- Le père de famille
Infobox Play
name = Le Père de famille
image_size = 200px
caption = Title page of first edition (1758)
writer =Denis Diderot
chorus =
characters = The father of the family Saint-Albin
Sophie
Germeuil
Cécile
The Commander
mute =
setting = The Parisian home of the father of the family
date of premiere = 1758
country of Origin =France
original language = French
series =
subject = Family relations
genre =Drama
web =
playbill_event =
ibdb_id ="Le Père de famille" (English: "The Father of the family") is a 1758 play by
Denis Diderot . In this play, Saint Albin, a young man, falls in love with Sophie, a poor young woman of unknown parentage. His father, the title character, is against the match, and his uncle actively plots against it by trying to force Sophie into a convent. Against her better judgement, Cécile, Saint-Albin's sister, hides Sophie in their home at the behest of Germeuil, a friend of the family. When the father discovers the disobedience of his children, he is dismayed; and the entire situation is exacerbated by the ill-intentioned uncle. When the uncle is confronted by the young woman in person, however, he realizes that she is his niece. With the question of her parentage solved, Saint-Albin is free to marry Sophie, Cécile is free to marry Germeuil, and the father welcomes all his children with open arms.Diderot followed this play with a treatise on theatre entitled "Discours sur la poésie dramatique".
External links
* [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k88175q Le Père de famille] in French at Gallica
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