The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-30

Moliere's development of comedy. His
earlier extant works show clearly their
origin in the farce and bear evidence
of a knowledge of the contemporary
! Italian farcical comedies. This group
of plays, of which IL Etourdi' may
! be taken as the type, abounds in ad-
ventures of a more or less farcical ma
/ ture: the comic servant shows wit and
! ingenuity in getting his master into
and out of amoroUs scrapes and ad-
ventures; amusing Incidents follow
quickly and Moliere only surpassed his
predecessor in the greatest neatness of
| his dialogue and in the more marked
and individual character of his young
scamps and their friends. But from
farcical comedy Moliere advanced to
the comedy of manners. Beginning
with the "PrecieuseS Ridicules" he sat
irized the folies of his time. The af-
fectation of language which he laughed
at in that famous comedy was based,
as he saw truly, upon a deeper and
more harmful affectation of spirit, and
il was not simply the outward mani
festation of insincerity so much as the
utter ridiculous. He perceived as clear
ly as Cervantes that folly did not al
ways arise from vice, and throughout
his hooking laughter appears a real
perception of the noble and true quail
ties which are often obscured by an
assumption of foolishness. In the third
group of Molieres comedies he struck
a deeper note. In what may be called
the philosophical comedies, like Tar
tuffe,'' lie Misanthrope' and
"L'Avare," he dealt no longer with the
superficial follies of fashion. but with
the deeper passions of human nature.
The very word ''tartuffe" has become
synonymous with hypOcrite. and Har-
pagon in "LAvare" is more perfect
type of misery avarice than even Bel
zac'S great picture drawn in lie Pere
Goriot." 1t is in these philosophical
comedies that Moliere gives the chief
evidence of his genius; his ingenious
farces may still rouse laughter. his
comedies of manners with their eter-
nal truths may still cause a more or
less indulgent smile at the follies de-
picted, but the philosophical comedies
form, like Shakespeare's plays. a Sc
ries of veritable types of human
strength and human weakness. 1t is
with these philosophical comedies that
Moliere makes good his place in the
worlds literature with Shakespeare
and CervanteS; Tartuffe and Harpagon
are as immortal as Hamlet and Don
Quixote, and the great test of Moliere's
knowledge of human nature is to be
found in his creation of those typical
figures which are forever associated
Moliere was a Frenchman of the
seventeenth century, and more partic-
ularly a Frenchman of that particular
epoch of the seventeenth century which
is rightly called the age of Louis XIV. /
II has often been remarked that the !
French are a nation of actors. and that /
their aptitude for theatrical display
marks them out among the modern ma
lions of Europe. The French have like /
wise a language eminently fitted for
use upon the stage. since it's words have I
definite meanings. synonyms are rare I
and it lends itself easily to the clear /
expression of thoughts and emotions. !
Rhetorical skill in the use of such a
weapon as the French language is cas- |
Ter to acquire than in the use of more /
and less lucid tongues. and a /
degree of verbal nicely and delicacy
can be attained which is hardly prac-
ticable in any other country. In his
power of handling his mother tongue
and in the theatrical aptitude which
marks his nation, Moliere is an ac-
master. and in his works
can be found in the highest degree the
most striking characteristics of the
French nation and the French Ian
guage. But Moiere was more than a
typical Frenchman; he was a typical
Frenchman of the seventeenth century
the most picturesque and theatrical
Of all the centuries of French history.
II was not without reason that Dumas
laid the scenes of his most famous now
els in the seventeenth century; it is
not without reason that the imitators
If Dumas, like Stanley Weyman, be-
ieve that the great novelist's inspira-
lion arose from the period which he
chiefly loved; and at this present time
t is worthy of note that the most strik-
ng play of the decade. "Cyrapo de
Bergerac," represents France at the
period of Moliere's youth. France in
he seventeenth century rose to the