalry that endangers order by collapsing differences structures the works and provides a key to their understanding." "Moliere's great comic characters all want desperately something that they cannot have. The objects of their desire may vary, but the presence of desire itself remains a constant. In L'Ecole des femmes, Amolphe wants, above all, to avoid cuckoldry. The title character in Dom Juan covets women. The bourgeois Monsieur Jourdain does all in his power to become a gentleman in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, and the eponymous character in George Dandin views his woes as the price of an ill-fated marriage that he had hoped would elevate him to noble rank. Le malade imaginaire, Argan, has a seemingly crazy desire to be sick. The list could go on."--BOOK JACKET |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Molière, 1622-1673 -- Criticism and interpretation.
|
|
Conflict (Psychology) in literature.
|
| LC no. |
2004043290 |
| ISBN |
0838640095 alkaline paper |
|
