day while walking on the street he sees a young lady Polinesta and he falls in love with her. In order to be always near his sweetheart, Erostrato determines to enter the service of her father, Damonio, an old miser; and to accomplish this, he assumes the name of his own servant, Dulippo. He is aided in his project by Polinesta's nurse.* Now it happens that a wealthy old miser Cleandro seeks the same young lady in marriage and finds a favorable hearing with Damonio. The love between Erostrato and Polinesta is finally discovered, and the lover is thrown into prison. The latter, like Valère in L'Avare, has won his master's favor to the detriment of a servant Nevola, who now greatly rejoices at the idea of being avenged. Erostrato's father, Filogono, arrives from Sicily just in time not only to free his son from imprisonment but also to bring about his marriage with Polinesta, after Cleandro has renounced his claim to her hand.

Besides the points of resemblance that appear from this analysis we find in I Suppositi (1, 2) a parasite, Pasifilo, who flatters Cleandro regarding his looks and age very much as Frosine does Harpagon in L'Avare (II, sc. 5).

The claims which have been advanced in favor of a number of other Italian comedies as being additional sources from which Molière drew may be disregarded, since in some cases such comedies were based, like L'Avare, upon the Aulularia, as, for instance, La Sporta by Gelli, - in others it has been found that the imitation is on the side of the Italians rather than on that of Molière. This is true of plays like L'Amante tradito, Il Dottor bacchettone, Le Case svaligiate and La Cameriera nobile comedies which belonged to the style called "commedia dell'arte" in which the actors had to improvise to a large extent, and whose dates it has been impossible to ascertain. It is difficult to say whether Molière was

* For a similar situation, cf. L'Avare, p. 7, l. 11.

+ Riccoboni, Observations sur la comédie et sur le génie de Molière (Paris, 1736).

acquainted with the works of Lucian and Martial; but if he was, the former's dialogue, “The Cock or the Dream," and the latter's epigram IX, 9, may have suggested to him some ideas for L'Avare.

For further possible sources, cf. Körting's Geschichte des französischen Romans im XVII. Jahrhundert II, p. 70 Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France I, pp. 38-48.

L'Avare was performed for the first time on the stage of the Palais Royal the 9th of September 1668. The court, whose residence at that time was at Saint-Germain, witnessed a performance of the comedy the 5th of November of the same year. During the closing years of Molière's life L'Avare was performed forty-seven times and if we judge by the rather low receipts, as reported in the Registre kept by La Grange, it cannot have been a great favorite with the public during the years mentioned. The people, it is said, objected to the too serious vein running through the play. A second reason for this lack of popularity was that L'Avare was written in prose. (The general tendency in the 17th century was to write comedies in verse.)

In spite of these and other objections, however, the comedy gained in favor in later times and to this very day it is quite frequently performed at the Comédie-Française. The Germans value L'Avare even more highly than the French, and Goethe speaks of it in enthusiastic terms: 'Molière,' said Goethe, 'is so great, that one is astonished anew every time one rereads him. He is unique his pieces border on the tragic; they are apprehensive; and nobody has the courage to imitate him. His 'Miser,' where vice destroys all love between father and son, is especially great, and in a high sense tragic.' (Cf. Goethe's Conversations with Eckermann, May 12th, 1825.) According to the Grands Écrivains series, vol. VII, p. 41, there exist eight French poetic versions of the comedy (one incomplete). Moreover, it has been translated into many languages. In English we have two imitations of L'Avare,

both under the title of The Miser,' one by Shadwell (1672), and the other by Fielding (1733).

CHARACTERS

HARPAGON

The principal personage of L'Avare is Harpagon, the miser. All the remaining characters exist only for the purpose of throwing light upon him. Harpagon is not a miser who has suddenly become enriched, like Euclio in the Aulularia,— he has been wealthy for a long time, and keeps up a large establishment. Nor is his avarice of sudden growth. From the descriptions made of him by his children, as well as by Valère, 'maître' Jacques and La Flèche, we learn what kind of a man he was in the past.

The immediate and visible effects of Harpagon's sordid passion show themselves in his excessive suspicion and fear lest any one should learn of the whereabouts of his money and steal it. At the same time his avarice proves a very serious obstacle to his love. But Harpagon is not merely full of anxiety to keep what he has, he makes every effort to increase his wealth by good or bad means, for he has lost all sense of right and wrong. In order to accomplish his purpose he inflicts suffering not only upon his servants and horses, but also upon his children.

Mariane, with whom Harpagon is in love, is a poor girl. When he finally decides to marry her in spite of her poverty, it is because he hopes to make up for the dowry in some other way. (He intends to marry off his children without any marriage-portion.) How much the miser is really in love with Mariane may be inferred from his readiness to give her up when he is asked to choose between her and his stolen moneychest. (Cf. V, 6.)

Considering Harpagon's great avarice, critics have blamed Molière for representing him as being in love, as if love and

avarice were incompatible. We may reply to this objection that if Harpagon's love were a very deep and absorbing one, requiring pecuniary sacrifices, such criticism might be valid, but Harpagon does not love in that fashion, his love is entirely selfish. He evidently hopes that his old age will be lightened by the ministrations of a wife, but above all he wants to take to himself a frugal house-keeper, who will look after things and save for him as much as possible, so that he may be enabled to give his entire attention to his own affairs.

Molière, true to nature, paints Harpagon as being a shrewd man at one time and a dupe at another. This apparent inconsistency is well founded and springs from the fact that the miser is constantly thinking of his own interests to further which he readily allows himself to be deluded. So, for instance, when his cash-box is stolen he himself suggests to 'maître' Jacques all the testimony sufficient to convict Valère.

In conclusion we may say of Harpagon that no tender sentiment of any kind, no redeeming feature relieves the darkness of his soul. His avarice has become the ruling passion of his life and the gloom he casts upon all his surroundings is such as to make us forget at times that L'Avare is a comedy and not a tragedy.

CLEANTE

On reading L'Avare for the first time one is inclined to sympathize strongly with the ardent lover of Mariane. In fact one is liable to forget the real character of Cléante by reason of this very love-affair which one hopes will turn out happily for the young people. Upon more careful reflection, however, traits are discovered in Cléante that are far from making him appear lovable. Cléante thinks only of his love and of his own interests. Moreover, he wants to play a part in society, even if it be only by means of his fine clothes. The result is that he becomes a spendthrift and is obliged to borrow money at a ruinous rate of interest. This phase of Cléante's character is.

well described by La Flèche (cf. p. 44, 11. 16-19). Nor can Cléante be considered as possessing much prudence and foresight, otherwise he would not have fallen into a trap when pressed by his father to give his real opinion regarding Mariane.

Cléante's treatment of his father in the presence of Mariane is far from praiseworthy. The scene, moreover, in which Harpagon utters his malediction calls forth from Cléante a pun 'je n'ai que faire de vos dons'-- which is comic, it is true, but disrespectful.

Nor is this all. After La Flèche has stolen the money-chest, Cléante's silence makes it possible for Harpagon to accuse two innocent persons, 'maître' Jacques and Valère, and when at last he expresses his willingness to reveal the whereabouts of Harpagon's treasure it is only on condition that the miser will renounce his claims to Mariane. Finally, this is what Cléante says in a fit of anger called forth by his father's avarice: 'Voilà où les jeunes gens sont réduits par la maudite avarice des pères; et on s'étonne après cela que les fils souhaitent qu'ils meurent (II, 1).

The only redeeming features in Cléante's character are his unselfish love for Mariane and his readiness to aid a poor and worthy family. On the subject of Cléante critics have also had their say. Why did Molière create such a character? Did he not foresee all the harm such a bad example might cause? It seems almost needless to answer such critics, for it is too evident that it was not the author's intention to hold up Cléante as a model of virtue, whose words and deeds we are to follow. All he wished to do was to illustrate in the character of Cléante the evil effect produced by the avarice of Harpagon.

ELISE

Elise's part in L'Avare is comparatively insignificant. Having lost her mother all too early, she has since lived under the guidance of her miserly and heartless father. Her engage