Le Médecin malgré lui

• Sganarelle, husband of Martine
• Martine, wife of Sganarelle
• Mr. Robert, neighbor of Sganarelle
• Geronte, father of Lucinda
• Lucinda, daughter of Geronte
• Léandre, lover of Lucinda
• Valere, servant of the Geronte
• Lucas, husband of Jacqueline
• Jacqueline, housekeeper Geronte
• Two farmers, Thibaut and Perrin (father and son)

The doctor in spite of himself ( French Le médecin malgré lui ) is a comedy in three acts by the French poet Molière. The premiere took place on August 6, 1666 at the Palais Royal in Paris. The piece combines elements of Italian Commedia dell'arte with the French farce and the medieval fabliau.

Action

Act I

Sganarelle is a lumberjack who is fond of alcohol. The first scene shows him in a domestic quarrel with his wife Martine. After her husband has beaten her, she seeks revenge. She finds this one occasion, when she runs into Valere and Lucas, who are looking for a doctor who will heal the daughter of their master by their feigned dumbness. Martine claims Sganarelle is a famous but eccentric doctor who would reveal his professional existence only under shock. Valere and Lucas adhere to this advice and beat Sganarelle. With the prospect of easy money to be earned forming he likes to admit to be a doctor, and goes into the house of Geronte.

Act II

Geronte is desperate because his daughter Lucinda has become mute and therefore the marriage arranged by him can not enter. Jacqueline, the nurse of Lucinda, believes it makes more sense that Lucinda would marry her lover. But the father is against this connection because Léandre brings not enough money in the marriage for his opinion. The two servants ask the landlord to " doctor " before. He explains Geronte in a wordy mumbo-jumbo that his daughter is dumb, "because she has lost the language," and recommended as a drug in wine getunktes bread. Now occurs Léandre, and Sganarelle agrees to help him in the conquest Lucindes.

III. act

Léandre is now disguised as a pharmacist. Towards Geronte house he meet and Sganarelle the farmer and his son Thibaut Perrin. Thibaut Sganarelle asks his wife to heal from their ailments, and the " doctor " suggests as a medicine " prepared cheese " before. Upon arrival at Geronte Sganarelle makes overtures at Jacqueline. You can pick up the patient, and it comes to meeting with Léandre. As Lucinda sees her lover, she finds instantly language again, more than her father is right. As Geronte is clear that his daughter has been kidnapped to Sganarelle advice, by Léandre, he decides to hang it. However, it comes to a happy ending: Léandre reported his uncle had died and he was his sole heir. Now he must marry Lucinda, and Martine and Sganarelle continue to live as respectable doctors pair.

Genesis

Immediately after the creation and premiere of the human enemy in June 1666 Molière began with the writing of the physician in spite of himself, partly in response to two short pieces that the actor had Brécourt listed at the Hôtel de Bourgogne with the rival troupe.

This led to the creation of this comedy in three acts and in prose, which was taken at the premiere on August 6, 1666 with great success. Not much is known about the role distribution. It is known that Molière depicted the protagonist Sganarelle, and it is believed that Armande Béjart Lucinda played.

Adaptations

The English writer Henry Fielding created in 1732 a processing under the title The Mock Doctor. The composer Charles Gounod in 1858 published an opera under the original title Le médecin malgré lui.