ENGL 3413: World Literature

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide 9: Cervantes, Molière

Revised 10-27-08

 

                                                         Introduction to Cervantes

In the textbook’s introduction to Cervantes, note the details of his difficult and unhappy life.

  1. What disability did he acquire as a result of fighting in battle?
  2. Under what circumstances was he enslaved for five years?
  3. What government positions did he hold?
  4. Why was he imprisoned as a result of his government service? Does this punishment seem to have been justified?  Extra-credit research: Do research to answer this or any question not answered fully (or at all) in the textbook. 
  5. In general, what was Cervantes’s economic status throughout his life?
  6. Before he published Don Quixote, Cervantes had written in many different genres and had been unsuccessful in all of them. When was Part I of Don Quixote published?  How old was Cervantes at this time?
  7. How was Don Quixote received by readers?  What financial rewards did he receive from the publication of this book?
  8. Why did Cervantes write Part II of Don Quixote?  When was it published?
  9. What happens at the end of Part II?  (May not be answered in textbook.)
  10. What was the exact date of Cervantes’s death?  What famous English writer died on the same date? 
  11. At the time of Cervantes’s death, Spain had adopted the Gregorian calendar, but England was still using the Julian calendar.  Extra-credit research: Do research on these two  calendars.  How many days apart did the two writers actually die?
  12. Who is Sancho Panza?  What incentive causes him to join Don Quixote?  In what way do these two characters balance each other? 

 

Literary Distinctions of Don Quixote

Don Quixote is

  • one of most highly praised and best loved works in all of world literature.
  • the best-known work ever written in the Spanish language.
  • the only Spanish work studied in this class.

 

Satire in Don Quixote

  1. Don Quixote is a satire.  What particular genre of literature does Cervantes satirize or burlesque?  (A parody is the ridicule of a particular literary work; a burlesque is the ridicule of an entire genre of literature.) 
  2. Some outstanding literary works have been written in the genre that Cervantes satirizes.  What are the titles of some of these works?  Why does Cervantes ridicule the genre?
  3. According to the textbook’s introduction to Cervantes (1524b) and/or other sources, what are the characteristics of this genre?
  4. Extra-credit video:  Watch The Princess Bride, a film that captures most of the characteristics of this genre.  In your written response, focus on these characteristics.
  5. From the very beginning of Don Quixote, even before Don Quixote leaves home, Cervantes uses several techniques of satire to ridicule this genre. 
    1. What are Don Quixote’s reading habits?  What happens as a result of his reading?  How does this part of the plot serve as a technique of satire? 
    2. What are Don Quixote’s favorite passages from these books (1528m)?  What do you notice about these passages?  How do these passages help to satirize the genre?
    3. Another technique of Cervantes’s satire of this genre is anachronism, a discrepancy in time periods.  In what time period are works of this genre supposed to take place?  In what time period does this story take place?  How does this discrepancy serve as a technique of satire?
    4. The plot of this genre was never a reflection of real life; it was entirely a literary fiction.   How does this fact help to satirize Don Quixote’s actions?
    5. What does the textbook’s introduction mean by the “narrator’s abuse” of Don Quixote? What are some examples of this abuse?  How does this abuse serve as a technique of satire?
  6. Each of Don Quixote’s preparations for going on the road is based on the plots of this genre.  How does each of the following preparations serve as a technique of satire?
    1. Why doesn’t Don Quixote already have his own armor?  Where does he get his armor?  Who was the previous owner of this armor?  Why would this person have owned it?   
    2. Where does Don Quixote get his helmet?  How does he attach it?
    3. Where does Don Quixote get his knightly steed?  What does he name it?  How is the name ironic?
    4. One requirement of a knight in this genre is to serve a lady as her courtly lover.  Who is Don Quixote’s courtly lady (1531b)?  What do we know about her? What name does he give her?  How does she feel about him (1532b-33t)?  Extra-credit research: What does the root of her name (“dulce”) mean in Spanish and in other Romance languages?  How is the meaning of the name ironic?
    5. What character in a previously studied work also seeks a courtly love relationship?
  7. Don Quixote provides his own narration when he sets out on his adventures (1532m).  What kind of language does he use?  How does this description serve as a technique of satire?

 

In addition to answering the questions after each letter and number below, answer the following:

  1. What situational and dramatic irony is apparent in each of these adventures of Don Quixote?  How does each episode add to the satire of the genre Cervantes wants to ridicule?
  2. Don Quixote’s first set of adventures occurs at the inn.
    1. Who are the women standing in front of the inn?  Who does Don Quixote think they are?  What interaction occurs between him and them?
    2. How and why is Don Quixote’s ability to eat and drink restricted at the inn? 
    3. What does Don Quixote place in an animal watering trough in the innyard and guard during the night?  Why does he do this?  What problem results from his actions?
    4. Before Don Quixote will leave the inn, what ceremony does he insist on having the innkeeper perform? How does this ceremony differ from the way it is performed in the books Don Quixote has read?
  3. In his first adventure after becoming a knight, whom does Don Quixote try to rescue?  Why?  How does Don Quixote feel about his intervention?  What happens to the rescued person after he leaves?
  4. Of what does Don Quixote try to persuade the merchants (1544m)?  Why does he do this?  How do they respond? What happens to Don Quixote as a result of this encounter?
  5. Why does Don Quixote fight with windmills?  What happens as a result of this encounter? Note: The page numbers on the assignment sheet are correct.  The assigned reading ends in the middle of a chapter (1551b), but this is the end of the episode involving the windmills.
  6. Extra-credit research or prior knowledge: What is an organic plot?  What is an episodic plot? Which kind of plot does Don Quixote have?

 

Other adventures not in our reading include Don Quixote’s

  • rescuing a damsel—from her proper escort.
  • freeing chained men—who are dangerous criminals in a chain gang.
  • interfering with the meeting of two lovers—and getting punished for it.

 

Sympathy for the Character Don Quixote

Despite all the satire in Don Quixote, most critics find that the book elicits from the reader an equal amount of sympathy for the character Don Quixote. 

  1. What similarities do you see between the misadventures of Don Quixote and the life of Cervantes?  What physical disability do they share in common? How might these similarities reveal Cervantes’ own sympathy for the character?
  2. How does the “narrator’s abuse” of Don Quixote create sympathy for the character (1533)?
  3. How does Don Quixote’s physical and emotional treatment by other characters create sympathy for him? 
  4. What are Don Quixote’s intentions and ideals (1529b)? The song “The Impossible Dream” from the Broadway musical (and the film) Man of La Mancha states these ideals. Can you remember any of the lyrics of this song?  How do these ideals create sympathy for him?
  5. Extra-credit research: Find the lyrics—or find and listen to a recording—of the song “The Impossible Dream.”  I also plan to play at least part of the song in class.
  6. Extra-credit viewing: Watch the movie Man of La Mancha.  In your written response,  compare the movie with the assigned reading from Don Quixote.

 

Genre of Don Quixote

  1. Is this work written in prose or poetry?  Is it fiction or nonfiction?  Is it a narrative?  Putting together the answers to these three questions, what other works studied in this unit are of the same genre?
  2. Is Don Quixote a medieval romance?  Why or why not?

 

Your textbook states that in writing Don Quixote Cervantes “created the modern novel” (1525).  Others, with whom I agree, consider it only a forerunner of the modern novel based on the criteria that a modern novel must have a

  • realistic contemporary setting, reflecting the details of daily life at the time the work is written
  • realistic plot, reflecting believable events likely to occur in daily life
  1. Does Don Quixote have a realistic contemporary setting?  Support your answer.
  2. Does Don Quixote have a realistic plot?  Support your answer.

 

Don Quixote as a Renaissance Work

  1. What other Renaissance works have we studied in this class?
  2. Almost all the literary allusions in these other Renaissance works come from works written in WHAT previous period?  Why is this the case?
  3. Almost all the literary allusions in Don Quixote come from works written in WHAT previous period?  Why is this the case?
  4. What time period provides the setting for Don Quixote? 
  5. A genre from WHAT literary period is the target of the satire in Don Quixote?  Why is it not surprising that a Renaissance work would satirize a genre from this period?
  6. What other Renaissance traits are apparent in Don Quixote?

* * *

                                                  Introduction to the Enlightenment 

  1. What are the dates of the Enlightenment? 
  2. Why is this period called the “Enlightenment”?
  3. What other names are applied to this cultural and literary period?  How is each of these labels appropriate?

 

In class be prepared to discuss (or ask questions about) the following values of the Enlightenment:

Pro                                                       Con                 

Reason (rational intelligence)     “Passions” (emotions)

 

Universals                                             Particulars

(e.g., Nature = universal human nature)

 

Society                                                 Individual

Public                                                   Private

 

Moderation (in behavior)                      Extremes (in behavior)

 

Urban life (and being “urbane”) Rural life

 

                                                           Introduction to Molière

1.      Molière is a stage name.  What was this playwright’s real name?

2.      Like Shakespeare, Molière had multiple jobs in the theatre.  What were Molière’s multiple jobs? 

3.      The title of each of Molière’s plays identifies the type of character who is the target of the play’s satire.  What are some of the types of characters satirized in Molière’s plays?

4.      What is the last role that Molière played on stage?  What is ironic about his death?   

5.      Molière was denied last rites and burial by the Roman Catholic Church and was allowed a nighttime burial only through the intervention of King Louis XIV.  Extra-credit research: Learn more about Molière’s death and about the controversy over his burial. Why did he, in life and in death, receive so much opposition from the Church?

6.      What is the meter of Molière’s plays, including Tartuffe, in the original French?  What is the meter in the English translation in your textbook?  What is the difference between the two?  What is the rhyme scheme of Molière’s plays, including Tartuffe (it’s the same in the original French and in the English translation in your textbook)?

7.      Class discussion: What is the effect of this meter and rhyme scheme on the reader or audience?  How would the play be different if, as is frequently the case, it were translated without rhyme or in prose?

8.      This poetic form was never used in classical (ancient Greek or Roman) drama.  Why then did this poetic form appeal to neoclassical playwrights like Molière?

 

Genre of Tartuffe

  1. The writers of the Enlightenment tended to emphasize “correctness” in adhering to traditional (usually classical) literary forms and conventions. Does Molière’s Tartuffe adhere to the classical unities of time and place?  Support your answer.
  2. Before Molière, French comedies, based on Roman New Comedy and Italian commedia dell’arte, had plots of intrigue and romance but no social criticism.  To what extent does Molière’s Tartuffe adhere to the following conventions of Roman New Comedy?
    1. Character types:  Are the characters stereotypes or stock characters rather than complex, psychologically believable individuals?
    1. Pairs of young lovers: Does the plot focus on obstacles to the union of one or more pairs of young lovers?
    2. Happy ending (with marriages): Does the plot begin unhappily because of a problem and end happily with the solution of the problem (with one or more marriages)?

Molière introduced to France and popularized comedy with social criticism or satire.  In all of world literature, Molière is considered the best playwright in the genre of critical comedy or satiric comedy (as opposed to romantic comedy).  In the Preface to Tartuffe and Petitions to the King in your textbook (extra-credit reading), Molière states that the purpose of comedy is, through entertainment, to “correct and moderate men’s passions,” that is, their extreme emotions and behaviors.

  1. What previous playwright studied in this class was also a master of critical comedy?
  2. One device of classical comedy in Tartuffe is deus ex machina.  What is the meaning of this term?  When and how does the play use this device?

 

Targets of Satire in Tartuffe

Targets of satire are the extreme behaviors that a satirist ridicules and wants his audience to learn to avoid.  Most of the characters in Tartuffe are satirized for having extreme behaviors. 

 

Tartuffe

1.      What is the meaning of the name “Tartuffe”?

2.      Molière originally intended for Tartuffe to be a priest but made him a lay person instead.  Why might he have done this?  (Extra-credit research would help to answer this question.)

3.      Tartuffe does not appear on stage until the beginning of act 3, halfway into the play.  This is an unprecedented delay of the appearance of a title character.  As Cléante says before we meet Tartuffe, however, we can judge Tartuffe by his effect on others.  How do the members of Orgon’s household feel about Tartuffe?  Which characters like Tartuffe?  Why?  Which characters despise Tartuffe?  Why?

4.      What do we learn about Tartuffe from Orgon’s account of how he first met Tartuffe in church (1914m)?  How does Cléante respond to this account (1915)?

5.      What do we learn about Tartuffe’s character from what he says in act 3, scene 2, his first scene on stage (1929-30)?  How does this scene contribute to the play’s satire?  

6.      While Orgon is hiding under the table, what does Tartuffe say to Elmire to assure her that their having an affair would be morally acceptable?  How does this speech contribute to the play’s satire?

7.      Besides the obvious weakness revealed in his name, what other human weaknesses does Tartuffe exhibit?

8.      What character previously studied in this unit is satirized for all the same character traits as Tartuffe?

 

Orgon

  1. What actions of Orgon are extreme, unreasonable, dangerous, and/or unnatural?
  2. What character traits of Orgon are satirized?
  3. How does Orgon react when he learns the truth about Tartuffe (1947b, lines 33-34)?   What human weakness is being satirized here?
  4. What other character shares Orgon’s weaknesses?  Is the similarity between these two characters believable?

 

Compared to Orgon (and the character mentioned in #4 above), the other members of Orgon’s family are relatively sensible and decent.  They are all stereotypes, however, and many of them also demonstrate human weaknesses that are satirized.

 

Damis (pronounced “dam-EE”)

  1. When Damis is confronted with problems, how does he want to solve them? Give specific examples.
  2. What do other characters, such as Dorine, say about Damis’ flaw?  Cite specific passages.
  3. What stereotype does Damis fit? What human weakness is being satirized?

 

Mariane

  1. When Orgon tells Mariane that she must marry Tartuffe, how does she react?  What extreme behavior does she exhibit?
  2. In act 2, scene 4, with Valère, how does she act?  What extreme behavior does she exhibit?
  3. In what way is Mariane’s behavior the opposite of her brother Damis’?  What stereotype does she fit?   

 

Dorine

  1. According to the footnote (1907b), what is Dorine’s position and status in Orgon’s household?
  2. What stereotype does Dorine fit?  What extreme behavior, if any, does she exhibit?
  3. In what particular situations does Dorine act as an advocate for other characters? What motivates Dorine’s interventions in the family’s problems?  Is she a sympathetic or unsympathetic character? 

 

Only two characters, it seems to me, are not satirized at all but are held up as examples of balance and moderation.

Elmire

  1. What is the Elmire’s family relationship to Mme. Pernelle? In the opening scene, what inflammatory statements does Mme. Pernelle make to Elmire?  How does Elmire respond?  What does this show about Elmire’s character?
  2. What is Elmire’s family relationship to Damis and Mariane?  How well do they get along with each other?  What does this reveal about Elmire’s character?
  3. How does Elmire respond to Tartuffe’s advances?  How does she explain her response (1940b-41t)?  What does this speech reveal about her character?
  4. After she has tricked Tartuffe into trying to seduce her while Orgon is under the table, what does she say to Tartuffe?  What does this reveal about her character? 

 

Cléante

  1. According to the textbook’s introduction to Molière, what important role does Cléante play in the comedy?
  2. To what characters does Cléante give good advice?  When?
  3. In a speech to Orgon (1915m, especially lines 81-87), Cléante sums up what Orgon calls “all the insight of the age” (line 89), that is, of the Enlightenment.  What values of the Enlightenment does Cléante mention?
  4. What warning does Cléante give Orgon after Orgon discovers Tartuffe’s treachery and overreacts (1947b)?

 

Extra-credit video:  Two different videos of Tartuffe are on reserve in the library.  The one entitled Tartuffe uses the English translation that is in our textbook; the one entitled Le Tartuffe is in French with English subtitles.  If you have the video of Tartuffe in English translation at class time, please bring it to class.  If possible, cue the video to the point where Orgon hides under the table to overhear Tartuffe with Elmire.  I want to show this scene in class.