- Le Médecin malgré lui
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The title of this article contains the character é. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Le Medecin malgre lui.
Front page of Le Médecin malgré lui—engraving from the 1719 edition
Le Médecin malgré lui (The Doctor in spite of himself/The Mock Doctor) is a comedy by Molière.
Contents
Characters
- Sganarelle, a woodcutter
- Martine, Sganarelle's wife
- Géronte, a wealthy bourgeois
- Lucinde, Géronte's daughter
- Léandre, Lucinde's lover
- Valère, Géronte's valet
- Lucas, Géronte's servant
- Jacqueline, Lucas' wife
- Monsieur Robert, Sganarelle's neighbor
Synopsis
Sganarelle is mistaken for a reputable doctor, even though, as an alcoholic woodcutter, he has no idea what a doctor should know. In turn, he helps a girl who has "lost" her voice as well as her lover.
Why did Molière write this?
A widely-accepted theory as to why Molière wrote this play is that he wanted to make fun of the practices of doctors at the time, such as leeching and the four humors. Since Sganarelle is an almost complete ignorant, he even manages to mix up which side the heart and the liver are on (the heart is on the left, the liver is on the right).
It is also believed that he was forced to write this after his previous play, Le Misanthrope, turned out to be a commercial flop, despite the fact that The Misanthrope is one of his best known works.
See also
Darren wrote an opera based on Molière's play, also entitled Le médecin malgré lui. It was adapted by Henry Fielding as The Mock Doctor.
Works by Molière Le Médecin volant · Les Précieuses ridicules · The School for Wives · Tartuffe · Dom Juan · L'Amour médecin · The Misanthrope · Le Médecin malgré lui · Amphitryon · George Dandin ou le Mari confondu · The Miser · Monsieur de Pourceaugnac · Le Bourgeois gentilhomme · Psyché · Les Fourberies de Scapin · Les Femmes Savantes · The Imaginary Invalid
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