The Bungler - Acting Edition

by Molière, translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur

• ISBN13: 9780822217473
• ISBN10: 0822217473
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-27
• Publisher: DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE INC

Summary

THE STORY: Moliegrave;re's THE BUNGLER (1655) takes place in the Sicilian city of Messina and is a fresh, zestful verse treatment of the familiar elements of Italian popular comedy. A beautiful young woman named Ceacute;lie has been traveling with a gypsy band and, shortly before the play begins, has been left by the gypsies with a rich old man named Trufaldin as security for a loan. Two young men of Messina, Leacute;lie and Leacute;andre, have lately been rivals for the hand of a girl named Hippolyte, but when Ceacute;lie appears on the scene they are both smitten by her, and she becomes the new object of their rivalry. The warm, impetuous Leacute;lie turns to his valet, a cunning trickster named Mascarille, for help in out-witting Leacute;andre and in freeing the pawned Ceacute;lie from what amounts to captivity. Mascarille, who loves to plot and deceive, contrives ruse after ruse in his master's interest, but is repeatedly frustrated by the blunders of Leacute;lie-who, even when he is an informed participant in his valet's schemes, manages unintentionally to spoil them. This joke is repeated for nearly five acts, and does not grow tiresome: One delights in the resilience of Mascarille, the wondrous variety of his intrigues, and the astonishing ability of Leacute;lie to botch them. As the result of certain discoveries, the play is able at its close to unite Leacute;lie with his Ceacute;lie, who turns out to be of gentle birth. Leacute;andre is reunited with Hippolyte, to the satisfaction of her father, Anselme, and indeed the deacute;nouement pleases everyone, including Trufaldin, Pandolfe (Leacute;lie's father), and Andregrave;s, a former suitor of Ceacute;lie's who is now revealed to be her long-lost brother. It is, as Mascarille observes, like the ending of a comedy.