Les Fourberies de Scapin

Les Fourberies de Scapin (literally, "Scapin's deceits") is a 3-act comedy by French playwright Molière first staged on May 24, 1667 in Paris. This play was shadowed by the play Psyché and brought small profits to the group: an average of 300 "livres" per show (which is only small if one considers their yearly pension of 6000 "livres" from the king.).This play was originally written in French but, like many of Molière's plays, has been translated into many different languages. Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell adapted this play into what is simply called "Scapin". Despite a few alterations and modernization of language, the play still retains much of its original structure

Characters

Scapin: Léandre's valet and "fourbe" (a rough translation of "fourbe" is "a deceitful person")
Léandre: Son of Géronte and lover of Zerbinette
Octave: Son of Argante and lover of Hyacinthe
Géronte: Father of Léandre and of Hyacinthe
Argante: Father of Octave and of Zerbinette
Hyacinthe: Daughter of Géronte and lover of Octave
Zerbinette: Daughter of Argante and lover of Léandre
Silvestre: Octave's valet
Carle: "fourbe"
Nérine: Hyacinthe's wet nurse
Two Porters

Story

In their fathers' absence, Octave has secretly married Hyacinthe and Léandre has secretly married Zerbinette. But the fathers return from a trip with marriage plans for their respective sons. Scapin, after hearing many pleas for help, comes to their rescue. Thanks to many tricks and lies, Scapin manages to come up with enough money from the parents to make sure that the young couples get to stay married. But, no one knows who Hyacinthe and Zerbinette really are. It ends in the classic "And they lived happily ever after," and Scapin is even brought to the head of the table at the ending feast (even though he has to fake a fatal wound to make it happen).

Analysis

Scapin

Scapin was a "fourbe" of the highest degree, constantly lying and tricking people to get ahead. Also, after reading some of his lines, we can see that Molière intended him to be an arrogant, pompous man who would act as if nothing were impossible for him (see quote in the next section). However, by looking at his accomplishments in another light, we can see that he was a diplomatic genius. He manages to play the other characters off of each other very easily, and yet manages to keep his overall goal (to help the young couples) in sight.

Famous quotes from the play

"À vous dire la vérité, il y a peu de choses qui me soient impossibles, quand je veux m'y mêler."
Scapin, Act 1, Scene 2
(Roughly, "To tell you the truth, there are few things that I find impossible, when I want to do them.")

"Il vaut mieux encore d'être marié que mort."
Scapin, Act 1, Scene 4
(Roughly, "It's better to be married than to be dead.")

"Mais que diable est-il allé faire dans cette galère?"
Géronte, Act 2, Scene 7
(Roughly, "What the devil was he doing in that galley?)

(On a side note, this line prompted a new word in French: "galère" now also has the meaning "a cumbersome, painful affair.")

Bibliography

All of these pages are in French.

[http://www.comedie-francaise.fr/histoire/moliere_fourberies.php Comédie Française - Histoire de la Comédie Française]
[http://www.site-moliere.com/pieces/scapin.htm Les Fourberies de Scapin] [http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?index=0&key=2497]